How to connect WRT54G to a Mac? (newbie)

[gaudiora]

I'm a complete newbie to networking (and not as computer savvy as y'all), and I'm trying to set up a router with my Mac G5 (no Airport card) , so that my apartmentmate with a laptop PC and I can user the Internet.

I'm still trying to figure this out--please note that I know very little/nothing about networking. I'm more savvy than the average computer user that doesn't know what Internet Explorer or Firefox is, but I certainly don't know what many of the terms in networking mean. Here's what I did...

Connect LAN to G5
Connect WAN port to Cable Modem (the one labelled Internet, I don't know what LAN and WAN mean)
Plug in router to power supply
(when I tried just connecting the Mac and the LAN port, nothing happened, I couldn't access the Admin website)

Access http://192.168.1.1
Change default admin password to a different password
Remain utterly confused by instructions
Internet doesn't work on the G5

Here are screenshots I took of the setup website
http://tinypic.com/59v57a
http://tinypic.com/59v587
http://tinypic.com/59v58o

Thanks for your help!

[meese]

Try this:

Shut down the pc. Remove power from your cable modem and the router. Wait 30 seconds. Connect power to router. Wait 30 seconds. Connect power to cable modem. Wait for it to sync up (usually takes 30 - 60 seconds). Power up pc. See if it works now.