AirPort base station WiFi problem.

[redsnail]

I have tried searching through the Mac forums and Support online. I haven't as yet posted a direct question to them.

I bought the AirPort base station (square one) in the states last summer. It worked brilliantly, just as advertised.

In December I bought a stand alone upgrade of OS X "Leopard" for the 24" iMac (previously on Tiger) and I had also bought a brand new Macbook 13" with Leopard pre-installed.

Both units Airport Extreme cards work well. I have tested the iMac with another non secure WiFi signal and it's fine. The Macbook picks up the various WiFi's in the hotels with no problems either.

Even my old iBook 12" (running Panther) was picking up a nice signal from the Base station.

However, foolishly and against all instincts, we turned off the modems and the base station when we went away to the states in Jan.
Upon restart, the base station works fine however, the WiFi is impossible to connect to. Even with the WPA and WEP turned off. I know it's not the iMac, Macbook nor iBook's WiFi card as they can pick up all the other signals and join the open networks. (The signal strength is fine, they just cannot connect)

I have done a firmware update.

I have done a soft reboot and reconfigure.

I have also done a full system reset and reboot. (and configure...)

Nothing has worked.

I have tried reviewing the support section of Apple but haven't seen any thing that works.

Error message on the iMac and Macbook.

"Connection timeout"
or
"Failed"

Error message on the iBook,

"There was an error joining the AirPort network "wild chook""

Hardware info.
AirPort Base station. (approx 9 months old)
(0x14E4, 0x87)
IP 10.0.1.1
Version 7.2.1
AP ID 00:1B:63:2B:965

I use Virgin for the DSL modem connection, always on sort of thing.

Configure IPv4: suing DHCP
IP Address: (Provided automatically)

From Macstumbler 0.76
SSID "wild chook"
Channel 6
Signal 78
Noise 0
WEP no (back to WPA now)
Vendor unknown
MAC 1B:63:2B:965

[AppleMacster]

Redsnail,

I had a similar problem once with the original Airport base station, so it might not be relevant. I just changed the radio channel the base station was using and it seemed to sort itself out (of course, you have to do this by connecting to the Aiport via ethernet!).

If that doesn't work, it might be worth seeing if there is a worldwide warranty on the base station and taking it to your local AppleStore. It will have a year's warranty in any case. iPods and Laptops have worldwide warranties, but I'm not sure about the Airport Extreme.


AppleMacster.

[redsnail]

AM,

Thanks for replying, at the moment, the iMac's connected to the AirPort via ethernet. In fact, all of the ethernet ports work as advertised. The unit is reporting no problems.

I tried connecting to the wifi using the phone (Nokia N95) and it happily connected and accepted the WAP password without a care in the world.


Bloody computers....

[redsnail]

Update, AM, your suggestion was spot on. Used the utility to assign the channel instead of automatic, voile, it works. So pleased.

Thanks a lot.

[AppleMacster]

Redsnail,

I'm not sure why it throws a wobbler sometimes regarding the channels. The whole point of it being "Automatic" is that it has the sense to change. However, I'm glad it worked. As an aside, I've noticed that the swarm of Sky Broadband routers around me here are all set to Channel 6, which seems like asking for trouble...

AppleMacster