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A tiny home network should not be this hard.

kookbreaker

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kookbreaker
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So I got an XBOX 360 recently, and wanted to hook it up online, not just for play, but also for any other things that may be available. I have a DSL connection and had bought a Lynksys ethernet router for just this purpose.

So I attach the DSL modem to the router input, then plug in the Macintosh. I did not try attaching the XBOX yet.

Wouldn't register. The thing was on, but the router wasn't routing. I reset all the hardware, Nothing.

The software that came with the stuff was all Windows based. Online support was nil and the impression given from oterh searches was that the company that made the router (linksys)does not support Macintosh. Although they are happy to promote it as doing such.

I am missing a step here. Probably a very simple step, but one that very few online listings (most of which are talking about wireless) discuss. Any ideas as to how to get this thing working? One hint was that I needed a router address for the router. How the heck do I get that?
 
When your mac is plugged driectly into the DSL, does it DHCP, or does it have a fixed address? Because if you have a fixed address, you need to tell the router that "somehow", which probably involves talking to it with a web browser.
 
record the TCP/IP settings on the Mac, then set it to dhcp. It'll get an address from the linksys router. Use safari (or firefox or camino) to connect to the router at the same address your mac has, except the 4th number should be a 1.

i.e. your computer: 172.16.1.100, connect to linksys at 172.16.1.1


Next configure the internet side of the router to have the settings your Mac previously had.
 
STEP ONE: CABLING

a) Disconnect cables and power off router.
b) Connect DSL cable to WAN port on router.
c) Power on router and check WAN link and activity LED indicators.
d) Connect Mac to LAN port on router and check LAN link LED indicator.

STEP TWO: TEST LOCAL NETWORK

a) Find default IP address for router. For most Linksys routers, this will be 192.168.1.1. If yours is different, substitute that address below.

b)Open terminal.

c) type "ping 192.168.1.1" and hit enter. If this request times out, you have a local network problem. It could be the cable or the TCP-IP settings on your computer. The most common cause is the local computer not accepting DHCP assignments.

STEP THREE: Check WAN/Internet:

a) Open a web browser to the default IP of the router. Check the interface for the WAN address. If no WAN address is listed, you have a problem between the router and the DSL modem or you may have to specify an address from your provider (static IP address.)

b) If there is a WAN address listed, try pinging it. "ping WAN_ADDRESS" where WAN_ADDRESS is the numeric IP address listed in the router admin applet.

c) "ping 209.191.93.52" If this times out, you have a connectivity problem. This is usually either a problem with the service or the routing table.

d) "ping www.yahoo.com" If this times out and c returned packets, you have a DNS server issue. Contact your provider for the correct DNS server. Most often this is provided by DHCP, but individual mileage may vary. If this returns packets, you should be good to go.
 
If you had the Apple hooked up without the router, won't the service provider lock in that particular mac address? Then, if you hook up the router, it's a new mac address so the service provider needs to re-register that mac. At least, that's what happened to me. Or, some routers let you put in what mac address you'd like it show to get around that.
 
LeCynthia said:
If you had the Apple hooked up without the router, won't the service provider lock in that particular mac address? Then, if you hook up the router, it's a new mac address so the service provider needs to re-register that mac. At least, that's what happened to me. Or, some routers let you put in what mac address you'd like it show to get around that.
Click to expand...

Not many ISP's do this anymore, however if yours does there is an option on the Linksys routers to clone the MAC address of the computer you're modifying the admin page from. I've used this a couple of times for people and it works well.

Also some ISP's require a particular name for the computer (Comcast has this nasty habit I believe). There should be a place to enter a name for the linksys router, you can give it the same name that the ISP has for your computer.
 
Cylinder said:
a) Find default IP address for router. For most Linksys routers, this will be 192.168.1.1. If yours is different, substitute that address below.
Click to expand...

Last couple of Linksys I've setup have changed to the 172.16.x.x network. I believe they randomly assign a different 3rd octet when they ship it.
 
Thanks to everyone (except Wudang :P ) for the helpful solutions. I hope to try some of these this evening.

If...I...can...tear...myself...away...from...Oblivion...
 
Wudang said:
Why not just replace it with a PC?

ducks and runs
Click to expand...

Mac: Apple menu, system preferences, network, built-in ethernet. If you're not an admin click the lock and enter an admin username/password.

PC: start button, control panels, network connections, right-click Local Area Connection, select properties, scroll down to TCP/IP, highlight that. Realize you're not an admin. Logoff, log back in as admin. Start over. Get to TCP/IP, highlight that, click Properties button.

That's why NOT a PC 8-)
 
You're right

... in that setting up a home network shouldn't be this hard.

Obviously, you are having problems with it, so, could you be doing something wrong?
 
I thought you were the Microsoft Visual Studio expert?

As for everything being harder than it should be, try cloning a server to test an upgrade that runs on 2003 on different hardware. That was a waste of a week.
 
PPoE settings

My guess is (unless I missed it) is that you don't have your DSl connection settings in the router. You'll need to enter you DSL account info in the PPoE settings. With out your account info in the router nothing is authenticating with the modem. This is if i'm correct about your set up.
 
On occasion, in PC land, I've had success with ipconfig /release followed by ipconfig /renew

For whatever reason it seemed to be necessary to force an update of the IP address. But it may be that if you just wait long enough this kind of problem just fixes itself.
 
LeCynthia said:
If you had the Apple hooked up without the router, won't the service provider lock in that particular mac address? Then, if you hook up the router, it's a new mac address so the service provider needs to re-register that mac. At least, that's what happened to me. Or, some routers let you put in what mac address you'd like it show to get around that.
Click to expand...

Yes. Lots of cable modems will only talk to the first MAC address they see. If you haven't done a hard reset and then hooked up the router, try that. Powering off and back on may not be enough for your modem.

After you do that, hook up your computer, see what IP address you get for the gateway. That's the address of your router, and you can point your browser at it to do more debugging...
 
davefoc said:
On occasion, in PC land, I've had success with ipconfig /release followed by ipconfig /renew

For whatever reason it seemed to be necessary to force an update of the IP address. But it may be that if you just wait long enough this kind of problem just fixes itself.
Click to expand...

DHCP addresses are handed out for a particular duration, after half that duration the computer will typically re-request the same ip from the server. If denied it'll request a new one. So yes the problems can just magically disappear, but a lot of dhcp addresses are assigned for many days.

you can find the duration (on windows) by doing a ipconfig /all
 
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