Powerbook G4 WiFi connection randomly cutting out

[hellothere231]

I bought said Powerbook G4 15" from eBay, it's a Powerbook5,4, 1.5ghz G4, 768mb of ram, everything updated to Leopard 10.5.8. It's a really nice machine and I love it, but recently, I've been having issues with my wireless connection on Leopard-Webkit randomly dropping out, leaving me to turn off the Airport card and turn it back on. TenFourFox isn't affected as much as Webkit, but it still is sometimes, AFAIK. I tried zapping the PRAM, and deleting Webkit's caches, but it still happens. Anything I can do about this?

EDIT: I was just browsing the web on my G4 on TenFourFox, WiFi cut out again, so it's probably all browsers/things that use the internet that are affected by this problem.

 

[bunnspecial]

How far are you from your router? In my experience, the Al Powerbooks don't exactly have the best reception.

I know this is anecdotal, but to give you an example my 12" won't find the network at all one floor up and at the opposite end of the house from where the router is. My Quicksilver in the same room(PCI WiFi card), as well as my iMac G4 in the connected room, get near full signal strength in these locations.

My 15" AlBook does a little better than my 12", although there are parts of the building at work where it can see the WiFi network but can't connect to it.

 

[hellothere231]

I'm one floor up from the router, sitting in my bedroom right now. The wifi also drops off too when I am in the same room as my router, however, so it's probably something else.

 

[bunnspecial]

You might make sure the Airport antenna is securely fastened to the card. Also, check the antenna wire to make sure it is not pinched or otherwise damaged.

 

[hellothere231]

Er, how would I check that?

 

[bunnspecial]

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/PowerBook_G4_Aluminum_Series

Select your model, and then follow the respective tear-down guide to access the Airport card and antenna wire.

 

[hellothere231]

I checked my Airport card (it was in the battery compartment), and the antenna was hooked up fine, so nothing wrong there.

EDIT: Tried Network Diagnostics when WiFi cut out again, it reports that my connection is fine for some reason.

 

[hellothere231]

Oh, and if it makes any difference, I keep finding these lines periodically in Console.app:
29/12/14 1:14:26 PM [0x0-0x9009].com.apple.systemuiserver[131] WirelessAP_GetStatus read error: Connection refused
I think this line has something to do with my problem.