Airport Problem

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I am helping a kind friend who has never used Apple before and has little money.



I am donating my Powerbook G4, got a new battery for it, and an Apple 20" monitor, but got hit in buying an older Airport base station.



I am using the current version of OS X. I cannot set up the airport device.



1. The Airport utility does not "see" the device.



2. On the visible networks, the network "blah-blah" comes up but is password protected.



????

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    rob_06rob_06 Posts: 75member
    Could you please lets know which airport basestation model it is?



    Also the system version being run which cannot see the old airport?



    I will be able to help get it seen and working correctly for you.
  • Reply 2 of 10
    hledgardhledgard Posts: 265member
    Thanks Rob !



    Apple M8209LL/A 2.0 AirPort Base Station.



    I know it is not an airport extreme, which I have, and I am running 10.5.8 on a MacBook Pro.



    I think the Powerbook is running 10.1 or 10.2. My friend now has the laptop, and the Airport just arrived so that I am test it with 10.5.



    PS I just got an Apple 30" monitor and LOVE it !
  • Reply 3 of 10
    Reset the airport. Near the ports there should be a toothpick sized hole. Stick a straightened paperclip in it (there's a button in there) and hold it for several seconds. This will reset the Airport to it's unprotected factory settings. You should then be able to access/configure it from Airport Utility.

    Once you get it set up, there's no reason an older machine and OS won't work with it. (in fact any machine/OS that conforms to the 802.11 standard will work.)
  • Reply 4 of 10
    hledgardhledgard Posts: 265member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by KingOfSomewhereHot View Post


    Rested the airport. Near the ports there should be a toothpick sized hole. Stick a straightened paperclip in it (there's a button in there) and hold it for several seconds. This will reset the Airport to it's unprotected factory settings. You should then be able to access/configure it from Airport Utility.

    Once you get it set up, there's no reason an older machine and OS won't work with it. (in fact any machine/OS that conforms to the 802.11 standard will work.)



    I did this, think I held the button for several seconds, but the Aiport Utility (for OS 10.5) does not see the device.



    I got it on eBay. Perhaps it is defective.



    Thanks ! !
  • Reply 5 of 10
    sammicksammick Posts: 416member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hledgard View Post


    I did this, think I held the button for several seconds, but the Aiport Utility (for OS 10.5) does not see the device.



    I got it on eBay. Perhaps it is defective.



    Thanks ! !



    Was it plugged in when you reset it---it should be plugged in --
  • Reply 6 of 10
    hledgardhledgard Posts: 265member
    It was absolutely plugged in.



    Actually, it seemed to work for a while, as the lock on the network disappeared. Now it does not work again.



    Now this is not smoke signals. I cannot believe it worked, then did not. Now it is locked. Note, I teach computer science)



    Still, the Airport utility does not see it. If it did, I could easily reset everything.



    I got old my own previous Airport device (before I got the current one, which allows wireless printing) and it is not locked (I never locked it). This does work, but the Utility does not see it either.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    sammicksammick Posts: 416member
    One more---anti-intuitive thing---



    Can you try it on another Apple computer?? to see if Airport utility recognizes it?
  • Reply 8 of 10
    Odd...

    I use the latest version of Airport Utility, and it is able to "see" and modify settings on an ORIGINAL Airport (802.11b, silver UFO)... so I don't think there's any sort of age/version compatibility issue.



    It could very well be defective. Or we could just be missing some basic setting. If the re-set was successful, it would reset to an unlocked state.... with a random letter/number combination for the device "name".
  • Reply 9 of 10
    Hi there!

    Do you know if the m8209ll/a airport work will work on the pc with no mac attached? I have an old one I want to give to some good friends but they are all PC. Wahhh for them. Any idea how to make this happen?

    Thanks!
  • Reply 10 of 10
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Redhedoo7 View Post


    Hi there!

    Do you know if the m8209ll/a airport work will work on the pc with no mac attached? I have an old one I want to give to some good friends but they are all PC. Wahhh for them. Any idea how to make this happen?

    Thanks!



    Yes... It's just a wifi router like any other, only it has an Apple on it.

    They'll need to install Apple's Airport management software on their pc to change settings.
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