Hi. I'm a new apple user and I have a problem that seemingly has the "genius" people at the apple store and apple support stumped.
Here's the situation. I bought a new powerbook g4 15" a couple of weeks ago and decided to have a wireless network in my house. My wife's existing pc was hooked up to a broadband internet via cable modem ethernet connection. I purchased a netgear 802.11g 54mbps model wgr614v2 router, which, according to the specs, is WEP and WPA capable. Okay, so I first connected my wife's pc via ethernet to the router and configured it without any security measures. Then, I checked my wife's pc wireless card to see if the pc works wirelessly...no problem. Booted up my powerbook..again, no problems..it got right on to the internet. Now, using my wife's pc, I reconfigured the router (by the way, I'm using netgear instructions all this time and talking to them on the phone) to enable WEP security. It asks for a password, generates the key, and when I configure my wife's pc card to read WEP, it does so. No problems. I try to get on with the powerbook. Sure enough, the powerbook states that it can't go on the internet and requests network configuration. I say proceed and it gives me a pulldown menu with the options "WEP Password". I choose that and enter the key and I'm connected to the internet. So far, so good. But people are saying I should really use WPA. Okay, so I use my wife's pc to reconfigure the router, this time enabling WPA-PSK security. I set a password, then reconfigure the pc card to enable WPA-PSK, enter the password, and its connected. Once again, the powerbook says it can't go on the internet and requests network configuration. However, this time, there is no option for "WPA Password." All it gives me is "WEP Password"...exactly the same as when I configured the router to WEP. Its like it doesn't recognize the WPA encryption, or its confused and thinking its WEP instead of WPA. I try entering the WPA password and no go. There is simply no option in the pulldown menu for a WPA Password. Everything is WEP.
So I go on apple's support website and read some articles. Sure enough, they say my model should be WPA capable. Not only that, they tell me how I can get on to a WPA network. The papers say that when I try to enter a WPA network, the powerbook will prompt me to network configuration and prompt me to enter a WPA Password! But all its giving me is a prompt for a WEP Password. I try configuring and reconfiguring the router several times, all with the same conclusion. The pc works fine, but the apple can't seem to recognize WPA. I call apple support. They tell me that the airport extreme card should recognize WPA and they're perplexed. I call netgear, and they say its not a router issue. Their reasoning is that the router is working fine, since the pc can apparently be connected with WEP and WPA, whereas the mac seems only to work with WEP. They say that maybe airport extreme card needs an update. I take it to the apple store and wait an hour for a "genius." The genius has no idea what's wrong. He confirms that I have all the software updates and that the airport extreme card can indeed work with WPA. He apprarently can't test it out at the store because they don't have WPA encryption there.
So now I'm back where I started from. I have no freakin clue as to how to solve this problem or what steps to take. Please help! If not, I'll be left to the geniuses at the apple store.
Steven
Here's the situation. I bought a new powerbook g4 15" a couple of weeks ago and decided to have a wireless network in my house. My wife's existing pc was hooked up to a broadband internet via cable modem ethernet connection. I purchased a netgear 802.11g 54mbps model wgr614v2 router, which, according to the specs, is WEP and WPA capable. Okay, so I first connected my wife's pc via ethernet to the router and configured it without any security measures. Then, I checked my wife's pc wireless card to see if the pc works wirelessly...no problem. Booted up my powerbook..again, no problems..it got right on to the internet. Now, using my wife's pc, I reconfigured the router (by the way, I'm using netgear instructions all this time and talking to them on the phone) to enable WEP security. It asks for a password, generates the key, and when I configure my wife's pc card to read WEP, it does so. No problems. I try to get on with the powerbook. Sure enough, the powerbook states that it can't go on the internet and requests network configuration. I say proceed and it gives me a pulldown menu with the options "WEP Password". I choose that and enter the key and I'm connected to the internet. So far, so good. But people are saying I should really use WPA. Okay, so I use my wife's pc to reconfigure the router, this time enabling WPA-PSK security. I set a password, then reconfigure the pc card to enable WPA-PSK, enter the password, and its connected. Once again, the powerbook says it can't go on the internet and requests network configuration. However, this time, there is no option for "WPA Password." All it gives me is "WEP Password"...exactly the same as when I configured the router to WEP. Its like it doesn't recognize the WPA encryption, or its confused and thinking its WEP instead of WPA. I try entering the WPA password and no go. There is simply no option in the pulldown menu for a WPA Password. Everything is WEP.
So I go on apple's support website and read some articles. Sure enough, they say my model should be WPA capable. Not only that, they tell me how I can get on to a WPA network. The papers say that when I try to enter a WPA network, the powerbook will prompt me to network configuration and prompt me to enter a WPA Password! But all its giving me is a prompt for a WEP Password. I try configuring and reconfiguring the router several times, all with the same conclusion. The pc works fine, but the apple can't seem to recognize WPA. I call apple support. They tell me that the airport extreme card should recognize WPA and they're perplexed. I call netgear, and they say its not a router issue. Their reasoning is that the router is working fine, since the pc can apparently be connected with WEP and WPA, whereas the mac seems only to work with WEP. They say that maybe airport extreme card needs an update. I take it to the apple store and wait an hour for a "genius." The genius has no idea what's wrong. He confirms that I have all the software updates and that the airport extreme card can indeed work with WPA. He apprarently can't test it out at the store because they don't have WPA encryption there.
So now I'm back where I started from. I have no freakin clue as to how to solve this problem or what steps to take. Please help! If not, I'll be left to the geniuses at the apple store.
Steven