[WelMac] Introduction + question

Sun Sep 30 03:07:01 CDT 2007

Hi David, John.

Thank you both for your detailed replies.

Sorry I wasn'r copmpletely clear about my setup. I defintely have an airport
card in the G3, and connect to an airport express base estation via 802.11b.
I would try changing the base station to a different wireless channel, but
since I cannot connect to it (having no woreless) I don;t think I can do
that.

Here's another thing: when the wireless is working, I can see my own
network, and also see my neighbours 802.11b network. When there is no signal
I can see neither of them. This leads me to believe it is not a problem with
the base station.

John - I'm running MacOSX 10.3.9 and updated all the software recently.
There was a period when MacOSX 10.3 updates were very flaky, and I would
need to hard-reset the base station after each upgrade, but upgrading the
base station firmware seemed to fix that up about 18 months ago.

David - I agree that a hardware problem is most likely.

I have tried opening it up and reseating the card, and also attempting to
unplug and re-plug the arial. No joy.

Your antenna theory sounds worryingly accurate. The only things I have had
to repair on this unit are a hard disk, and the monitor cable that runs
through the hinge. Apparently these wear out after a while and start losing
connections, and MagnumMac replaced it about a year ago. Do you know if
replacing the monitor cable/connection also fixes the antenna cable, or if
they are separate cables?

I have tried restarting the computer, and that doesn't help. I have looked
in the system profiler, and it detects the card okay, and shows it working
but not connected to any network. That is consistent with the "Internet
Connect" tool, which shows the card running, but no signal detected. I have
a CD that I got with the original unit that does some hardware tests; this
doesn't find any problems.

I am running the base station with the network name hidden, but this doesn't
seem to be the problem. There is simply no signal being detected. When the
signal comes bak (intermitantly) the computer immediately connects to the
right network.

I think my next steps are going to be try experimenting with holding the lid
at differnt angles (this worked for the monitor) and to take the computer
into the city with me tomorrow and try to connect to cafenet--if I get no
signal in an internet cafe, I think I can be 100% sure it is not a network
problem.

Thanks again for your advice.  Sadly, the Hutt Valley is a bot out of the
way John, but if anyone in the city has one that I could swap in and out
quickly, say at someplace like Felix...?

Gordon

PS: Does anyone know if it wouyld be possible to craft an alternative
antenna and plug it into the back of the card while the machine is
sleeping/off? Is the antenna just a wire, or somethng more complex?

On 30/09/2007, John Crook <jmcrook at mac.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Gordon
>
> Which OS are you using?  One or two earlier versions were a bit flaky
> sometimes.  The latest (10.4.10) seems fine.
>
> Where do you live?  I'm in Hutt Valley and if you're nearby I could
> lend you an Airport card for a short while for testing.  It's
> (802.11b) only.  It came out of my trusty iBook which  was about the
> same vintage as yours and did amazing service until the motherboard
> died on a trip to London.
>
> I currently run an Airport Express network with one unit serving as a
> base station on the wired network and one acting as a repeater to
> cover my house.  It works really great with no problems over about
> three years since I put it in.
>
> Let's know how you get on.
>
> All the best
>
> John Crook
>
>
> On 30/09/2007, at 12:23 PM, David Empson wrote:
>
> > At 10:16 AM +1200 30/09/2007, Gordon Paynter wrote:
> >> Hi all:
> >
> > Hi Gordon
> >
> >> I have a quesion about my iBook that Jo suggested I run by you all.
> >> It is a white G3 iBook (600Mhz, dual USB, October 2001), much
> >> beloved, that we use as our stereo (with an Airport Express base
> >> station of similar vintage) and for day-to-day web browsing from the
> >> couch. Until recently, this has worked a treat, and there probably
> >> aren't many 6-year-old machines that do as much work as this one
> >> does daily.
> >
> > That's quite lucky. My PowerBook G4 didn't quite make it to the five
> > year mark. I had to buy a MacBook Pro recently. I've also seen a few
> > iBook G3s of similar vintage which have died in various ways.
> >
> >> However, we've just encountred a problem. The wireless internet
> >> connection (provided by an Airport Card) is intermitantly failing.
> >> Everything appears to be okay, but no signal is wireless detected.
> >> This will go on for days at a time, until one day we will wake the
> >> iBook up and the wireless will be back. It will work until we shut
> >> the lid again, and then it will usually not come back again next rme
> >> we use it. This has been progressively getting worse, and now the
> >> wireless is only working about once per week.
> >
> > I have four theories which might explain the problem.
> >
> > 1. Hardware problem in the iBook, such as a bad connection to the
> > internal antenna (or a broken wire in the antenna).
> >
> > 2. Some kind of problem with the Airport Express base station.
> >
> > 3. Interference from other devices which is preventing the network
> > operating.
> >
> > 4. Software problem on the iBook.
> >
> > I think the first is more likely, given the symptoms. Sometimes you
> > are lucky and the antenna is making contact at the point of the break
> > or disconnection. At other times, it is not making contact and you
> > get no signal.
> >
> > Testing the Airport Express will require either another Airport
> > Express as a temporary replacement, or another computer with known
> > working 802.11b/g, to see whether the problem is restricted to your
> > iBook or whether it affects all wireless computers.
> >
> > Interference can be from a lot of devices. A microwave oven in the
> > area of either the base station or computer can wipe out the 2.4 GHz
> > radio band while active, but that doesn't sound likely. Other
> > candidates are anything else using the 2.4 GHz band, such as cordless
> > phones, but they usually only transmit while you are talking on them.
> > Do you have a nearby neighbour who might have a video transmitter or
> > something similar running on 2.4 GHz, which could be interfering with
> > your wireless network? As an experiment, you could try changing the
> > base station to a different wireless channel. Try channels which are
> > spaced reasonably far apart, e.g. 1, 5, 9, 13. The convention for
> > 802.11g is to use channels 1, 6 or 11, as the channel is quite wide
> > and can overlap with other wireless networks within 5 channels either
> > side.
> >
> > A software problem is harder to diagnose but best to eliminate before
> > you start opening up the computer.
> >
> > I assume that you have tried restarting the computer when it doesn't
> > see the network, and that didn't help?
> >
> > I have had issues with Macs not automatically connecting to an
> > Airport network: it can see the network in the Airport menu but the
> > network needs to be selected manually.
> >
> > In cases where your base station is NOT broadcasting the network name
> > (SSID), this problem is manifested as an apparent inability to
> > connect to the network at all. Since the name isn't being broadcast,
> > you can't see it in the menu in order to select it. To connect to the
> > network, you have to choose "Other", type in the network name, select
> > the encryption method and type in the password. (All of these have to
> > be entered exactly right, or you won't connect. The network name and
> > password are probably case sensitive.)
> >
> > If this doesn't help, it is likely to be a hardware problem.
> >
> > First question is whether the iBook still thinks it has an Airport
> > card. Once the problem is occurring, restart the computer, confirm
> > that you still can't get into the Airport network, and then go into
> > System Profiler (Apple menu > About This Mac > More Info). Click on
> > Airport Card unde the Network heading and confirm that it actually
> > thinks it has one.
> >
> > The next step is to check the connection between the antenna and the
> > Airport card. Shut down the computer. Lift up the keyboard (releasing
> > the latches in the function key row then flipping it over) and you
> > should immediately see the Airport card. Make sure the antenna is
> > actually plugged into the card: you might want to unplug the antenna
> > and plug it back in again, making sure it is firmly connected. Also
> > check that the Airport card is firmly seated in its slot.
> >
> > If that doesn't solve it, it gets tricky. You really need an
> > alternative antenna to test whether the problem is a broken wire
> > within your antenna. The antenna runs around the outside of the
> > screen, so it must pass through the hinge connecting the screen to
> > the body of the iBook, and it might have broken at the point where it
> > regularly flexes due to the lid opening and closing. You might be
> > able to close the break by putting the screen at different angles
> > relative to the body.
> >
> >> We're currently working around this by using wires when we want to
> >> play music, but that kind of defeats the purpose.
> >>
> >> So my quesiton is: how do I figure out what is wrong without buying
> >> a new airport card? My guess is that it is the airport card that is
> >> broken, but maybe something is wrong with the computer itself, which
> >> means replacing the card wont fix it. Apple doesn't make those cards
> >> anymore, so I will have to buy a second-hand one on trademe to test
> >> with--but then I still wont be sure the new card isn't broken.
> >>
> >> Any suggestions? (Or does anyone have an airport express card I can
> >> borrow for a few minutes?)
> >
> > There is no such thing as an airport express card. I assume you meant
> > either an Airport card or an Airport Express base station. (An
> > Airport Extreme card won't work in your iBook G3.)
> >
> > I might be able to assist, time permitting (I'm very busy these
> > days). E-mail me directly.
> > --
> > David Empson
> > dempson at actrix.gen.nz
> > Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand
> >
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>
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