[waterloo]

Forgive me, I had to buy a PC for the little lady.

Having already set up airport extreme on my G4 desktop and Powerbook, I figured setting a PC to connect to the same netwrok should be easy - NO SUCH LUCK.

The PC recognizes the Apple network, but will not allow me to connect.

Any suggestions from you wizards out there.?

[Sherman Homan]

The PeeCee can see the Apple network but you can't surf?
Do you mean that you have an AirPort basestation?
Sounds like a DNS problem, type in an IP address in the URL:
17.254.3.183
It that takes you to Apple's web site, then there is a problem with the way the PeeCee is accepting DNS information from your wireless router.

[waterloo]

Originally Posted by Sherman Homan 

The PeeCee can see the Apple network but you can't surf?
Do you mean that you have an AirPort basestation?
Sounds like a DNS problem, type in an IP address in the URL:
17.254.3.183
It that takes you to Apple's web site, then there is a problem with the way the PeeCee is accepting DNS information from your wireless router.

Page not found?

[Sherman Homan]

Make a new network connection. Let the PeeCee connect using plain old boring vanilla DHCP, no DNS info.
What are your Macs' Network preference settings?

[ghporter]

What security do you have set up with your AirPort network? Depending on which type you have selected, there are a few issues to look at. Of course the first good troubleshooting step with this sort of network is to turn off the security just to see if it was the problem, and I recommend that. But if that lets the PC connect, come back and we'll talk about security. And you NEED good security. Trust me.

[waterloo]

Airport is set with a WEP password. I've messed about with the wireless settings on the PC but no way can I get a connection.

I did manage to get a connection briefly last night by connectiong directly to my NETGEAR DSL modem, obviously bypassing Airport. However, it was unprotected by a password, and I doubt that I can work out how I did it.This is slowly doingh my head in. Now I know why Macs are such a dream.

[Sherman Homan]

Tell us what your Macs' have in the System Preferences-->Network settings.

[waterloo]

Apple Network, requiring WEP password
NETGEAR, now also set with WEP Password
netgear-haltd - don't know what that is

[ghporter]

Let's start out with the easiest part: WEP is poo on a stick. It is seriously the worst thing you could do to your wireless network; using no security is better, because at least then you know you're exposed. WEP provides such flimsy protection that it is almost trivial to break, and because it's called "security" it gives you a sense that you're protected, but you are NOT.

Further, the WEP standard does not address key handling and generation. Here is the issue you're probably running into, and a fix of sorts: Apple uses a technique for creating a hexadecimal key from a passphrase that nobody else in the industry uses-they all use straight hex inputs. To create a key from your password, you simply put together the hex values of the plain text of your password. Here's an ASCII table to help you do that. Use the first 10 hex characters for a 64 bit key and the first 26 for a 128 bit key. This will provide you with the hex key that your AirPort equipment is using.

BUT DON'T USE WEP!!!!!!! All AirPort equipment with current firmware supports WiFi Protected Access (WPA) security. USE THAT!!!!!. WPA is really secure, (it has not been broken at all, but you can make it weak with short, dumb passphrases), and key generation is part of the standard. All hardware that supports the 802.11G (54Mbps) standard supports WPA, so your PC almost certainly will work with this.

Back to what to do: turn off the WEP security and see that your PC WILL connect. (I almost guarantee it will.) Once it does, generate a GOOD WPA passphrase-go for the max of 63 characters. Use upper and lower case letters, numbers, and punctuation; don't use any words in the thing at all! I use a generator found here to produce my own VERY random passphrases.

Once you've created your passphrase, save it to a text file on a USB flash drive. COPY AND PASTE the passphrase wherever you need to enter it for accuracy. Now turn on WPA-Personal in your AirPort Base Station and give it your passphrase. (Do this while wired to the APBS, by the way.) Now go around and connect every computer you want to be wirelessly connected, using the same text file for accurate key entry. Once that's finished, you should be done.