Airport Extreme Connection Timeout (and other problems) on iMac

[tiger2121]

I recently bought an iMac G4 on eBay and am having problems getting the Airport Extreme card to connect to any network. It came with 10.5.1 installed and I've updated it to Leopard 10.5.8

I'm a bit of newbie with this Mac, but am learning quickly and I've tried to do my due diligence research prior to posting. I think I've tried every solution I've found recommended on this forum for others with my problem.

Here's the basic info on what I've tried (by themselves and various combinations):
-changing the channel the network operates on.
-changing from WEP to WPA
-changing to no security at all
-changing to manual DHCP setup
-disabling Wireless-g only to allow b & g, and I've tried allowing only g
-I tried moving AppleAirport.kext to the desktop to let the system rebuild it with a restart - it was not rebuilt so I moved it back in and restarted again
-reset your router
-made sure router firmware was up to date
-creating a new network location
-went to Library > Preferences to delete com.apple.internetconfigpriv.plist and com.apple.internetconfig.plist but there were no files with those names in that folder

None of these options changed any response to the ways I've tried to connect to the internet.

It connects fine through the router with an ethernet cable. With this option it takes the network address 192.168.1.5

I also tried to connect to my neighbor's open network, with that network it will either timeout or ask me for a WEP password, which isn't needed.

These are the errors I get when trying to connect to my own network wirelessly:

-When I go through Network Setup Assistant, I get the error: "The password you entered is invalid." Even though I know it is correct (checked and rechecked to make sure all keys were working in a text file).

-When I go through System Preferences > Network I get a Connection Timeout every time it tries to connect.

-When I go through Network Diagnostics through Safari, it can't find any Apple Wireless Devices to work with or it gives me a connection timeout.


My iPod Touch 2nd Generation has never had a problem connecting to this router or the neighbor's open network.
Neither have any of my three Dell laptops.


AirPort Card Information:

Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x4E)
Wireless Card Locale: USA
Wireless Card Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (4.170.25.8)
Current Wireless Network: wireless network not available

If it matters, I've got an Actiontec router and I'm connecting to Verizon FiOS.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations. I guess if the Airport Extreme card [or software] won't work I'll just have to try a USB network adapter (want to avoid this as this iMac only has USB 1.1).

Ed

[djackmac]

Do you have any Mac filtering set up in the router configuration? If you don't know what this is or how to find it in the routers config page, just go to the manufacturers website and look up instructions on how to do a hard reset and put the router back to factory defaults settings and reconfigure the router again. A hard reset is good for curing many flaky router issues besides unknown/misunderstood settings. Otherwise if you have access to another wireless network you can try to connect to, that would be helpful in telling if its the computer or router.

[tiger2121]

I do not have any MAC filtering set in the router. Thanks, though.

One of first things I did was to do a hard reset of router, followed by making sure the router firmware was up to date.

I'm fairly certain it's the computer - I can't connect to my neighbor's network either (he doesn't have any password or MAC filtering setup on his Linksys router).

I'm writing this back to you on my Dell laptop with a wireless connection to my router.

Could I be missing any important files for the Airport Extreme to work? I can't think of anything besides that or a bad Airport card to stop me from connecting to networks that show up as options to connect to.

Thanks for your suggestions.

Ed

[ex2bot]

Sure sounds like a defective card. If you can get a replacement card, I don't think it would be very difficult to install. Just put the screen down on a towel or something else that's soft.

Be sure to get an Airport Extreme card, not Airport (but you probably know that).
I checked eBay. The Airport Extreme cards look inexpensive.

Look at this support article for more information about what various iMacs support:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2256?viewlocale=en_US

Since yours reports Airport Extreme and you say you have USB 1.1, you must have a 1 GHZ 17" iMac G4, according to the support article. Is that correct?

Good luck.

Bot

[tiger2121]

Thanks, Bot.... I was worried that might be the case.

Do you (or anyone else, for that matter) know what would give me a faster connection of these two options:

A. Replacing the internal Wireless G card (as you mentioned)?
B. Plugging a USB Wireless G adapter stick into one of the USB 1.1 ports?

I'm good at working with the guts of a PC, but have never had to open up a Mac before. Not that I suspect it would be any more difficult... just wondering if it would save me some trouble (for the same, or relatively same, speed) to just use a USB adapter.

If it helps for the speed comparison, I'm on FiOS and with my 2005 Dell, I can get about 1.5 megabytes/second download.

Thanks again.

Ed

[djackmac]

Its rare that those cards go bad. What kind iMac is it? You should try reseating the card first.

EDIT: Just noticed its a G4. In that case take off the bottom plate by loosening the four phillips screws holding it on. Then there is the card. Reseat it into the logic board and reconnect the antenna.