[Andrew Stephens]

Hello

Setting up a mixed PC and iMac wireless network.

PC connects fine. Set encryption to WEP 128 and away we go.

Mac sees the secure network but will not connect. Have tried inputting the WEP key in both hex and plain format but it just errors.

Reset network to unsecured and the Mac logs on fine. Reset WEP password and it's a no go again. Router is a Zycxel, iMac is an intel dual core.

Am I making a basic mistake here?

edit:

WEP key generated on the PC from a normal password. starts 0x ..............................................

tried inputting the clear text version into the Airport connect dialogue.

tried inputting it in using WEP 128 ascii AND hex

tried adding $ but the MAc just "boinks" in a "not right sonny" sort of way and dissallows input.

tried adding "" but the same, input dissallowed.

zoinks! but thanks in advance

[ghporter]

My first and best advice is to NOT USE WEP! Seriously, WEP is highly INsecure. Use WPA, which is highly SECURE, and whose passphrase to key algorithm is part of the standard and thus eliminates any problem with "how you enter it in a PC versus a Mac."

If you have a plain hexadecimal key, your AirPort card SHOULD simply take it with a '$' entered as the first character, and it should work. But obviously there's something else going on here. Since all works well with encryption turned off, try turning on WPA and use a really simple passpharase like "testing" and see if THAT works. If it does, just forget about WEP entirely, generate a really good passphrase (very long, very random, etc.) and stick with that.

[Andrew Stephens]

Well, I'm not sure that this security isn't a bit of paranoid overkill. Now that nearly everyone has wireless the chances of being picked on to hack are tiny, as it's a home network the possible gain is nil. Still

I've noticed that the router has inserted a 0x infront of the key, which I have been inputting, so I'll try without. However my understanding is that the key is generated from the clear text input as the password, say "relaible".

On the MAc typing this phrase into the WEP 128 box will allow the mac to gnerate the key "on the fly" with no need for " " or $. I could be wrong about this.

If I start changing the wirless security to WPA then I'll have to do it all firsat on the PC, which I'm loathe to do...as it's a PC!

I might just attach an apple airtunes block, which I have spare, to the router via ethernet and get the Mac up wirelessly via that.

[ghporter]

The prepended "0x" is there MERELY TO IDENTIFY THAT THE MATERIAL IS IN HEX. You should NOT type it in!

The simple, manual way to find out what the hex key an AirPort card generates from plain text is to simply use an ASCII table to convert the text characters into their hex equivalent. You can do the opposite and convert the key to text, as well. "Hex key" in text converts to "0x486578206b6579". In the reverse direction, "0x476f6f64206b6579" converts to "Good key".

Touching a PC will not contaminate you! And frankly it's no big deal to change a key, especially since you really only need to do it once. Here's the trick: generate a really good passphrase and then save it as a text file on a USB flash drive. A "really good passphrase" is one that's very long, very complex, and that uses all available character options, including both upper and lower case alphabetic characters, numbers, punctuation and even "special characters" like space and 'line feed." Generating these is pretty simple; use a tool meant for the job like this one The maximum text passphrase you can use in WPA is 63 characters long, so tell the tool that's how long you want your passwords to be, then select all the options except "no similar characters" and let 'er rip! Now copy the output to a text file and save it to your flash drive. All you need to do now is change the router's settings, then when you connect the PC, supply the new passphrase by copying it from your text file and pasting it in. How simple is that?

Good security is NOT paranoia. That "one in a million" chance that the bad guys target YOUR network is more like "the easiest network to intrude on gets hit first." ANY unsecured network is orders of magnitude more likely to be compromised than ANY secured network. And the very first step the intruder takes after finding his pickings all secured is to hit the WEP-"secured" networks first, since breaking WEP's so-called encryption is trivial. Think about that the next time you contemplate updating that file with all your credit card numbers-the one you keep handy in case you lose one. Unlike when you make a purchase through a secure connection to the vendor, updating a file on your unsecured wireless network is like wandering around downtown naked-everyone can see whatever they want to. There ARE intruders out there, who WILL take advantage. Some just want to use your connection to surf, but others will upload spambot attacks that take over people's computers, upload porn (and in particular kiddie porn), or launch intrusion attacks on systems, all using YOUR Internet connection, which is where the FBI will START their investigation. Sound like fun to you? It doesn't' to me. Make it hard on these bad people and protect your network at least as well as you protect your home-you lock your doors, right?-then lock your network.