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airport express, adsl & xp - help!!!

M

mat777

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 1, 2005
4
0
hi,

i hope somebody out there can help me. i am totally new to wifi, apple (my appologies!) and even forums, so please forgive me if i appear a complete novice!

yesterday, i bought an airport express with the main aim of being able to wirelessly connect my notebook to the interent, my printer and my stereo.

after many hours of frustration, setting and resetting, i finally got the thing configured. actually, it was down to the software in the end - i had to download the latest airport software and airport express firmware. once i installed these, things seemed to spring into life! well, i got a green light on the express.

so i can now listen to my music wirelessly - fantastic.
however, i cannot browse the internet. i have an adsl modem connected via an ethernet cable to the express. the green light is on and things seem ok. when i set up the express i entered all required information correctly (i.e. i answered the questions with the required info). when i try to connect though, of course it doesn't. if i connect the modem to my notebook or anyother pc, it works fine.

i searched and read many forums and threads until my eyes bled but with no success. also the apple help and support info doesn't help.

my config is as follows:
win xp pro
built in wifi - dhcp enabled
Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-35-FE-48-07
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
202.106.46.156
202.106.0.20
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 02 October 2005 09:26:06
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 10 January 2006 09:26:06

this is the info from ipconfig. the last two dns servers i entered manually after not having any luck. i got the i.p.'s from when i connect my adsl directly to the notebook - i thought it might help somehow.

when i use the airport admin utility, the public (WAN) ip address shows "not configured". on the internet page, PPPoE is selected, it says ip address supplied by sever, subnet mask is 255.255.0.0 (which i don't understand as it is different from the subnet of my wireless) and i entered the same two dns servers manually as i did for the notebook wireless settings just to see if this would make a difference.

my adsl modem is an e-tek td2018

also, my printer is not working, even though the base station options in the admin util show the correct printer is installed. i have checked the hp site (i have an hp psc1218) and it does suggest this is not compatible with the airport, so i am not too bothered about this.

i can use the airport with the pda to connect to my notebook, so things are working somewhat. it is just the interent that is bugging the hell out of me!

finally, if it makes a difference, i am currently located in beijing (which is where i bought the express - no, its not some cheap copy!!!)

well, thats it. sorry this post is so long and i hope it contains all info required. if some one can help me sort this problem, i would be most grateful.

thanks
mat
 
It took me over 5 hours of tech support to get my wireless issue worked out. Turns out it was an ip address issue. Call you internet company.
 
I noticed you have the Airport set to PPP mode. Are you sure this is correct?

The Airport should basically be set up the same way your computer is when the computer is plugged directly in to the modem with no Airport. So if your PC is normally in DHCP mode, set the Airport to DHCP. If your computer is normally in PPP mode, set the Airport to PPP.
 
more advice please

hi, thanks both for your replies.

broken keyboard,

when i connect my adsl modem directly to my notebook, it is using pppoe:

PPP adapter mine:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 221.218.19.34
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 221.218.19.34
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 202.106.46.151
202.106.0.20
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

it says here that dhcp is not enabled, but if i check this connection in network manager, it

says that ip is obtained automatically, so i'm not sure what is going on there.

i also checked two other network settings:

local area network:
static ip: 192.168.0.1
subnet mask 255.255.255.0

1394 net adapter:
optain ip automatically

the full details from ipconfig /all are:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : split-decission
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-35-FE-48-07
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
202.106.46.156
202.106.0.20
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 02 October 2005 12:36:57
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 10 January 2006 12:36:57

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Eth
ernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-03-0D-2D-42-0B
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :

PPP adapter mine:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 221.218.19.34
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 221.218.19.34
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 202.106.46.151
202.106.0.20
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled


i'm not sure if these details are as they should be or if they match up?!?!

also, i'm not sure how to check/change the mode on the airport. can you please help me with

this?

thanks for your time
mat
 
Your ISP is giving you the 221.218.19.34 address. This is on the WAN (= the internet). On your LAN (ie your side of the router) your devices should all be set to IP addresses in the same subnet, ie 192.168.1.xxx or 10.0.1.xxx. IP addresses in these ranges are 'private' ie not used on the internet.
I'm not absolutely certain, but the default settings on Airports seem to be set to use the 10.0.1.xxx range whereas a lot of 3rd party network gear seems to have default settings in the 192.168.xxx.xxx ranges. As long as your computers and routers use the same subnet they should be able to talk to each other, so you might need to change one or more IP addresses.
Try opening up a Terminal window and type:
ping -c3 <ip address>
for each of these ip addresses: 10.0.1.2, 192.168.0.1. This will tell you if the devices have a physical or wireless connection, and eliminate any basic connection problems.
You could also try changing from PPPoE to PPPoA - depends on your ISP and you should be able to check on their tech support page (if you've got access to a connected machine....)
 
hi stevep

thanks for reply to my post. i've now statically assigned an ip to my wireless network on the notebook, mostly so i could get the subnet to match with that of the airport. the ipconfig now looks like this:

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : split-decission
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0E-35-FE-48-07
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
202.106.46.156
202.106.0.20

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Eth
ernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-03-0D-2D-42-0B

this is when the adsl modem is plugged in to the airport and the airport is connected to my pc. music plays from itunes to my stereo so i guess that bit is alright. there is also a green light on top of the airport.

on the internet page of the airport admin util, the subnet mask is also 255.255.0.0, the ip & router addresses are both supplied by sever.

i was going to stick a couple of screen shots of the util here, but can't figure out how to!

the upshot is, its still not working! i'm sure it is some little configuration setting that i am missing somewhere. if not, i guess it may be that my modem is not compatible or the provider dooesn't support this method somehow.

any more help would be greatly appreciated
 
mat777 said:
on the internet page of the airport admin util, the subnet mask is also 255.255.0.0, the ip & router addresses are both supplied by sever.
Click to expand...

The subnet mask should be 255.255.255.0 I think.
Have you tried the ping test yet?
Also (not too sure here as I'm on the limit so to speak) I think you can either set the DNS servers to specific addresses OR tell your Airport to do the looking up for you - it appears to me that your airport is trying to do both:
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.1.1
202.106.46.156
202.106.0.20
I would get rid of the 10.0.1.1 setting on the Airport if you can, and leave your manual DNS settings as they are (I assume you got these addresses from your ISP ??).
And have you tried the PPPoA alternative?
You might be right to suspect your adsl modem - I assume it works when attached directly to your WinXP laptop? Yes it does -you already said that! I've just had a look for your modem http://www.etek-td.com/en/support.htm and I'm afraid all the pages are 99.999% unintelligible to me (!!!!) but it appears that you can access a web based setup page for it on 192.168.1.1 - does that mean that you need to change all your ip addresses to the 192.168.1.xxx range for everything to talk? I'm not sure at this point whether the modem will act as the bridge from your LAN to the outside world or whether the Airport is trying to do this.
 
Had another look at the support page above -
The default ip address of your adsl modem seems to be 192.168.1.1 and the default user name and password could be ATM PVC or just PVC:

http://www.etek-td.com/td_2018_rfc2684.htm
http://www.etek-td.com/td_2018_rfc2684_02.gif
2.?????????????????“ATM PVC”??????????????PVC?
?????1?PVC????????“??”?????“?”????????“??”
????????????? (Chinese characters display as question marks on my machine)

I badly need help here!!
It also appears that you can set it up to act as a bridge (so it should be able to talk to the Airport, as long as the Airport will accept a DHCP assigned IP address (I don't know if it will) or provided that you can tell the modem that the Airport already has a fixed ip address (which I think you need to change to 192.168.1.xxx where xxx is not 0, 1 or 2 - in case it clashes with your laptop.) This should allow the modem to connect to the Airport. In its turn the Airport will dish out an ip address to your laptop, hopefully not one that will clash with the above.
Good luck!
 
hi steve,

thanks for the time and effort you've put into this - i didn't even think of trying to check out the adsl modem website! but i stuck the link you posted through google's page translater, which did a pretty good job, although i still don't really understand what its on about. as you said, it does say that the modem's ip is 192.168.1.1, but when i try to ping this, i just the reqest timed out message. i also tried the other ip's shown on that page, still with no luck. since i'm only here using this equipment for a limited period (4 months) i think i may admit defeat and try the airport back home with the kit i have there. however, i am always open to help offered, although i'm not sure how much effort you want to put into a wirelessly inept me!

thanks again
mat
 
Mat
I think if you want to ping the modem you would have to attach it directly to the laptop, not via the Airport.
Clutching at straws here, but what if you connect it directly, open a web browser and type 192.168.1.1 into the address bar. That should take you to the modems setup page. Now you can change its settings if you need to, such as the connection type PPP over E or A, DNS server settings (from your ISP), auto DHCP etc etc. Make a note of them all, as you will then have to do the same with your Airport, telling it that your modems' ip is the gateway and that you want it (the Airport that is) to be on the same subnet ie 192.168.1.xxx - probably by using DHCP again if possible.
My limited knowledge of Airport is not helping here, and I'm not sure this is possible but I would have thought so.
Try this:
http://www.simongbrown.com/blog/2004/07/30/2_hours_to_setup_airport_express.html
-its Mac based so a bit different. If nothing else you'll be able to sympathise!
 
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