Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

PowerBook G4, poor wi fi?

T

tchaap

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 22, 2007
75
0
PowerBook G4, 1.5ghz, 2gb ram, 80gb HD, Superdrive

It shows I have the AirPort Extreme card installed.

Problem, I get poor(slow performance on my home wifi) and in some areas I get no signal or drop the signal. On my PC laptops I get good signal and fairly good speed.

Using a Linksys wirless 2.4ghz wireless G router.

Could my wireless card need replacing? If I get a wireless N router will the airport extreme card pull the N?

Thanks,
TChaap
 
No concrete walls.
Yes, the other pc's are wireless G as well...which makes sense because I have a wirelss G router.

My question is...
My PC's get good performance and my powerbook does not. Could I or should I replace the wireless card?

TC
 
I think this is where I'm lost. I have top of the line pcs with wireless 'g' which don't get reception where the powerbook does. People in my family generally recognize that the powerbook is the best at picking up wireless.

In this respect it appears that our experiences are opposite.

Strangely enough, i usually use wireless 2 levels above the router, which is to say in between several large slabs of concrete and steel.
 
Yep, that is why I am confused as well.
Friend brought his MB over and it pulled a great signal. That is why I wonder if need to replace my card.

Thanks,
TC
 
tchaap said:
Yep, that is why I am confused as well.
Friend brought his MB over and it pulled a great signal. That is why I wonder if need to replace my card.

Thanks,
TC
Click to expand...

Don't replace it. Your wireless does work right? I've never heard of a card dying a slow death of this type. Maybe it's coming lose. Does airport randomly shut off?
 
i have the same PB. wifi reception always was weak compared to my PC notebook or my e-mac or any other computer i compared it to. it's one of the bad things about the Alu powerbook.

i'm afraid there is not much you can do.
 
Alum. PB's always had poor reception. It was a known issue and was somewhat rectified in the alum. MBP line. The MB's have great reception - plastic. The antennae is wrapped around front of PB which they eventually changed in MBP.
 
NC MacGuy said:
Alum. PB's always had poor reception. It was a known issue and was somewhat rectified in the alum. MBP line. The MB's have great reception - plastic. The antennae is wrapped around front of PB which they eventually changed in MBP.
Click to expand...

10-4...I guess I'll save a few bucks and get a MB

Thanks for the responses.

TC
 
Just thought I would add to this. My aluminum PowerBook only gets half the signal of what my old PowerBook G3 "Pismo" did from across the house. I do think that it's just the way the G4 was made.
 
Yeah, my brother's MacBook beat the pants off my PowerBook's wireless reception. One time my brother and I were looking for hotspots. My PowerBook showed a single wireless network... maybe... sometimes. And when I could connect, it was one bar -- barely enough to register an IP address, but not enough to actually do anything. Not that it would stay connected long enough anyway -- signal was too weak.

My brother opened up his MacBook and said, oh look, here's 8 different wireless networks! And he picked one, got a strong signal, and was able to surf like he does at home.

I was jealous.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back