Joining an existing wireless network with airport express

Question

Ok, am almost to the point of throwing my AX across the room
AM trying to join an existing wireless network, its from a 2Wire gateway
one of three things happen
it won't find the AX in the first place
it recognizes it, but i can't connect to it
it goes through the configuration and when it restarts the AX, it can't reconnect to either the router or the AX and it fails. if this happens i can't reconnect to my wireless network without deleting it and re-adding.
it doesn't show up in my available wireless networks at all
protected via WEP, and i have tried using all the security options.

Answer 1

The directions are in KB 302153, AirPort Express: How to join an existing wireless network in client mode.
Are you using MAC address access control in addition to WEP?
Turn off WEP and see if that makes a difference?
One of the problems with WEP is that the actual standard relies on a 10 character HEX key for 40bit WEP and a 26 character HEX key for 128bit WEP.
In order to make things easier for people, vendors use certain algorithms to convert simple alphanumeric passwords (or passphrases) into HEX keys, thus enabling people to use simple memorable WEP password rather than lengthy HEX keys.
The problem is that different vendors use different algorithms to generate the HEX key and therefore a ASCII password on an AEBS will be hashed differently on a Netgear client and vice versa.
One thing is a 13 character 128 bit WEP password will be hashed by all vendors in the same way (if you use 40bit WEP then a 5 character password is required).
Though sometimes not even that works and the HEX key must be used regardless.
Choosing a password for networks that use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=108058
WEP is now considered not to be secure and therefore it is advised you use WPA.
"WPA Personal" on the Mac corresponds to plain WPA, with a pre-shared key (PSK) and TKIP encryption, on non-Apple wireless routers. The same alphanumeric password should work on both.
iFelix