Getting iBook circa 2001 onto wireless network

I have a MacBook Pro. My husband has PC running Windows XP. I'm perpetually glued to my MacBook, so my husband wants to use our ancient, but still functioning iBook to get online. Apparently he prefers it to the PC with XP (understandable).

The iBook has an Airport card and it can "see" our wireless network, but it can't log on. The router is NOT an Apple Airport because the PC couldn't access our old one (the first one Apple ever made).

Any ideas?

Yes, the older Airport cards don't support WPA encryption, so you will need to either use WEP (less secure) or nothing.
Try changing the encryption on your router as a test to see if the iBook will connect.

Hope this helps,

Cheers

Hugh

I am using WEP encryption. The iBook can "see" the router, but the password fails.

Thanks for the reply. I really thought you had it nailed.

Did you set up your MacBook to use your home LAN? If you did, then there are unlikely to be any Access restrictions in the Modem/Router but if someone else did it, you may have to check the settings in Modem/Router Admin area.

Can you tell me a few things as it will better help me to help you.

What OSX version is installed on the iBook?
What is the brand and model of your router?
Is the WEP key you are using 128Bit Hex or Ascii?
Also what are the basic specs on the iBook? 12" G3 or G4. 2001 would indicate G3. What speed is the CPU?

With that info I can probably solve your issue. Different versions of OSX have slightly different network panels thus me asking you which OS.

> What OSX version is installed on the iBook?
Mac OS 10.3.9 ... I doubt it could handle much more than that

> What is the brand and model of your router?
D-Link DIR-615
(used to be the first Airport Base Station Apple ever made, but we added a PC to the mix and it couldn't talk to the Airport)

> Is the WEP key you are using 128Bit Hex or Ascii?
I'm not entirely sure. I know I couldn't use the old password because it didn't fit PC requirements. The current password is 10 letters long (no numbers), but is also a valid hexadecimal combination (because I thought that might be necessary).

> Also what are the basic specs on the iBook? 12" G3 or G4. 2001 would indicate G3.
500 MHz PowerPC G3, 192 MB SDRAM, looks to be a 12"

Give this a quick try. I don't have a machine set up with 10.3 and an airport card but remember in the old days this working for some with WEP and older OSX.

Put a $ in front of the key. Like $thisismykey. Try to connect.

That worked! Thanks!

Great! Glad to hear it worked.

You are very welcome.

Sorry, forgot about the $ trick, glad you got it going

Cheers

Hugh

hugtheslug said:

Sorry, forgot about the $ trick, glad you got it going

Cheers

Hugh

Click to expand...

It was the type of key they were using plus 10.3 that helped me to remember. I never had that issue 10.4 and later. I never had it with 10.3 either as my keys are always full Hex and complex and there are three types in 10.3 to pick from. If the key is letters (ASCII), the $ worked in 10.3 for many.

I've got an iBook that won't go onto my brother's network for my niece to use. Thought I had tried this but maybe I messed something up. I'll have to try that again.

My husband woke up this morning, saw that the iBook was online and said, "How did you do that?!" He now thinks I'm some kind of computer genius.

I saw a funny flowchart recently. It explains to your non tech-savvy friends what most so-called computer geniuses are actually doing. Let's see if I can find a link.

Fun Meme Humor & Jokes | Not Computer People Flow Chart of Computing

My husband is now watching San Diego vs. New York and making play-by-play commentary with all of his friends on Facebook. He's a happy man.

Thanks, again!