Got the Green light, see the AE in iTunes, but no connect, I'm sad

Question

Hello, hoping someone might know what I need to tweak to get my Airport Express to finally work.
Network Setup: I have two PC computers on the network (one wired, one wireless), a linksys wireless router, and a new AE (with current firmware)
Here's what I've done so far: I plugged in the AE and followed the KB on joining an AE to an existing network. I took the Admin utility route, so that I could try the static IP approach. After a many attempts and alot of hard resets, I finally got the green light to stay solid. Checking iTunes, I can see the AE in the speakers dropdown, however when selecting it, a connecting bar appears but eventually drops off and no connection occurs. "Computer" remains the only connected speakers. One thing to note, the "Multiple Speaker" option at the bottom of the dropdown is missing, only "Computer" and the new AE are listed. Wanting to verify that the AE is seen across the network I went to the other computer, opened iTunes and get the same results, I can see the AE in the dropdown but can not connect to it. No error is returned, it just gives up after a while when attempting to connect. Thoughts?

Answer 1

Here's the steps I took to get this far:
1. Install the most recent Firmware to the AE and get the latest utility software
2. Plug AE in (Hard Reset if needed), on your wireless computer connect to the wireless network created by the AE
3. Open AirPort Admin Utility (rather than AirPort Assistant)
4. The Base station should appear. Select the base station, press configure
A. On the AirPort tab:
Enter a Name
Enter a password
Select "Wireless mode - join existing wireless network" (wireless client)
Enter your network name (obtained from your router)
Select "Wireless security" - 128-bit* WEP (If you use a lower bit WEP, you will need to change that on your router to 128)
Change the drop down from Text to Hex and enter the hex password (You can do Text, I used the Hex)
B. On the Internet tab:
Select connect using wireless network
Enter the IP numbers obtained from your router (examples below).
IP address 192.168.0.109
subnet mask 255.255.255.0
router address 192.168.1.1
C. On the Music Tab:
Enable AirTunes on this base station
Do not enable AirTunes over Ethernet
Enter a speaker name (TV Room)
5. Press update button.
The new AE network should disappear form your available networks, reconnect to your home network if needed.
Going back to the admin utility you should be able to see the AE.
Check iTunes to see if the AE is there.