Help Connecting iMac To Wireless Network

mleonard79

Hi Everyone,

My brother has just got an iMac. I have a PC connected to a Netgear router and his old PC was on my wireless network so I want to connect his mac to it now. When the iMac was plugged in it came up with a box that asked him to choose a wireless network and it came up with NETGEAR in the box so I'm assuming it's recognised my network straightaway. It's asking me to put in a password though and I don't know what it's looking for - this may be a complete techie dummy question but does anyone know what it's asking for when it says password as from looking at my wireless settings there is no password (just security key, network name etc.) It doesn't say anything in the booklet to help and it's probably very simple but I don't want to put in the wrong thing. Thanks for any help.

Regards

Michelle

DCFC79

mleonard79 wrote: »

Hi Everyone,

My brother has just got an iMac. I have a PC connected to a Netgear router and his old PC was on my wireless network so I want to connect his mac to it now. When the iMac was plugged in it came up with a box that asked him to choose a wireless network and it came up with NETGEAR in the box so I'm assuming it's recognised my network straightaway. It's asking me to put in a password though and I don't know what it's looking for - this may be a complete techie dummy question but does anyone know what it's asking for when it says password as from looking at my wireless settings there is no password (just security key, network name etc.) It doesn't say anything in the booklet to help and it's probably very simple but I don't want to put in the wrong thing. Thanks for any help.

Regards

Michelle

have you tried the security key,
its asking for the password someone else would use to access the network
i may be wrong mind as its a mac which is something i dont have, surely if oyu enter the wrong one in then it woudl just say incorrect key and ask you to enter it again

mleonard79

DCFC79 wrote: »

have you tried the security key,
its asking for the password someone else would use to access the network
i may be wrong mind as its a mac which is something i dont have, surely if oyu enter the wrong one in then it woudl just say incorrect key and ask you to enter it again

Hi DCFC79,

Yes I've tried that - it's a 62 digit key but it just says invalid password so I'm at a loss as to what to try. Thanks.

Regards

Michelle

mleonard79

Due to the lack of a hash key on the imac I was inputting the WPA Key wrongly so I managed to get it to accept it when I put it in correctly. I'm now getting a different error message though: "there was an error joining the selected network." From googling this it seems there could be issues with WPA Keys and Macs so I disabled my security momentarily just to see if I could connect but I'm still getting the same message so there must be some other problem. This is more complicated than I expected :mad: Thanks for any help.

Regards

Michelle

Marty_J

I use WPA security for my iMac.

When I set it up, I typed in the network name and password, and it connected.

I can tell you right now: unless it's faulty, it isn't the Mac that is the problem.

If you can sign onto your email, you know how to connect a Mac to a wireless network.

Do you have any other security on your router enabled? Wireless Access Control for instance? Is SSID broadcast turned on?

mleonard79

Hi Marty,

Thanks for the reply. I can't see anything in my router settings that says wireless access control but I do see "enable wireless access point" and it's ticked if that means anything. Also "wireless isolation" is ticked but "allow broadcast of name (SSID)" is not ticked. My security is WPA-PSK (Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key.) Any help greatly appreciated!

Regards

Michelle

Marty_J

If "allow broadcast of name (SSID)" is not ticked, then your network name won't show up when you scan for it. If you go to "Wireless settings" (in the router's setup), it'll tell you what the name of your network is. This is what the network name should be entered as on the iMac.

On the same page, there should also be a section for "Wireless Station Access List". This is the access control I was talking about. If you click the button beside it, it'll tell you if it's enabled or not.

mleonard79

Hi Marty,

I enabled the allowing of broadcast name and the imac found the network name but still the same: "there was an error joining the selected network." I also clicked on "set-up access list" and there is a "turn access control on" button but it was already ticked. There is one "trusted wireless station" in the list but I'm assuming that's my brother's old computer that was connected up until it broke. Thanks for the help.

Regards

Michelle

Marty_J

Hi Michelle,

if the access control is enabled, then the iMac won't be able to connect to the router until you add its MAC (Media Access Control) address to the list.

If you untick that box and then click apply, it'll turn the access control off. Then the iMac should be able to connect. Once it has connected, go back to that screen and you should see the iMac at the bottom. Add it to the list of trusted devices and then turn the access control back on.

mleonard79

Hi Marty,

I turned it off and tried it again but I'm still getting the same error message. Thanks for your help.

Regards

Michelle

Marty_J

Are you absolutely sure you're using the correct password?

It'll tell you what security you're using and what the network key is on the "Wireless Settings" page of the router's settings. Copy the network key (select it and press cmd+c).

Then click on the AirPort icon on the right of the iMac's menu bar (beside the clock) and select "Join other network". Enter the network name, choose the security you're using (if it's WPA, select "WPA personal"), then paste what you copied above into the password box (cmd+v). Click the "show password" box so you can make sure it has been entered correctly without any spaces at the beginning or end.