Airport Original and WPA

[Gil]

Wasn't sure whether to post this in the Peripherals or the G3/G4/G5 forum.

I recently acquired a Power Mac G4 466Mhz (Digital Audio) computer, which I purchased an AirPort card for. I installed OS 10.4 w/ updates on it, and it was able to see my wireless network in the Airport menu. When I selected it, I entered the password and the only selectable type is "WPA Personal". I could not connect.

For the record, I am using an Airport Express 802.11n (w/ B/G compatibility) and WEP Transitional security. I am able to connect if I type the network name and choose the security type manually, WEP 40/128-bit ASCII. However, if I reboot, the system completely forgets the network, and I have to re-enter everything manually. I've read from numerous places that with OS 10.3 w/ Airport software 3.3 on, that the AirPort Original B cards support WPA security. I've also read that some people have the same problem as me, and others have no problem - with no definitive solutions.

Does anyone have any experience or success with using an Airport Original B card on a WPA-secured network?

Thanks!

 

[Unknown_K]

B wireless cannot do WPA, it is WEP or nothing.

 

[Gil]

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2594

So they lied, then?

 

[Paralel]

As far as I am aware, as long as one meets the relevant software requirements, it is possible to use WPA with an Airport card. However, that does not guarantee that a base station capable of using WPA is compatible with this setup. Since WPA with an 802.11b card is def. not standard it is possible this specific configuration is only compatible with a very small number of router models from around the same time period the update was released.

 

[Gorgonops]

I'm using an original Airport card (in its very last incarnation, inside of a dual 1.25Ghz MDD) with WPA personal under Tiger and it works fine. Didn't do anything special. As long as the access point supports TKIP security you should be good to go. (AP in my case is the first square AirPort Extreme basestation, the ones without gigabit ethernet.)

The "forgetting the password" thing seems to be a perpetual problem with Apple. Editing your keychain and removing all references to an airport password *sometimes* fixes the problem. Sometimes.

 

[Gil]

As long as the access point supports TKIP security you should be good to go. (AP in my case is the first square AirPort Extreme basestation, the ones without gigabit ethernet.)

I looked for the AES/TKIP settings in Airport Utility, but couldn't find anything. My router is the newest Airport Express model.

I really have no problem using WEP on this machine, but having to set up the wireless settings each time the system is rebooted is a major PITA. I will keep searching...

 

[tmtomh]

In my experience, some Airport b cards will use WPA and some won't. It could be the router - but I also wonder if it's the degree of encryption supported by the Airport card. Some earlier cards used 40-bit encryption, while the later ones used 128-bit. Perhaps the 40-bit cards are WEP-only and don't support WPA?

 

[Paralel]

I was under the impression that the 40-bit cards could be tweaked to work with 128-bit WEP?

 

[Gil]

I was under the impression that the 40-bit cards could be tweaked to work with 128-bit WEP?

Yes, that came with AirPort version 2.0.4 (which I installed on Mac OS 9). I believe that was a formal firmware update too, since a lot of people have used that method to convert Lucent WaveLAN Silver cards into Gold cards.

 

[Hrududu]

B wireless cannot do WPA, it is WEP or nothing.

Completely false! I've got 3 Clamshell iBooks, TiBook, G4 Cube, and iMac G3 all with original 802.11b Airport cards connected to my dual band Airport Extreme base station as well as an older Belkin54G unit. Both the Airport and Belkin are using WPA security. If you're running 10.3.3 or later you can update the Airport card's firmware using Airport Software to support WPA.