Hi cadyl and welcome to the forum.
Does it work with the network cable (ethernet cable)? If so, log to your netgear interface using your web-browser and the address 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.0.100. If none of these works then take a closer look at your netgear manual. Turn off settings such as WEP, WPA and MAC filters (if you have no clue what I am talking about take again a closer look at your manual). Then unplug your ibook from the netgear router and test your signal reception. Make sure you are not too far away from your router. For testing stay as close as you can. Good luck!