Airport and Windows

[otheroom]

I've got an older Airport base station (the dual ethernet model I believe) and I'm trying to get a Windows PC to connect to it.

The Windows system is using a Linksys USB 802.11g adapter and it's using the software that comes with it.

The Linksys software says it's connecting to the airport but cannot access the Internet. it never shows a valid IP address, just 0.0.0.0 and then eventually 169.n.n.n

The two PowerBooks connect just fine.

I've got the Windows system set to use DHCP just like the PowerBooks.

Other than the obvious answer (it's because it's Windows) does anyone have a suggestion for me?

 

[slooksterPSV]

I've got an older Airport base station (the dual ethernet model I believe) and I'm trying to get a Windows PC to connect to it.

The Windows system is using a Linksys USB 802.11g adapter and it's using the software that comes with it.

The Linksys software says it's connecting to the airport but cannot access the Internet. it never shows a valid IP address, just 0.0.0.0 and then eventually 169.n.n.n

The two PowerBooks connect just fine.

I've got the Windows system set to use DHCP just like the PowerBooks.

Other than the obvious answer (it's because it's Windows) does anyone have a suggestion for me?

What is the ip address of your Airport station - e.g. 192.168.2.1 192.168.x.1 etc. How are you trying to connect to it? Is it setup on a wireless network? Are you using WPA, WEP, etc. for encryption? What do the lights tell you (the green and amber lights)?

Sorry, the more info I have, the better I can help.

 

[h0e0h]

my mac mini was giving me 169.254.xx.xxx IP address all of a sudden from my linksys router and a simple restart solved that problem... have you tried that?

 

[otheroom]

Thanks for the interest slooksterPSV,

Here's the physical setup.

Cable modem -> Linksys Router -> Airport

The Router is dishing out IPs via DHCP (set to start at .100) and the Airport is showing it's IP as 192.168.1.100

I just checked a Powerbook that's connected via the Airport and it's IP is 192.168.1.103

I've got a G5 and Cube both wired to the router and their IPs are 192.168.1.101 and 192.168.1.102 respectively.

I have a printer on the G5 that's shared with the two PowerBooks and that's working fine. The PC doesn't need access to the printer.

I'm using 128 bit WEP (this Airport won't do WPA). My network is closed and I am using Access Control and have entered all of the MAC addresses correctly.

The Airport also just has three white lights, no green or amber. Everything is working fine except for the PC.

And to answer h0e0h, the systems and network gear have been restarted.

TIA

 

[slooksterPSV]

A couple of things:

Make sure your Airport is updated, you do that with Airport Admin I believe.
Make sure you update your software for the USB 802.11b? g? wireless key.
Now, if you have those all done and it still doesn't work, try entering all the information manually.
E.g.
Gateway would be the ip of the Airport
IP Address would be what you choose
Gateway (would most likely be 255.255.255.0)
WEP Key, whatever you specified.

If that still does not work, I'd say its an issue between the USB Key and Airport, which I think there may be a little more configuring you may have to do for the Airport.

 

[otheroom]

I do have the latest firmware installed in the Airport (it's 802.11b BTW).

I'm using DHCP so I didn't think that entereing the data manually would work since the IP of the Airport may change.

I suppose I could test it to see if it's some part of the DHCP negotiation that's and issue. I'll give it a shot this afternoon.

Thanks again.

 

[elfin buddy]

Simplify, baby!

I've had problems with closed networks in the past (especially with Windows), so I'd recommend first making the network open (turn encryption off too), and then testing everything to see how it works. At the very least, it might make the process simpler.

 

[otheroom]

I've had problems with closed networks in the past (especially with Windows), so I'd recommend first making the network open (turn encryption off too), and then testing everything to see how it works. At the very least, it might make the process simpler.

I actually tried that early on and got the same results. In either case the PC is telling me that it's connected to the Airport but that it can't get to the internet.

 

[elfin buddy]

I actually tried that early on and got the same results. In either case the PC is telling me that it's connected to the Airport but that it can't get to the internet.

Have you ever successfully accessed the internet wirelessly on your Windows laptop through another network?

 

[otheroom]

Have you ever successfully accessed the internet wirelessly on your Windows laptop through another network?

Yes, a neighbor had an open network and it worked fine on that.

 

[slooksterPSV]

I do have the latest firmware installed in the Airport (it's 802.11b BTW).

I'm using DHCP so I didn't think that entereing the data manually would work since the IP of the Airport may change.

I suppose I could test it to see if it's some part of the DHCP negotiation that's and issue. I'll give it a shot this afternoon.

Thanks again.

If your airport is setup to change ip addresses, that is an issue where you'd have to change every machine to know that change.

E.g. it's moronic to setup a server that uses DHCP because then you'd have to go to every individual computer (let's say you have 900 that accessed it) every day, week, two weeks, just to change settings on those computers to know what the servers IP is. DHCP on a connect through device (there's a name for it... router & hub) is a very poor way to setup connections.

 

[otheroom]

It appears the Airport is getting it's IP from the router because it's within the 192.168.1.100+ range.

It also appears that the router is also supplying IP addresses to the PowerBooks because they are also within the same range.

Everything has been working fine with the four Macs, no manual setting of anything, no network troubles at all.

I don't understand how allowing the airport to obtain its IP via DHCP is moronic since the wirelessly connected computers are getting their IPs from the router as well.

 

[slooksterPSV]

It appears the Airport is getting it's IP from the router because it's within the 192.168.1.100+ range.

It also appears that the router is also supplying IP addresses to the PowerBooks because they are also within the same range.

Everything has been working fine with the four Macs, no manual setting of anything, no network troubles at all.

I don't understand how allowing the airport to obtain its IP via DHCP is moronic since the wirelessly connected computers are getting their IPs from the router as well.

Ok give me a breakdown of how all the computers are connecting: e.g.

Computer1 --A--> Router
Computer2 --A--> Router
Computer3 --B--> Airport --A--> Router

etc.

 

[otheroom]

Hardwired
G5 --> Router
G4 Cube --> Router
Airport --> Router

Wireless
PowerBook1 --> Airport --> Router
PowerBook2 --> Airport --> Router
PC (with luck) --> Airport --> Router

The IPs that are currently assigned by the router
192.168.1.100 - Airport
192.168.1.101 - G5
192.168.1.102 - Cube
192.168.1.103 - PowerBook1
192.168.1.104 - PowerBook2

There is a USB printer on the G5 that is being accessed by the two PowerBooks by way of the G5 specifically sharing it in it's printer setup (there is no USB port on this Airport).

I think that covers it.

 

[slooksterPSV]

--!!--!!--FIRST--!!--!!--

Is the PC using Windows 2000 or XP?

--!!--!!----------!!--!!--

That helps greatly - now here's what I want you to do:
1 - set the IP of the Airport statically, it can stay at 192.168.1.100 - so just set it to that
2 - set the IP of the PC to 192.168.1.106 and the gateway 192.168.1.100 - Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0
3 - turn off all encryption to test and make sure this setup works.
--IF this does not work -- Check the config on the Airport and see if you need to add the Mac address of the PC's USB Key (probably not, but still)--

Otherwise if that doesn't work:
Set the IP address of the Airport to 192.168.1.1 - this is the router ip that all routers use, x.x.x.1 is registered for Routers though it may be changed, its still specific to routers and hubs (but like I said, you CAN assign it, but its mainly used for routers and hubs).
Now you can use DHCP on all of them and see if that works.

If that still does not work, make sure the PB's are asleep or shutdown and try connecting the PC. You may have a max connection issue.

Try those things, if that doesn't work, then its a problem with the USB Key I'm taking it, you can share inet connection from a PB or that and have the PC connect through there.

 

[otheroom]

Part way through the steps you outlined it started working.

I've narrowed it down to the WEP security causing the problem. Once I turned that off it connected just fine. This is odd since when it wasn't working the Linksys software on the PC said that it was connected to the access point but could not find the internet. That made me think that the security was not the issue.

I was able to leave the Airport set as a closed network and I also left the access control on so it's locked down to the specific MAC addresses.

I would like to turn the WEP security back on. I had it set to 128 bit. Are there any rules regaurding the length and the makeup of the password? What I was was working fine with the PowerBooks but then again that's an all-Mac network.

Thanks for all the help troubleshooting this.

 

[slooksterPSV]

Part way through the steps you outlined it started working.

I've narrowed it down to the WEP security causing the problem. Once I turned that off it connected just fine. This is odd since when it wasn't working the Linksys software on the PC said that it was connected to the access point but could not find the internet. That made me think that the security was not the issue.

I was able to leave the Airport set as a closed network and I also left the access control on so it's locked down to the specific MAC addresses.

I would like to turn the WEP security back on. I had it set to 128 bit. Are there any rules regaurding the length and the makeup of the password? What I was was working fine with the PowerBooks but then again that's an all-Mac network.

Thanks for all the help troubleshooting this.

It can be either 64-bit, 128-bit, or 256-bit.
Mine is set to 64-bit and so my code goes along something like this (hex-only is what we use):
ABCD123456 = 64-bit

64-bit WEP 64-bit WEP requires one key, comprising 5 hexadecimal pairs. A hexadecimal digit consists of an alphanumeric character ranging from 0-9 or A-F. An example of a 64-bit WEP key is: 4ea33d6872. To create a 64-bit WEP key, activate one of the four keys by clicking in the appropriate circle, then enter five hexadecimal digit pairs in the Key text box. After activating 64-bit WEP on the Modem, a computer with wireless capability can join the network only if this same key is entered in the computer's wireless encryption scheme.

128-bit WEP 128-bit WEP requires one key, comprising 13 hexadecimal pairs. A hexadecimal digit consists of alphanumeric characters ranging from 0-9 or A-F. An example of a 128-bit WEP key is: 3d44fe6ca1ef2ed3c421745db1. To create a 128-bit WEP key, activate Key 1 by clicking in the appropriate circle, then enter 13 hexadecimal digit pairs in the Key text box. After activating 128-bit WEP on the Modem, a computer with wireless capability can join the network only if this key is entered in the computer's wireless encryption scheme.

256-bit WEP 256-bit WEP requires one key, comprising 29 hexadecimal pairs. A hexadecimal digit consists of alphanumeric characters ranging from 0-9 or A-F. An example of a 256-bit WEP key is: 3d44fe6ca1ef2ed3c421745db13d44fe6ca1ef2ed3c421745db13efeae. To create a 256-bit WEP key, activate Key 1 by clicking in the appropriate circle, then enter 29 hexadecimal digit pairs in the Key text box. After activating 256-bit WEP on the Modem, a computer with wireless capability can join the network only if this key is entered in the computer's wireless encryption scheme.

Note: Not all wireless PC Cards support 128- or 256-bit WEP. Ensure that all PC Cards installed in the networked computers support 128- or 256-bit WEP before activating.

 

[cslin]

Any luck???

I'm so glad to know that someone else is having the exact same problems I have - I've pretty much given up on getting it to work after months of futile efforts. Did you ever get it to work? I have 4 macs connected wirelessly to the cable modem via the original Airport, but simply couldn't get my ThinkPad T41 to connect to the internet. It detects the network with excellent signal, but no internet. I do prefer the closed network, so does it mean that I need to set the password on my Airport to be random hexadecimal pairs (right now it's just a regular password)??
Many thanks!

 

[otheroom]

I was able to get the PC online when I turned off the WEP password. I'm running a closed network and that's working just fine. I also have the access control list of allowed MAC addresses active as well.

I haven't had a chance to try out using passwords of specific lengths yet, the PC keyboard crapped out and hasn't been replaced yet.