AirPort is Connected but has No IP Address

5/9/2009 by Elliot Lee | Filed in Travel | 14 comments

I had this problem, and it took me an unusually long time to fix. I believe the cause is that the network we use here at home changed settings. We changed from WPA to WEP, or something like that. So even though I modified the settings in the Network Preferences Pane to WEP, it still didn’t work. AirPort would say it had no IP address, or a Self-Assigned IP address. And I had no internet connectivity.

The solution was:

  1. Open System Preferences.
  2. Click Network.
  3. Click the AirPort adapter.
  4. Turn AirPort Off. Click Apply.
  5. Click Advanced…
  6. In the list of Preferred Networks, scroll down to the Network Name you’re attempting to connect to.
  7. Select and delete that network’s entry by clicking the – button.
  8. Click OK.
  9. Click Apply (I believe this step is very important!)
  10. Turn AirPort On.
  11. Using the AirPort icon at the top right, select your network.

That did it for me.

14 Responses to “AirPort is Connected but has No IP Address”

  1. Ciaran says:
    11/7/2010 at 7:21 pm

    Hi man,

    Just wanted to thank you very much. I had the same problem, and this was an instant and highly satisfying solution. :)

    Ciaran

    Reply
  2. Alan says:
    11/9/2010 at 9:55 am

    Man u saved my freaking life! I owe you :) Thank u very much

    Reply
  3. Cali says:
    11/16/2010 at 4:12 am

    Thank you sooooo much !!!
    It’s been few days that I had this problem and it’s finally solved !

    Reply
  4. Sam says:
    11/21/2010 at 3:46 pm

    Hi, I tried this but it still says no ip address (then changes to self assigned ip shortly).

    I’ve been having this problem for over a year and the only solution is to go downstairs and restart my router and modem. This always fixes the problem, but its just annoying having to go restart the router all the time. Any other suggestions?

    Reply
  5. Tanja says:
    1/26/2011 at 2:40 am

    The solution did not work in my case but what worked was just selecting again WEP and entering again my password.

    Reply
  6. Kris says:
    2/8/2011 at 9:54 pm

    Wow. Thanks a lot man. What a quick and easy fix

    Reply
  7. Jonny Delap says:
    3/20/2011 at 4:41 am

    I’ve had the same problem and although this didn’t work for me. Tanja your solution of changing from WPA to WEP did.

    Thanks guys

    Reply
  8. Lyndsay says:
    3/21/2011 at 10:43 pm

    Thanks!! This totally worked…at least for the time being!!! Quick and easy.

    Reply
  9. Martin says:
    4/23/2011 at 5:56 pm

    THANKS, MAN! Saved my day!

    Reply
  10. marcy says:
    8/3/2011 at 6:58 am

    Thanks. Worked like a charm. Funny that all the other wireless stuff in my house weren’t affected–just my laptop.

    Reply
  11. Ani says:
    11/13/2011 at 10:48 pm

    Thank you ever so much.

    Reply
  12. dina says:
    11/17/2011 at 1:19 am

    thsnk youuuu

    Reply
  13. Giselle says:
    8/15/2012 at 2:26 pm

    Thanks a bunch for this! I’ve been searching forever for this fix- and yours was the simplest, and most importantly, it worked!

    Reply
  14. Michelle Kaufer says:
    10/22/2012 at 10:41 pm

    So, apparently, I’m the only one that this HASN’T worked for :( I have deleted the network and re-joined it, changed WPA to WEP and back again, I’ve deleted the airport, rebooted and recreated – nope…nothing… this ONLY happens at home, but my roommate (on a Powerbook – I’m on a MacBook) has no issues…. If I have to stay connected via ethernet I’m going to lose it – its’ been weeks and I still can’t solve the issue. I APPRECIATE any help :) – thanks!! oh – Mac OS X 10.6.8

    Reply

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