Old PC and Airport network

I was just given an old PC, a Gateway 2000 (233mhz) running Windows 98. I have a wireless Airport network for my Macs and have a hub connected to the base station. I installed a DLink network card in the old Gateway and connected it to the network via the hub which is connected to the Airport base station.
In spite of the network card being functional, I cannot get a DHCP address from the Airport and I also cannot get connectivity if I assign a static address to the Gateway by using the Airport 10.x.x.x scheme.
I spoke to someone at DLink and they suggested that the problem was with Windows 98 and/or that the Airport Extreme base station is too fast for use with the Gateway. While it may be true that there's a compatibility problem with Windows 98, I don't think the speed of the machine has anything to do with it because I have a Mac running at 233 on the same network.
Any ideas of how to get around this? I really don't want to upgrade Windows on such an old PC. Thanks.

Is the DLink card a 802.11b or an 802.11g card, if 802.11b ensure that the AEBS is working in b/g or b mode.
Only Windows XP has native support for wireless networking.
Other versions of Windows do not have native support for wireless networking.
What this means is that, unlike Windows XP, you can not plug in a wireless adapter and expect Windows to recognise it and start working.
You will need to install some kind of software configuration utility that came with the adapter. Each manufacturer has their own software so as a result the process of using these utilities to connect a Windows (non-XP) computer to an Airport wireless network will be different and so no generic guide is available.
Having said that you may find the following information on things to watch for useful.
Accessing a Airport Network with a Windows 98 PC or laptop
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/1019.html
iFelix

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HELP Old iBook and airport

I have an old (500 MHz PowerPC G3; 384 MB SDRAM) that can only go as far as OS 10.4.11. I use verizon dsl router/modem with airport capabilities to connect to the internet. My other computer is an iMac running 10.6.4. I've never had a problem connecting the iMac with airport using the verizon Actiontek GT704-WG and until last month did not have a problem connecting my lil old iBook the same way (using WEP). Now I can no longer connect my iBook with airport (iMac is fine). The verizon Mac "techs" are fairly clueless in dealing with older Macs.
Can't afford a new laptop.
Anyone know what I can do (use WPA?) as far as settings go. Is my processor/RAM/OS the prob? Can't think why as it was it working before but something outside of my equipment seems to have changed which now will not allow my iBook airport access.
Any suggestions?

Does the iBook work if you turn off encryption?
Does the iBook work with other wireless networks (such as coffee shops)?
Once in a great while an original AirPort Card fails. (It happened to me once.) If you could check it out with another network to make sure it is something in your home connection at fault, it would eliminate the possibility that the AirPort Card has failed.

Dell Printer Accessible on Bonjour and Airport Network?

Want Mac and PC on home network to be able to access Dell printer over wireless network.
Installed Bonjour for Windows. It "sees" an HP printer attached to Airport Extreme so I know it is working.
I have connected Dell printer (which works fine connected directly to PC) via USB to my Airport Express.
However, the Dell printer doesn't appear in Bonjour for Windows printer setup utility.
Anybody know if Dell printers are inherently incompatible wiht this setup? Should all PC USB printers be compatible?
Thanks.

David,
Great instructions....thanks for sharing. I just bought a new Windows 7 computer and it was driving me nuts installing the printers on the Airport Extreme. It was a lot easier installing them on the Vista machine.

Xserve and Airport Network

Currently I have an Xserve G5 running through a switch hardwired computers. All of the ethernet ports connected to the switch provide my MBP with a DHCP and I can access both the server and the internet. The ABSs however will not recognize the server. They are all set up in Bridge mode and originally had them all set up under the same network name but changed them to separate names to trouble shoot. I have checked the ABS and purchased a new one to make sure that they are not the problem but they seem to be working otherwise.
I have assigned also manually assigned static IP addresses in sequential order and have no known conflicts with these addresses.
I currently only have one of these base stations working could it be as simple as resetting the server and the switch?
10.0.1.50
10.0.1.51
10.0.1.52
10.0.1.53
Router addresses are the same and the
DNS server is 10.0.1.1
Subnet 255.255.255.255
any help would be greatly appreciated

Hi Matthew and Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Your description of your network configuration is a little sparse and hard to understand, but I'll give this a try.
Typical ISP connections are made through a modem/router. Usually, the modem/router will run a DHCP server to distribute IP addresses to devices on your internal network (LAN). Your MBP, Xserve and ABS's (when the ABS's are operating in Bridge mode) would receive a LAN IP address from the DHCP server in the modem/router, provided that they are configured to use DHCP in their Network settings in System Preferences.
Where things can get sticky - and get horribly confusing - is when there are two DHCP servers running on your LAN, effectively creating two different LANs within your network. Even worse is when the DHCP servers are running the same IP/Subnet groups.
You can, for example, configure the ABS to distribute IP addresses to wireless clients using it's DHCP server. In this scenario, wireless clients would not be able to see other devices upstream from the ABS since they are outside the DHCP network range the ABS is providing - even if the IP range and subnets match to what the DHCP server in the modem/router is using. (The ABS will use NAT to translate the IP address traffic in its DHCP server, treating them as separate network entities.)
Likewise, you could use the two network interfaces on the Xserve in a similar manner, connecting one to the modem/router and the other to a separate network switch, then enabling DHCP in OS X Server tied to the second network interface. Devices on the downlink side from the Xserve and switch would get their IP addresses from the Xserve DHCP server. This is perfectly fine, as long as the two network interfaces never cross paths on your network other than at the Xserve itself.
Manually assigning IP addresses on DHCP networks is also fine, as long as there are no replicated IP addresses, and that the Router IP Address and Subnet Mask match what is being distributed by the DHCP server. For example, you could have a setting such as:
IP Address: 10.0.1.50
Router IP: 10.0.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.255
Most modem/routers have a Web interface that you can access to manually reserve DHCP IP addresses to particular devices as well. Most will also let you restrict DHCP to a range of IP addresses, letting you run static IP addresses for devices on your LAN while still providing DHCP service to other devices without pre-assigned static IP addresses.
Now, compare all of that information with how your network is configured. If you follow the chain of network devices, determine which are providing DHCP services and where they are in the chain of your network flow, you can usually find the problem.
HTH,
-Doug

Apple airport extreme base station b/g (old model) and airport express

i want to extend the range of my old airport extreme base station, the one that is a circular pyramid. I was wondering if the airport express would work or if I should get something else.

Hello lvpd. Welcome to the Apple Discussion!
i want to extend the range of my old airport extreme base station, the one that is a circular pyramid. I was wondering if the airport express would work or if I should get something else.
Yes, you can extend the older 802.11b/g AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBS) with the newer 802.11n AirPort Express Base Station (AXn). To do so, they would both need to be reconfigured for a Wireless Distribution System (WDS).

Advice on set up for a mixed Airport network with guest network.

Hi,
The manuals on the Airport Extreme and Airport Networking are more technical than my knowledge base can follow. I would like advice on how to set up a new network with a mixture of wired and wireless devices and some Windows equipment as well as os x based macs. the following: dsl broadband from Talk Talk to be managed by a Draytek Vigor 120 external modem connected to an Airport Extreme. I want to connect a Nov 2009 iMac (with Mountain Lion installed), Apple TV and xbox by ethernet cable to the 3 ethernet ports on the Extreme, but also to connect wirelessly one Windows 7 laptop, one Macbook Pro (2010) (again running Mountain Lion) and various other wireless devices like an iPad 2, iPhones etcetera, with all devices being part of one network run under one SSID and able to access the internet, and the 3 computers being able to fileshare with each other. On my current Windows created network which I am abandoning for reasons I won't go into here, if more than one of the computers is switched on, I can use any one of the computers to access information in any of the shared folders on the other computers - via Finder in the case of the macs - and I need this going forward. I would also like to create a Guest network as I have a lot of people come to stay who need internet access. To further complicate things, I would also like to add in an Airport Express wirelessly onto the network and link that to a hi-fi to give me the ability to play my iTunes library (situated on my iMac at present) on the hi-fi.
I appreciate that there are similar questions but I have not really found an answer that exactly nails my situation.
Thanks in advance.

It is not really an issue of how many clients can the iMac serve, but more about the volume of traffic you are processing or data the database application needs to serve. We have a Mac hardware that is a good 6 years or more old running OSX Server and supporting 20/30 clients without any problems.
One idea you may like to consider.
Don't run the VPN on the mac, get a router or separate dedicated networking box that provides that purpose. Then it will talk the load of any networking issues and external attacks. It can also provide other networking services for you such a DHCP, firewall, DNS, internet gateway, etc. They cost less next to nothing and are easy to install.
When you need to get something faster, look for a second hand xerve - we use them all the time. They have the advantage of have fast and very reliable discs, also you can raid the disks and hot swap them for backup purposes,
Finally, moving from one machine to another is each with things like carbon copy. But you cannot have the same licence for OSX server running twice, so you will need to install normal OSX on the iMac once you have done the move.
As for can you easily move from a imac to mac pro, sure not to hard to do.

OS 9 and Airports

I am trying to connect my iBook running OS 9.1 to internet through my Airport Express and Airport Extreme (from my satellite modem).
All works fine if I use an Ethernet cable and plug the iBook into the back of the Airport Extreme router, but if I plug, the iBook, instead into an Airport Express, the IP address the iBook receives is much different and internet will no longer work.
Any ideas?

Bruce,
Why the AE and the Base Station ? Or does the iBook not have an AirPort card, and you think using the AE will give it "wireless" access to the AEBS ?
Sticky wicket if that's what you want to achieve. Basically, the AE operates in three completely different modes, and right now it sounds like you've got the AE operating as it's own wireless network, which is why you get no Internet access.
Best advice is to download the manuals for the AE and AirPort networks from Apple, READ them, and re-configure the AE using the detailed examples in the back of the appropriate "Designing" manual.
One good manual is:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/AirPortExpress_Setup_Guidev4.2.pdf
and these three:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/DesigningAirPort_Networksv4.2.pdf
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/DesigningAirPortNetworks.pdf
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/DesigningAirPort_Extreme_Networksv3.4.pdf
But you can find them all here:
http://www.apple.com/support/manuals/airport/
I cannot stress how good the Designing manuals are, especially the examples.

New dsl modem; existing Airport Network

I'm trying to replace the dsl modem I rent monthly from Centurylink with a DSL router I own. I already have a functioning Airport (AEBS) wireless network. Can I simply unplug the current modem that I'm using and plug in the modem I own? I want the network to just stay the same. Just to be clear: I have a functioning DSL modem and Airport Network. Can I swap out one modem for a new one without having to reconfigure anything?

Maybe ...
Anytime you change networking hardware, it is always a good idea to perform a complete power recycle of your networking components.
I would recommend that you do the following as a minimum:
Power-down the modem, AirPort base station, and computer(s).
Disconnect the AirPort base station from the Internet broadband modem.
Power-up the modem; wait at least 10-15 minutes to allow it adequate time to initialize.
Power-up the AirPort base station; wait at least 5-10 minutes. Note: The AirPort's status light may continue to flash amber after it has intialized. That is because, there may be some additional configuration items necessary, like setting up wireless security, before the overall setup is completed to get a green status.
Power-up your computer(s).
Since you did not make any configuration changes, the AirPort base station should broadcast the same Wi-Fi network with security settings as before. Network clients, connected to the base station either by wire or wireless, should now be able to access the Internet through the ISP's modem. Once Internet connectivity has been verified, you can use the AirPort Utility to configure the base station for wireless security and any other desired options. Please post back your results.

Cannot install Airport on my old Powerbook G4 - BTHomehub network quotes "password incorrect" although it isn't. Same settings work OK on my iMac, G5 and other Powerbook G4. Is there a fault on the Airport card?

I have recently re-installed 10.4 on my old Powerbook G4 with success apart from the Airport network.
Using BTHomeHub (which I use successfully on my other Powerbook G4, iMac and G5) I get the message that the password is incorrect, which I know it isn't as the other macs are OK. Is there a fault with the Airport card?

Hi Frank, is the BTHomeHub using WPA2 encryption perchance?
The original 802.11b Airport card cannot do WPA2, and may need a firmware update to do WPA if the earlier of the original Airport cards.
One workaround might be...
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/MXP2802GU2/

The password for wireless network was changed. Airport keeps trying to sign in automatically with old password and won't let me put in new password. Any ideas?

The password for wireless network was changed. Airport keeps trying to sign in automatically with old password and won't let me put in new password. Any ideas?

You really should change both the wireless network name and password to avoid potential conflicts with the old and new settings.
Suggest you give that a try.

Advice? Networking Airport Express, old iMac and ethernet converter/switch

Got an old iMac (266 mHz, OS 10.3.9, 384M RAM) I'm trying to get wireless and network with wife's laptop and (in a few weeks) a new MacBook. Internet is from a wireless provider (Clearwire.net) and its modem hooks into iMac's ethernet port. Works great.
Also have an Airport Express and I see two options here: Get an ethernet converter for the iMac or an ethernet switch that would connect to the Airport Express and the iMac (Clearwire modem, iMac and Airport Express are in same room, so wire connections not a problem).
The latter is cheaper (switch vs. converter), but would tie me down to that room. How much of a hassle would it be to network the iMac through the converter since it doesn't have an Airport card? Can I set up Airport Express through the Airport Assistant software in OS 10.3.9 on the iMac even though it doesn't (and can't) have a card?

All I can tell you is how I have my home network setup and hopefully that will give you some ideas. I have DSL at home which came with a DSL modem / Wireless router made by Westell. I have an eMac running 10.3.9 which I have an Airport Extreme card installed. I have my old "Grape" tray-loading iMac running OS9.2.2 for which I purchased an Ethernet-to-WiFi bridge device. And finally I have an ancient Windows ME running laptop on which I have a USB-to-WiFi device (I got it in a trade). All three of these I was able to setup and configure to access the internet via the DSL wireless router.
So to answer one of your questions, yes the Ethernet-to-WiFi bridges work fine, are OS independent, do not require drivers, and won't tie up your valuable USB port instead using the Ethernet port you likely are not using anyway.
However, the one thing I have not bothered to do is to share the computers with each other. In other words, all of them can connect to the internet but none of them are set up to see the others or share files. For what little sharing or file moving I need to do, I just use an USB Flash drive, which all three computers can see/use fine and transfer stuff that way if I need to.
Hope that at least helps a little with your quest,
Patrick

How can I reconfigure an Airport Timecapsule and Airport Extreme Base Station to extend a new Time Capsule 3TB network.

Previously they were configured to be part of a network attached to a cable modem. Now I have a DSL modem. I can get the 3TB Time Capsule tower to be recognized by my AirPort Utility but cannot get the older 2TB Time Capsule and Extreme Base Station to be recognised as wifi extensions of the 3TB Wi-Fi Base Station. This latter base station is set up in Bridge mode and the wifi is switched off on the DSL Modem. I am trying to recreate a home network (I have created a newly named one) and use the Apple products as the wifi routers, leaving the fibre optic-supplied DSL modem to interface with the internet.
I would have thought that I should set-up the 3TB Time Capsule Base Station in DHCP network mode, but trying to do so gives me error messages and renders the network inoperative. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to get the AirPort utility to recognise the two other devices (Base Stations) as extensions of the main one? I have tried with RJ45 cabel connections to no avail.

First, it would be wise to update your computer to OS X Mavericks. It's just a free update, but it really helps your computer.
Once you've done that, on to the fix.
In Airport Utility, select the old router and click "edit". Click the Wireless tab. Select Off. Click Update, and wait. During the update, you should use your phone to read this, as you may have no wireless for a time.
Once the update is done, click the new Time Capsule and click "edit". Select the wireless tab, and change the Network Mode to "Create a Wireless Network". Choose your name, security and password. Click Update. Once the new Time Capsule is plugged in and wired, you should be able to connect to your network from your laptop.
Back on the old Time Capsule, go to the Wireless Tab and select, "Extend a Wireless Network". Select your network, and click update.
On the Airport Extreme, do the same as the old Time Capsule.
You should be done! Now, you can move your old Time Capsule somewhere else as use it as an extention of your network. And the same with the Airport Extreme. Enjoy your 5TB of network storage!

Can an older Round Airport Extreme and Airport Express be used on my home WIFI network?

I recently upgraded my Macbook Pro to a newer one because I was having problems with the older one getting on my home WIFI network. It had been dropped, but had continued working without any hiccups for five or six months. Suddenly it won't go online. It said there was no WIFI hardwae installed. I suspect that the WIFI antenna connection between the main bdy and the display failed. Repair options at the Apple Store were iffy, so I just baought the new one. My Time Machine backup smoothly cloned my old machine onto the new one.
In the "when it rains it pours" category, my Airport Extreme also failed at the same time I began having problems with the old laptop. Suspecting the hardware was the problem after checking with my ISP, I purchased a new Airport Express at Best Buy. Using it, I got my WIFI network back up and running. That's why I figured there was a problem with the older Airport Extreme. The Airport Extreme was replaced by an Apple Genius at the store, when I purchased the new laptop. Putting my Home WIFI network back together with the new AE, went fine, but it turned up another problem. I use an older (pre-N speed) Airport Express to link a YAMAHA digital piano wirelessly to my WIFI. It can go online directly and download music. I can also push my iTunes wirelessly through the piano's amplifier and speakers for great sounding stereo. The problem is my new AE won't recognize my older Airport Express. I tryied downloading the Airport Utility v. 5.6 as suggested online, but It still won't find the Airport Express hooked up to the piano.
Is there any way to update my earlier Airport Express and also an older Airport Extreme (round)? The Airport Utility v.5.6 won't recognize them and initialize them. Any ideas? I repurposed the new Airport Express I bought to seerve my printer, allowing me to disconnect the USB cable from my iMac. That's working fine, except my HP OfficeJet Pro 8500 now won't give me two sided printing anymore. It always something!
Network consists of:
20" Mid 2007 iMac running Mac OS Lion 10.7.4
New 15" MacBook Pro running Mac OS Lion 10.7.4
HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-one Printer
New Airport Extreme attached to DSL Modem
New Airport Express wirelessly attaching my Printer to the network
Old Airport Express (A/B/G) connecting my Yamaha Digital piano (NOT WORKING)
Old Airport Extreme (round) (NOT WORKING)

Bob,
Thanks for your help. At this point, I'm seriously considering replacing the older "g" AX with a new "n" model. For whatever reason, each time I've tried to bring the ols AX bcak online in my network, it only managed to screw up my network. Using the Airport Utility 5.6 for Lion, I was able to get a green light on the AX, but it still would not go online from my Yamaha digital piano control panel, like it always did before.
Using AUtil 6.0, everything else works, and I'm assuming that setup with a new "n" speed AX, my piano will be able to get back onlune, too. When I originally set up the AX to link the piano to my WIFI network, I had very little trouble getting it setup. YAMAHA didn't list the Apple AX in it's list of compatible wireless routers/adapters, but I saw no reason that it wouldn't work. As I said it was a reasonably easy setup the first time, and it has worked for several years with no problems.
It's not the cost of buying the new AX that bugs me, it's the fact that I can't figure out why it won't work now when it did before. It was working fine with my old AE based WIFI network, even after upgrading the my computers to the Lion OS. I used to be reasonably savvy with Apple technology, having spent the last 15 years of my teaching career (1987-2001) as the tech liason for the schools where I worked, supporting first Apple II's, then Macs, and networked buildings. After eleven years of retirement, I find it harder and harder to keep up as the technology just keeps evolving. I'm trying, but it's not easy! Any and all help is appreciated!

Extending a network with Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme (via Belkin powerline)

Hello -
I've seen many topics about extending wireless networks here, but none seems to resolve the issue I'm having. I currently have a setup where a DSL cable modem is connected to a Time Capsule and I need to extend this network to another room using an AirPort Extreme.
I live in a very old apartment in Brazil and the walls seem to block the signal from one room to another, hence the need to extend it. Since wireless signal is very weak between rooms, I bought a Belkin powerline AV500 so I could connect both Time Capsule and AirPort using the electrical power at home (just installing a regular Ethernet cable between rooms is not an option).
I started with the basics: configure the Time Capsule + DSL as a standalone network, and it works perfectly within it's range. Then I connected the Belking powerline, plugged a MacBook via Ethernet on the other end and still got very good results (actually better speed than expected). Used it for a while with streaming and other network intensive tasks to make sure it could sustain the connection.
Finally, pluggned the AirPort Extreme on the Belking powerline and this is where the problems started. AirPort Utility 6.3.1 only gives me the option of extending a network wirelessly - it doesn't seem to give me the option of extending it via Etherenet (roaming), which is not good in my case. Luckly I had a copy of AirPort Utility 5.6 which seems to do the job (or I thought so), but it's still not working well.
Although I managed to configure both with the same name, it doesn't seem reliable and some devices (the iPhone 5, for example) are unable to connect and end up with a self-asigned IP address. I'm almost sure I'm doing something wrong on the setup, as I've seen a similar setup working before, so if anyone out there has any clue of what can be done, it will be much appreciated.
Attached the screenshots of both Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme configurations.
Thanks a lot,
-TM
AirPort Exteme:
Time Capsule:

Hello JuliaApple. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
You have several ways to configure both base stations for what you are trying to do.
The simplest would be to configure the Time Capsule (TC) to "join" (AirPort Utility > Manual Setup > Wireless tab > Wireless Mode = Join a wireless network) your existing 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn). In this type of configuration the TC would perform as any other wireless client and not perform as a router. It will; however, still allow for both backups and sharing USB devices attached to it.

I installed a new wifi router and airport will not connect automatically to it. It sees the network but will not connect unless I tell it to.

I installed a new wifi router and airport will not connect automatically to it. It sees the network but will not connect unless I tell it to. I can't find anywhere in the utility or network preferences that will allow me to choose this router as the default. How do I fix this? BTW I'm using Lion.

Are there any previous networks that you have used that have the same password as Molly? YES
Using System Preferences > Network > AirPort Advanced again, you need to remove any listings of previous networks that used the same password as Molly. Click the name of the network and click the - (minus) button at the bottom of the list of connections.
Also delete any other networks (except Molly at the top of the list) that might have used the same name...Molly in the past.
Delete any other networks that you no longer need so that your Mac will search for networks more quickly
Click OK, then click Apply
Open KeyChain Access and look for a listing of any old networks that you no longer need. Click to highlight the name of the network, then click the Delete Key on your computer.
Then look for any old networks that might have used the name Molly in the past and do the same for them.
Then look for any old networks that might have used the same password as the password for your "new" Molly network and delete them in the same way
Click the KeyChain Access menu just next to the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the computer screen
and then click KeyChain First Aid
Enter the main administrator password for the Mac you are using and highlight the Repair button. Then click Start. You will see a message that repairs have been completed
Quit Keychain Access
Power down the entire network...all devices...order is not important
Power up the modem first, then your main router, the other devices one at a time
Log on to Molly and see if the Mac remembers it after a few tries. If not, I'm afraid that you will need to change the name of the wireless network and password on your router due to corruption issues on the Mac. You have done everything possible without re-installing the complete operating system.

Old PC and Airport network

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