• i’ve got internet via microwave. there’s a radio sitting on my roof. an ethernet cable comes into the house and plugs into my router. i don’t need a cable modem or anything like that. easy. presto. plug it in an it runs. the router is configured with its own IP address and gateway IP, but the other computers it serves are all given IP leases dynamically, that is, 198.162.1.*
• i’ve got a WIRED internet router that sort of doubles as an 8-port switch. there is of course an ethernet port labeled “internet” and the ethernet cable from the microwave radio goes here. all the other ports are ethernetted to individual WIRED computers, both mac and windows. all these computers see each other, and they all have access to the internet.
• i’ve got a laptop that has an aiport express card in it.
• i’ve got an airport express base station ethernetted into one of the ports on my internet router.
that’s the set-up. here’s the problem. my laptop can see the aiport express base station, and has internet access. however, the laptop cannot see any of the computers on my WIRED LAN, and they can’t see it.
i need all the computers to see each other, AND i need my G4, which is NOT wireless, to be able to ethernet to my router, and from my router to the airport express base station, and out to “wireless things.”
my questions are:
how do i get my laptop to “see” my G4 and other wired stations on my LAN?
can my non-wiress G4 gain wireless capabilities by simply being connected via an ethernet cable to a router/switch that has an airport express base station connected to it?
if the answer to #2 is no, then i have another airport express base station. if i don’t have an airport card in my G4, can it become wireless by just USB cabling the G4 to the airport express base station?
if the answer to #3 is yes, i also have as part of my network a USB hub. can i either USB cable a NEW base station to the hub, or can i perhaps run a USB cable from the existing base station that’s ethernetted into my router to the USB hub? but, wouldn’t that create a conflict, because i’d then have a USB connection from my G4 to the base station (via my USB hub) and an ethnernet connection (via my router)?
No Mac experience but fought the wireless things a few times.
#1. Do you have security set on your wireless AP? Are you using a WEP key? Usually, when I have a machine that sees the access point but not the network it is incompatible security settings.
#2. I think I follow, you want the G4 to be visible to the wireless machine or for the wireless to be visible to the G4? As long as the G4 is connected to your switch it should work fine
#3. Are you just trying to extend range? Just get a wirless bridge or repeater
Has the airport hub allocated a different ip address to the laptop or maybe a different sub domain. check it? if it is different maybe assign one manually in the same range as the others and check again.
You cannot make your G4 wireless, in a sense, without a wireless card or other device however connecting it to a hub which is connected to a wireless network is the same thing however then you have two wireless hubs?
I think the problelm in #1 is that you probably have DHCP turned on for both your wired router and the base station – at least this is how I initially screwed up my stuff. Try this: go into the airport admin utility. From there, go to the Network tab and UNselect “Distribute IP address.” Then click the update button and go bananas.
I’m not sure I undersatnd the goal implied in questions 2-4. Are you trying to make a wired desktop wireless?
You have probably forgot to turn on file sharing on your G4. If file sharing is on it should show up automatically when you click on the network icon in the finder window.
I connect easily using both ethernet and airport seamlessly. I am upgrading to a gigabit ethernet network as the wireless is just to slow. 110T is ok.
NOt sure what you want to do on #4. However yu can share printers if you turn it on on any computer connected to the network.
The base station is likely configured as a router rather than a bridge. Set it to bridge and the router that is in front of the microwave connection will be the DHCP server and everything is in the same subnet. At that point wired and wireless devices are on the same network and can see each other by IP and appletalk. I don’t have one in fron to of me in order to give you the instructions but you need to do it from the Airport Admin tool . In OSX that is in the Applications:Utilities folder.
that’s it. you and pink bike were both essentially correct. i guess i knew this was the case because i noticed that my laptop did not have an IP address assigned to it, even though it had connectivity. therefore, it was the base station that was getting the IP lease.
not everything can see everything yet, but it’s very close. g4 can see laptop, and vice versa.