Just got a Mac and can't connect to wireless network

Smell The Glove · Apr 12, 2007

Check out this discussion at the Apple boards. This has a lot of people experiencing various errors trying to connect. Some claim the error is a firmware issue, others say they've been told it's a software issue. Some claim to get it working again by reinstalling OS X and not updating the Airport or OS X to the latest incarnations. Read through it and maybe you can get a few things to try.

PixelP 2.o · Apr 13, 2007

I don't know if this will help anyone, but switching from "manual" to "DHCP" (I have DSL) and entering the DNS numbers from my provider worked for me.

comthre3 · Apr 13, 2007

i;ve updated my smc router to the latest firmware and still nothing, the mac just wont connect to that router

i wish there was some way to connect to that thing wirlessley even my psp connects normaly to the router. any ideas anyone?

comthre3 · Apr 13, 2007

never mind my last post. sorry for the double post, found out that i do have a back lit keyboard

MaDDoG · Apr 13, 2007

joshtpa said:
I have had no problems using the linksys wireless N router.

I have the same as above with Billion modem......ran my home network through it with PC's and when I got MBP it just connected and went perfectly out of the box.

Smell The Glove · Apr 13, 2007

After reading about a number of people having problems (mostly right after the last OS X or Airport updates), I made sure I didn't update those when I set up my new MBP today. Don't have any problems so far, so I'm sure I won't update until I can be confident I won't run into problems. I travel regularly, so I have to be able to connect wirelessly.

fiveightandten · Apr 14, 2007

Baby Bimmer said:
Hi All ,
I just received my macbook today (2Ghz/1G). I used to have a mac back in the days of the Performa series, but have since been in PC land. I am have a great deal of PC and networking experience, and even had the Apple support try to help me and they said if I was not using a Apple wireless router (airport) they could not help. It appears that all my settings are correct, but I just get the very unuseful error "There was an error joining the network "JMN"" This is after I enter my 128 Bit Hex WEP key. To add insult to injury even if I disable the security on my router I still get the same error. JMN is my wireless network, and my IBM Thinkpad and other systems connect just fine.

My router is an SMC (SMC2804WBRP-G)

Can anyone help?

Thanks!
Jess

Congrads on your purchase Jess. This may seem like a silly suggestion, but it's a simple mistake I made when I was trying to connect via airport the first time on my Mini...

Make sure you're selecting "WEP 40 128-bit Hex" or "WEP 40 128-bit ASCII" (whatever's appropriate) when you enter the WEP key...as opposed to the drop-down menu just being selected to "WEP Password".

-Nick

comthre3 · Apr 16, 2007

does anyone know if there will be a firmware update to fix this issue? its really frustrating not being able to connect to my wifi. i love my mbp and all, but this is a huge downside

awrence · Apr 16, 2007

I changed my SMC2804WBR EU router for a NETGEAR WGR614 because I was having all sorts of problems with my wired and wireless connections with both mac and windos computers. Now everything is running fine.

comthre3 · Apr 16, 2007

i don't get it, why is this happening? why wont it work? i think im just gonna go ahead and get me a new wifi router any recommendations?

ttownfire · Apr 17, 2007

fiveightandten said:
Congrads on your purchase Jess. This may seem like a silly suggestion, but it's a simple mistake I made when I was trying to connect via airport the first time on my Mini...

Make sure you're selecting "WEP 40 128-bit Hex" or "WEP 40 128-bit ASCII" (whatever's appropriate) when you enter the WEP key...as opposed to the drop-down menu just being selected to "WEP Password".

-Nick

This is SOOOO important and overlooked! PC and Mac users alike experience these issues and it usually what Nick described. Are you sure its "hex"?

Also, did you cycle the power of your router after you turned the security off? If your thinkpad is still connecting and you didn't make a change to the network properties of that computer... you didn't actually turn the WEP encryption off. In other words, you have to cycle the power for the changes to take effect anytime you make a change.

comthre3 · Apr 17, 2007

i've cycled the power after turning the encryption off. still nothing. the wifi works fine with my psp 2 windows laptops. its just not working here,
actually its giving me problems in one of my windows pc! cuz its has wifi-b and doesnt realy support WPA, its working with all the others except for the mac.

comthre3 · Apr 18, 2007

any progress in here? did anyone find a solution to this problem? a customized router firmware or something? or a specific way to setup the router to make the mbp work with the SMC router?
regards