I currently own an iBook G3 600Mhz with 640MB of Ram. I've installed the only Apple branded wireless card that works in it, and I cannot connect to any modern password protected networks. Is there anyway around this?
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How can I get an old Apple Wifi card working?
- Thread starter JohnnyH1012
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^^^This.
Even if you had Leopard, which your G3 cannot run you would be limited to a max of WPA2. However, the original airport card will not connect to WPA networks using AES encryption, only TKIP.
Additionally, if the network you are trying to connect to is using anything above wireless A or B (ie., G or N) you cannot connect. If you control the network you will have to make adjustments. If you do not, you're out of luck. The Airport Extreme card was the first card to do wireless G and there is no wireless Apple made card for PowerPC Macs that does wireless N. Your iBook G3 will not take an Airport Extreme card if that's what you may be thinking. Physically, it's the wrong size and there's no capability for your G3 to talk to it.
You can't expect the original Airport card that was introduced in 1999 to connect to current networks. It's 15 years old!
Even if you had Leopard, which your G3 cannot run you would be limited to a max of WPA2. However, the original airport card will not connect to WPA networks using AES encryption, only TKIP.
Additionally, if the network you are trying to connect to is using anything above wireless A or B (ie., G or N) you cannot connect. If you control the network you will have to make adjustments. If you do not, you're out of luck. The Airport Extreme card was the first card to do wireless G and there is no wireless Apple made card for PowerPC Macs that does wireless N. Your iBook G3 will not take an Airport Extreme card if that's what you may be thinking. Physically, it's the wrong size and there's no capability for your G3 to talk to it.
You can't expect the original Airport card that was introduced in 1999 to connect to current networks. It's 15 years old!
I don't expect the airport card to be capable of modern networking, but I am certainly hopeful! Thanks for the help.
Find a 802.11g router but plug it into a port on your current router, and set up the 802.11g router to work with B/G. A lot of work, but if you ever get some other pre-2003 Mac with the old card you can connect. Not really the best solution in the book, but it'll work for this kind of stuff.
If you are willing to get a bit 'dirty' you could buy something like this and make a short ethernet cable. Allows you to get a fast 'modern' connection. I use it on my iMac G3 running OS9 and Classilla flies!
Most old routers that can have DD-WRT flashed on them can do that for a fraction of the price.
At that point why would you pay $60 for that rather than just getting a USB adapter or an old router.
The original "Apple AirPort Card" 802.11b works just fine with WPA encryption, connecting to a brand-new 802.11ac Time Capsule, as long as the router has WPA allowed (not just WPA-2,) and the computer with the 802.11b card is running OS X 10.5.
I have another Netgear Universal adapter doing the same thing. A cheaper option if funds are short would be the TP-Link WR702N, which can be configured to be a router, repeater or bridge. Speeds are limited to 150Mbps but at that price who cares?
http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WR702N-Wireless-Repeater-150Mpbs/dp/B007PTCFFW
If you prefer DD-WRT, look for the WR703N model on eBay. Costs about the same but ships from China. That has a larger ROM, which is flashable.