Help me get my G4 iMac connected to the Internet by WiFi

Hello and thank you for your help. Unfortunately it doesn't work - I tried with both generations of AirPort Express and neither offer WPA, but I tried WEP and that didn't work either. There's something fundamentally wrong about this generation of iMacs that causes so much difficulty in getting them to join any WiFi networks. The AEs only offer "WPA/WPA2" and whether they are selected or setup with No Security, this iMac's AirPort Extreme WiFi card refuses to play.

Thank you. I'm going to follow your instructions this minute. Just to be clear, are these instructions designed to get the iMac to connect on the Wi-Fi and not ethernet? It might be that I have misinterpreted, or not read properly, your instructions, but just in case: I can connect the iMac to the Internet with an ethernet cable. That method works perfectly. The issue I have with three of my G4 iMacs is that they won't connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi. Every one of them has the same issue. However, I will reset an airport express first generation to factory settings and follow the rest of the instructions.

Thanks again, I'll report back!

OK, after spending at least two days this week on this nightmare, I have surrendered. However, the good news is that switching from my first generation airport express to the second generation airport express I have managed, with your help and encouragement, to settle for a connection using an Ethernet cable from the airport express in Bridge mode. I will now go out and buy a very short and therefore discreet length of ethernet cable and position this beautiful iMac close by to lots of electrical outlets so I can have this ugly appendage attached to the iMac bringing some Practical use as a computer now it is linked to the outside world. I have to say that this whole experience has been eye-opening in terms of how ridiculous this has been, especially when contrasted with various very old windows laptops that I have been experimenting with, all of them connected effortlessly to my airport network. But there you go, every day is a school day.Thanks once again for your help and patience and the time that you have put in to respond to my SOS.

Have a great day!

Yes, thank you, I am aware-I have several of them around the house, largely because of their looks. I bought the 17 inch iMac flat panel when it first came out all those years ago and I still have it and use it as a display but with a new logic board and connected to an Intel MacMini. It does connect to the Internet and with the help from the Old Mac community at large, there are browsers that help old computers like this to go on the web safely. I don't really want to use it for browsing though as I have plenty of machinery that do that kind of thing, including an M4 MacMini amongst others. It's just helpful to have things that connect to your network for things like transferring files, adding applications, or sharing music. Also, I'm a bit for collecting stuff like this as my rapidly vanishing space in the loft will testify! Thanks for your comments anyway.

[Edited by Moderator]