Mac Network Weirdness---HELP!

Jim Brennan

Jim Brennan

VHS Member Old Skool
Forgive the length of this post, but I want to provide as much detail as possible to give the necessary information so someone can help me.

I have 4 macs, 2PCs and a few printers on a network.

I have a G4 running Panther, a G5 running Tiger, A MacPro and a Macbook Pro both running Leopard.

I tried to print to a network printer this AM from the G5 and got a very generic "Error While Printing " message, which i have never seen before. I got the same message regardless of what printer I was trying to send to. So I went to my G4 to access the files on the G5 through the network (which I do all the time) and got "The alias 'G5' could not be opened because the original item could not be found". I checked my connections (sometimes the routers get weird), but it was all good, and the G5 could get online no problem. I changed the name of the G5, and when I tried to access it from the G4 again, I got the same response, but the name had changed, so they obviously were connected.

I checked my MacPro and my my Macbook Pro and they all communicate fine with each other and the G4, but none of them can access the G5. It just says "failed" when i type in the password.

Now for the extra weirdness. When i try and access the other Macs FROM the G5,
I enter the password, get the list of drives on whatever Mac I am trying to connect. but when I select one i get the spinning wheel of death and everything freezes.

So, to sum up, I can neither connect to or from my G5, even though I changed no settings and it can get internet access through the ethernet. I also cannot access network printers.

The only thing I can think of that I did prior to this problem was to run Disc Warrior, but I have done that before with no problems.

Any thoughts? I get cranky when my network isn't running properly.
 
When in doubt, delete your network prefs file and zap the PRAM. It's not the most awesome advice ever, but it seems to work too often to ignore.
 
I know this will make me seem like a moron, but I could not find a Network Prefs file or the PRAM.

Treat me like I don't know anything....because that's pretty close to reality.

:beer:
 
Jim Brennan said:
Forgive the length of this post, but I want to provide as much detail as possible to give the necessary information so someone can help me.

I have 4 macs, 2PCs and a few printers on a network.

I have a G4 running Panther, a G5 running Tiger, A MacPro and a Macbook Pro both running Leopard.

I tried to print to a network printer this AM from the G5 and got a very generic "Error While Printing " message, which i have never seen before. I got the same message regardless of what printer I was trying to send to. So I went to my G4 to access the files on the G5 through the network (which I do all the time) and got "The alias 'G5' could not be opened because the original item could not be found". I checked my connections (sometimes the routers get weird), but it was all good, and the G5 could get online no problem. I changed the name of the G5, and when I tried to access it from the G4 again, I got the same response, but the name had changed, so they obviously were connected.

I checked my MacPro and my my Macbook Pro and they all communicate fine with each other and the G4, but none of them can access the G5. It just says "failed" when i type in the password.

Now for the extra weirdness. When i try and access the other Macs FROM the G5,
I enter the password, get the list of drives on whatever Mac I am trying to connect. but when I select one i get the spinning wheel of death and everything freezes.

So, to sum up, I can neither connect to or from my G5, even though I changed no settings and it can get internet access through the ethernet. I also cannot access network printers.

The only thing I can think of that I did prior to this problem was to run Disc Warrior, but I have done that before with no problems.

Any thoughts? I get cranky when my network isn't running properly.
Click to expand...

I think your biggest problem is that you're running three different operating systems. I have trouble connecting between by computer running Leopard and my wife, who's on Panther. I don't know if you can upgrade the g4 to Leopard but you should upgrade the g5.
 
I had considered that. I can't upgrade the G4, but I could upgrade the G5...

But why now? I have been using these computers on this network for months.....
 
Thanks. I zapped the PRAM, but now it won't let me turn file sharing back on. In the services section of the sharing window I can check the otehr options, but nothing happens when I try and turn file sharing on. it isn't locked and I re-booted a few times.

I also still have the same printing challenges.

Sheeesh. This is making me crazy.
 
Your network prefs file will be in the main Library folder (not your user folder Library, but the one you see when you first open your hard drive) under Preferences. The file name is com.apple.networkConfig.plist.

I can't guarantee this will do anything. But it will let you reset all your network settings from scratch.

HOWEVER, before you do this, I'd try a program called Applejack (check VersionTracker.com for it). It doesn't work in Leopard, but I used it for years on previous systems and it fixed random system weirdness quite often. It basically cleans out caches, virtual memory, fixes permissions, etc.
 
Nothing like network gibberish to set your hair on fire....Hope you get it sorted:)
 
You can try resetting your router to factory defaults. It should be in the menu somewhere. Just make sure you write down all your settings, or save them to your hard drive if you can (mine can do this), as you'll have to input them again.
 
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