HELP!. Airport Express, a PC, and a Belkin Wireless router

[mrgrill]

Hi there,

My current setup is a PC Dell laptop (ahem) and a Belkin 54G wireless modem and router combination. I'm looking to purchase airport express ( and in 6 months a switch to Powerbook) as I would like to play music through my Hi-fi. However I've read, and hopefully I've understood it, that you cannot use Airport Express with my setup. Is this true? I would not be able to connect to both my wireless router to access the net while connected to AirTunes to stream music - this will not work?

Is there anyway I could link Airport Express to my Current Belkin Modem/Router so that I can still play music through my stereo?

If this solution doesn't work, does anybody have any other solutions to play music over the air. I was thinking that with my iPod I can hook that up to the stereo and play songs like that - but how can I wirelessly control the iPod - is there anything with a Display - could I do this using iTunes on a lap top?

Any ideas for this solution would be really welcome...

Thanks

 

[rtdgoldfish]

I have a Belkin 54g router and just purchased an AirPort Express. I just wanted the APE for my stereo and don't need it to extend the range of my network since I live in an apartment and the Belkin has plenty of range. Anyway, after searching the net for a while and a call to Apple that got me nowhere, I finally found a solution that works. I do not take any credit for the process, it is a combination of things I found on several websites. I will attempt to make this as painless as possible but I am not promising anything. Here it goes:

1) Make sure you have the updated firmware for the APE and AirPort and iTunes software (currently 6.1.1/4.1/4.71, respectively). Turn of any WEP protection on the router and any firewall software on your PC. You can turn it back on after the setup is complete.

2) Connect the APE to the Belkin using an ethernet cable.

3) Do a hard reset of the APE. (Unplug it for a few seconds, hold down the reset button and plug it back in. Hold the button for approx. 15 seconds or until the green light blinks 4 times)

4) After the APE resets itself, open the AirPort Admin Utility on your PC. You should see your APE in the window on the left (name should be something like apple5***).

5) Click on the AirPort tab. Give your APE a name and password if you want in the first blanks. Then in the pull-down menu that says Wireless Mode, select Create a Wireless Network. You will be changing this in a few mins so no need to name the network or anything.

6) Next, click on the Network tab. Check the box for Distribute IP Addresses. Then click the option for Share a Single IP Address (using DHCP & NAT). In this pull-down menu, select the range of IP addresses your Belkin uses. (Mine is 192.168.2.1, I think this is default for a lot of routers)

7) Click on the Music tab and make sure the box for Enable AirTunes is checked. Give the speakers a name and a password if you would like as well.

8) Go back to the AirPort tab. Now change the Wireless Mode pull-down menu to Join an Existing Wireless Network. In the network name, type the EXACT name of your network including spaces.

9) Now click on the update button. The APE will reset itself. Give it a good 60 seconds, the APE seems to take a long time to reset. Once it is done, you should be able to unplug the ethernet cable from the APE. Plug it into the stereo and open up iTunes. Your speakers should show up in the pull-down menu at the bottom.

Optional - If you want to turn WEP back on the network, open up the Belkin control pannel and write down the hexidecimal key that shows up in the WEP Options pannel. DO NOT TURN ON WEP PROTECTION YET!!! If you do, the APE will be disconnected from the network and you will have to start over!!! Open up the AirPort Admin Utility and click on the AirPort tab. Click the button that says wireless security. Choose the correct option from the pull-down menu and then click the Set WEP Password button. Type in the hexidecimal key from your Belkin and click OK. Then click update. The APE will reset. Now go into the Belkin control pannel and turn on WEP Protection. The APE should connect to the network using the WEP key you gave it.

Good luck. Hopefully this guide works for you. It took me several hours to get my APE to work but now that it does, I love it. And for anyone else reading this - I believe this process will work for just about any router. Options in your router might be called different things but as far as the setup for the APE, it should be the same.

 

[mrgrill]

Thanks very much for your help and a thorough setup. I'm unsure whether to go with Airport Express as I'm not sure it's a) worth the price and b) I just have a feeling that it wouldn't work using my Belkin setup...just a hunch though.

But thanks for the help