AirTunes/Airport Express, WEP, and Netgear routers
Oct 20, '04 09:08:00AM
Contributed by: Anonymous
A lot of people have been hurting over getting Apple's AirTunes / AirPort Express to work with NETGEAR products, doubly so with WEP-protected networking. Thus, I am here to educate the masses ... spread the news. Here are my observations. I have two AirTunes nodes working in my household, using a wired PowerMac MDD and a wireless iBook, all networked with a NETGEAR WGR614, and it all works well.
Read the rest of the hint to see how I did it...
- Connect the AirPort Express to your wired network; you do not need wireless to configure it, as it'll grab a DHCP lease itself off a LAN, assuming it's not setup for wifi yet. If you already screwed yours up royally, just push and hold the reset button -- wait and try this step again. It'll then use your LAN as it would out of box.
- Use the AirPort Admin Program, not the Setup Assistant. You can then enter the IP manually it gets from DHCP, or just scan the network to find it with AirPort Admin (insure you first install the latest version kids).
- When setting up your AirPort Express, enter your SSID by hand, and don't worry if it doesn't see it.
- When you enter the 128 bit WEP key, don't use the passphrase, use the key (hex code) generated/shown in the NETGEAR config screen. When you enter this code into the AirPort Admin app, preceed this code with the '$' character, as this tells it that you are entering a hex code, not the string literal thats used to generate the key. Yes, in both password fields add that '$' character -- both times.
- Apply the changes (I set the AirPort Express to join my wireless network, since it's using wireless as a client). It'll take about 30 seconds to reboot and voila. You owe me a beer.
Tips and Tricks...
- I also setup the LED to blink on activity so I could ping the unit when I saw it take an IP from the DHCP pool on the NETGEAR to confirm it was talking OK. Watch for das blink'en lights.
- Look at the ping times? If they are bad, you might want to reposistion your AirPort or AirPort Express units, or consider getting something that can do WDS unlike NETGEAR (Linksys comes to mind, with the latest firmware). Look at your packet loss numbers.
- If you want a quick test, plug headphones into the AirPort Express to test it for sound output etc. It'll be loud, so warning! Disclaimer, you can blow cheap headphones or cheap eardrums; don't whine to me.
- The wife and I played musical AirTunes, as she walked around the house testing locations for good clean signals with an AirPort Express and headphones (not on her ears) whilst I watched almighty ping.
I swear this NETGEAR has low power output; I think i'll sell it and get a Linksys and get WDS going. We've observed line of sight blockage by a human body between a few locations of less than 70 feet through just two thin walls in our modest and cozy bungalo. Your milage may vary.
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