Why has my G5 iMac's wireless gotten so bad?

buffalo · Dec 28, 2006

I've had my (rev. B) G5 iMac since August of 2005. My dad didn't want to pay the cable guy a couple hundred dollars to run a cable up into my room, so I have been relying on the wireless Airport connection. Everything was working fine for the first year or so, but the last few months the connection has gotten very poor.

Sometime I will be getting a good connection but suddenly the signal will drop from 4-5 bars down to 2 bars (like now) and I will get a very slow connection on none at all. Sometimes turning Airport on and off temporarily fixes the system but sometimes it just goes back to two bars with a slow connection.

Are there any tests I can do to check if the card is functioning properly? I don't think it is the connection since I can play my DS online with little problem from downstairs. It could be the location, but that doesn't make sense since I received a good connection for so long.

I am using Time Warner Cable with a Linksys router.

Thanks!

Queso · Dec 28, 2006

Are you using Interface Robustness? If so, try turning that off and seeing whether it helps. You may also want to change the channel your Wi-Fi network operates on.

buffalo · Dec 28, 2006

I read about the interference robustness yesterday and turned that on but it doesn't seem to make much difference. Right now it's shut off and I'm getting a fine signal for the moment.

How would I change the wifi channel?

Also, I'm not sure if I mentioned that the router is located downstairs and my iMac is upstairs.

jpfisher · Dec 28, 2006

You can change the channel in the router's control panel, usually access by logging into http://192.168.1.1 -- the default password on your linksys should be 'admin'

I had the same issue with my G5 -- the wifi built into my DSL router was working fine for a long time and then it stopped communicating. Changing the channel remedied the problem; chances are the neighbors got something new that was interfering on that frequency.

pimentoLoaf · Dec 28, 2006

Microwave ovens cause these DSL things to drop connections very very quickly. It's almost always the culprit. If you don't have one, the neighbors do.

buffalo · Dec 28, 2006

I had noticed that the microwave does cause a temporary loss of signal but my problems extend further than our use of it. I'll give the channel change a try.

Thanks for the help so far!

buffalo · Dec 28, 2006

I've just got around to logging on to IP address. It looks like it's currently operating on channel 6. Should I just change it one channel or more? Also, my dad occasionally uses the wireless with his work laptop (IBM Thinkpad).. Will changing the channel affect his ability to access the internet?

igucl · Dec 28, 2006

I experienced this same sporadic wireless behavior with my iMac G5 until it finally stopped working altogether. When that happened, it also meant that my computer would kernel panic on startup unless I removed the airport card.

If enough people continue to have this problem, maybe Apple will do something about it. I'm not holding my breath, though.

buffalo · Dec 28, 2006

I am also somewhat annoyed that I chose not to get AppleCare because I am now out of warranty. Hopefully changing the channel will solve my problems. I'm sure my iMac doesn't kernel panic on startup, but will you give a brief explanation of what that actually is?

igucl · Dec 28, 2006

buffalo said:
I am also somewhat annoyed that I chose not to get AppleCare because I am now out of warranty. Hopefully changing the channel will solve my problems. I'm sure my iMac doesn't kernel panic on startup, but will you give a brief explanation of what that actually is?

While the gray Apple screen is up, a darker gray screen will drop down that says you need to restart your computer. Mine wouldn't get past this without removing the wireless card.

buffalo · Dec 28, 2006

*knocks on desk*

Well I changed the channel from 6 to 5 earlier this evening and everything has been working well since the change. I want to give it a day or so before I declare a success but so far the change seems to be working well.

Thanks for the tip!

Jimmieboy · Dec 28, 2006

buffalo said:
I've had my (rev. B) G5 iMac since August of 2005. My dad didn't want to pay the cable guy a couple hundred dollars to run a cable up into my room, so I have been relying on the wireless Airport connection. Everything was working fine for the first year or so, but the last few months the connection has gotten very poor.

Sometime I will be getting a good connection but suddenly the signal will drop from 4-5 bars down to 2 bars (like now) and I will get a very slow connection on none at all. Sometimes turning Airport on and off temporarily fixes the system but sometimes it just goes back to two bars with a slow connection.

Are there any tests I can do to check if the card is functioning properly? I don't think it is the connection since I can play my DS online with little problem from downstairs. It could be the location, but that doesn't make sense since I received a good connection for so long.

I am using Time Warner Cable with a Linksys router.

Thanks!

I've had a problem that was kinda the same. I worked out that it was our microwave. Everytime it goes on there is a major decrease in signal strength. Also some cordless phones interfer with you're signal.

ModestPenguin · Dec 28, 2006

at least it's not attracting ants!

SuperCompu2 · Dec 28, 2006

For best variation, its better to change the channel by 2-3 intead of just down one, you'll probably see better results in the long run if the signal is in fact the problem.

good luck!

aristobrat · Dec 28, 2006

buffalo said:
Well I changed the channel from 6 to 5 earlier this evening and everything has been working well since the change. I want to give it a day or so before I declare a success but so far the change seems to be working well.

Hopefully that it's.

Most routers default channel is 6, so it's not unusual to see neighbors clobbering each others WiFi. At my place, my MBP picks up 4 neighbors all using channel 6. My MB picked up even more.

The other thing is that channels near each other (i.e. channel 5 is near channel 6) somewhat overlap each other, so if channel 5 doesn't change things quite as good as they used to be, try channel 1 or channel 11.

There's an excellent tool called iStumbler that you can download that will show you what channels the networks around you are using.

BigPrince · Dec 28, 2006

A couple hundred dollars to run the cable? Where do you live, I'll do it for cheaper

.

buffalo · Dec 28, 2006

SuperCompu2 said:
For best variation, its better to change the channel by 2-3 intead of just down one, you'll probably see better results in the long run if the signal is in fact the problem.

good luck!

I'll go ahead and move it down to Channel 3.

aristobrat said:
There's an excellent tool called iStumbler that you can download that will show you what channels the networks around you are using.

Do I need this tool if I'm the only network that my Airport picks up? Occasionally I will get one more but it never connects.

BigPrince said:
A couple hundred dollars to run the cable? Where do you live, I'll do it for cheaper .

We never actually called up TWC to find out. That's just what my dad thought it would cost.

aristobrat · Dec 29, 2006

buffalo said:
Do I need this tool if I'm the only network that my Airport picks up? Occasionally I will get one more but it never connects.

Nope, it's just a tool that I think is fun to use, but if you don't have more than 1 or 2 networks around, it'd be kinda boring. heh

Why has my G5 iMac's wireless gotten so bad?

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