Yet Another Networking Question from a Newbie..

[VelvetElegance]

Ok so I bought an Airport Express this weekend and I got it all setup and it's working beautifully. My problem arises when I attempt to use my Windows machine to access my network. It is asking me for a WEP key or a WPA key. I have no idea what this information is or where in the world I would find it. Any ideas?

I've already tried my password and that doesn't seem to work..

Thanks in advance..

 

[superbovine]

First, it be nice to know what networking equipment you have other than the airport express, and the network setup itself.

my guess you are referring to the notebook which should have a wifi card, and you are trying to access your network through the airport express or some other wifi device. When you try to access your notebook it needs to access a wifi router or airport express to attach itself to the network to find your mac.

my guess is you might have two wifi devices attaches to your network or you might be connecting to a neighbors, or you are just confused about the airport express settings. don't really have enough info to give a straight answer because I do not know how your network is setup.

The wpa or wep key refers to a special that use you to secure a wifi router or airport express in your case. you can use the airport admin to setup these keys in your airport express if you don't know what they are. however, if you there is another wireless device out there, might trying to connect to it as well.

 

[VelvetElegance]

OK a little more about my setup.

Comcast Modem-->Linksys Vonage Router--> Airport Express

I was trying to use my windows notebook to connect to my already existing network. It shows the the network but then when I choose to connect to it, it asks me for a WEP number and I have no idea what it is or where I need to look to find it.

Am I leaving anything out?

 

[superbovine]

OK a little more about my setup.

Comcast Modem-->Linksys Vonage Router--> Airport Express

I was trying to use my windows notebook to connect to my already existing network. It shows the the network but then when I choose to connect to it, it asks me for a WEP number and I have no idea what it is or where I need to look to find it.

Am I leaving anything out?

ahhh much more helpful

Ok, first I am going to assume you vonage router isn't wireless.

my guess is your laptop works fine when you plug in a cable directly connected to your linksys router.

A wep number is the a sort of password you put on your airport express (assuming your vonage router isn't wireless).

you need to open your airport admin utility in the utility folder inside the apps folder. after you connect to your airport express you should see several tabs: airport, internet, network, ... etc

under the first tab there should be a select box says "Wireless mode" make sure home router is selected. you can rename your router at this point.

after that find a button that says "Change wireless security".

in your case WEP is the easiest to configure, because it will most likely work on the windows without any problems. so press "Change wireless Security" and select WEP. Create a password and write it down for now, and make sure the encryption is 128 bit wep then ok button.

this next part is optional everything might work for the part without doing this...i.e. skip this part first
now goto your mac that is connected by the wired network (i am assuming your are using that one right now). select preferences->network->built in ethernet->configure. The ip address should be 192.168.n.x. For example, my mac ip address is 192.168.1.100 where n=1 and x=100. Most standard linksys routers have n set to 1.

back the airport admin select the internet tab.

connect using: ethernet
Configure: manually
ip address 192.168.n.2 (n should be what ever it was above).
subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
router address: 192.168.n.1

end optional part

select the network tab and make sure "Distribute Ip addresses" is UNCHECKED

press the update button.

 

[VelvetElegance]

I just tried the part BEFORE the optional part. I think I did it the way you say. I am using and Intel iMac that is connected wirelessly to my airport express. I even tried doing the optional part but not sure about that part. When I try to connect to my laptop, I still get the Network Key signon window. When I try to enter the password that is on the other page you directed me to, it still would not connect. The error that I am getting says:

The network password needs to be 40bits or 104 bits depending on the network config. This can be entered as 5 or 13 ascii characters or 10 or 26 hexadecimal characters..


Pls help!!

 

[superbovine]

I just tried the part BEFORE the optional part. I think I did it the way you say. I am using and Intel iMac that is connected wirelessly to my airport express. I even tried doing the optional part but not sure about that part. When I try to connect to my laptop, I still get the Network Key signon window. When I try to enter the password that is on the other page you directed me to, it still would not connect. The error that I am getting says:

The network password needs to be 40bits or 104 bits depending on the network config. This can be entered as 5 or 13 ascii characters or 10 or 26 hexadecimal characters..


Pls help!!

try dropping your airport to 40 bits instead of 128 bits in the airport admin menu then try connecting with your pc laptop. also make sure you laptop is trying to connect to your airport express. in theory you could be trying to connect to your neighbors wifi. you could also try disabling wireless security and having a open network if all else fails. i'd recommend against, but you can use it for awhile until you find someone to set it up for you.

 

[VelvetElegance]

OK so finally resolution:

First I wanna say that as cool as the web chat Apple support might be for iMac users, I found it completely useless for helping me resolve my problem, which as it turns out was very simple.

My question to Mac support was simple: Where can I find my WEP key for my AirPort?

Their responce: You need to uninstall and reinstall your router..Reconfigure it, then call tech support and have them walk you through a more thorough configuration process.

Needless to say I was disgusted. I called tech support five or six times before finally getting through. I kept getting busy signals and droppped calls.

Apple's responce: AirPort Admin Utility -> Log In to Airport -> Click Password.

It was as simple as that!!!

 

[superbovine]

heh.. you i was going to mention that yesterday, but I was like "Naaaa, couldn't be that easy". glade you got it working...