[Kenstee]

Dumb question. Tried searching for answer here but didn't find anything.

Anyway, I have a MR814v2 using as a WAP plugged in to my wired hub. Works fine right out of the box by the way.

Two questions:

1. WEP. How do I set this up? Specificiacally, I see how to do it on the Netgear set-up page..BUT how do I also set this password on my Powerbook running 10.3.1. Can someone walk me through this?

2. Using this configuration I can't access the Netgear browser-based set-up page unless it is plugged directly into my PB. If its plugged into my hub it isn't seen. How can I force this?

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

[ghporter]

Your second question first: it's always a good idea to mess with the router configuration (ANY router configuration) while plugged in, because it eliminates the "Murphy's Law" scenario of passing interference messing up a critical setting. Also, is your "hub" really a hub, or is it a switch (or cable/DSL router)? Hubs are pretty dumb, and there's an addressing issue when you plug multiple devices into one-there's no intelligence in the hub to figure out which device gets which traffic. Since Small/Home office switches are getting to be very close in price to hubs, I usually tell folks they're better off with a switch for just about anything.

Now, for WEP. Whenever you're working with a non-AirPort access point and an AirPort equipped computer, it's best to generate the WEP key (which Apple calls your "network password") externally, either with the access point's utilities or manually. Do this in hexadecimal, which is the lingua franca of WEP passwords.

You'll have to make sure that every setting matches between the access point and the computer. You should use an "Infrastructure" network configuration (as opposed to "Ad Hoc"), and your authentication method should be "shared key." Enter your hex key exactly in both the access point and the Admin Utility-you'll have to use the little option thingy to tell the Admin Utility you're entering a hex value, or it will default to text.

In many cases, you'll have to restart your computer to make it see the access point properly, but that doesn't take long. Typical glitches involve mis-typing the key and skipping over one of the settings, but since there are only a few settings involved, your biggest pitfall is not being extremely careful in entering the key.

Good luck, and let us know how things go.

[Kenstee]

Originally posted by GHPorter:
Your second question first: it's always a good idea to mess with the router configuration (ANY router configuration) while plugged in, because it eliminates the "Murphy's Law" scenario of passing interference messing up a critical setting. Also, is your "hub" really a hub, or is it a switch (or cable/DSL router)? Hubs are pretty dumb, and there's an addressing issue when you plug multiple devices into one-there's no intelligence in the hub to figure out which device gets which traffic. Since Small/Home office switches are getting to be very close in price to hubs, I usually tell folks they're better off with a switch for just about anything.

Now, for WEP. Whenever you're working with a non-AirPort access point and an AirPort equipped computer, it's best to generate the WEP key (which Apple calls your "network password") externally, either with the access point's utilities or manually. Do this in hexadecimal, which is the lingua franca of WEP passwords.

You'll have to make sure that every setting matches between the access point and the computer. You should use an "Infrastructure" network configuration (as opposed to "Ad Hoc"), and your authentication method should be "shared key." Enter your hex key exactly in both the access point and the Admin Utility-you'll have to use the little option thingy to tell the Admin Utility you're entering a hex value, or it will default to text.

In many cases, you'll have to restart your computer to make it see the access point properly, but that doesn't take long. Typical glitches involve mis-typing the key and skipping over one of the settings, but since there are only a few settings involved, your biggest pitfall is not being extremely careful in entering the key.

Good luck, and let us know how things go.

Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a try!

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by Kenstee:
Anyway, I have a MR814v2 using as a WAP plugged in to my wired hub. Works fine right out of the box by the way.

Actually, it is NOT configured as a WAP right out of the box, which may be part of your problem. To configure as a WAP, log into router and go to LAN IP Setup page. Uncheck the box "Use Router as DHCP Server". My guess is that your hub is really a router or that there is some other DHCP server on the LAN. This would put the 814 on a different subnet than the hub and other wired devices, which would account for the inability to config it through the hub. As a side note, I have no problems doing any configs (when things are working), besides firmware upgrades, through my wireless clients on my MR814v2.

For WEP, I usually just enter the key in the setup page then try connecting to it through Internet Connect. This will prompt you for a password and give you the option to save it in Keychain.

[ghporter]

Originally posted by aaanorton:
Actually, it is NOT configured as a WAP right out of the box, which may be part of your problem.

There I go, thinking too deep and making assumptions again. Thanks for the correction.

[vmarks]

Once you have WEP set in the router / wap, when you try and associate your laptop with it, the Mac will ask you for your password.

But you don't have a password, per se- you have a 64 or 128 bit key that WEP generated for you in the router / wap.

Use the pull down, change it from password to 40bit (64bit, don't ask, peculiarity in how WEP sends some of the bits open as overhead, so the security isn't 64, it's 40.) or to the other setting, HEX, not ascii, and enter the key.

Should work from there.

[Kenstee]

Thanks all!!