Airport Extreme vs 802.11b WPA

Question

Level 4

2,986 points

Airport Extreme vs 802.11b WPA

I am having difficulties with 802.11b clients connecting to a Fast Ethernet AEBS in WPA2 mode. When the clients try to connect, WPA2 is not listed as an option, only WEP is listed in various forms. These SAME clients can connect to an older AEBS on the same network via WPA2. One client is an iBook G3, the other is a old PowerMac G4.

I tried turning off the ACL, restarting the base station, upgrading the firmware to 7.3.2 and setting the FE AEBS to b/g only mode. No joy.

Any ideas?

- gws

iMac Core Duo 20", PowerBook G4, Mac OS X (10.5.3), , 20" Cinema Display

Posted on Jul 7, 2008 9:53 AM

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Answer 1

DonH49

Level 6

16,716 points

Jul 7, 2008 2:52 PM in response to GW Schreyer

Going off memory but Tiger did not support WPA2 until 10.4.7 check the older Macs software version.

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Answer 2

GW Schreyer Author

Level 4

2,986 points

Jul 7, 2008 3:16 PM in response to DonH49

Good suggestion, but both at 10.4.11 and both connect to the older AEBS via WPA2.

The the preponderance of the evidence suggests that the problem is in the FE AEBS. I just don't know that the problem is.

- gws

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Answer 3

Duane

Level 10

124,293 points

Jul 7, 2008 8:48 PM in response to GW Schreyer

If the "802.11b clients" are Macs with original AirPort cards they can NOT connect to WPA2 protected network.

The 802.11b AirPort cards can connect to a WPA protected network if the Mac is running OS 10.3 or beyond. But they can not connect to a WPA2 protected network.

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Answer 4

GW Schreyer Author

Level 4

2,986 points

Jul 7, 2008 9:22 PM in response to Duane

thank you, that was it. I did not notice that the two base stations were configured differently. Setting WPA/WPA2 Personal on the FE AEBS allowed the older clients to connect.

- gws

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Answer 5

Duane

Level 10

124,293 points

Jul 8, 2008 5:00 AM in response to GW Schreyer

Great! Glad that you got it working!

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