A friend called last night w/ a vexing internet conncetion issue, which i couldn't solve, and i thought i'd bounce it off the experts here to see if anyone has any insight. here's the environment: three Macs connecting wirelessly to an airport base station, which in turn is connected via ethernet to a TW cable modem. The Macs can see the base station (connection strength is good, and they can access the BS via the airport admin utility. Both the BS and the individual Macs are setup for DHCP, and are receiving IP addresses, from the modem and BS respectively, meaning that the connection between the BS and the cable modem is good. The macs cannot connect to the internet however, via the BS. Plugging the modem directly into one of the macs works fine, and accessing an open access point from a neighbor also works. it sounded like a DNS issue, but plugging an alternate DNS server address into the Mac and BS TCP/IP preferences did not work. i've gone through the complete shut down and modem-->BS-->Mac sequential reboot process to no avail. any thoughts?
Did I hear correctly that you confirmed that the WAN connection on the BS is good? btw... Not to knock you on your query, but I had to read it a few times because I kept thinking, "Macs and BS". I'm sure they kick ass. I wouldn't know. Look, I've had a few wireless routers that would only partially work, because they were damaged by some damn electrical storm. I even had to replace a cable modem once. Did all of this work, until recently? It sounds like you've done enough troubleshooting and perhaps it's time to start replacing things. I would start with the BS, since I'm not convinced that you're getting a good WAN link.
I used to hate Airport calls as does everyone at Apple tech support. I was a senior level tech support agent at Apple and I still have quirky Airport issues at MY house that I can't explain.
yeah, the WAN link looks good, since the BS, or APBS (AirPort Base Station) is getting an external IP address from the router. The system worked fine until sometime last night when it just quit. i agree, the BS is the weakest link here and i've got a spare i can loan them. still, it's strange since all external indicators look good.
When I replaced both my cable modem adn WL router, all LED's indicated that it should be functional. It wasn't until I spent days trying to figure it out and it wasn't until I replaced both that it started working. Damn electrical storms.
I know Its not Mac...but I have had similar issues with my router/AP on a few occasions...picks up WAN IP info fine...but doesnt allow outbound communication...pings to the AP and to other peers are fine....just a seeming blockage on the WAN port. replacing AP did the trick...go with your swapping of known good BS and it will probably clear it right up...
