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My sister's b/f bought a MacBook Pro for almost 4 grand and he is having trouble connecting to his Time Capsule. It will join the network but not display any web pages. I'm a Windows user, but I'm on that Mac right now and it has joined other networks and worked like a dream. Help?

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Dani AI

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Good points from and . A Mac that associates to Wi‑Fi but cannot load web pages is usually not a radio problem but an IP/gateway/DNS or upstream-router configuration issue. The following compact checklist isolates the failing layer without changing existing backups.

  • Basic reachability tests: check that the Mac has a valid IPv4 address, Subnet Mask and Router (gateway) in System Preferences > Network > Wi‑Fi > Advanced > TCP/IP. In Terminal run ping -c 4 8.8.8.8 then ping -c 4 google.com.

    • If pings to 8.8.8.8 fail, the Mac has no route to the internet (gateway or upstream).
    • If 8.8.8.8 succeeds but google.com fails, DNS is the problem — inspect Network > Advanced > DNS and try a public resolver for testing (8.8.8.8).

  • Role and DHCP checks: confirm which box is providing NAT/DHCP. Two devices both in router mode can cause intermittent connectivity; set the Apple base station to Bridge Mode in AirPort Utility (or disable DHCP on the other router) so only one device handles DHCP/NAT. Check the router WAN status and the router’s DHCP lease table to verify the Mac actually received a proper lease.

  • Other quick diagnostics and cautions: verify Proxies (Network > Advanced > Proxies) and temporary firewall settings. Test with a wired Ethernet connection to determine if the problem is Wi‑Fi specific. Keep a note of current base‑station settings before changing them so Time Machine backups are not disrupted. Firmware updates for the base station/upstream router and an OS update for the Mac can resolve odd bugs.

Relevant data for deeper analysis: the Mac’s IP / router / DNS values and the outputs of ping -c 4 8.8.8.8 and ping -c 4 google.com.

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Member Avatar for macgurl70

Ok, reading this question - it sounds like he may have Time Capsule set up on another computer and is trying to connect to it. If that is the case - did he tell Time Capsule that his laptop was one of the systems he wanted backed up?

Also - did he set up a specific partition for it? When I tried it for backing up a different computer, I found it worked with having a specific hard drive JUST for the Time Capsule backups. I don't know why - but after reading on some Mac forums and trying it - it definitely seemed to work best this way.

The only other thing I can think of is how is his network set up? Do you have a Windows laptop you can take to see how that computer acts when you try and connect to his network? Since the Mac works well with yours - it may be worth looking at his setup to see if there are any possible conflicts.

Just a few thoughts with some of the issues I have run into before - you may have already checked them, if so - what were the results?

Member Avatar for mesamb1

I think macgurl70 has great suggestions, but I am wondering if W1ND0W5 was trying to say that his sister b/f has an airport extreme time capsule combination device. If that is the case it sounds like a set up problem. So W1ND0W5 how is the hard drive for capsule connected?

Member Avatar for Member #758415

Not at their house right now, but his MacBook pro is the only Mac in the house. Will have to take a look at the setup, but I think the Time Capsule (yes, with Airport combo) is wired by Ethernet to the wireless router (a Belkin Wireless N job)

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