Airport Extreme and Netgear MR814v2

Published 19 years, 8 months past

So let’s say you’re trying to wirelessly connect an Airport Extreme system to a Netgear MR814v2 access point, but you find that it can’t or won’t do so.  You’ll be able to see the SSID from the access point, and even to manually configure your networking so the Mac thinks you’re connected to the Internet, but when you try to go somewhere (like a Web site) it won’t work.  If you try to pick up networking settings via DHCP, you’ll get a self-assigned address instead.  Furthermore, the MR814v2 will only occasionally notice the system as an attached device, and even when it does the situation doesn’t get any better.

So how do you get them working together?

  1. First, make sure you’re reasonably up to date on firmware, having at least version 5.01.  I’m on 5.03, electing not to upgrade to 5.30.
  2. Log into your MR814v2 using the administrator username and password.
  3. In the left-hand menu, scroll to the bottom until you find the “UPnP” item.  Select it.
  4. Enable UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) for the router.  Apply the change.

After a few seconds, everything should work fine.  It did for me, anyway; I was able to hit the Internet within seconds, and when I switched over to DHCP it immediately received a lease.  I’m using the system to post this entry, in fact.

I found the answer buried in a Mac OS X Hints thread.  I’m posting this largely so Google can find and add it to the collective cyberconscious.


Comments (26)

  1. Thanks for the selflessness. And yet…

    I pay for books by a CSS Guru and then come to this site daily and find all this day after day Mac minutiae. I switched away from Macs years ago because I wanted to be able to feed my family rather than spend every extra penny on shiny new G-Whatevers and operating systems that have to be changed more often than underwear. Call me crazy, but I also like easy networks and freedom of choice in software.

    But mostly switching to Windows was like picking up a different colored screwdriver, no more no less, only cheaper. It’s a tool. Just that.

    Aren’t there enough sites counting the iBooks in a frame of Will and Grace, or rhapsodizing over some new shiny object in OSX? I realize all the uber-Geeks were at MacWorld this week and someone had to maintain the balance in the Universe. But as someone who really appreciates the Meyer line of books, it seems there are better people to whom we could assign the task of filling Google with Mac techno-trivia.

    Searching and exploring and evangelizing is part of being a Mac owner. I worked tech support for a FireWire company, and Windows users would call wanting to know the answer to a problem and then get back to work. Apple users would call and want to tell you about their lifelong quest to keep their PowerComputing machine on the road, or read you their latest epic blog entry about Jaguar. They didn’t want solutions…. they wanted to be thought about. They wanted you to know how differently they all think (just like the ad said they should)

    Not all designers use a Mac. But those who make a big deal of what they use usually own a Mac. And that isn’t because Windows isn’t up to snuff. Maybe it’s because Windows is just a tool, like the motherboard and processor, and there’s nothing to romanticize. I for one am happy that I don’t have to go into 2 years of study and personal expression every time a new Windows system comes out. I install it and get back to work after lunch.

    I had a G4, and I get as much computing from a bargain PC that cost a quarter of the price (and all the software works and can be bought off the rack). Fetishizing a bunch of plastic and metal from Taiwan seems less than a profitable use of time. I hope when I am a high paid luminary like Eric and can afford to sit around just thinking about things all day long I spend that extra time playing with my kid or climbing mountains or feeding the poor, and not picking at every pimple on my computer’s latest operating system.

    Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’ve had one too many co-workers who posted pictures of iMacs on his wall and refused to read my WORD documents because he was protesting the Evil Empire.

    So rock on…. That’s why they make newsreaders. I’ll come back when something interesting is posted. (Not that I will be missed)

  2. The calendar on this page doesn’t render properly in Safari (I suppose, as the Saturdays flows over the border into the grey background).

  3. Dude, get a freakin’ clue. :)

    Is there some law that authour’s personal sites must be restricted to the topics they publish on? This is just one man with a problem he’s solved, sharing it for others who may be in similar straights.

    Joe seems at least as guilty of hyperbole as the Mac faithful he scorns… or is that part of the irony?

  4. Thanks for the tip. With the weird Mac/PC hybrid network that we have at my house, it just might come in handy someday.

  5. Joe Briefcase: Please let Eric know where to send you your refund. How much are you paying for meyerweb again?

  6. Jess, if you read this, could you point me to a screenshot, or send me one via e-mail (there’s a contact link on http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/)? I’m not seeing any problems in Safari.

  7. Thanks for the tip. I wouldn’t have found it anywhere else.

  8. Joe Briefcase sounds a tad bitter, doesn’t he?

  9. Thanks for the tip, Eric. My Linksys BEFWFS114 has yet to have this problem, but I haven’t tried connecting with an Airport Extreme card yet. I’ll be getting the Airport Express in a week so will add a comment at that time to see if it has any problem integrating with a Linksys router.

    On the Joe Briefcase comment: Have you ever noticed that the only people who ever seem to be defensive or bitter about Mac’s are PC users?

  10. First, I love checking in on this site precisely because Eric talks about a wide range of stuff (clouds, pol. parties, etc.) – not just CSS.

    Second, Joe Briefcase’s argument only works if you agree with his basic premise: the computer you use is just a tool.

    I have never thought of my computer as just a tool. Sure it runs an operating system, which in turn runs programs. From those programs I can either enjoy someone else’s products or I can create my own. But all the while I think of my computer as – stay with me here – a place, an environment, an almost living thing, an extension of me. I can go visit my ‘places’, I can change my environment, I feel frustration when ‘it’ does what ‘it’ wants to do.

    My coffee maker is a tool (although I tend to treat it as a member of my home). My computer is much more. And that is why Joe Briefcase’s argument will never persuade me to think otherwise.

    Eric, write about whatever the hell you want. I’ll read it if I’m interested, I’ll skip it if I’m not. It’s a free country.

  11. We’ll see if that works on my router. I’m having no problem connecting from my iMac, but almost every night all wireless networking disappears. It’s almost coming to the point that I think it is time for a rebuild.

  12. Thanks so much for you help on this. I’ve been having a heck of a time getting my Airport Express machines to play nicely with my Netgear router and was just about to swap in a new access point because I gave up. You are a gentlemen and a scholar (at least as far as wireless access points go.

  13. Hi, I tried the UPnP thing and it worked (I have AirPort Extreme and a NetGear router).
    I was thrilled. But then after awhile it stops working. The Mac is connected to the
    network, but loses its IP address. If I toggle the UPnP setting off and then on, it picks
    up its IP address and works fine again for a bit (say, the whole evening), but the next
    day it will have lost its IP address again and needs the toggle (or the power on the router
    cycled) before it can pick up its IP address again. Any suggestions? Thanks,

  14. Julia– unfortunately, I’ve been finding the same thing, although I seem to have a longer mean-time-to-IP-loss than you; the laptop will usually be fine for a day or two. I’ve also found that the actual setting of the UPnP option isn’t important. Simply changing it is usually enough to get the laptop back into the local IP space.

    Furthermore, I don’t have any suggestions. I’ve just been flipping the setting from one of my cabled computers, or else pulling the power on the router for a second. Either one seems to work.

    I think that the long-term solution may be to replace the router with something better… or else wait for an update to either Airport Extreme or the Netgear firmware to fix it.

  15. Thanks, Eric. There is some comfort in knowing that I am not alone. However, I experienced a similar problem with a misc hotel network and fear that I won’t be able to connect wirelessly while travelling. I have a friend with the same router and AirPort Extreme. She is experiencing no problems. Is it your opinion (guess?) that this is a router problem or an AirPort Extreme problem? I’m just wondering how much I should bother Apple support with this. Thanks again.

  16. Julia– I’d say check to see what firmware version she has, and to make sure she has an MR814v2 as opposed to the MR814 (aka v1). If everything matches up between her setup and yours, then it seems like something to bug Apple about.

    For the record, I’m currently using a v2 with firmware 5.0.3. I’ve not upgraded to 5.3 because it requires a hard reboot of the router after upgrading, which wipes out all the configuration information, so you have to write down your settings before you do it. I haven’t been sufficiently motivated to do so, although if we discover your friend is on 5.3, that might spur me to take the plunge.

  17. you rock! you just saved me countless hours of head scratching. Now Voila and I am online!

  18. Thank you so much for your help. I called both apple and netgear and they blamed the problem on each other.

  19. I found an alternative solution for my iBook with Airport Extreme and my Netgear MR814v2 router, which may be of use to people:

    * Upgrade the router software (don’t know if this contributed, but thought I’d include it!)
    * Reset the router to default factory settings
    * Make sure the router is set for open access (no WEP or WPA)
    * Connect to your wireless on the iBook – which now works as there isn’t a password to enter
    * Access the router settings (192.168.0.1) FROM THE IBOOK
    * Generate your passkey etc., and set the router up with WEP key
    * Enter the password when asked for it on the iBook
    * PCs will now connect OK

    I figured if the problem was to do with the iBook encoding the password differently than a PC would, then set everything up ON THE MAC and then the less-fussy PCs would be OK…. I even set the router up using remote access and it did the trick.

    Just my two-pennorth, and I hope someone finds it useful in the future :)

  20. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

  21. I just fixed a similar problem. My sister ended up with an Emac (oooh!) and couldn’t get it to connect. Trying to get her to figure it out over the phone wouldn’t work, so I went over there in person today.

    Her PC connects fine to the MR814v2 (no idea the firmware). Mac saw the access point but wouldn’t take the password.

    I reset the WEP passphrase and copied down the key (pen and paper). Went over to the Mac, System preferences, Networking, switched to Airport settings, Selected the router from the dropdown, and entered the key after first putting in a $.

    That is the secret. You need to enter a “Dollar sign” before the key and then it will work fantabulously :)

  22. Thanks for your advice. I spent about a day and a half to reconfigure my network (PC on WinXP-MCE, MAC on OS-X.3 , digital TV set box running on a small Linux having an RJ45 connector for Network-streaming and a Siemens Blue2Net running on some kind of embedded Linux). Well I learnd quite something about networks, but yours was the final link. Just for those who are interested, I did upgrade to the latest firmware 5.30…something and it works fine. I wish my Netgear WGT834U would do so as well, I configured that on as well and it drops off the W-Lan connection like all 1-5 minutes. Anyways thanks again and kind regards….Marc, Dortmund, Germany

  23. Thank You!
    At work i’ve been struggling with this issue for weeks. found your page and 20 seconds later i was online.

  24. I’ve got the MR814v2 router and just successfully networked my whole system – two PC’s, two macs – all wireless. Here’s what I did.

    First, for encryption, i turned it off. It’s a pain. Instead, I chose to restrict the mac addresses that the router allows online to those that I own. (wireless settings menu on the router) I also turned off the SSID broadcast so you can’t see the network. Also helps to name your network something other than the default “NETGEAR”. finally, I also went into the LAN settings i the advanced section and assigned permenant IP addresses to each machine so that the networking links would always be accureate from the PC to the macs. So now everything can connect to the web. But the next trick was to network it all together and share printers. My printers are all hooked up the a G4 desktop that’s got a wireless card in it. On both macs, I went into the sharing preferences panel and turned on file sharing so that they could see eachother. I also turned on windows file sharing in the same preference panel so the PC’s could see the macs and visa-versa. Next, to share the printers on the G4 desktop, I went to the print and fax preference panel and shared my printers. Then it was just a matter of setting up all the shares between the machines. My desktop has a couple of extra drives to it, and since the windows sharing only shares the user’s shared folder on the mac, I downloaded sharepoint from the apple site and set up shares on the other drives so that they could be viewed by the PC’s. Then I went on the PC’s(windows xp) and added network sites at the IP address and share locations for each of the macs. Finally, on the second mac, I added the printers that showed up as shared from the desktop G4. All in all, 2 hours of setup and I can see every drive and print from anywhere in my house. Very cool! Most of the info to get it set up came from the airport extreme discussion group on the apple site – query file share pc mac.

  25. I can get connected to my Netgear but my Mac has problems loading up we pages.. it spends a long time on the Looking up command when I try to access a website, then after a long wait the site either times out or loads in the end… yet if it comes to file transfers its really fast and things like IM clients work fine. I wish I could get this problem fixed.. any ideas about that one anybody?

  26. Can someone please send me the firmware for MR814v2 for a windows XP or where can I get it. I can’t seem to be able to get it from the NETGEAR website. Every other firmware is there but this one:(

Add Your Thoughts

Meyerweb dot com reserves the right to edit or remove any comment, especially when abusive or irrelevant to the topic at hand.

HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strong> <pre class=""> <kbd>


if you’re satisfied with it.

Comment Preview