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Clivey · 06:19 AM

Hi everyone,

I've been running a WiFi network (using an Airport Express base station) with WPA Personal security for some time now, but recently I needed to update the software on my PSP, which is only compatible with WEP (128-Bit) security.

"No problem", I thought. "I'll change the security to WEP, do the update, then switch it back".

Only, I have just tried to change my wireless security from my PowerBook G4 using Airport Admin Assistant, and upon selecting 'WPA Personal' from the drop-down box, a window popped-up saying:

Joining a WPA-protected network and making changes to a WPA-protected base station requires a WPA capable computer. This computer is not WPA capable. If you continue you will not be able to join the WPA-protected network or make changes to the WPA-protected base station.

My instant thought is "What the

...? I was using WPA before!"...and I'm now concerned that if I go ahead and change it back to WPA, I'll lose control of the network entirely.

Put simply, my question is: "What should I do?"

Big Mac · Sep 7, 2009, 07:08 AM

Go to Software Update and make sure you have Airport up to date. What version of OS X are you running?

mduell · Sep 7, 2009, 11:04 PM

Use WEP.

Clivey · Sep 8, 2009, 05:22 PM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

Go to Software Update and make sure you have Airport up to date. What version of OS X are you running?

Hi, I'm running OSX 10.4.11 and all software is up to date - I'm now confused because I know I had WPA personal encryption before and I'm at a loss to figure-out what I've done differently.

ghporter · Sep 8, 2009, 09:13 PM

"Software" may be up to date, but the firmware for your AirPort card is not, and updates to AirPort firmware are included in the AirPort software updates. I think what you need is this download, the AirPort Utility 5.4.1 update.

Clivey · Sep 12, 2009, 05:41 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

"Software" may be up to date, but the firmware for your AirPort card is not, and updates to AirPort firmware are included in the AirPort software updates. I think what you need is this download, the AirPort Utility 5.4.1 update.

Thanks for that!

I didn't realise that the software updates didn't include firmware updates. Is this true for the whole system? If so, are there any easy ways to make sure you have the latest firmware for everything?

Cheers,

Clive

ghporter · Sep 12, 2009, 08:20 AM

The software updates DO include firmware updates. But when you ran the last point update, your firmware was probably up to date. And the system probably still thinks the firmware is good-though your experience using AirPort says there's something wrong. Running the (stand alone) AirPort Utility update should rewrite everything and correct your problem. The beauty of this is that if there's something else wrong, the update can't hurt anything.

Clivey · 06:39 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

The software updates DO include firmware updates. But when you ran the last point update, your firmware was probably up to date. And the system probably still thinks the firmware is good-though your experience using AirPort says there's something wrong. Running the (stand alone) AirPort Utility update should rewrite everything and correct your problem. The beauty of this is that if there's something else wrong, the update can't hurt anything.

Sorry for the delayed reply (my life is extremely busy at the moment), but I didn't understand your post...

...what's a "point update"? And why would my computer suddenly go from having the correct firmware and settings to not?

Thanks for taking the time to help

,

Clive

EDIT: Just to avoid confusion, my Airport is now working properly. Thanks for your advice.

ghporter · Oct 9, 2009, 07:59 AM

The "point update" I was referring to would be like a Software Update OS bump from 10.5.6 to 10.5.7...

Glad you got things working; I'm still not sure HOW the AirPort card's settings/firmware got goobered, but getting it fixed is more important than knowing how it stopped.