Help - I screwed up my wife's computer.
I bought an new Cisco Wireless-N Router to speed up her use of the Internet.
She has a Macbook on 10.4.11.
The instructions said to load the CD and use Cisco's installation software.
It was easy to use and appeared to work perfectly.
The new router is much faster but doesn't automatically start up the network
connection, so I went into System Preferences and Network and the message
"Your network settings have been changed by another application"
with an OK button is shown. Pressing OK just repeats the message etc.
I can force quit System Preferences, but I cannot do any changes in Network.
A restart does not help.
How do I fix this problem ?
Here's a possible solution. First, write down all your info from the various Network preferences, i.e., your TCP/IP settings, etc. Then, open Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration and delete the following four files:
com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
NetworkInterfaces.plist
preferences.plist
com.apple.nat.plist
Empty trash, etc., then re-enter all that info you wrote down in the first step. Everything should be okay - but not your router setting - you can't change the router's settings from your Mac's Preferences.
To change the settings on your router, you need to log in to the router's configuration page from a web browser. See your router's documentation for more details - generally you can "log-in" to your router's config pages by typing http://192.168.0.1 or http://192.168.1.1 and entering a password. Your router contains a tiny web server and web site so you can configure its internal settings, like how long to stay connected, whether your wireless network is "open" or "closed"(SSID), etc., etc.
Aside from changing the connection's duration, and for security reasons, you may also want to change the password from the factory default
and disable broadcasting your network name (the SSID thing).
Good Luck and...
Happy Mac'ing!
Dan
(corrected 192.188 to 192.168 - AdminMan)
One more thing...
While you are adjusting your router - it's wise to set the security to WPA2 if it is not already, both WEP and WPA are easily "cracked". This will mean re-establshing the wireless connection on all your wireless clients, i.e. you'll need to select "Join other network" from your airport/wireless menu* and enter the name of the network before being able to join it. Oh, and to clarify, the SSID is the name of your wireless network - change it from the default AND disable "broadcast" - that way your networks name and availability is not visible to uninvited guests. A determined hacker, or someone with Kismet, can still find your network, but it's not as tempting a target as a wide-open router with the default settings.
Happy Mac'ing
Dan
* Don't see/have an airport menu in your menu bar? Enable "Show Airport status in menu bar" in the Airport pane of the Network preference in System Preferences
I guess you can't get to your Network preferences to see all those settings?
Check the Security panel in System Preferences and remove the checkmaark from the "Require password to unlock each System Preferences pane". That may allow you to see the settings - if not, this may be one of the rare occasions when Repair Permissions may come in handy. Open Disk Utility, select your hard drive and click the "Repair Disk Permissions" button.
If you still can't see the settings - you may have to start from scratch.
Happy Mac'ing?
Dan
I ended up re-installing the OS and all relevant updates.
The new router now works well and is much faster than the old D-link router.
I have learned my lesson not to let 3rd parties modify the OS, I should have manually installed the router.
Thanks for trying to help.
Glad you got it fixed - your problem was probably created by the installer for the router changing your network preferences with the wrong permissions. A router installer seems somewhat redundant and shouldn't change your Network settings - was the installer from your internet service provider or from Cisco? Deleting those preferences should have restored normalcy, did you try that?
Happy Mac'ing!
Dan
The Installer came with the Cisco router package.
I did not try deleting any preferences, I felt more comfortable with a re-install.
Quote from: pbridges on February 10, 2010, 04:16:42 PM
I have learned my lesson not to let 3rd parties modify the OS, I should have manually installed the router.
Yeah. Those 3rd-party installers from companies without a history in the Mac-specific product community can spell trouble.
So to your lesson on the 'installer' for your non-Apple router, I'd add a
further warning with respect to the backup software bundled with commodity hard drives, such as Costco's.
Do not install the included software. It's not necessary, and your Mac will run better without it.
Instead, format the drive (if necessary) with Apple's /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app
And then for cloning your Mac to an external drive use SuperDuper (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html) or CarbonCopyCloner (//http:///bombich.com) instead. (Or even Time Machine (http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is-macosx/time-machine.html), but unlike SuperDuper or CCC, it's less intended for cloning, then for recovering earlier or deleted versions of your files.)