How do I add a Mac to a wireless network? Airport Express?

Hi, got a question which may seem really obvious, but I can't find the answer anywhere!

We've got a cable broadband connection into our spare bedroom/office, with the modem connected to a Belkin Wireless router, and the router connected with a wired connection to a PC. My partner and I have both got PC laptops through our jobs and uni, and both are wireless-enabled. We've set all this up and it works fine.

The problem is with our Mac G4 running OS X 10.4.11 - we've bought an Airport Express but we don't know how to connect it to the Mac to add it to the network. Do we use an ethernet cable to connect the Airport to the Mac to pick up the wireless signal from the router, or do we connect the Airport to a wired connection in the router using the ethernet cable to transmit to the Mac? I suspect the former, but I don't want to get it wrong and blow it all up!

Any help at all would be brilliant! Thanks in advance!

The mac will connect to your Belkin wireless router just the exact same way as you pc laptops. Airport Express is just apples term for wireless router.

So do we need the Airport Express at all? Is it exactly the same item as the Belkin router we've already got?

We tried plugging the Airport Express into the Mac with an ethernet cable, and running Airport Setup Assistant. The Setup Assistant asked us if the Airport was plugged into a home router or connected to a cable modem - it's neither - it was connected directly to the mac! The light flashed amber, if that makes any difference.

I'm beginning to think we're going to have to go back to PC World, swap the Airport for a 15m ethernet cable and run it through the house to a wired connection on the Belkin router.

Up in the top of the screen is the menu bar. Similar to this...

There should be something that looks like this...

Click that. Then the menu will drop down. It should show scanning and then show the list of wireless networks it sees. Click on yours, enter the password if you have one and you should be connected to the internet/network.

That's a massive help, thank you! Couldn't find that symbol in the menu bar, so it doesn't look like we've got a wireless card in the Mac.

That Ethernet cable option is looking more tempting - already got one hole in the ceiling for the phone line by the mac, so a second one by the router will hide the cable up and out of the way in the attic space! That's tomorrows job!

Thanks again!

Ah, you shouldn't give up so easily. Now go the Apple Menu>System Preferences>Network. Is there a little box and next to it says "Show Airport status in menu bar"? If it does make sure there is a check mark in it. Also on that same window it says Turn Airport on/off.

If you do NOT have a wireless card in the Mac, then the Airport Express is NOT the tool you want for this job. You are trying to set it up as an Ethernet to wireless bridge, and while it can do that job, it doesn't seem to do it well (or I couldn't get it to work well when I tried). You will also need a wireless router (the Belkin) that supports WDS, and not all do, then there is the issue of configuring the WDS...

What model G4 Mac is it? It might be easier just to buy an Airport card.

On edit: Here is an older tutorial on how to set up the Airport Express as you desire:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/1...ween-a-wireless-router-and-an-airport-expres/


Scott

hey how did you get that american flag on your laptop desktop ?