Win XP can't detect Airport network..

[goofy]

I have a friend who's just arrived in Japan and staying at a house where there supposed to be wireless internet access..

Now the the family in that house has an apple latop and apple airport (AP) for their wireless use. They've got an ADSL connection and connected to the AP.. but I can't be 100% sure..

At this moment, I don't even know what type of Airport they are using..

The trouble is, her Windows latop can't detect the Apple airport (or airmac in Japan) access point... Her laptop is not broken as it can catch some other paying wireless service. I've looked at the airport manual and it should be compatible with any IEEE802.11b/g devices regardless of operating system...

I don't think she needs to download a driver or airport utility program.. and as she can't have internet access at the moment, it's out of question anyway.

At first I thought the only reason for this to happen is that the airport is setup such that it doesn't broadcast its SSID ( or wireless network name in Appletalk) so no one else can detect presence of WLAN ..

But after some research, I found ou that there could be other reasons like, different channel number or not specifying the network name so windows can't detect..

The problem is the family she's living with is not very helpful and don't know much about their wireless connection... And she doesn't know how to operate an apple laptop so she can't meddle around with the apple laptop.

I want to guide her to read on the network name from the apple laptop but I'm not familiar with apple interface either..

Is there any way that I can help her to connect to the internet?
Is there any way to find the network forcibly? Like.. is there any default SSID she can type in?

She's living in a suburb where there isn't internet cafe around and she needs to find information on...well. everything and quite desperate.
Can someone help me...?

 

[EricNau]

To find the network name (SSID), tell her to click on the airport icon (pictured) in the toolbar. ...It's in the upper right corner, and will be near the time. It will display a drop-down menu of all the wireless networks within range, and it will show a checkmark next to the network it's connected to.

 

[epochblue]

The problem is with Windows XP not being able to pickup wireless signals unless it can see the SSID (I've had this problem TONS of times before). Enable broadcasting long enough for her Windows machine to see the network and connect to it. After that, it won't be a problem.

 

[goofy]

Thanks guys.
I really appreciate it.

Can you please tell me how she can enable the broadcasting? I'm sorry but I need dtep by step procedure...

 

[epochblue]

How she would enable broadcasting depends on the router - if it's an Airport network, she'll probably want to find a Mac of some kind and use the Airport Admin Utility that can be found within the /Applications/Utilities folder.

...I say "probably" because I don't own an Airport device, but that seems like a logical answer... =\

 

[EricNau]

How she would enable broadcasting depends on the router - if it's an Airport network, she'll probably want to find a Mac of some kind and use the Airport Admin Utility that can be found within the /Applications/Utilities folder.

...I say "probably" because I don't own an Airport device, but that seems like a logical answer... =\

That would be correct.

Although it would be much easier to just use one of the Macs for internet while she is there.

They really aren't that much different.


EDIT: Although, if she knows the SSID, Windows should be able to connect - you just need to enter the name manually (just tell her to double click the wireless icon in her task bar. It's pretty self explanatory from there).

 

[goofy]

I'll do that then. Thanks gain guys. You are life savers!