TiBook HELP!!!

IamBeowulf

Hi guys I bought a second-hand Powerbook Titanium G4 1Ghz recently, and it was provided with a PCMCIA Wireless Card. The card lights up fine, and the Powerbook recognizes it as a WiFi Airport card...but it won't connect to the wireless network set up round the house. Strangely, my gf's own MacBook had no issue.

I typed in the WEP correctly. It wouldn't connect. Then I tried switching off the router and switching it back on, and now the Powerbook won't even detect the network at all!

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! The wireless card is a Buffalo G54, if that's any help...

IamBeowulf

Anyone? *whimpers softly*

setanta5

usually as a first attempt to resolve i would turn off all the security on the router and see if you can connect
That way you can isolate it as being a security issue
Some of the older tech might not support the WPA encryption on current Wireless equipment

IamBeowulf

Hi setanta thanks for replying, it's all set up ith a WEP password, on a Belkin Router. I definitely have the password correct as I tried inputting it on the operational MacBook.

One thing: the card symbol that appears on the top, representing the PCMCIA card, says "Broadcom 802.11b". But my network is 802.11g. I've looked up info on the card online and it's clearly stated that the card supports both b and g.

So I wonder...is it that the card is on one frequency and the network is on another...is that why it's not detecting it at all...? Do you know how to switch between the two?

Thanks for any help...

setanta5

you need to change the routers settings. do you know its ip address? Sometimes its printed on the bottom of the router, though it can be changed so this may not be valid anymore

Once you go into it (you'll likely need user id and password) go to wireless access tab and check what channel it on. Its really a matter of experimenting to find one that your mac is happy with. I don't use belkin so can't be 100% sure, but have set up linksys, netopia and airport routers before and generally they all have the same basic issues

IamBeowulf

As an alternative to that...

(my router is not hooked directly into any computer, so accessing its security settings would mean me probably screwing up the whole network haha!)

...is there any way I could piggyback the settings over from the MacBook to the G4? The fact that the card is detected as 802.11b as opposed to g has me boggled too...

nialler

Change the router to mixed mode both a, b & c and see if that works. Other than that there may be a driver issue,

http://www.ioxperts.com/

http://www.ioxperts.com/products/80211b_X.html

More specifically teh second one.
these are relatively low priced so that may help.


N

IamBeowulf

Hi Nialler

Thanks very much for that. I had a good read of the info on both links. From what I gather, they produce drivers for hardware that MacOS X does not inherently support. However, this card seems to be fully supported, as it can detect other networks in my neighbourhood...which is strange...

What I wonder is: how do I change the router to mixed mode? I'm gonna have a look-see at Belkin's website. Networking vexes me, to the say the least

ZENER

I may have a genuine Airport Extreme card from that era that will fit into the PowerBook that you could try.

PM me if you like. I'm in North Co. Dublin.

ZEN

IamBeowulf

PM sent, thanks!

monkeyfudge

I was going to offer my help... but Zener is a good guy. Best of luck with that.

whiterebel

Not sure on the b v g issue, but I'll put forward my tuppence worth.
If you have MAC filtering enabled on the router, have you added the MAC address of the TiBook? It will see it, but not connect, even if the WEP key is correct.

ZENER

I've just replied to the PM I received from IamBeowulf. The PowerBook Titanium used the older Airport 802.11b cards rather than the newer Extreme cards fitted in Aluminium G4 models. I've searched around a bit and everywhere says the same thing - Airport b. I'm hoping to sort this out over the next few days but if anyone knows of a TiBook that took newer Extreme cards then please let me know before I waste anyones time.

The Extreme cards fitted to newer Powerbooks were modified with a short ribbon cable too so standard desktop type cards won't fit.

TiBook Airport Card:



PowerBook Airport Extreme Card :



Standard Airport Extreme Card :



ZEN

WUSBDesign

Post up the model number for that Buffalo wireless PCMCIA card you are using. It is "normal" for the older PowerBooks to state that the cards are "Broadcom 802.11b"-based, but really, it'll operate in "G" mode. I know since I had owned a Buffalo as well as a Belkin card, perfectly working with my "G"-only router.

Check that the PCMCIA card works at all - turn off and back on via the Airport icon. Also, when you re-start the router, give it a few minutes before you see the network.

And do download iStumbler to survey the surroundings for other networks. This will give you a clue as to what the problem might be.

Lastly, have you set the RF channel number in the router to 12 or 13? If so, choose a un-used one (from iStumbler's sniffing around) from 1 to 11.

babypink

ZEN.....you're correct about it using the original airport card.

ZENER

Thanks BP - on both counts

ZEN