Can a healthy but very old MBP (5,5) with 10.6 OS be configured to operate on a Mesh wifi network?

I was given the subject MBP by an old friend who is forced to liquidate his gear and enter an elder care facility. I'm wondering if this device could be dusted off and put to some good use in his new place, but I can't get it to network via my home wifi. So, no email or other network-dependent functionality.

There seems to be an issue with WEP vs. WPA security, an area that I have no working knowledge of. Could anyone give me guidance on this. My network is WPA2, and the old Airport card in the MBP seems to prefer WEP, as I read the problem via the computer's network diagnostics. Is this a fatal incompatibility? I have no idea what the wifi characteristics will be at his new place, but anticipate that if I can't make it work here, it won't work there.

Thanks.

Earlier Mac models

Posted on Mar 21, 2025 9:01 PM

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g_wolfman

Level 4

3,472 points

Posted on Mar 22, 2025 8:14 AM

A MacBook Pro5,5 can connect to WPA2 secured networks, even running 10.6. But you say you have a home mesh network - are you sure it isn't using WPA3 security? 10.6 cannot connect to a WPA3 network (but if you can upgrade to 10.11 El Capitan as Grant Bennet-Alder suggests, then you can because 10.11 can properly fall back to WPA2 on a WPA3 network).

When you go to join a network, you should get a dialog like this (except the name of the network will be filled in):

When you click on the Security selector, you should get a drop-down menu like this:

Do you get this and can you select WPA2 Personal?

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Can a healthy but very old MBP (5,5) with 10.6 OS be configured to operate on a Mesh wifi network?

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