Airport Mac-mini woes...

thesamuraielephantthesamuraielephant
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I've had my mac-mini for a few years now, but never had reason to use airport (I was using an ethernet network previously). (A mac-mini 1.83ghz intel duo).



I now really need to use wifi to connect with my linksys router (802.11), however Airport just doesn't see any networks at all. My windows laptop on the other hand sees about 5 networks.



I've made sure Airport is switched on, I've also checked the Airport utility version, and I'm running 5.4.2 on leopard 10.5.7.



System profiler reveals that the card inside is an "Airport extreme" card.



When I try to use airport utility to change the manual setup of the base station (I presume base station refers to the wifi card in the mac-mini?), I can't because everything is greyed out. Everything is greyed out under base station, and the settings menus.



When I try to search for networks, it scans for about 30 seconds, and finds nothing. \



Does anyone know how I could fix this problem? I'd be grateful for any help/advice.



Cheers!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    kingofsomewherehotkingofsomewherehot Posts: 4,180member
    Base station refers to the external router ... If it's not an Apple Brand, then BSUtility won't do anything.



    What you need is under System Preferences -> Network -> select Airport on the left side, then select the "Advanced" button lower right... all sorts of things you can tweak there. (this is for the internal WiFi)



    It almost sounds like your router is setup to only allow access to approved devices... you need to get your Mini on that list ... I have no idea how to access the liksys settings... probably via a web-browser?... might have to plug in directly at the ethernet port.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    ivan.rnn01ivan.rnn01 Posts: 1,822member
    If the Mini does not see the networks of your neighbors, then its WiFi card may have some problems.



    You may also have to check into your WiFi router configuration. It is often done via special web page on the site of your internet provider.



    If your router is configured to hide the network name (SSID), only existing locations can sniff such a network. You may have to click "Connect to other network" and re-enter hidden name manually.



    Verify, your router does not have MAC address filters set up.
  • Reply 3 of 5
    kareliakarelia Posts: 525member
    You mentioned you are using AirPort Utility, which is only for administration/setup of a new Apple wireless router. Go up to the upper-right corner of the screen, near the clock, and look for a small icon that looks like a radio wave traveling upward. That's the AirPort menu/meter. Open it, and give it a second or two to search for networks. Once you find the right network, select it, enter a password if necessary, and allow the four grey bars to turn black. That will denote full signal strength. If you're a decent distance from the router, you might find yourself with only three bars, this is usually fine. Once you hit two, you'll start seeing network latency.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    thesamuraielephantthesamuraielephant Posts: 7member
    My airport doesn't see any networks, it's definetly turned on and everytime I click it, it shows me "scanning..." for around 5 seconds, and then nothing. No networks found.



    I've been into advanced settings and I'm fairly sure that I've set everything correctly in order to match my linksys router. (Which is definetly broadcasting it's SSID, as my windows laptop sees it no problem).



    Under the advanced settings, there is a tab for 802.11x, but since it uses a drop down menu of the available networks, I can't select anything (as no networks show up).



    I'm starting to worry that the airport extreme card is not working correctly. Is there any diagnostic tool I could use to check this?



    Cheers.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    ivan.rnn01ivan.rnn01 Posts: 1,822member
    Umm...



    Check into System Profiler/Network/AirPort card one more time. OK, it's AirPort Extreme. What is it saying about "Current wireless network"?



    Go to System preferences/Network. Begin to create new location (Assist me/Assistance... in appearing popup/Continue). Does Network Assistant propose "I use AirPort to connect Internet wirelessly"? Select "I use AirPort to connect Internet wirelessly", click "Continue".



    Does it show you any networks on the list? Does it show "Other AirPort Network"? Select Other airport network and try to re-enter your SSID and password.



    If you have Installation Disk install Developer tools, go into Developer/Applications/Utilities and run IORegistryExprorer.app. Do you see your AirPort card on pci bus?



    Download iStumbler.app and run it. Does iStumbler see any WiFi networks?



    If not, go to see folks in your nearest Apple Authorized Service Provider.

    I remember they were installing some specific version of AirPort card in Minis...It was not user serviceable.
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