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2007-03-01 20:45:32
FrenziedAU
Member
+6|6460|Australia
Hi all, I've been unable to find information on this via google, so I'm posting here to see if anyone knows about how to fix this problem.
There are 4 computers in the house, 2 (including mine) plugged into the router, with the other 2 using a wireless connection.  Everything was fine until a couple of weeks ago when a new housemate moved in with a mac (sigh).  Since then, any time the mac is turned on my internet connection is incredibly dodgy.  Symptoms include pictures not loading properly (e.g. top half looks fine, bottom half has strange colours), downloads corrupt, ping spiking while playing games, etc. etc.
It is definitely caused by the mac being on the network, since any time the mac is turned off the net works fine.

Any help will be appreciated.  Unfortunately telling the housemate to buy a real computer won't work...

Here is an example of a corrupted picture:

https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k74/FrenziedAU/BF2142NSpcSCRNwwGOLIATH1.jpg
2007-03-01 20:49:33
Jbrar
rawr
+86|6554|Winterpeg, Canada
tell him to find another neighborhood signal.
2007-03-01 20:54:19
NemeSiS-Factor
Favorite Weapon? Pistol
+29|6682|Everett, WA, US
Quick fix:  Smash the hell out of the Mac, and tell your friend it fell down the stairs.  As far as your problem goes, that is what Macs are designed to do.

Seriously though, I don't see how a Macintosh booting could cause video problems.  The only thing I can think of is that the Mac is broadcasting, so it reaches your computer.  Your computer doesn't recognize the address, so it accepts it.  You need to place a switch or a bridge, or some other layer 2 device in between you and the Mac, to filter out any indirect contact between the two.  Layer 2 devices drop any frames that are not on its address manifest.  If you and the Mac are both on wireless, then your out of luck.  One of you needs to be wired.

[edit] Oh, I thought that was an in game shot from your computer.  You don't need a switch, you just need one of the computers to be wired.  That or, you could get behind a brick wall or some other signal absorber to avoid wireless contact between the two.  It seems your taking in some transmission from the Mac.  Does Apple have to follow 802.11 transmission standards?

You need to at least try wiring one of the computers to see if the problem persists.  If it does, there is a problem with your router's compatibility with Macintosh.

Last edited by NemeSiS-Factor (2007-03-01 20:59:16)

2007-03-01 20:58:44
FrenziedAU
Member
+6|6460|Australia
I am wired into the router (I don't have any wireless cards installed), the mac is using wireless.
The problem isn't a video problem, the problem is that data from the internet is corrupt (I can generally get data correctly by clearing firefox's cache, refreshing, and repeating until it works - note that the same problem occurs if I use IE7).
2007-03-01 21:01:10
NemeSiS-Factor
Favorite Weapon? Pistol
+29|6682|Everett, WA, US
The switch idea sounds like the best.  Does this problem only occur with your computer?  Or are others affected?

If there are multiple computers affected, then a switch would be best.  If its just you, A small bridge would work (it's like a switch with only two ports).  That would block any frames coming in from the Mac.

Please list the models of your computer, the mac, and the router.

Last edited by NemeSiS-Factor (2007-03-01 21:02:23)

2007-03-03 01:22:32
FrenziedAU
Member
+6|6460|Australia
The router is a Belkin wireless model, with 4 ports to wire comps in.
My computer is running WinXP pro on an Asus A8N MB.
The Mac is some sort of MacBook.

Other people on the network haven't noticed the problems - but they tend to spend less time on the net then me.
2007-03-03 01:34:45
lehter
Member
+4|6461
Could you tell the exact network configuration you have there. Which are connected to which devices, and how (wired/wireless)? What IP subnets do you have, if any?

When trafficing to the net, does your computer's traffic have to go over any wireless links?

Do you have static or dynamic IPs?
2007-03-03 14:17:22
NemeSiS-Factor
Favorite Weapon? Pistol
+29|6682|Everett, WA, US
Looks like Belkin defaults its LAN ports to be one subnet, and has its WAN port set to his ISPs provided IP.  So one Class C subnet is default.  Frenz doesn't sound like a network technician, so I assume its a 192.168.0.*

Hes receiving intermittent signal corruption whenever the Mac transmits frames to the router or vice versa.  Most likely the latter.  Maybe, because the Mac was not originally on his network, the Mac has a conflicting IP (some Belkins don't have DHCP) or a broadcast IP.  Before you go buy any equipment like I said before, see if you can change the Mac's IP address.

It should be something like 192.168.0.13 or something like that.  The last number cannot be the same as anyone else's.  Also, the last number cannot be 255.  That is reserved as a broadcast IP, in case a computer wants to transmit to all devices on the network.

Check your router settings to be sure the LAN IP is set to 192.168.0.1.  Again, only the first three octets must match all devices on the network.  The last one should be 1, but it doesn't have to be.  Check all your computers IP addresses and make sure the last octet (series of 8 bits, or the last number after the last .) are all different, and the first three are all the same.  Then finally, make sure all your subnet masks are all 255.255.255.0.

I don't want to screw up your network, so verify that there is something wrong with the Mac IP / subnet first.
2007-03-03 15:20:28
FrenziedAU
Member
+6|6460|Australia
I think we found the problem - the mac was being greedy and was trying to use my IP address (lease time set to forever in the router config), thereby confusing the router.  The mac user has set their IP address much higher, and I haven't noticed the problem since.

Thanks everyone for trying to help!

 

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