Airport Problems - Help Required Please

stanstan
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Using iMac G3 450, OSX 10.3.4 and TiBook G4 1GHz, OSX 10.3.4, connecting via airport extreme base station to the internet. All firmware/software updated.



Am constantly experiencing a very infuriating problem, where my internet connection works fine for 10 minutes, then for no apparent reason 'hangs' for approximately 90 seconds. This will then briefly start loading again (10 seconds), hang again for another 60 seconds, then carry on its merry way for another 10 minutes without issue - until the same happens again.



I have tested the connection without the base station and its works fine on both Macs. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what might be causing this and how to fix it?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    sport73sport73 Posts: 438member
    What kind of internet connection are you using?



    If DSL, it may be an issue with your PPoE settings/refresh.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    jonparjonpar Posts: 1member
    I , too have had similar problems using broadband cable. Have tried everything I can think of, but it does seem that Airport is not liked very much by anything other than dial up.

    Mac "experts" so far unable to help.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    dferranddferrand Posts: 4member
    From your Aport Admin Utility, try setting it up to connect via Ethernet instead of PPPoE. That worked for me with my new DSL ISP. Also try turning off Appletalk on both your Mac's.
  • Reply 4 of 12
    emcemc Posts: 27member
    If you are using a dsl or cable modem that is also a router(i.e. westell 2100/2200/6100 or a 2wire home portal), you will need to turn DHCP off on one of the devices. Since most ISP's tech support guys cringe when they hear "Mac" it may be easier to turn the DHCP off in the base station. Never done it, but I think you need to uncheck the "Distribute IP addresses." <---Not sure about that, so hopefully someone here with a base station will check me on it. Good luck.



    post your modem type and the type of service it is.
  • Reply 5 of 12
    stanstan Posts: 32member
    Thanks for your help. Using a D-Link 504 DSL router, DSl from Pipex. What do I need to do with the PPoE settings, and how do I turn off DHCP on the base station? Sorry to be dumb, Airport is quite new to me.
  • Reply 6 of 12
    emcemc Posts: 27member
    Just to make sure, you are using this modem. If so, it is acting as DHCP as well. Check the base station manual about turning DHCP off, I don't have one so I really can't experiment for you. More than likely it will resolve the problem you are describing.
  • Reply 7 of 12
    dferranddferrand Posts: 4member
    EMc is right. you have two routers distributing IP addresses (the AirPort BaseStation is a Router) uncheck "Distribute IP address" from your Aiport Admin utilty
  • Reply 8 of 12
    stanstan Posts: 32member
    Yes, that is the modem I am using. I have turned off DHCP on the Airport base station as suggested. However, the problem remains as before. Even on pages which should have been cached (ie I had opened the Apple Quicktime trailer page four times, on the fifth it did not load properly). It is very infuriating. Your continued help would be appreciated, I am out of ideas.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    stanstan Posts: 32member
    Incidentally, the Airport setting is to "Ethernet", not "PPoE over Ethernet", and has been throughout. Would it be worth reversing this?
  • Reply 10 of 12
    emcemc Posts: 27member
    Go ahead and leave it set to ethernet, the DSL-504 is performing the PPPoE for you. Another thing you could try is lowering the mtu setting on the airport network. Try entering this in the terminal:



    % sudo ifconfig en1 mtu 1492



    check before doing so to see if the airport on your TiBook is en1 or en2, and change the command appropriately. You can check which it is in the network section of system profiler. I have had cases at the help desk where I work, in which, I had to lower the MTU setting as low as 992, to resolve the issue. Try a few numbers if the 1492 does not work, lowering it by about 64 each time. You can always reset it to 1492 if this isn't what is causing the issue. Let us know if this works.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    agent macintoshagent macintosh Posts: 187member
    I had a similar problem of the net dropping out at "random" times and I, after hours of troubleshooting came up with a solution:



    * This might not work for all users since I had an incident where the wires could have been shorted out. *



    1. Plug the AirPort Base Station into a different outlet



    2. Move the base station to a different shelf or part of your desk.





    Hope that helps!
  • Reply 12 of 12
    dferranddferrand Posts: 4member
    Have you tried turning off the BaseStation and pressing the reset button for 10 seconds?
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