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#1 2009-06-04 12:23 pm
New Airport Extreeem, TiBook, WEP & WPA2 confusion
My ancient 1st gen Airport Base Station finally flaked out on me, so I picked up a new Airport Extreme Base Station. . . and it's working great for the most part, but my old TiBook (with OSX v10.4.11) just won't connect to it. The symptoms are pretty peculiar.
1. When I use AirPort Utility.app on the TiBook, it scans for Apple networking devices -- and reports it can't find any.
2. It finds my network, but when I try to join the network it asks me for a WEP password -- even though my network is set up for WPA2 Personal! It actually gives me the option of sending a WEP Password, WEP 40/128-bit hex, WEP 40/128-bit ASCII, or LEAP. It does not give me any WPA options. When I enter my WPA2-P password anyhow, I get "There was an error joining the AirPort network. . ."
3. I have in fact gone into the network prefs and configured it to use WPA2 Personal when connecting. As far as I can tell, this setting has no effect.
4. All my other Macs connect to the network with no problem. The TiBook still connects to the open Wi-Fi network at the local convenience store with no problem. The TiBook can also connect to the AEBS successfully via ethernet cable.
5. I did use the TiBook a while back to configure a Linksys router, and I worry that some of the Cisco software might still be in the system somewhere messing things up, but I can't find any and don't know where to look for it.
I'm really stumped on how to proceed. Surely it must be a software problem. . . I've considered just wiping the TiBook and restoring the OS and everything else from the ground up, but man that's a lot of time and work.
Any suggestions much appreciated!
Last edited by Zobeid (2009-06-04 12:24 pm)
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#2 2009-06-04 1:13 pm
- dv
- Negusa Negest
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Re: New Airport Extreeem, TiBook, WEP & WPA2 confusion
Older airport (non-extreme 802.11b) cards in G3 and early G4 ibooks/powerbooks don't support wpa.
"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures
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#3 2009-06-04 1:39 pm
Re: New Airport Extreeem, TiBook, WEP & WPA2 confusion
dv wrote:
Older airport (non-extreme 802.11b) cards in G3 and early G4 ibooks/powerbooks don't support wpa.
D'OH! 
Well, that explains the problem pretty neatly.
Is it possible to get a card that will fit this computer and support WPA?
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"Whatever does not kill us makes us stranger."
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#4 2009-06-04 2:54 pm
- sturner
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Re: New Airport Extreeem, TiBook, WEP & WPA2 confusion
I believe you can use some USB wireless devices. However, I think you have to look for the drivers. I can't help you past that.
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#5 2009-06-04 2:57 pm
Re: New Airport Extreeem, TiBook, WEP & WPA2 confusion
The Belkin F5D7010 supposedly works if you have a CardBus PC Card Slot and Airport 3.1.2 or better software though there is a lot of discussions on the net where people are having a hell of a time getting it to work like it is supposed too. You might have to disable your Airport card if you go that route however.
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#6 2009-06-04 7:57 pm
- dv
- Negusa Negest
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Re: New Airport Extreeem, TiBook, WEP & WPA2 confusion
Why not just stick with WEP? I mean, if your old base station hadn't died, you'd still be using it, right?
Less secure than WPA, sure - but any security at all keeps out the riffraff.
"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures
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#7 2009-06-04 9:39 pm
Re: New Airport Extreeem, TiBook, WEP & WPA2 confusion
dv wrote:
Why not just stick with WEP? I mean, if your old base station hadn't died, you'd still be using it, right?
Right. That's what I figured, so I reset the new base station to use WEP.
The TiBook still won't connect to it. Now it keeps asking me for a WPA password, and won't let me select WEP. 
-- Zobeid Zarathustra --
"Whatever does not kill us makes us stranger."
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#8 2009-06-05 9:39 am
- dv
- Negusa Negest
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Re: New Airport Extreeem, TiBook, WEP & WPA2 confusion
I am in a basement right now, so I can't catch any neighborhood wifi networks to check, but I'm 90% sure the base station broadcasts the type of encryption to use so clients know how to connect.
If your laptop is still trying WPA, either: 1) delete corrupt networking preferences in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration, or 2) factory reset the base station and start over.
Does that help?
"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures
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