how to network airport with XP machine

got XP machine to test sites--but can't seem to get it onto Airport network

[Sari]

Well, I finally broke down and bought a used PC to test my sites on. The problem is that I can't seem to get it onto my airport network properly.

If anybody has any experience in getting Windows machines onto a Mac network, I would appreciate any help you can offer!

What we have is: Airport extreme base station v5.2; an imac G4 OS 10.2.8 administering the network and a windows XP (professional) machine with an IEEE 802.11g wireless card.

I can get the XP machine to say that it's connected to the network, however I can't get it onto the Internet, nor I can I see any of the other computers on the network.

Thanks for the help! :)

[Macguru]

Hi Sari,

I found this step by step tutorial.

[ifelix.co.uk...]

Hope this helps.

[Sari]

Thanks Macguru! I wish I had known about that site yesterday! I already managed to do everything it mentioned (after a lot of playing around) and it still doesn't work :(

The connection status says it's connected, but I can't even ping the base station.

Any other suggestions?

[microcars]

have you tried entering the WEP key instead of the password?

[Sari]

microcars--yep I tried this. I even tried entering the IPs manually instead of them being assigned dynamically, with no luck.

The only thing that has worked so far is to use a cross over cable to connect with the base station--not my ideal situation!

I think part of the problem is that it cannot find is with the DHCP settings.

Anymore ideas?

[graphix]

Can you post more info please?

When using DHCP on the XP machine, what IP does it get?
Is there a firewall running on the wireless interface?
When you gave it a manual IP, can it ping the LAN port of the base station? The WAN port?
What IP does the mac get? Is it the 10.x.x.x address, or something different?
Does the base station have encryption enabled?
Any other type of security?

Good rule of thumb when troubleshooting this is to make sure there is no security enabled at all.
If you dont mind, reset the airport back to defaults. (hold the reset button for 5 seconds)

The funny thing is that you say you can get connected with crossover. But that shouldnt matter, all the ports on the base station extreme are auto cross, so straight through or crossover should work.

Whenever I help my customers with this, I always reset it to factory defaults (if the customer hasnt extensively configured it), seems to help almost all the time.

[Sari]

Hi Graphix, thanks for the info!

I've taken off all of the security and after reinstalling the software on the XP machine it's now connected! :)

The problem is that my network is now wide open. I initially had it set to a closed network with 128bix Hex WEP encryption. Any ideas on how I can close this down and not lose my connection?

Thanks again!

[graphix]

since the airport can also use passphrases for encryption youll want to make sure you are using hex. Preface the encryption key with a $
Using a $ before the key forces it into hex mode.
also be sure it is 26 characters, since that is what you need for 128bit when using hex

also, im sure you did this, but make sure your XP client is also using hex.
Are you using the built in Windows wireless zero configuration, or did you install client software that came with the card?
99% of the times the vendor software is not required and can sometimes even interfere and cause problems.

[Sari]

Graphix, I'll have to try the $ and see if it works....

I did make sure that the key was entered in hex on the XP machine....but you know how fussy Windows can be! ;)

I had set up the network with the vendor software--do you think that this is causing the problem?

Thanks again!

[graphix]

If you can connect with no encryption using the vendor software then it "probably" is not causing the problem.
Most of the times vendor software makes you not connect at all.
But to be sure you can disable windows zero config if you want.
(run -> msconfig and uncheck it at the bottom of the services tab)
There is also a checkbox in the wireless adapters properties.

[Sari]

Okay, I disabled the Windows zero config and the network still connects. It still won't accept the encryption though...

Any other ideas?