Apple Mac wireless self-assigned IP address help

[imlazar]

I just got FiOS today.  Everything appears to be working fine except for one thing, my Apple Macbook Pro, running 10.5.8 is getting a self-assigned IP address when I connect it to my FiOS wireless router (ActionTec MI424-WR).

The Mac has a physical connection to the wireless router.  The "My Network" tab in the wireless router configuration screen shows it as connected, with an assigned IP address of 192.168.1.6.  However, the ping test fails, and the Mac's Airport settings show a self-assigned IP address.

I've tried rebooting everything, turning airport on and off, and renewing DHCP, but nothing is working.   

I haven't touched any of the default settings on the ActionTec, it's still running WEP.

I did verify that my firewall is turned off on the mac.

What else can I try?

[imlazar · Accepted solution]

Fixed thanks to absolutely fast response from ActionTec tech support - for Mac's, you need to put a $ in front of the WEP key.

[Telcoguru]

I think you only have to do that for older Macs. I setup a Mac wirelessly yesterday and didn't have to do that.

[imlazar]

I have a 6 month old MacBook Pro running the latest version of OS X, so it's affecting newere Macs as well.  I found some on-line discussion that it's a problem with only the Macbook Pro.

FWIW, a few hours after finally getting it working it happened all over again.  I had wireless connectivity but only got a self-assigned IP address.  I tried shutting the airport on and off, deleting the wireless key from key chain, and clearing the wireless network.  However nothing worked until I rebooted the Mac.

I then checked the firmware on the ActionTec and found it was 20.8.0 and 20.9.0 was the latest (mind you I just got this router installed today).  I updated to the 20.9.0 release and everything has worked for about the last 6 hours.  Fingers are crossed. 🙂

[Telcoguru]

Thanks for the info.