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AirPort and Windows?

R

rman2008

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 8, 2002
27
0
michigan
Hey everyone,

I've got an old toshiba portege 7010 CT, (ok not very old, but still a PC is a PC), and my TiBook works with my existing AirPort Network. I assume there is a way to get my PC on the bandwagon, however I need to know a good wireless card to get. I dont know if the AirPort Card works or not. The specifications for the laptops card slots are:

32-bit CardBus Ready-Type I or Type II PC Cards. Maximum Slot Thickness 10,5 millimeters.

I realize I could probably do a lot of this myself, but for one im lazy, and two I am interested to see others experiences with PC's on AirPort Networks.
 
Apparently a great many people have trouble getting PCs, especially running Win XP, to work with AirPort networks. I know, because not only am I one of them, but I have searched many forums (here, Macintouch, Apple) and tried many suggestions, to no avail.

My housemate's Dell running XP sees my AirPort base station. Disabling WEP even let the Dell connect to it. It's recieving the DHCP settings, and can ping both my TiBook and the base station, but like so many others, we can't get her Dell to actually access the Internet.

I've got the snow base station, set up with Verizon DSL. Another friend of mine is having the same problem with his wife's HP running XP, using a graphite base station on a cable modem.

Has anyone solved this problem? Keep in mind, we've got WEP disabled, so it's not a WEP issue; and packets are being sent and recieved to and from the Dell and the ABS, so they're connected. What gives? What is it about XP that makes it so unfriendly to AirPort??

:mad:

(I've posted about this before, in an older thread...but thought the newer thread would be fresher.)
 
don't know about configuring the pc to get on the "mac" wireless, but the AirPort card wouldn't work on the PC. there's a small plug to connect the internal antenna to the AirPort card, and AFAIK, no PC is equipped to use this.

without this plug, wireless won't be much of wireless... when i first connected AirPort Extreme card to my PB 12", i forgot to push the antenna plug all the way in... for a while, i had a wireless "range" of about 5 inches. :D
 
I set up a Sony Vaio last night with a Linksys wireless card and it worked just fine. It wasn't even that hard.
 
I set up a client's AirPort network for his daughter's iBook and his VAIO. We used a Cisco card for his VIAO and all I needed to do after I set up the network to the DSL, was plug in the Cisco card and wait about 1 minute.

rueyeet:
So I'd suggest disabling any extra settings on the network in XP and trying it. Remove any other network settings files (Dial-up, hardwire network) set the wireless card up with a settings file, and set it to default.

If that doesn't work, remove any divers for the card that were installed and try it "pnp".

If that doesn't work, try updated drivers,

And if that doesn't work, go to a non POS Windows OS (I know, Oximoron) like Win2K.

TEG
 
We've tried just about every combination of settings XP will allow, except, evidently, the one that works. :rolleyes:

No drivers are installed for the card yet. I'm not sure what you mean by "removing/setting up settings files" unless you're referring to the list of available connections in XP. I'd rather not have to disable her modem or ethernet port to get this working, as she will need both at other locations. I also don't want to force her to wipe her drive and install a new OS just so she can share my Internet connection. It shouldn't be this difficult!!

Really, we're just on the point of ditching the Apple base station and using a wireless router from Netgear or Linksys or something. I just can't figure out why her PC would be able to see the base station, join the network, and ping both the base station and my TiBook through it, but NOT get to the Internet. And without encryption, no less.

No forum anywhere has had an answer to this that works, so I guess there's one last thing to try: Apple tech support. *shudder*
 
reality - It should work just fine, as long as the D-Link WAP is Mac friendly (although that shouldn't matter much). Everybody I know who has an Airport Card and a 3rd party 802.11b WAP hasn't had problems. The only problems have been Windows XP computers connecting to Apple's Base Stations.
 
hey everyone,

thanks for all the help, just for some added info...im running Windows ME (lol its stable for me!)

im prolly gonna try to linksys card, being the fact i might be getting a linksys router, to extend the range of reception.

-rman2008
 
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