Win 98 laptop on airport express

Question

Hi, i got a working aiport express here with a g4 on it, id like to add my win 98 laptop to it so it can have internet and filesharing
i use a asante aerolan pcmcia card. The card can connect to the network, but it never gives my laptop an IP. Im a bit unsure what im doing wrong.
it is using 64 bit WEP. the asante card gives me an option to enter a passphrase, and thats where ive been typing in the password that the g4 uses to get on the network.
I dont have the password to the base station itself, is that the password i need? if so, i need to reset my password on it then eh?
thanks for any insightful info.

Answer 1

it is using 64 bit WEP. the asante card gives me an
option to enter a passphrase, and thats where ive
been typing in the password that the g4 uses to get
on the network.
You can't use the passphrase you need to use the ten character HEX key.
Accessing a Airport Network with a Windows 98 PC or laptop
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/1019.html
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.
iFelix