How to Set Up a Linksys Router with Mac OS X

21 Apr 2005 in Linksys, Macintosh, Technology Reviews, Useful Things by Garrick

B00007KDVI.01._SCTZZZZZZZ_.jpg

“INSERT CD FIRST”, screamed the sticker on the back of the Linksys wrt54g router.

A decade with Macintoshes has taught me the suggestions are normally for Windows machines. The router was persistent - and the sticker was blocking the power port - so, I thought I’d humor it. I was right. The CD shipping was filled with setup software for Windows. Nothing about how to setup from a Macintosh. Anywhere.

Everyone at Amazon said I’d be up and running in seconds. The Linksys site barely acknowledges Macintoshes exist.

Here’s the steps I took to setup a Linksys Router with Mac OS X

  1. Peel off the sticker on the back of the router.
  2. Plug in the router’s power cord.
  3. Connect the router to your modem via the supplied Ethernet cord and the port marked ‘Internet’.
  4. Connect the router to your Mac via Ethernet.
  5. Open up the ‘Network’ panel in the Mac’s System Preferences and plug-in the following specs:

    IP Address: 192.168.1.5
    Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
    Router: 192.168.1.1

  6. After applying the settings, open a browser to http://192.168.1.1 using the password 'admin'

Now you’re in the router’s control panel. Enter all your ISP’s settings and name your new wireless network something other than ‘linksys’.

Now you’ll finally be able to program from the gazebo in your backyard.

If this was helpful for you,

Comment | Trackback URL Short Link:

Comments (138)

[...] I visited this page. It solved my problem in 5 minutes. I hope it works for you: How to Set Up a Linksys Router with Mac OS X | Garrick Van Buren .com [...]

Linksys WRT54GC: Connected but not.... - MacNN Forums added these pithy words on Apr 19 07 at 10:58 pm

I’m surprised how often I find open linksys routers when I take the iBook out and about. Most appear to be installed with the factory set up.

Scott McGerik added these pithy words on Apr 25 05 at 2:57 pm

I just bought one of these suckers (worst documentation I’ve yet seen for a product) so that we can un-tether the iBook from our otherwise wired (mixed pc,mostly mac) network. The mac I would be using to set up with is rather antique and running OS 9. Any thoughts on if this should be workable or not.

Thanks,

d

David added these pithy words on May 26 05 at 9:34 am

David, I’m not sure if it’d work w/ OS 9. If the iBook can understand DHCP via a wireless card, I’m don’t know why it wouldn’t.

Garrick added these pithy words on May 26 05 at 10:07 am

Garrick,

Maybe you can help answer this Q I have. My roommates and I went in on a Linksys WRT54G router for our DSL and we’re having issues here. I have a desktop PC, that i’m using wired into the ethernet ports on the router, and it works perfectly for me. My roomies have iBooks, and both of them are having the same problem. They’re getting a strong signal in the house, but IE and Safari both are being VERY tempermental about pulling up pages. Some pages pull up instantly, some take forever and some just won’t pull up at all (examples: eBay won’t open at all, utne.com is sporadic, CNN.com will open, but not all the graphics, Amazon.com opens sometimes, Hotmail won’t open). We’ve been back and forth with Linksys tech (they say they don’t know much about Macs yet) and Apple tech (who keeps referring us back to Linksys). They have no troubles with WiFi spots (ie, Starbucks, etc.). I have the feeling that it’s something relatively simple, but I’m the house tech head, and unfortunately have never used Macs on a regular basis, so I don’t know much about them. We’ve (meaning I’VE) cleared the browser cahces, and played around with different settings on both the router and the iBook, but still having the same issues. Does this sound familiar to you? Can you suggest anything?

Scooter added these pithy words on Jun 19 05 at 10:49 am

Hey, thanks for the info. The total absence of Mac config info is really a shame…

Have a great day!

Pascal

Pascal added these pithy words on Aug 06 05 at 4:11 pm

hey garrick,

i just bought a linksys and i used your page and it works like a charm! YAY. ok now. how do I SECURE it with a password or something cause it’s just OPEN to the public. ideas?

aj

aj added these pithy words on Aug 07 05 at 10:32 pm

Hi Garrick!

I’ve been killing myself for the last 11 hours trying to set my powerbook G4 800 into a WRT54G and i only got closer to the sucess because of your tips but still not working!

I’m in Brazil at the moment and i spoke for hours with Linksys tech support here, spend hours on live chat with Linksys in US and my frustation is massive with them cos they dont know NOTHING about Mac, is unbeliveble!

If you have any other ways to conect, i wuold apreciate

Thanks you so much
C

Cleveland added these pithy words on Aug 31 05 at 10:08 pm

I tried to follow these directions, but when I get to step 5, I do not have the option to edit the “Subnet Mask” or “Router” settings. The Subnet Mask is blank and there is no editable field at all, and the Router settings are not editable. What now?!

Jen added these pithy words on Oct 18 05 at 11:15 pm

This is useful info because i just bought this router and it wont work with my Mac.
But i dont understand your STEP 4 (via Ethernet how? with another ethernet cable from router to my Mac?)
I can’t get to Step 5 and on if I dont have the internet connection anymore. Stuck at step 4.

Could you please help? Thanks!

T.V. added these pithy words on Nov 10 05 at 7:29 pm

T.V., Yes, you need to plug a Mac into the router with an Ethernet cable to setup or access the settings. I’m sure this is a safety measure.

Garrick Van Buren added these pithy words on Nov 10 05 at 8:05 pm

Hi. Sorry if I sound obtuse. Regarding Step 5: “Open up the ‘Network’ panel in the Mac’s System Preferences and plug-in the following specs:

IP Address: 192.168.1.5
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router: 192.168.1.1″

how and where do you plug in these numbers? After opening up Network, i go into TCP/IP under “built-in ethernet” but there’s no option to put in the subnet mask or router.

thanks again.

Gane added these pithy words on Nov 23 05 at 5:34 am

I recommended this product to a friend with an iBook and we have likewise found problems “keeping it up”.

Unfortunately it seems nobody is able to solve the problem from the searching I have done on Google. All users are reporting the same problem and all responses seem to say “oh poo, you poor iBook user who can’t configure a simple router”.

Having configured many networks in my day I can confirm that the settings we have tried are correct and yet we still have moments where Wifi just doesn’t work. About the only thing left on my list of debugging steps is to run a tcpdump and find out why this router is being such a piece of junk.

Fortunately I’m in need of a router so I could always buy this off my friend and tell him to buy an Airport Base Station. If, however, the problem is completely hardware based than my Debian iBook and OpenWRT software on the WRT54G may not work either… but let’s just hope it does.

Ryan added these pithy words on Dec 05 05 at 5:26 pm

One more addition to my last post, even when the Wifi portion of the router has failed ethernet works reliably as an alternative. If you are stuck in the same situation by all means, grab a cord and start complaining so Linksys will fix the product!

iBooks are cheap. If you work for Linksys, please print this page and bring it to your manager so you can have a testing unit in your office.

Ryan added these pithy words on Dec 05 05 at 5:29 pm

With the help of my ISP, I got the Linksys WRT54G functioning with my G4 on OS 9.2, but now I can’t figure out how to get my Ibook G4 on OS 10.3 with Airport to pick up the wireless signal.

Can you advise me how to set up the ibook?

thanks

Emery added these pithy words on Dec 14 05 at 9:31 pm

Emery,

I only had the one powerbook and an emac to set up. With the subnet mask @ 255.255.255.0 and the router at 10.0.1.1, the macs found the network easily using dhcp.

Garrick Van Buren added these pithy words on Dec 14 05 at 9:45 pm

The link_SES-53021 network shows up on the ibook’s Network Setup Assistant, but it asks for a password. What should I use?

Emery added these pithy words on Dec 14 05 at 9:58 pm

I just set up my Linksys router using these specs. At first it didn’t work. Here’s what I did to fix it:

1. First, in the Network Control Panel dialog box, you MUST configure DHCP with manual address. Enter 192.168.1.5 as the IP address. It should autopopulate the other two fields.

2. When you get to the http://192.168.1.1 setup page, you MUST clone your PC (or in my case Mac’s) MAC address. As soon as I did this, Internet and wireless worked like a charm.

The only thing I am still having problems with is setting a password. I have reset/redefined a password for logging into the setup page, but when I use my iBook, it never asks me to enter a password to connect to the wireless network. Any help is appreciated!

Sarah added these pithy words on Jan 02 06 at 10:09 am

I’m trying to set up an iMac and a G4 Tower via Ethernet (wired). I was confused as well about Step 5 until I read Sarah’s post. After following those steps though, I tried to direct both my Safari and my Internet Explorer browsers to http://192.168.1.1
It would look like it was searching for the page, but after about 30 seconds I’d get the message: “Can’t open page http://192.168.1.1 because server stopped responding.” On a whim I opened up Activity Monitor to see what the Network was doing when I ‘d try to go to that address. As I figured, there would be a bunch of data sent and recieved activity for the 30 seconds then nothing. I’m not sure what to do at this point. Any other ideas?

Aaron added these pithy words on Jan 12 06 at 9:07 pm

Well, I got OSX to set up the connection for me using the setup assistant, but now when I direct my browser to http://192.168.1.1
it promts me with this pop up:

To view this page, you need to log in to area “WRT54G” on 192.168.1.1.

It asks for a name and password, but I never set one up as I never got to the setup page at that address. Anybody know what that name and password might be. It’s not my system login or my .Mac login. So how do I get to the setup page to find this info if I need to to get the page. I am perplexed…help

Aaron added these pithy words on Jan 12 06 at 10:17 pm

The default name and password for your router is “admin” and “admin”.

I am currently having the same iBook issues after switching my WRT54G from WPA to WEP security. My powerbook is fine but the iBook is screwed. Argh.

Celeste added these pithy words on Jan 14 06 at 1:20 am

OK, after MUCH googlel searching, I finally found an answer to the problem of our iBook not working with our Linksys WRT54G router. Specifically, the iBook was hanging on most web pages and timing out on most.

To fix: Go to the router admin page and in “Basic Setup” change the MTU from “Auto” to “Manual” - I put it at 1450. Now, I am reasonably tech-friendly for a non-engineer, and I have no idea what MTU is, but what I do know is that an iBook that was timing out pulling down most Web pages is suddenly a happy camper again. Phew!

I found the suggestion to do this here:

Hope this helps someone else who was as angry and frustrated as I was with this senseless iBook/WRT54g problem.

Also, I might note that the iBook was working fine with WPA security and this only started happening with WEP when I switched to get my Tivo on the network, which doesn’t support WPA. Whatever!

Celeste added these pithy words on Jan 14 06 at 1:49 am

woops, here was the address I was hoping to post:

http://www.applelinks.com/p5/index.php/comments/3026/

Celeste added these pithy words on Jan 14 06 at 1:49 am

I didn’t bother with step 5. I had to call my ISP because the routers MAC address is diferent than the registered one. But you could just select to clone the existing MAXC address. for security, because i was also worried that it connected without asking for a passwrod???
1. change the name form “linksys” to anything “MyNetwork” etc.
2. disable broadcast, meanig you have to know the name is “MyNetwork” to connect.
3. Best idea. Go into MAC address filtering and tell it to only allow your powerbook to connect. You have to figure out your powerbooks MAC address first tehn tell it to only allow that machine to connect.

All the Linksys preferences/adjustments are available at http:/192.168.1.1 on your browser.

can’t believe they can’t publish Mac instrctions!!!!

e burden added these pithy words on Jan 16 06 at 1:52 pm

Hey all–came across this post while searching for a way to solve my similar problem setting up Linksys wireless with Macintosh. I have a new iMac G5 that has airport and my boyfriend has a G5 tower that apparently doesn’t have airport. We also like to play a PS2 game online and would like to both be able to utilize the internet at the same time for this purpose. We’ve been told that setting up a wireless router with extra LAN ports is the best option.
Should I bring my computer (which will be the wireless one) into the same room as his mac that will be plugged in via ethernet cable for the set up process? I set up the linksys last night with just my computer. We then moved the linksys into his office and plugged his computer in. All seemed to be well, but we keep dropping the connection, etc. I have to keep re-configuring my computer to get the signal. To top it all off, he was able to connect his playstation to the internet, but mine “timed out” when I tried to connect to the network (this is with cables). I read about changing the channel, which I will do, as well as changing the “linksys” name. Any other suggestions? Should I just get both computers in the same room for set up and start all over again? All I know about routers and networking I’ve learned in the past couple of days, so bear with me.
Thanks, Eilis

Eilis added these pithy words on Jan 24 06 at 1:24 pm

Just had the same problem. My ISP uses PPPoE, and before being able to enter these settings, I had to go the the PPoE tab in System Preferences > Network > Configure (Built-in Ethernet) and deselect “Connect using PPPoE”. Then, when I went to the TCP/IP tab, I had the option to enter the subnet mask and router settings manually.

You should then be able to get to http://192.168.1.1 and configure the router (I had to clone my MAC address to get things working).

Finally, you can go back to the PPPoE tab at System Preferences > Network > Configure (Built-in Ethernet) and re-select “Configure using PPPoE”. I was then able to get online using Internet Connect > Built-in Ethernet.

Hope this helps.

Suz added these pithy words on Feb 14 06 at 11:37 am

Re last post, the problem I’m referring to is not being able to enter settings for subnet mask and router in Step 5. Sorry!

Suz added these pithy words on Feb 14 06 at 11:39 am

Hi,
Thanks so much for posting these instructions. I followed the directions but am not able to open the router’s control panel. After setting the netowrk preferences as advised, I opened a browswer, typed in http://192.168.1.1, put in “admin” for the id and “admin” for the password. And then nothing came up on the screen?
Any suggestions.

Thanks very much

Catherine added these pithy words on Apr 03 06 at 6:08 pm

Garrick, great info, but I’ve run into a few problems.

I’ve got a PC currenty connected with a Linksys, and I want to connect with a Mac running OS 10.2.8. I can access the setup page of the router with Safari web browser, but from there I’m stuck, and don’t know where to go. If I clone my MAC address, the PC can’t connect. Any ideas will help. Thanks again!

Ryan 2.0 added these pithy words on Apr 05 06 at 9:40 pm

I am network illiterate but I used these comments for a WRV54G and it seems to be working fine now. I needed to clone the mac address in order to get it to work. Now I just need to figure out how to get the VPN part of this router up and running. Anyone have any success with this?

Brett Ellis added these pithy words on Apr 15 06 at 1:55 am

I have been trying for 3 hours to set up a Linksys WRT54G router following these instructions — without success.

My current configuration: iBook G4 running Mac OS X 10.3.9. ISP is verizon.net using a Westell Model 2200 modem. The modem is currently configured to do all the work of locating the ISP. In other words, absent any router between the DSL modem and the computer, I connect to the router at http://192.168.1.1 and fill in settings for IP Network Address (PPP/Primary DNS/Secondary DNS). Because this information is handled by the router, I currently enter no ISP-specific information under System Preferences/Network, which is set to TCP/IP: Using DHCP.

Attempting to install the Linksys, I find that I have to switch TCP/IP to “Using DHCP with manual address” in order to be able to enter the value of 192.168.1.5 above. As per the preceding paragraph, I’m entering no ISP-specific info, assuming the DSL modem will continue to handle it. I then Save Settings and get a screen which says settings are saved. If I then check back on “Network Status,” I get a message: Built-in Ethernet is currently active and has the IP address 192.168.1.5. You are connected to the Internet via Built-In Ethernet.

Everything looks cool, so I then try to ping or call up a web page. I then get … nothing. No ping, no web, nada. When, however, I pull the router out from between the DSL modem and the iBook, I get my usual Internet connection.

Can anyone suggest what I’m doing wrong? (I should note that this is the third wireless router I’ve tried to set up at home. A D-Link failed after a few months and a no-name brand never made an internet connection, even though it said it supported Mac.)

Thanks in advance.

Jim Keenan added these pithy words on Apr 16 06 at 7:07 pm

There seems to be a number of folks in this forum with extensive hands-on knowledge. I hope you can help us.

We’ve got a Laptop G4, with a pretty current version of OSX, using AirPort and a QuickerTech antenna enhancer for wireless activity, and a LinkSys router.
We have a bizarre problem.

We set up the laptop G4 and the LinkSys wireless router and it worked fine, all bars on the antenna display everywhere over 4 floors. The next day, the bars on the antenna display are constantly fluctuating, and there is no wireless connection. So we plug it up to the Ethernet of the LinkSys router, and it works fine.

Then we re-select the proper Network Configuration in the System Preferences, and then- immediately, we get all bars on the antenna display, and the wireless connection is fine again throughout the building.

We can put it to sleep and wake it up, and it works fine.
We can Restart, and it works fine.

But when we put it to sleep for the night, the next day it has lost it’s wireless connection again . . .

And it’s back to the process I’ve described above . . .

Our workaround works, but surely there is a reason and a fix for this situation.

Thanks for your time !

Howard Ferguson added these pithy words on May 12 06 at 2:38 pm

I just spent a frustrating couple of hours on the phone with Linksys. I’m having the same problems Celeste noted above, that some pages (Google, Gmail, cnn.com) are opening fine, and others are timing out. I tried changing the MTU setting, and a bunch of other stuff with the Linksys people, and finally, they told me to get the firmware upgrade, which stupidly is not available for Mac. They tried to tell me to find another computer to download it to and then upgrade it! Anyway, is there anything else I can do to fix this problem? Thank you.

Grace Meng added these pithy words on May 14 06 at 11:54 am

“admin” and “admin” isnt’ working to log on, and neither is leaving one blank and putting “admin” in the other… any other ideas?

Alix added these pithy words on May 15 06 at 6:58 pm

Problem loading pages. I’ve connected my lynksis WRT54G and everything “seems” fine. Full signal and the wireless comes up but when I go to load a page..I get the “you are not connected to the internet” prompt. It seems that I’m connected in every way until I try to open any page. Any suggestions? I don’t know what the problem is.

Jamie added these pithy words on May 25 06 at 2:51 pm

Jamie,

Is the ‘internet’ light lit on your router? If so, I’d double check the IP setting on both your router and Mac to verify they’re in the same subnet.

Garrick Van Buren added these pithy words on May 25 06 at 3:34 pm

Thank you! In a nutshell, I’m an idiot. Guess ya gotta hook up the cable line into your modem for the wireless to work, huh? Omg…thanks for your help!

Jamie added these pithy words on May 29 06 at 1:42 pm

I have done what the directions have said but I still can’t get into the routers controll panel. And where do you type admin.

Caleb Ballesteros added these pithy words on Jul 13 06 at 12:03 am

Where can you find your ISP setting on your computer at?

Caleb Ballesteros added these pithy words on Jul 13 06 at 12:05 am

Well this is what I learned after speaking to most of India tonight at Linksys support. Linskys does not support Mac products. None of their techs know Macs. I spoke to three different techs, one tried to give me an 800 number for Mac support and a supervisor later said there was no number. The number the guy gave me is for smalldog electronics, go figure…

You can not password protect a Linksys router for a Mac. It won’t work. If you figure it out please let me know because I spent an hour deciphering what the tech was saying and finally remembring what they said when i spoke to them in December after I bought this thing. From the wireless security page on the linksys page the tech support person(they tried to help as much as they could) you need to input a 10 digit number as a password in the line for key 1. But when you input the number /password on your mac it will say unable to join airport network. You will have to plug in ethernet to get back online, go to the page and disable the security.. simply put, there is no way to password protect if you are configuring the router from a mac. you can have a password if you set it up initially using a pc.. it’s just whacked..

who in this day and age doesnt provide support for Macs? well, linksys for one.

When I said I was getting intermittent connections the tech said you might have to restart the router each time.. you cant do firmware upgrades and again Linksys does not support Mac.

Argh. If you know something the techs and I don’t please share. Thanks.

jody added these pithy words on Aug 14 06 at 9:26 pm

hello all.
I’m running a mac with tiger (10.3?). I’ve had my linksys wrt54g for about 6 months now. After spending a long 3 hours trying to figure it out the first day I got it…I finally gave up on it. I’m now determined to figure out these piece of junk.

I have 2 questions:

1. I never got an ethernet cable with my linksys box…is it different from any other ethernet cable?
2. After you plug in the ethernet cable into the linksys device, where do you plug in the second ethernet cable for the computer?

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/6149/linksysspeedbbackcopyay7.jpg

Eva added these pithy words on Aug 17 06 at 8:38 pm

Eva,

To answer your questions:
1. No.
2. Pick any of the ports, 1-4. All should work equally.

Garrick Van Buren added these pithy words on Aug 18 06 at 1:57 am

Sorry, but I’m still having some trouble…
I got another ethernet cable and connected it, but it comes up with a message when I add the IP address. Here’s the message i get…

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/9615/ipaddressli2.jpg

Eva added these pithy words on Aug 19 06 at 5:45 pm

Here’s one for you. I have a wireless PC network at home (cable setup with 1 laptop and 2 desktop PCs - one ethernet connected, the other one using wireless card - all on XP).
I am doing a job right now where the shop has a Mac for a POS setup using an iMac G3. I want to do work from a remote location using an iBook. All they have at the shop is dsl. So I set the iBook up using the dsl link making sure everything work - internet, emails, etc. etc.
Then took the iBook home and plugged it into the linksys wireless port 2 and guess what? It works perfectly.

MannyComputers added these pithy words on Oct 03 06 at 11:54 pm

I wanted to try cloning my powerbooks MAC address. In looking at Linksys site then talking to my company’s tech support I came across a discrepancy. I just sent this email to Linksys tech support:
The answer you have under this “common question” is wrong for OSX: I need to clone my MAC address, however I have a Macintosh, where do I find the MAC Address?
You say to look in system preferences/network/built-in ethernet/ethernet address
Actually it’s under (blue) apple menu/About this Mac/more info/Network(click on the name “network”)/MAC address

Anonymous added these pithy words on Oct 06 06 at 2:10 pm

I am new to the mac-world …just bought a Mac mini. Also have problem setting up the Linksys hardware. Couldn’t get into the site http://192.168.1.1 or should I type this somewhere else?

Anonymous added these pithy words on Oct 11 06 at 8:33 am

Hello All,

I feel your pain! After being on the phone for almost 8 hours back and forth. My linksys is not working. Spoke to 5 different people from linksys and 4 from apple. They all loved to sent me back and forth. Mac techs said “is not a mac problem, your computer is fine” and Linksys people “You have a PC running fine is not a linksys problem.” Great! finally i decided to do a three line and becuase I had my PC running just great linksys atumotacally assusmed it was my MAC and apple assumed theh the same thing as well. Well after spendig some quality time with the MAC pro he said my mac was perfect which i belive since I have used my comp at work and in different networks for the past two weeks and it worked just fine with airport. Today i will stop by a starbucks or apple store just to double check that i can go in the network and use the internet.
By the end of the day yesterday I was able to get in the network but i could not use the browser, the problem is that the router does’t give an IP address to my mac. Before I created a secure network my comp was able to use the internet but it was really slow and it would work whenever it wanted. Anyhow i will try to use the advice from all of you guys..but if any of u are still having issues let me know maybe two heads at the same time can solve this issue….

Moren added these pithy words on Oct 22 06 at 7:26 am

Good News…..I found some information that might be helpful for all you. I was able to get my internet working. I have a mac powerbook G4 and a PC laptop after doing some research i found out that if you are using the router wrt54g v6 or v5 you should not upgrade to the new firmware which is 1.10.1 but instead use the old one, it has a bug…..after hours of reseach i found this great link http://forums.linksys.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=Wireless_Routers&message.id=11112&query.id=78445#M11112
(if the link doesn’t work, you can go to linsys help technical support boards and type on the search link:wrt54g v6+ mac= no internet)
from what i found the bug doesn’t let the router give an IP address reason why u think u are connected but ur internet is not working. I was able to set up throuogh ethernet both my MAC and PC. I did the set it up and went wireless on both computers..but when I went wireless on my MAC no internet..you just have to make sure u are in the old version, also i found some info about security…you can only close your network with specifics directions otherwise u won’t be able to the hook up ur MAC i have not try it yet…too much for one day …

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=240042

let me know if the network works for any of u guys

Moren added these pithy words on Oct 22 06 at 8:51 pm

Why is nobody answering the router page questions, such as the one ‘Alix’ presented? I’ve tried typing everything into the ‘Name’ and ‘Password’ fields. Nothing has worked. Maybe I’m just confused. Most people seem to be beyond this point. Can I get some more suggestions of what to type in the empty fields?

frustrated added these pithy words on Oct 25 06 at 12:13 am

Aside from ‘admin’, I don’t know what the default would be.

Garrick Van Buren added these pithy words on Oct 25 06 at 12:46 am

I had a similar problem of having no luck with admin as name or password (and no luck with the Linksys support people, who helpfully told me to find a friend with Windows and use their machine. Uh, no.) What finally worked was using a machine directly connected to the router via ethernet, following Garrick’s six steps, and using admin in both the name and password fields. Any combination that didn’t include all of that didn’t work.

Terri Mauro added these pithy words on Nov 04 06 at 9:36 pm

i remember successfully logging in to the linksys control panel via http://192.168.1.1/, that was few months ago. Since then someone has used my open wireless network and had me charged $45 for using p2p filesharing software. I’m now trying to log in and secure the network. Maybe I changed the default password? I can’t seem to get in. If there is anyway to reset the whole process that would be helpful. or maybe the User Name is wrong when I log in. I also forget what worked last time.

brad added these pithy words on Nov 30 06 at 1:17 pm

Hey, im glad i found this site. thanks alot.
I have a question thats the same as A.J’s question stated above. maybe im missin somethin.
but how do i set a password for my linksys. so no one can just jump on my internet. my Linksys is open to public as well.

Ace added these pithy words on Nov 30 06 at 7:31 pm

After reading the tips here, and only then following the instruction on the linksys site (particular to my router) was I able to get things working. Many thank to the posters here. Linksys can work with Macs, but their documentation is very poor.

Homard added these pithy words on Dec 05 06 at 12:11 pm

I am a new Mac user and have a Linksys router with my PC with wireless for the 2 Macbooks. The wireless internet was working fine for the last 2 months but since the last 4 days Safari on both Macs is not accessing the net. The network connection shows that the computer is connected to the internet. Have spent many hours with Linksys support but no luck.
Any help would be a life saver

Naveed added these pithy words on Dec 11 06 at 1:36 pm

Ok I have tried every day after work for almost a month to get my Linksys router to work and nothing. I get everything set-up (or so it seems) then I try getting on to the internet and nothing!Could not connect. It’s so frustrating! I have digital cable and weirdly enough my “modem” is attached to the digital cable box (don’t ask I know its so screwed up) but anyway connecting via ethernet is no sweat when I connect my computer directly to the modem, however when I connect the internet to my router and then try and go wireless, nothing. I’ve tried everything… literally everything. Anyone have Step by Step directions for people like me that are wirelessly inept?
Like i get the part about setting it up and changing the network name etc.I just can’t connect to the internet. Help… PLEASE! I’m paying for internet for nothing, and I’d really like to stop doing that.

Amber added these pithy words on Dec 13 06 at 3:29 pm

I THINK I FIGURED IT OUT!! well, mine is a WRT54GC (the compact one), the firmware version is v1.02.5, and my powerbook is a g4. i wish i can remember all the steps. but here it is to the best of my knowledge:

1. use SAFARI. i tried with firefox the first time, then couldn’t log on to 192.168.1.1 which is what you need to type in the addressbar.
2. assuming no passwords are set, type ‘admin’ for both ID and password.
3. i left everything as normal on the setup tab, except clicking on automatically adjusting for daylight savings time.
4. click on “wireless” tab which should take you to basic wireless settings. i left mine on “mixed,” renamed ‘linksys’ to my own network, channel 6 and enable.
5. click on “wireless security” sub-tab. choose WEP, encryption 128bit, enter a passphrase of your choice, then hit ‘Generate.” (i left tx key on 1.)
6. the WEP key slots should be filled with a bunch of numbers and letters - this is your password, so copy it down somewhere. hit “save settings.”
7. you’ll be kicked off of your airport, but join your newly named linksys network - it’ll ask you for a password. the WEP password didn’t work for me, so i chose WEP 40/128-bit hex, then entered the long passkey/password that was generated.
8. if you check your airport’s network status in system preferences, your new linksys network should show as WEP security.
9. i also clicked on the “administration” tab to change the router password because i’m paranoid.

i hope i did this correctly and this helps all you frustrated mac folks, ciao!

kim added these pithy words on Dec 14 06 at 4:35 pm

AHa! After days of struggle I finally got my macbook pro laptop connected to internet via my linksys (WRT54GS) router. Here’s what the linksys website doesn’t tell you–info one of their helpful tech assistants supplied me w/only this morning:

At the point when the online instructions tell you to type in a passphrase, DO NOT type in a passphrase.
Select 64 bit/hex, then type in a 10 digit # (or #s w/letters, or just letters)

Then, after saving these changes, etc, when connecting via airport from the laptop, type in that 10 digit # you generated–BUT FIRST insert a dollar sign.

Everything worked smoothly once I did this.

Derek added these pithy words on Dec 15 06 at 9:45 am

Derek, it worked for me! Thanks a lot.

ash added these pithy words on Dec 21 06 at 9:27 pm

Thanks to all these forums online I got mine to work. Here’s what I did, hope it can help someone.

1. under network settings, goto TCP/IP.
Configure IPv4: Manually
IP Adress: 192.168.1.10
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router: 192.168.1.1
DNS Server: 4.2.2.2

At this point wireless should work, you just can’t see pages. The connection to the router should work wirelessly so type http://192.168.1.1. In here under the Setup tab, click MAC address clone then click Enable and then the button to clone your MAC. Save changes.

If you haven’t already, give your network a unique name and under wireless security pick what you want. Even though people have said it doesn’t support WPA, I have WPA2 Personal setup and no problems. Oh and I browse in Safari and no issues with that.

Just make sure your Firmware Version is: v1.50.9, Sep. 14, 2006 (check under Status tab). This should work. Mine didn’t until I replugged everything back in.

Unplug the modem, then the router. Wait 5 seconds and plug in the modem. Wait til you have solid lights then plug in the router. It should work now.

In airport select your network, type password and go.

Hope this helps someone. I just spent 3 hours figuring this one out. Linksys customer service is hit or miss. Tonight it was a miss.

dave added these pithy words on Dec 27 06 at 12:57 am

I finally got my wireless to work with Dave and Derek’s advice!

I was able to get to the point where I could see my network, but I couldn’t log on. This is where their advice came into play…

under network settings, goto TCP/IP:
Configure IPv4: Manually (very important to set it to manually unless you want to wait and wait and wait…)
IP Adress: 192.168.1.10 (there might be another digit after 10)
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Router: 192.168.1.1
DNS Server: 4.2.2.2

Then put a $ before you insert your WEP number for the password.

Thanks guys!

Eh! added these pithy words on Dec 29 06 at 5:15 am

hi this is hugely amazing. i’ve been stumped. a houseguest set up the wireless on a pc, then disappeared and i couldn’t get in. then i just hit the reset button and now don’t know how to set this up for my mac. I’m a bit of a techno-fool so i’m still confused, any way to contact you w/ a question as i go along? it’s a big request but i’d be so very grateful.

nan added these pithy words on Jan 01 07 at 5:04 pm

Changing the MTU value to 1450 was really the best tip ever. My macs now works like a charm, no hicups, no time-outs, and even my net-bank that used to not conect at all, now does it in a breeze. Thank you all guys.

Vanderlei Loula added these pithy words on Jan 04 07 at 8:13 pm

Am trying to following all the instructions on this site, but am stuck when I go to http://192.168.1.1 I can’t get in because admin, admin doesn’t seem to work. Have tried on both Safari and Firefox. Have tried blank, admin as well. Any suggestions as to why this username and password don’t seem to be working?

oofma added these pithy words on Jan 15 07 at 4:03 pm

I don’t know how you guise are getting this thing to work I have tried everything possible with the user name and password and nothing works… ‘admin/admin’ don’t work ‘ /admin don’t work and even the other way around even put in linksys for user name and that don’t work whats going on I didn’t spend this much money for it not to work… help me please… I’m just trying to set up WEP cause I’m tired of people taking my net and making my browsing extremely slow…

Mustafasbeats added these pithy words on Jan 23 07 at 10:33 pm

Maybe it is a silly question, but I don’t know anything about networks. I assume that a wireless network doesn’t need wires (besides the one that connect the router to the modem). In the instructions says that you should use one Ethernet wire to connect the router to the modem, and another, to connect the router to a computer (used to configure the router), plugging in the cable to one of the four Ethernet slots. Will that computer be ever connected to the router with that cable? If so (and I guess the answer is ‘yes’), how can I make a wireless internet connection, using just a modem, a router and a laptop? I’m sorry if that is a dumb question, but I will appreciate any help.
Thanks for your time.
Marcelo

Marcelo added these pithy words on Jan 24 07 at 7:09 pm

Ok, incredibly confused by all of the posts;
My WRT54G immediately connected through my Airport card, but don’t have a password for it.

The more I read these posts, the more confusing it is.
All I need to do is establish a password/
Is there a step by step set of instructions for that?

Just for that; and when you say Network preference panel do you mean that literally, or do you actually mean that which is found in the Sharing preferences? I have Tiger.

Ken added these pithy words on Jan 28 07 at 6:52 pm

Ken, what steps did you take to connect your WRT54G to your airport? I have made a connection to the internet on my MAC and established a new network and password. However, I am stuck at that step. When I disconnect the ethernet cord and search for my network, it is there, but when I input my password, it does not accept it. Can you or anyone else help guide me through this??

Evon added these pithy words on Feb 02 07 at 4:08 pm

I have not been able to connect to the Linksys setup page for about 3 days now, getting ready to give up on it.

Ken added these pithy words on Feb 03 07 at 12:42 am

Tried some more things, including Virtual PC using the Linksys setup disc, too.

When I have a few days to deal with the damn thing, I will try to set it up again. Until then the dumbasses can just use my network.
I am sure there is a step by step procedure for it, and it seems that many of the posters here have got it to work, but they all seem to have different ways of going about it.
I wish there was one set procedure but it seems not, so screw it!

Ken added these pithy words on Feb 03 07 at 1:24 am

I got to the linksys setup finally by setting a static ip, and I have set that up as best I can, now my router does not show at all.
Thinking about just dropping $179 for Apple base station.
My time is not worth all this crap.

Ken added these pithy words on Feb 03 07 at 1:26 am

OK; my temper tantrum is over; got some sleep and read through the posts all over again.

And the winner is: kim12.14.06 / 4pm

Follow it step by step; It DOES work.

But: if I had it to do over again, would have gone Apples Airport base station.

In this case, $49 for the Linksys is too much and $179 for Apple is actually cheaper, all things factored in.
Once you have done the setup, it is ok, but the point of
Apples’ software design is that setup of any process should not be a “medieval” process like so much of the Windows/other environment is.

Thanks to kim, whoever you are.

Ken added these pithy words on Feb 03 07 at 12:38 pm

Using the $ symbol and my WEP key, I was able to sign into my password protected linksys router. But after a few days I was unable to connect once again. And this time, typing in $ followed by my key didn’t work. I don’t know that much about router-related things. Do I have to choose between having a secure wireless and actually being able to access it?

Jason added these pithy words on Feb 03 07 at 1:25 pm

so, everything was going well until i had to get to the http://192.168.1.1 website. what is the username? i tried admin as the username and it didn’t work. any help? thanks.

Hugo added these pithy words on Feb 15 07 at 5:59 pm

I wonder if anyone has seen a problem similar to the one entered by Howard Ferguson, 5/12/06. My daughter is having the same problem. The WRT54G works flawlessly with 5 pcs. Plug it in and it works, in two separate environments. She powers up her MAC and is connected just fine, with a full reading on the power level indicators. Within 20 minutes, her power levels drop down to half of what they started out at, and the entire network comes to a crashing halt. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? I am a server/DB developer and not a network/HW person, but I have never seen this behavior before. Thanks in advance for your input.

Lee Parmenter added these pithy words on Feb 27 07 at 9:14 pm

Garrick, I just bought this wireless router so i could use my Inspiron 6400 laptop anywhere in the house. Setup went find. The signal from the router is very strong but it doesn’t actually give off any internet. Also when I plug in my Mac OS X into the router, it doesn’t even recognize that there is something plugged into it and neither does the mac. Any thoughts on maybe a step I’ve missed or something else I should try?

Steele added these pithy words on Mar 04 07 at 11:14 am

I bought this router yesterday and had a very flustering time getting it to work on either my G4 for Macbook, so today, i started anew… went to the Linksys site, downloaded and installed the latest firmware, spent about 30 minutes reading how to connect it to my cable modem etc. I apparently needed to clone the mac id in the routers set up area via 192.168.1.1 - did that. Then I set up a wep2 personal security login - that finally worked. Now both are connecting and have been up for hours, working flawlessly. It was a hassle but i saved $130 bucks not purchasing an airport extreme.

andrea added these pithy words on Mar 11 07 at 3:44 pm

My new iMac suddenly will no longer connect to our wireless network. Sometimes it shows the network, often it doesn’t. Even when it shows the network and I enter the password, it gives me the “there was a problem connecting to the network” message. My laptop, which is on the desk right NEXT to the iMac connects just fine to the same network! Shows a decent signal strength. The router and modem are in a separate building (we are on 5 acres) - but this whole setup has worked beautifully for months - now suddenly this mysterious quirk with the iMac. HELP! Where lies the problem? the iMac or the Linksys router? When I lugged the iMac to the bulding with the router, it connected just fine!

May May added these pithy words on Apr 05 07 at 9:21 pm

Lee and MayMay - check your firmware if it is current. my wrt54G kept dropping and refusing to connect our macs until i upgraded then everything worked like a charm.

transcend added these pithy words on Apr 10 07 at 11:03 am

In response to Lee…

I have the same issue. I’ve got a linksys wireless network running at home, and it works flawlessly. I just bought a new macbook, and I bring it home, the wireless connects, and then the whole thing crashes when I open certain programs. When I direct connect with someone through Adium it crashes the internet. Also when I open iTunes, the internet crashes. As long as I don’t mess with those programs, it usually works fine. But if it disconnects I have to switch off the router and modem, turn them back on, and then manually connect to the internet through the PC that the router is connected to. It never works the first time, and I usually have to mess with it for 20 minutes each time it disconnects. I haven’t tried anything in this post yet because I just got back to school and it’s working perfectly.

But its ridiculous and frustrating. It disconnects everyone on the network, and just crashes the internet, even on the main PC. I’m relatively new to macs–I haven’t used one since I was eight. I’m pretty good with PCs, and I’ve had so many wireless issues that I’m alright with the network, but this has me stumped. Based on what I read here, though, it seems linksys blows for macs, and I might just look into the airport base station…

Stef added these pithy words on Apr 11 07 at 12:54 pm

We’ve had the same PC/Mac problem. My fiancee’s PC is fine when it’s on the network by itself. As soon as we connect my G4 powerbook, the whole thing crashes, usually within 5 to 10 minutes, and has to be restarted. The linksys tech people have had me configure the network in a million different ways (tho always DHCP…), and once had me replace the router– and now they keep wanting to replace the router again! Argh. It’s very frustrating.

Dan added these pithy words on Apr 11 07 at 5:26 pm

Thanks to everyone here, I am finally able to connect to internet through my linksys router from my new iMac. I was prepared to go through a long and painful process, but I was lucky enough to find this site which has saved me a lot of time.
The suggestion I used thats working for me is From
dave
0:57 December 27th, 2006

I was able to keep using my WEP security setting for wireless by choosing 64 bit/hex. Didnt put in any passphrase, just fill in the key directly. After reboot everything, modem, router, iMac. I was able to connect to my network wirelessly using AirPort. The important thing is add $ in front of the WEP password. This is only for Mac. The pc i have in the house just need regular WEP password. So if your key was 1234567891, you use 1234567891 on PC when it ask you for password, but use $1234567891 on Mac when password is required.

Another thing I notice, which is something ppl might think is common sense but I didnt, and maybe some other ppl didnt pay attention. That is those settings you did for TCP/IP (IP address, submask….etc) you need to fill them up for both Your build-in Ethernet and Airport. I am a first time Mac user, actually just get my new iMac last Thursday, so you might all know this already. But if didnt , make sure you select the same location in Network setup, choose Build-in Ethernet, fill in TCP/IP infor. change to choose Aiport, fill in same TCP/IP infor again. That should make sure you can connect wired and wirelessly. Hope this has helped someone.

A first time Mac user added these pithy words on Apr 16 07 at 11:48 pm

Great Page… Using WPA instead of WEP worked for me on my MacBook Pro. Thanks for the insite.

Chris added these pithy words on May 10 07 at 12:06 am

I think someone may have touched on it here. The problem is with the lean firmware that Linksys supplies with the WRT54x. The router is simply not issuing an ip to yourMac.

Upgrade the firmware on the device to a third-party version. I fancy DD-WRT. Your hardware is capable of doing all sorts of neat things such as VOIP, WDS, bridging, etc. However, Linksys cripples it with a junky firmware. This Mac problem is another example of this. I had my wife bring home her ibook G4 1.42GHz OSX 10.4.8. I reflashed my WRT54GS V6 with Linksys’ firmware and could access the network but bring up no webpagess. Granted I had no Admin access to the iBook so I could not play with the TCPIP settings.

I then reflashed to the latest stable build of DD-WRT. In absolutely no time I was surfing on the iBook.

http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3562391
http://forums.hardwarezone.com/printthread.php?t=1322409
http://www.wrtrouters.com/guides/upgradetolinux/

Kyle added these pithy words on May 16 07 at 11:41 pm

Okay, my turn. I seem to have a slightly different situation to everyone else…
I’m using a WAG54G (as opposed to a WRT54G) connected to an imac running 10.4.9. Now, after many weeks of battle with the router and my ISP, I have finally gotten the computer to connect to the router and the router to the internet -so I know all my router settings are essentialy correct. What I CAN’T do is stop my computer from disconnecting again - after which it fails to recognise the router, unless I turn it off and on again, or possibly restart the mac!? And yes, all the ‘disconnect’ related options are unclicked or set to redial regularly.
The complication, and why the guides here havn’t quite helped me yet, is that my isp uses PPPoA (not PPPoE) for which there are no apparent settings on the mac. I’m currently have the router configured to PPPoA and the mac configured for DHCP (automatic) which is the only combination to have worked so far.
Also, with the router set to PPPoA, I cant see where to put my MAC Address, as many have suggested.
Help? Anyone?

Billy Frustrated added these pithy words on May 21 07 at 7:30 am

Setting up linksys router on mac and pc with MAC OS 9.2

open tcp/ip

connect via ETHERTNET
Configure : MANUALLY
ip address: 192.168.1.5
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Router address:1892.168.1.1
name server address: 192.168.1.254

If you have a pc already connected to the router go to start-run-cmd
type ipconfig and change yours address .

Jose added these pithy words on May 27 07 at 10:44 pm

I just got the WRT54gs v5.1 router, and it works fine on my PC, but not Mac OSx v10.4.9. I have a DHCP cable connection, but was only able to get the connection to Linksys by manually setting the IP address to 192.168.1.5, as described above. Now the network is connected both via ethernet and Airport, and I get a strong signal, but still the internet doesn’t work, if I use Mozilla, for example.

Should I have connected via DHCP - in that case, how (I tried all combinations of turning off the computer, than swithing on modem, router, and computer sequentially) - nothing worked.

Thanks!

Jernej added these pithy words on Jun 06 07 at 5:42 pm

Now I tried DHCP again, and now it works.

Jernej added these pithy words on Jun 07 07 at 2:29 am

I’m able to access the router setup page and I’ve filled out the DHCP fields as per Garrick’s post.

When it comes to cloning the MAC address I have to do this by manually entering http://192.168.1.1/WanMAC.asp — there’s no MAC tab under Setup (I only found the address by viewing source). Can anyone explain why this option is missing from my menu?

Anyway, I’ve cloned the MAC address and the router is sending a signal, which my partner’s PC can connect to.

However neither the Mac wired to the Router and modem nor the PC connected wireless can access the internet.

Christopher Miles added these pithy words on Jun 08 07 at 6:37 am

Thank you all. It works. Also i figured how to reset the password to access the setup page of the router. Press the Reset button on the back for 30 seconds, and the password will be resent to “admin”, with a blank for the username.

wal added these pithy words on Jun 08 07 at 11:17 pm

Great ideas and good stuff here. Anyway , my story.
Have a Macbook Pro and bought a Linksys WRT300n wireless router. I used to have win pc’s (for 25 years) but bought the macbook 12 months ago. The router works perfectly in B and G mode but there are some things u need to set up correctly.
1. Clone mac address. This is needed as a lot of ISP match a user id to a mac address. You need to clone the mac address into the router so regardless of who logs onto the network the router mac address is the one your isp sees.
2 Security.
I use PSK personal security.All u do is type in a passphrase in the wireless security set up page and then enter the same passpgrase when Airport asks for it. Remember to click remember password at this time and from now on Airport will log on automatically.I have being using this security since buying my Macbook and had no problems at all.
3. IP addresses.
This is probably the area that is the biggest problem for most people.. I use DHCP and set range from 192.168.0.100 to 192…..168.0.110. This allows 10 users oon my network. The issue thst causes a lot of problems is that people are using macs and win machines that they use to connect to a variety of networks that alll use different IP ranges. If all the machines on your network are not in the same range with the same subnets yoou will get all sorts f problems like loosing wireless conectivity, loosinf internet etc. If you use your computer in more than 1 location yu need to use the Location tab. This is a great system that mac os x as it allows u to have different settings for networks in different locations. For mac users the network assistant is very helpful in helping u to set the networks up. I use multiple networks because of my wprk and depending upon where i am i just change the location. Again I have been using this system for over a year now and have had no problems. Hope this info is of sone use to you all and yes, Linksys support is pretty sad.

Allan added these pithy words on Jun 09 07 at 6:48 am

would this work with a dlink router?

Ryan added these pithy words on Jun 18 07 at 6:44 pm

I was banging my head as well for this one. I have a WRT54G version 6 and an iBook.

The issue was that the firmware I had in the router (1.01.0) had an issue with DHCP for certain devices.

Updating the firmware to the the latest one (1.02.2) solved the issue instantly.

Anis added these pithy words on Aug 24 07 at 8:03 am

I bought the WRT54G router to run with my cable modem. The plan was to leave my iMac wired and use my PC laptop wirelessly. (Plus a Vonage phone thrown into the mix.)

I read this entire thread before getting started, and ended up having no problems. I started with Garrick’s original advice, leaving username blank and putting “admin” for the password. I then used Sarah’s advice (1/2/06), followed by Kim’s (12/14/06) in combination with Derek’s (12/15/06), although not his advice on the dollar sign (maybe b/c I don’t have Airport). My firmware was version 8.0 (Jan. 07), and maybe that’s what saved me some of the firmware down-/up-grade problems others had.

After following all the steps, the PC connected fine (using the access key the setup had generated), but the iMac wouldn’t connect, even though it was wired properly. Although I’m no techie, I had a hunch about its IP address. To set up the router, I had previously switched DHCP to Manual in the iMac’s Network window, but since now I knew the router was set up, I switched DHCP back to Automatic. The iMac immediately connected! Maybe someone else can explain the reason behind this, but it worked for me.

Thanks to all for your tips and advice. I had a vague sense of dread before starting, based on everyone’s frustrations, but my install went great.

Will added these pithy words on Aug 28 07 at 12:31 am

I followed all of these steps with my new imac and my wrt54g router. I got all the way to the link sys setup page , but when I clicked to save the settings and finish everything my connection would time out and I couldn’t go any further. This is probably the second most frustrating thing I’ve ever dealt with. grr.

James added these pithy words on Aug 28 07 at 9:25 am

i tried all of this stuff and nothing worked until i upgraded the firmware. do that first!

fmb added these pithy words on Sep 01 07 at 10:21 pm

I got everything setup. Got a network name and password. Connected with my Airport with a full signal… BUT NO INTERNET! I can not get this router to send an internet signal to anything. Been at this for 6 hours now. What do I do?!

Angry added these pithy words on Sep 15 07 at 10:07 pm

I followed the directions initially given, but didn’t even have to type in all the numbers — it happened automatically for me. I know have one iBook and one Dell connected via Ethernet cables. I would love to use the wireless, but I can’t figure out how to make the wireless secure, so I just disabled my wireless connection, until I get that figured out. Anyone have suggestions?

Barbara added these pithy words on Sep 16 07 at 1:18 am

“now” that “know”

I now have one iBook…..

Sorry

Barbara added these pithy words on Sep 16 07 at 1:22 am

Wow, thanks to everyone who posted.
I’ve been using Linksys with my mac for years, but never hooked up my own until today.
I had the same problems, so went to Best Buy and set up an appt. with Geek Squad so I knew it would be set up right. They tell me it’s $89. I pay (stupid!) and they then tell me that there is only one guy who can set up Macs with Linksys, and he can’t come to my house for a month. You’d think Linksys, etc. would be more Mac-friendly these days.

I got my money back.
Thanks for the helpful information!!!! :)

Nicole added these pithy words on Sep 18 07 at 7:03 pm

How would i connect via airport? Using the Ethernet works, but not airport.

Ammy added these pithy words on Oct 12 07 at 8:26 pm

Wading out to unchartered waters now.. I have an airport extreme network. Use a pc wirelessly, and my mac g4 is connected via an ethernet cable. Just got a slingbox, need another router port to connect the slingbox. What is the best method to connect everything? DSL modem, to a linksys router, to my airport extreme? Any help would be appeciated. Correction: Slingbox

Jack added these pithy words on Oct 14 07 at 3:27 am

I’m on day 3 of trying to get my WRT54G router functioning without problems. Without everyone’s suggestions I couldn’t have gotten it up and running as far as I have. Now my only problem is everytime I put my iBook G4 to sleep and open it back up again, I have to manually select the Airport Network and enter the password, before I can connect, which is a pain. I’m using WPA Personal security. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening and how I can fix it?? Pleeeaase!? I’d be forever grateful!!

Anonymous added these pithy words on Oct 17 07 at 10:42 pm

i had gotten my wireless connection working by following your steps but couldn’t connect to the internet.

had an ATT tech come by and turned out the problem was that the westell modem needed to be changed from PPoE mode to bridge mode (at http://192.168.1.254, under advanced:connetion).

now it’s working fine.

thanks for the help.

mike ill added these pithy words on Nov 29 07 at 2:09 pm

can someone please help me, i got a new phone service, and a new computer three months ago, the computer is a 2007 imac the phone is called a voip phone, and i get it through my computer, sence i have i had the phone service it drops, calls i get feed back, in almost all the calls, and it goes dead, for days, the phone carrier sends me a thing saying set up you dmz which i can not do on this mac, i have no idea how to do this, because this computer is so new, just one month old, can someone tell me step by step how to do this, i am not a computer person, i can search for things, and email, and thats about all, i can do, so i need to be told each time i have to do sometime, if anyone can help me please email me at ratscats88@yahoo.com
thank you, from pamela

pamela added these pithy words on Dec 04 07 at 7:51 pm

I have a eMac os X and ive been trying for weeks to get this Linksys WRT54G set up and its saying im connected to the internet but ever time I try to pull up a website it says Internet cannot be found… Can someone please send me step by step instructions for a computer idiot?!?!? Im about to bash it with a ball bat here in a few hours if I cant get help… Aric6785@gmail.com Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous added these pithy words on Dec 07 07 at 11:53 am

While searching the internet, I found this site and it was a lifesaver! It gives step-by-step instructions for hooking up a cable/dsl modem and Linksys router, with specific, correct settings for both the modem and router: http://www.dslreports.com/faq/6323

Carolyn added these pithy words on Dec 09 07 at 8:22 pm

In step 4, the only field that I can enter is the IP Address, the Subnet Mask and Router fields are not visible/editable…how do I get these fields to appear so that I can enter the information? Thanks!

Dave added these pithy words on Dec 18 07 at 10:32 am

I followed all your directions but for some reason when I enter in the password that is saved on the lynksys interface it does not work. suggestions??

andy added these pithy words on Jan 10 08 at 1:10 pm

I have a macbook with OS X and im trying to get my Linksys WRT54G set up correctly. I think I have the latest firmware on my computer and I think I have followed all the instructions but no luck.
I think the router is all set up and I can see it and connect to it but when I try to pull up a website I can’t get anything?! please help

dana added these pithy words on Feb 09 08 at 1:26 pm

The login name is either “admin” or “administrator.” All the linksys routers I ever used had ADMINISTRATOR as the user name. The password is “admin.”

I can connect to the network wirelessly, but I am having signal problems, one second its good and the next second its dropped. The PC in the house has no signal problems at all. Its about time for an Airport Base Station…keep Mac with Mac and let the cheese be with the PC’s.

Aaron added these pithy words on Feb 09 08 at 9:55 pm

Excellent info on how to setup this system. Bought it today and was wondering where the MAC setup portion was so I googled it and came across you article. Thanks so much. Instructions are very easy to follow. Life saver.

Meshia added these pithy words on Feb 11 08 at 11:55 am

@scooter - just thought i’d mention i have same issue, been using this for years now on linux and was fantastic but my brand new mbp gets the results you’ve got. i thought it was the mac till i went to a buddies house with airport, but i guess its the combination. seems to apply either via eth cable or wireless. will think of you if i find solution.

glenn added these pithy words on Feb 13 08 at 1:33 am

I’ve been trying to set up a Linksys with my imac G5 (running 10.3.9) for several days now. This has been very helpful (I wouldn’t have known where to start otherwise), but I’m having a problem getting to the setup page. It worked at first, but then an hour or so later it refused to load anymore. I just bought the router new last week, and it’s running a new version of firmware for version 8. I can get it on my laptop (which is running windows), but that’s not useful since I still need to clone my MAC address on my mac. I’ve tried using three different browsers, so that’s not the issue, and it worked initially on Firefox. Could someone give me a hand? Email me at themadviolinist@gmail.com if you want to give step-by-step instructions. I would be immensely grateful. My main question is how to change the firmware, but I’m not even sure if that’s the problem. Gah!

Kelley added these pithy words on Apr 04 08 at 7:25 pm

this also worked for me using the WRT150N-EU.

thanks a lot!

Anonymous added these pithy words on Apr 10 08 at 1:06 am

Hey, I have a Mac, but my brother has a PC and we share internet connections. If I make this switch will he be shafted on wireless? Or will he still get the wireless with no problems?

Brendan added these pithy words on Apr 13 08 at 11:40 pm

When trying to connect to the Linksys network from a MacBook Pro, use the “Shared Key” value (provided in the Linksys admin tool) as the password to gain network access.

This worked for me. I was able to set up the network from my Windows PC. It took me a while to figure out what to enter on the Mac when it prompted me for a network password.

David in Atlanta added these pithy words on Apr 19 08 at 5:47 pm

when I do step 6. it was asking for both username and password. what username should i put?

heelp me added these pithy words on May 01 08 at 9:37 am

i tried “admin” as username and nothing happens.. help please! thanks!

heelp me added these pithy words on May 01 08 at 9:48 am

Hi there, does your set up guide work for a MacBookPro? I f not where do I go to find it? Mac could serve us better than it is doing, don’t you think? Ana

ana added these pithy words on May 05 08 at 6:58 pm

Thank you so much! I was thinking about putting the damn disk in the blender (still might), when I came across your lovely description. Now to think up a horrendous name for my network that will once again, remind my older neighbors, of why they hate us.

Christa added these pithy words on Jun 07 08 at 5:01 pm

DUDE!! THANKS SOO MUCH! IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT ISP SETTINGS ARE BUT THATS CUZ IM a blonde. BUT I FINALLY GOT. AND I GOT WIRELESS! thanks =)

OLYA added these pithy words on Jun 13 08 at 1:15 pm

i have done all of the steps from the website and i STILL CANNOT get internet! it is listed under my airport on the top but when i go to sign in the password it tells me that it is the wrong one. help! any suggestions?

lauren added these pithy words on Jun 24 08 at 12:49 pm

by the way, i am using a mac os x program. its a 2007 model. thank you!

lauren added these pithy words on Jun 24 08 at 12:50 pm

FYI, my problem was that when we visit relatives and bring 3 laptops adding to their 2 desktops and 1 laptop in the house already, then several of us couldn’t get to the Internet, although we all had strong wireless signals.

I appreciate all the info in this site and while I didn’t find the specific answer I was looking for, after logging into the Linksys router page, I did find a setting that fixed my problem.

The fix: in the Linksys Setup page at 192.168.1.1, we found a setting for “Maximum Number of DHCP Users”, which was set to 5. We changed it to 10 and now we all have access. Wahoo!

Multiple Computer User added these pithy words on Jun 30 08 at 8:37 pm

Garret,
I have a lynksis router and an airport. After much trying, I bypassed both and simply plugged my ethernet line from the broadband modem into the imac. We would really like wireless again. It all worked great with my old G4.

Greg Thompson added these pithy words on Jul 19 08 at 7:29 am

If you are using username: admin and password: admin and its not working, then take a pen and hold down the reset button on the back of the router for 5 seconds until the light blinks, then try using admin for the username and password again. this worked for me! i just had to reset the previous users information that i didn’t know.

Kate added these pithy words on Jul 25 08 at 3:54 pm

Hi Garrick, just to leave you a note. Thanks much for these helpful tips. I finally do have now my Linksys properly routing ADSL signal to my PowerBook! :)

sheila maceira added these pithy words on Aug 12 08 at 8:17 pm

I am trying to set up a password to lock my router using a WEP. Everything was working great until I tried to sign-in with the password on the second imac. It told me “incompatible security” and it would not allow me to connect. The computer i actually was setting the password up for works just fine it is the second computer that is not allowing me to access the internet. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
Also WAP worked just fine on both computers.

mike yonovitz added these pithy words on Aug 21 08 at 4:01 pm

Hi Garrick,

I was able to use this to connect my iBook G4 and a Gateway computer wirelessly, but now my desktop which is hardwired to the router is not able to access the internet. Any tips??
Thanks!

Hailee added these pithy words on Aug 25 08 at 8:38 pm

Hi Garrick,

So my problem is this, I get to the website 192.168.1.1 where it asks for the user name and password, I put in the admin password, but the window just keeps reopening, and I can’t log into the site….

Yvonne added these pithy words on Sep 06 08 at 12:05 pm

You should open your SAFARI browser, and then put user as blank, and passwd as admin, if that doesn’t work, reset your router using reset pin, and then try again, mine just worked after reading the entire forum, it really worked !!!

Ankur added these pithy words on Sep 12 08 at 8:40 pm

Has anyone had any luck setting up a Linksys WAP11 802.11b with a MACbook? The problem for me is there is only one spot on the back of the router for a cord - so I can’t have it attached to my computer and my cable modem at the same time…If anyone has had any luck with this I would love some help.
Thanks!

Jojo added these pithy words on Sep 20 08 at 11:25 am

i have used a combination of solutions and had a variety of results finally got to either being conected to the netword but cannot use the internet or fall down at the step where i have to enter the IP address of the router into the address bar but nothing happens just times out after 30sec, can u help?????

Will added these pithy words on Sep 30 08 at 4:24 pm

I know I was completely frustrated and COULD NOT get this supposedly great router online even after reading all these posts. I was all ready to buy another router but a a last resort figured I would try the Linksys website for help.

So I went to the “Ask Linksys” page on the LInksys website and entered “WRT54G” and “Mac OS X.” Click below to see this page.

http://www3.nohold.net/noHoldCust56/Prod_6/KnowledgePortal/KPScripts/amsviewer.asp?docid=bea8c897d15545479bce1c15b83f586d_KB3688_EN_070328_v1.xml&amsstatsid=4319579

On this page, Linksys actually summarized the situation nicely, and provided some steps which in cluded hooking the modem to the router and the router to the Mac with Ethernet cables.

I did all the steps and still was not online. Next I thought I would try cloning the Mac address in the router admin panel. Once I did this everything sprung to life. All computers in the house now happily humming away at 10Mbps Charter high speed!

Hope this helps someone….

Darren added these pithy words on Oct 08 08 at 1:42 pm

What does it mean and how do you “clone” the mac address. I have a wireless WRT54GS version ONE linksys. I read somewhere that there was a firmware upgrade for versions 5 and later that fixed the MAC OS X compatibility. Does this MAC addy clone work for version 1? I have the 24in mac desktop which at first worked great when I pulled the linksys from my closet and connected it to my PC (wired). Then later in the afternoon I tried with my macbook and it wouldn’t work. Said I was connected but still no internet. Then I turned my iMac back on and it wasn’t working =( Help please! - AJ

AJ added these pithy words on Oct 15 08 at 12:53 pm

Garrick, thank you for posting this! I’ll think of you fondly whenever I blog from the backyard.

Carolyn added these pithy words on Oct 18 08 at 8:24 am

It’s fun. i have a mac, my boyfriend has a PC, and we can’t see the wireless.
With teh ethernet cable ok,but the wireless??? ha ha, disappeared. We have a WAG350N, and can’t configure the wireless part. How come?
Thank you all for your help.

Ginevra added these pithy words on Oct 20 08 at 4:41 pm

Add a Comment


XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Related Entries