At home, I have a Mac G3 desktop computer connected to a cable modem. I just purchased a Sony Vaio notebook for work, and want to use it wirelessly at home to share the modem connection. I got a NetGear WGR614 v5 wireless router, followed the installation guide, but within 5 seconds of finishing startup, the Mac freezes up. The NetGear Resource CD doesn't work properly, either. When I plug the modem cable directly into the Sony notebook, it connects instantly with the Internet. Any help greatly appreciated!!!
This conversation is currently closed to new comments.
The simplest way I have found to do this is to toss all the ISP- and manufacturer-supplied CDs in an archive folder and configure the router manually to "dial" into the ISP and act as a DHCP server. As it is set up now, each machine only knows how to connect directly. You want to create a common access point for all internet connections in your home.
I would recommend connecting the modem to the router via the uplink port and the Mac to the router via ethernet. Depending on the OS version, use either Open Transport or the Finder's "Go" menu "Connect to server..." command to access the embedded software on the router. The default IP address and administrative password should be included in the documentation for the router. Once connected, this should present you with a web page viewable with a web browser where you can set up the the router to dial into the ISP connection with the account and password info from the ISP, and to provide NAT as a DHCP server.
Once that is done, anything that connects to the router is automatically connected to the internet as part of a WAN. At the very least you will want to set up a WEP password. Additionally, you might wish to change the default name of the router, the administrative password, firewall settings, etc.
Alternatively, you can set up the Mac to act as the DHCP server. That is what it is trying to do now, and failing. This can be as simple as enabling internet sharing, or more elaborate. I find it to be more flexible and less of a burden on any of the working machines to off-load networking to another machine, yet it can also make sense to be able to control and monitor activity from a desktop PC. YMMV.
Thanks for reminding me. OS 9 (and I believe 8.6 as well) includes an application called "Network Browser". A link to it should appear in the "Apple" menu. It does much the same thing as the "Entire Network" item of "My Network Places" in the Windows "Start" menu.
The key to this is to have the router 'talk' directly to the modem and for the individual computers to connect to the router, either by cable or wirelessly. If there is a conflict it is because either or both computers are trying to to talk to the modem directly rather than to the DHCP server running on the router. If such direct connection profiles exist, they need to be placed on a lower priority than the network connection, or deleted.
I have a similar solution. hook your router up to the cable modem via the uplink port, then connect the G3 and the Vaio to the switchports on the router.
The manual for the router should tell you what IP address to use to access the web based configuration pages. Open this IP address in a web browser(it doesn't usually matter which one).
In OS X, the go>connect to server... command is for accessing network shares. I'm pretty sure neither Windows or Mac OS 9.x and **** have this command.
With your mac disconnected from the router you should check your Network settings as it may be set to dynamically get an IP address via PPP (as it would when connected to your modem) and you would need to get the IP address dynamically via Ethernet instead from the router. This searching for a PPP server could cause your mac to appear to freeze. You will then have to configure the router (which you should be able to do through a browser and so not need the netgear software) to make sure it in turn can connect to your ISP.
What you describe with a Linksys router, a G4 desktop running either Panther or Tiger, and a PC running Windows XP does not work. Spent over 10 hours myself, and 1 hour on the phone with a couple of very nice competant Indian technical assistants at Linksys, and we all concluded that there was an OS conflict. The Mac works through the router, the PC works through the router, but both together will not work. If the Mac is connected, the PC give a line busy error, while if the PC is connected the Mac gives a cable not connected error. I can switch back and forth between computer without having to repower either the modem or the router. This was tried with automatic settings as well as static settings on the PC. This is using an ISP connection via PPOe, not DHCP as you describe in your post. Could this be the problem.. Seems the only logical conclusion is an OS conflict. If you have any wisdom that can resolve this problem I will be impressed and grateful. Were life so easy for Mac users in a PC world. Kokopelli
It shouldn't really matter how the router connects to the ISP whether it is PPPoA or PPPoE as long as it connects and is able to get an IP address for the router. The router will most likely be running DHCP to allocate addresses to your local workstations and so it will be this configuration that is causing the problem. I would check the configuration of the router making sure that DHCP is enabled and that the scope allows for more than 1 address and also check the lease time and possibly increase that. If you still don't have any success then check the router config again as it should have an IP setting for the WAN interface (from your PPPoE/A connection) and one for the LAN interface. Now assign different static IP's to both the mac and PC making sure your workstations are in the same subnet as the router's LAN settings with the same subnet mask(check this is not set to 255.255.255.255) and gateway.
If you're asking for technical help, please be sure to include all your system info, including operating system, model number, and any other specifics related to the problem. Also please exercise your best judgment when posting in the forums--revealing personal information such as your e-mail address, telephone number, and address is not recommended.
Mac/PC wireless router problem
connected to a cable modem. I just purchased
a Sony Vaio notebook for work, and want to
use it wirelessly at home to share the modem
connection. I got a NetGear WGR614 v5
wireless router, followed the installation
guide, but within 5 seconds of finishing
startup, the Mac freezes up. The NetGear
Resource CD doesn't work properly, either.
When I plug the modem cable directly into the
Sony notebook, it connects instantly with the
Internet. Any help greatly appreciated!!!