AirPort Express Cannot Join Network

Hello all,
I've tried searching and can't find this exact issue; please forgive me it's a dup.
I just purchased an AirPort Express to use with several Windows XP machines for AirTunes and printer sharing. I already have wifi set up using a 2Wire 270HG modem/wireless router.
Using the AirPort Utility, I can see the AX and go through the steps to "Connect to my current wireless network" and then "Join my wireless network". I give it my network name, password, etc., and it reprograms the AX but is then never able to connect to in after the restart.
I initially thought this was due to using WEP (even though adding $ before my passkey did not help), but I have since switched to WPA-PSK and am having the same results. Admittedly, I wasn't sure which of the WPA settings in the AirPort Utility to select, but I've tried both with no luck.
I have reset the AX and run through the setup at least 10 times! Really not sure where to go from here, except to turn off all security on the router and just use MAC address filtering to keep out the neighbors... but this seems like a pretty bad system.
Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks in advance,
Drew

Well, it looks like I've been wasting my time.
At the end of running the Utility wizard, I get the error:
"An error occurred while trying to access the base station. Make sure you network connection is valid and try again."
It then tells me it was unable to find the base station after restarting and forces me to quit the AirPort Utility. When I restart the Utility, it can then see the base station and everything works fine.
So, basically, I've spent the whole night troubleshooting a meaningless error message when everything was working fine.
Great. Can anyone explain why it's reporting this error if everything is fine?
Thanks again.
-drewz

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