MacBook Pro cannot connect to Cisco Wireless Network

[Chauncey]

Hello friends, I have recently bought a new MacBook Pro which is working on Mac OS X 10.5.1 Snow Leopard Operating System. It is great experience to use the Macbook but I am facing certain issues with it. The Macbook does not connect to Cisco Wireless Network which is configured at my office. Sometimes the Macbook gets connected to Wireless network but It does not receive the IP address from the DHCP server. The Wireless network consist of Cisco Aironet Access Points which are in turned controlled by a Cisco Wireless Network Controller. The Network is WEP encrypted. All the other PC's at my work place do not have any problems while connecting to the Network. Is there something wrong with the Macbook Pro? Or the Network is just not compatible to my Macbook? I had OS X Tiger installed previously on the system which i upgraded to Snow Leopard operating system, can this be causing the problems in connectivity?

[Spyrus]

As you have mentioned that you have changed the operating system of the Macbook from OS X Tiger to OS X Snow Leopard, I would like to ask you that was the Macbook connecting to the Network before changing the operating system? The Network configurations in many apple devices do not get translated in New operating system if the operating system on which the configuration is done is changed. Hence there is a possibility that the network configuration which you have done in OS X Tiger have not been translated in the OS X snow leopard properly and hence you are not able to connect to the office network. Check the configuration again and make the necessary changes in it. Changing the Network preferences will solve the issue.

[Steve123]

Check the applications which are installed on the Macbook Pro first. Many applications use the Network resources when installed. Such application use the files of the operating system which are needed while establishing the Network connection. If the application is accessing the files which are required to establish the connection, the system will not be able to access this file and hence the connection will no be established. Open the Activity Monitor and see if any of the applications are using the Network resources or not. If there are any applications which are using the Network resources then terminate the process and see if the macbook is able to access the network or not.

[Big Fish]

It is the Encryption of the network which is not allowing you to connect to it. Many apple users face the problem of connection to the network if the encryption type is WEP. The Apple system does not support the encryption and hence apple devices cannot connect to the Network which has WEP encryption. Ask the IT dept of your firm to change the encryption from WEP to WPA. Changing the encryption will allow you to connect the Macbook to the network without any problems.

[Shen]

There is something wrong with the Airport card of your Macbook pro. I was also facing the same problem with my Macbook. It also did not connect to any wireless networks which are available. I took the Macbook to the apple authorized service center and got the Macbook tested. It turned out the Macbook was not able to connect to the network as the Airport card was not working properly. They replaced the Airport card and since then my Macbook is not giving any problems while connecting to any wireless networks. I would suggest you take your Macbook to nearest service center and get the Macbook checked.

[Zachary]

The DHCP server is not able to assign an IP address to your Macbook as it is not able to see the Macbook. There is some bug in the Operating system which does not make the device visible to DHCP server even after being connected to the Network. Apple has not fixed the bug yet and hence to overcome this we have to manually configure the IP address of the system. From the Apple Menu, select the System preferences and then Click on Network Preferences. Now open the Advanced Tab and configure the IP manually. Check with your Work mates the IP assigned to there computers and keep the IP address of the Macbook in the same subnet. Also try to avoid duplication of the IP address on the Network.