PCs can't connect to my internet sharing MBP

[wing70301]

(Sorry for the grammar error in the title. Should be "PCs can't connect to my internet-sharing MBP.)
Hey all,

I had an old wireless router that burned out on me. So as a temporary solution, I've connected the cable modem directly to my MBP and am using the internet sharing function to use my MBP as a temporary access point. My brother's Macbook is successful in connecting with it. However, my roommates Toshiba, running Vista, and my old PC running XP can't connect. Both the XP PC and Vista Notebook can see that my MBP is broadcasting a wireless signal, however, they cannot connect to it at all. I'm currently at work, so I can't tell you exactly what the error message is. Does anyone know of any solutions to this? Thanks!

 

[sambobo]

Possible workaround/fix

Hi Wing,

It sounds like you have exactly the same problem I was having. I've got a USB modem plugged into my Macbook and can successfully share the internet via Airport (with a 5 digit 40 bit WEP password) and my iphone and a mates mac connect to it no problem.

I've got an IBM Thinkpad running XP SP2 which can see it and when I try to connect just bombs out with a typically helpful windows message of can't connect.

So I turned off WEP and lo and behold the PC connected just fine. Turned it back on and it wouldn't work again, however I was now getting the option to at least put in the password. So I went to the properties of the wireless connection and clicked on the Wireless Networks tab and the connection should be in the Preferred Networks now that it has successfully connected to it.

Click on the properties and change Network Authentication from Open to Shared and give that a whirl. It is now working fine for me and it's a secure network again.

Let me know how you go, can't say if it will work for Vista but can't see why not.

Cheers

Sam

 

[belvdr]

Sambobo,

Do you realize you registered to post a response to a thread that hasn't had any activity for 14 months old (1 year 2 months)?

 

[sambobo]

Woops

In a word no. I've just got back from a year overseas traveling and I'm still in 08, I genuinely thought it was 3 months or so old.

Oh well, I only replied to this thread because I came across it trying to fix the same problem myself and didn't get anything useful, so this may still be helpful to someone hopefully.

cheers

Sam

 

[tonygoodchild]

I just found this and it fixed my problem, so I'm glad you replied anyway

 

[locust76]

This kind of smacks of Passphrase vs. Key. There shouldn't be an incompatibility between Macs and PCs in regards to Wi-Fi.

I think the problem here lies in the fact that one of the operating systems is asking for a "passphrase," from which the actual WLAN Key is generated, and another is asking for the key only, not the passphrase (the Mac is probably asking for a passphrase to generate a key, while the Windows machine probably wants the key itself).

Yes, it's an ancient thread, I know, but I think there's a way for this to work. I cannot accept the idea that Apple's implementation of WiFi keys is somehow different than Microsoft's.