Powerbook G4 Laptop, Airport Card Issues...

[DKnight]

Hi Guys, googled mac forums and found you lot

Dont know why i havent joined a Mac forum sooner, been using them for 10 years or so now...

Im a self employed graphic designer and dj and have a knackerd old G4 tower and this Powerbook G4 Laptop 550mhz running 10.3.9...

Now the problem i have been struck with, is i put my airport card in, did it all as told by apple online, and when i turn computer on, it turns on...

and thats all ;(

no screen nothing...

Take card out, and it fires up fine...

Can anyone guide me on what im doing wrong or whats best to do?

Cheers guys

Dan Knight

 

[Mord]

you have a broken airport card or an airport slot, test it in your g4

 

[DKnight]

oh i didnt even realise will it fit in my tower?


*runs off to check

 

[DKnight]

sweet i checked it and again same problem!

im guessing card is duff!

will send back and hope it works!

cheers dude!

Dan

 

[Mord]

no problem, those airport cards are getting über rare, i bought mine the day before apple stopped selling them.

 

[disconap]

Make sure you have the right kind of Airport card. If it is an extreme, it will not work in the older towers. Also make sure you seat it properly. But yeah, sounds like a bad card if it's an actual older Airport card...

There are cheaper options; the DWL-122 dongle is great for laptops, and has been much better supported in the past year (it used to cause kernel panics. but the newest driver was released in November or December (I think) and is very stable, at least in 10.2 and 10.3). There are also several companies that make PCI wireless for your tower and PCMCI for your laptop which will work with mac. All of them are way cheaper than a classic airport card.

 

[Leareth]

Or you could go to your local univerisity or college computer store and pick up a brand new airport card for under $100 , most schools will sell you non systems and software stuff with out a student card.
Last year my school was selling airport cards for $69 canadian , I bought 3 and sold them on ebay for $135USD each plus shipping...

 

[disconap]

The original airport cards aren't for sale anywhere anymore, to my knowledge, other than secondhand and rarity places. I could be wrong, though. EDIT: which, apparently, I am. Can you still get them for $69 Canadian? I may have to take a trip to Vancouver, as I have three machines that could use them...

Either way, those solutions I mentioned range from $35-75.

 

[Els]

Good to know these cards are becoming rare. I have one in my old iMac DV that's been locked up in a closet for quite a while now.

 

[disconap]

You can get over $100 on ebay for it now, usually around $120.