[Millennium]

Here's my situation:

• 1 PC with WindowsXP, connected to a DirecWay receiver and a D-link wireless router.
• 1 Rev.C iMac, connected wirelessly using a D-link bridge.
• 1 Power Mac 6100/60, also connected wirelessly with a D-link bridge.
• 1 TiBook/400, commected with an AirPort card.

My problem is, I also have a Beige G3. I have an AirPort Base Station (Graphite) that I want to use as a bridge to get it onto the network. I've looked up the relevent TIL articles, which state that to do this, you just set it up in AirPort Admin Utility to not do any IP-distribution of its own.

That's easy enough. But whenever I so much as plug the ABS in, it crashes the wireless router on the PC. This disrupts the rest of the network, which otherwise works fine.

The PC has to be the one connected to the outside network, since DirecWay doesn't support connecting to Macs at the moment. Given all this, what could I be doing wrong that's causing the ABS to disrupt everything?

[ghporter]

I think that an ABS is sort of overkill for this sort of use. You want a simple wireless bridge, such as a WET11 from Linksys. These have an internal web page for configuration, and you just connect them through an ethernet cable. They cost less than an ABS, too.

To configure your ABS for this function, you'll need to mess with a lot of settings in the Admin Utility, primarily on the Network tab.

First off, these instructions apply specifically to version 1.2 of the Admin Utility-previous versions may have different control names.

Uncheck the box at the top of the Network tab that says "Distribute IP Addresses." This will disable the Network Address Translation functions. Next, check the box at the very bottom that says "Enable AirPort to Ethernet bridging." This makes the base station simply another link between your computer and the rest of the wireless network. Here's Apple's KnowledgeBase article on the Network tab.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by GHPorter:
I think that an ABS is sort of overkill for this sort of use. You want a simple wireless bridge, such as a WET11 from Linksys. These have an internal web page for configuration, and you just connect them through an ethernet cable. They cost less than an ABS, too.

Yes, but I already had the ABS from an earlier network, so cost isn't an issue. I'd rather reuse it if I can, rather than buying another bridge.

To configure your ABS for this function, you'll need to mess with a lot of settings in the Admin Utility, primarily on the Network tab.

First off, these instructions apply specifically to version 1.2 of the Admin Utility-previous versions may have different control names.

Uncheck the box at the top of the Network tab that says "Distribute IP Addresses." This will disable the Network Address Translation functions. Next, check the box at the very bottom that says "Enable AirPort to Ethernet bridging." This makes the base station simply another link between your computer and the rest of the wireless network. Here's Apple's KnowledgeBase article on the Network tab.

OK; I'll try this. Thanks!

[ghporter]

If you have it, use it!

Make sure you post how things go. Besides, I get things messed up from time to time, so if I goofed, I like to find out!

[Millennium]

Originally posted by GHPorter:
If you have it, use it!

Make sure you post how things go. Besides, I get things messed up from time to time, so if I goofed, I like to find out!

Tried it. Didn't work, but it's wierd...

I looked at the Knowledge Base article you mentioned, and here's another one that it mentioned. When I plugged it in, it crashed the network as I expected. I configured the base station and then went to reset the "main" access point.

The situation with the Beige G3 is unchanged; it still cannot connect. The other machines in the house are on the network... except that the TiBook has now also dropped off the network, and the Finder is now taking up an average of 90% of its CPU for reasons I can't figure out.

And one other interesting wrinkle. According to that Knowledge Base article, once you've set up an ABS as a bridge, the AirPort Admin Utility won't be able to "see" it anymore. However, not only can my Beige G3 see it, it sees it over the Ethernet port, which isn't even supposed to be possible on a Graphite base station. The TiBook cannot see it over AirPort, however.