[PabloTX]

I'm able to set up a connection between my 17" Powerbook and my Linksys 80211.b wireless router. Speed and distance are fine.

The only problem I have is when I try to enable WEP. I get the error message that the network could not be found. Happens with either 64 or 128 bit encryption, and entering either the Passphrase in alpanumeric or hex. I've tried with capslock on and off. No luck.

Any suggestions?

[gator]

Did you enter a dollar sign before you entered the hex key?

[PabloTX]

Yeah...I tried it with the dollar sign before and without. Still no luck.

I'm thinking it has more to do with my unfamiliarity with the OS...and plan on taking the PB and router to the local Apple store this afternoon to see if they can help out.

[Gromet]

I have an 802.11b linksys at work and an 11g at home... Got both working with wep encription. ok, first turn wep on in the linksys settings, creat the 128 bit key, and write it down. Now, you will lose your signal. go up to the airport in the menu bar and choose your network (whatever youve named it). when you chose it, it will ask you for the password. choose 128 Bit Hex and check "Add to Keychain" and add it EXACTLY as it was when you wrote it down. CAPS ON, and click OK. Now you should get the connection bars back in the menu bar. now try to surf. on occasion you will connect to your network but not be able to surf, if this happens, just go to you router pull the power and wait five seconds, and plug it ack in, you should now be able to connect ans surf. give it a try. hope it works, it worked for me after playing for a little while.

Gromet.

[PabloTX]

Gromet,

I can get WEP working fine on my Windows laptop...just not on the PB. I think I'm just too new to OS X.

When you say:

go up to the airport in the menu bar and choose your network

Do I go to 'Other' then select a closed network, or do I go to 'Open Internet Connect'?

Regardless, I haven't seen an "Add to Keychain" option anywhere...

Thanks for the help...

[Gromet]

Pablo,

When I say got to the airport in the menu bar, I mean when you click on the 4 bar signal strenghth meter up next to the power and volume indicator in the white bar on the top of the screen. when you click on this, you should see the name of your network in the list above other, etc... If you don't see this you may have SSiD Broadcast off, because your router should be broadcasting the name of your network ("Linksys" is deault unless you have changed it) when you click on the name it will ask you for a password. thats when you change the PASSWORD drop down to 128 bit hex and enter your wep key.

Gromet.

[gator]

As an addendum, if you do have SSID broadcasting off (which is a good idea), the way to add it is to select "Other" from the airport menubar, type in the name and the password. I also have a Linksys router and the password I entered was a dollar sign followed by the pw in lower case (my pw is 26 alphanumeric characters in length if that helps at all).

[PabloTX]

Thanks for all the help. I'm slowly making progress....

I can get it working...but not exactly the way I want to. I can always get the WEP encryption (128 bit) working now.

I can disable the broadcasting of SSID. But if I do this, it will not reconnect after sleep/restart. So I have to go to 'other', then enter the SSID and hex password again. It will not store it.

Or I can enable the broadcasting of SSID and everything reconnects after sleep/restart. I guess this isn't ideal...but it will have to do for now.

Well, it won't actually automatically reconnect...I have to go to the menu bar and select the network from the drop-down menu...but I don't have to re-enter the name or password.

Thanks again.

[pnz999]

BTW, regarding WIFI security... to keep people off my system, I can use WEP, disable SSID, and use Mac Address... Are there anything else I can do?

(ALbook with Linksys WAP)

[ae86_16v]

Under "System Preferences" then go to "Network" then click on the "Airport" tab click on both

"Join most recently used available network" and "remember network password".

Good luck.