Macintosh

[cwinicky]

I have an Apple Time Capsule which I have always used to connect wirelessly.  None of my computers have been hard wired.  Today I switched from Verizon to Comcast and I am unable to access the internet wirelessly.  I have to connect the ethernet cable directly to my laptop.  I have reset the modem and the Time Capsule several times.  It has said something about an invalid ip address.  I'm not sure what is going on but I'm baffled and when I call Comcast they want me to call Apple and when I call Apple they want to charge me.  I don't want to have to get another router because my Time Capsule has a hard drive and also backs up all my computers.  Any help would be appreciated!!  Thanks!~

Camille

[BethKatz]

This should work without your replacing anything. But there could be various things set strangely from your previous connection or maybe the modem is confused.

Any time you change which device is connected to the modem, you need to restart the modem. You should also restart the connected device. Check whether the modem has a recessed button for a reset. Also check whether it has a battery that is maintaining the settings.

To reset, turn off everything. Then connect the Time Capsule with cable to the modem. Connect the laptop to the Time Capsule with a cable (you'll change this later, but be wired now). Turn on the modem and let all the lights settle before turning on the Time Capsule. Turn on the Time Capsule, Let all those lights settle before turning on the laptop. Turn on teh laptop. After it boots and settles, see whether you have a connection.

If you don't have a connection, look in System Preferences, Internet & Wireless, and Internet and tell us what you see under Ethernet. Also, please post what you see when you access your modem's statistics page by typing http://192.168.100.1 into your browser window’s address field.

[Joel]

I wish people came back and told us when things work or not. I'm assuming your instructions helped, but I'm curious if a factory reset was necessary on the router? Not sure if Verizon uses DHCP as Comcast?

[BethKatz]

We'll never know ...

[EG]

Verizon 'DSL' uses PPPoE. Comcast needs DHCP to be used. A reset to factory defaults of a router typically defaults it to DHCP being used. I'm not familiar with Apple routers but log in to the router and somewhere in the configuration pages make sure that "Automatic Configuration DHCP" is selected.

[baho]

I have Xfinity for TV, internet and phone. The modem is an eMTA modem from Comcast. I am trying to set up wirelessly using my Apple Time Capsule. I have reset the modem but not the Time Capsule (I am afraid that will remove all my Time Machine backups). I have otherwise followed all your instructions and still do not have a wireless connection. What do I do now?

[Barmar]

While I don't think that resetting the Time Capsule will do anything to the backups, I don't think it should be necessary. Just go into Airport Utility and make sure that it's set to get its settings from the ISP using DHCP.

[Baric]

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baho wrote:

I have Xfinity for TV, internet and phone. The modem is an eMTA modem from Comcast. I am trying to set up wirelessly using my Apple Time Capsule. I have reset the modem but not the Time Capsule (I am afraid that will remove all my Time Machine backups). I have otherwise followed all your instructions and still do not have a wireless connection. What do I do now?

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How did you reset the modem?  Did you use the Reset button?  If so how long did you press it?  What model of EMTA?  When you use the Airport utility, what does the summary page say?  What about the Internet -> Internet Connection and Internet -> TCP/IP pages?  If you plug a computer in using ethernet, can you see the Internet then?  What kind of computer and OS?

What we need to determine is where the issue is, wireless, the Time Capsule itself, or maybe the EMTA,or even the computer...

[baho]

I reset the modem by pushing the button, held it for a few seconds. Even tho I later read that I shouldn't do that, I even took the battery out a couple of times. The eMTA modem is an Arris TM722. We have a MacBook and and iMac, with an Apple Time Capsule I plan to use as the router. Both Macs are on OS 10.7 (Lion).

The summary page of Airport Utility says that the Time Capsule status is normal

Please give me specifics for my Macs for how to find other info you need to help resolve my issue.

[EG]

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baho wrote:

I even took the battery out a couple of times. 

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For curiosity, did you also remove the power cord and wait a few minutes at the same time you removed the battery ?

[baho]

Yes I did unplug the power cord when I removed the battery?

[Baric]

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baho wrote:
The summary page of Airport Utility says that the Time Capsule status is normal

Please give me specifics for my Macs for how to find other info you need to help resolve my issue.

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Saying the status is normal is not enough, post the exact status on the summary page as well as hte other tabs I mentioned.  We're looking to things that are out of place.

At the same time on the Mac's, open up your Network Preferences and select the adapter you are using (wireless or ethernet), press the Advanced button and then go to the TCP/IP tab for each and report the field values.  If you prefer the command line, open up the Terminal app and issue the following commands:

ifconfig -a

ipconfig getpacket en0

ipconfig getpacket en1

That should cover the ethernet adapter (en0) and airport adapter (en1) on modern Mac systems.

[baho]

Thanks for being willing to help, but I resorted to having a Mac geek come to our apartment and get the wifi  working. He reset the Time Capsule to factory settings and that got wifi working. But since I was using the Time Capsule for my Time Machine back ups, I lost all that info.

[Baric]

That unfortunate, especially since it was unnecessary, but as long as it's all working again, and you can make a new backup, nothing critical was lost.