Unable to connect to home network

[NickVZ]

Hi,

I've just unpacked my new AAO - Linplus, 8GB SSD and swithed on - all is ok.

However, I cannot connect to my home wireless network - it's an APPLE Airport unit that is compatible with 802.11b/g.

Although the AAO can see the network and shows a good signal strength it just doesn't want to connect. I use the password to join the network that we use for the other computers in the house but it just doesn't want to know.

The odd thing is that I can connect to a neighbours network that doesn't even show on the Apple Airport unit (sig strength is a bit weak though).

Can anybody help me out on this as I'd much rather it's connected to my home network. Is there something I need to configure on the AAO for this ??

Many thanks

Nick

 

[meng]

What sort of encryption are you using on this network?
I get the impression from reading various threads on this forum that wireless connections are troublesome for some users, whether Windows or Linux, and I wonder whether the problems are router-specific.

 

[NickVZ]

According to the Airport Unit it's 40bit WEP...

 

[meng]

What if you try changing it to 64-bit WEP?

 

[NickVZ]

The Airport only gives me 40 or 128 bit WEP - would 128 be OK ?

 

[meng]

Then try 128-bit. I could be wrong, but I'm not sure whether the network manager on Linux can cope with 40-bit encryption, only 64- or 128-bit. In any case, changing to 128-bit is at most a minor and temporary inconvenience, so you don't have anything to lose.

 

[NickVZ]

Will I have to make any changes to the other computers in the house ?? (Two iBooks and an eMac )

Thanks

 

[meng]

Will I have to make any changes to the other computers in the house ?? (Two iBooks and an eMac )

Thanks

If you're using a different password, you'll have to make sure the other computers have the new password.

 

[NickVZ]

It let me change it using the regular password and now shows 128 bit WEP - the AAO still doesn't look like it wants to connect though - bugger (and the AAO has frozen !)

 

[meng]

Can you use WPA encryption instead? Sorry, I don't have other ideas after that.

 

[NickVZ]

I've sorted it !!!!

Many thanks for your help though - although it didn't solve the problem it forced me to go into menus I've not used before and I came across one that gave me a Key the I had to use if the computer trying to connect to my Airport network didn't have Airport software on it (as the Macs do). Once I entered the key it connected fine !

Nothing is quite as easy as you hope it will be though is it .....

Nick

 

[meng]

Thanks for letting me know the outcome. I learned something new about Airports.

 

[clc4912]

Have you verified that MAC filtering is not enabled on the router? That is a common problem often overlooked.