G'day all. I'm having some trouble with my internet connection on my macBook and was hoping one of you could help me out. A couple of nights ago there was a powercut in my area. I left for work and when I came back the power was back on but I am now unable to connect to the web with my macBook.
So far I have tried:
Resetting the modem multiple times
Resetting the macBook multiple times
Ringing Telstra to make sure my network settings were correct (they were)
Booting macBook in safe mode and then resetting.
and so far nothing. It's not aproblem with the modem or the cable as I am able to connect using my flatmates PC.

On my MacBook I am running Snow Leopard (OS 10.6.4), Using Safari 5.0 and/or Firefox 3.6.3. My cable internet connection is with TelstraClear and the modem is a Moterola SB5101 SURFboard cable modem.

Also if this is in the wrong place can someone please move it to the corect forum?

Thanks in advance.

A power cut could have also come with a power surge, no matter how minor. The first thing I would do is take your Macbook to another house or location...use a different cable and see if it works.

If it doesn't work there, you could try ringing Apple for advice?

Phil

There are also other things to check.

Is the network set to DHCP or is it set to Static?

Is this modem connected to a router of some sort like an Airport or DLink or is the MacBook plugged directly into the modem itself?

This is important because if the modem is connected directly to the MacBook then you will need to have a Static IP setup as the modem Telstra supplies doesn't have a DHCP server. If the MacBook is connected to a router then make sure the MacBook has DHCP turned on and let the router assign the IP.

For some reason when I had it connected directly to the modem and set network settings to manual it wouldn't get on line but when I connected it back to the router and switched network settings to DCHP like lowededwookie suggested everything righted itself. Thanks a bunch guys.

The reason is pretty simple.

When you connect directly to the modem you need to physically enter the IP Address that Telstra gave you. If you enter say 192.168.1.1 then it won't work because the modem hasn't been setup for that address as it is an internal address.

However, when you connect to a router the router will have had the Telstra address setup for the WAN (external) connection but also will have an internal address range commonly 192.168.1.x or whatever. It's this address range distribution of the router when you machine is set to DHCP that allows you to connect because the router assigns you an address from the internal address range which allows you a connection to the local network then when you access the internet the router channels the internal request into an external one.

That might seem complex but think of it like sending notes two different rooms in a house. Internally those notes can be sent around the house but if you want to send a note to someone else outside the house to another address you need an intermediary in other words a letterbox which then can have that note collected by a postman. It's the same principle. The house in this case is the router sending messages back and forth around the house is easy because everything is self contained. However when trying to go out of the internal network the router acts like a letterbox allowing the packets to be collected by the external network or more commonly called the Internet.

By connecting directly to the modem it would be effectively like living in the letterbox but you still need an external address to identify yourself out there. That can be a tricky thing for people who may not know how to do that properly.

Either way I'm glad you're up and running again.

*Smiles and nods politely*