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problems with I-book wireless


georgeg4

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I have an old mac i-book and the airport card in is not correct . It has a small plug on it but there is no place to plug it in .

Also I have a netgear wireless adapter for it and that shows up but when I try to connect it says to activate my w-lan card and I cant seem to get that to work either . I am completely new to mac and I am sure it is something simple

 

Any help would be gladly appreciated

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Guest LilBambi

Gonna need more info george4.

 

What is the model of the iBook? What version of Mac OS X is it running or is it still running OS 9?

 

The airport card: is it a plugin card or onboard?

 

The Netgear wireless adapter: what model is it?

 

We can't even begin to help without this information.

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From here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBook

your laptop is running OS 10.3.9.

The netgear adapter http://support.netgear.com/product/WG111v2 supports 10.4 so your laptop isn't supported.

The onboard aircard, again looking at the wiki article is AirPort (802.11b). Look at your router and see if it can do b.

 

Maybe these directions will help

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2367

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actually zlim the netgear does support os 4 and os 3 I have ithe software downloaded and ,y laptop does recgonize it but it tells me to enable the wlan card and that is what I dont know how to do

here is the software from netgear =wg111v2&download_url=http://www.downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/WG111V2/WG111v2%20Software%20Version%201.0.0%20for%20MAC%20OSX%2010.3,%2010.4.zip"]Software Version 1.0.0 for MAC OSX 10.3, 10.4

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Guest LilBambi

OK. I see what you have now. It is a PPC (PowerPC Mac) running OS X 10.3.9 also known as Panther.

 

Before we go any further, I would be remiss to not tell you that Panther is VERY old and no longer supported by Apple. It has had no security updates for known issues for a long time now. It is technically not safe to be on the Internet. You do know that right?

 

It is likely a bit safer than Windows 98/98SE/ME, but not by much. The only saving grace is that it is PowerPC. If you intend to use it on the Internet, you would do well to ONLY use it running Firefox, which also BTW will only run up to version 3.9.x I believe. Because of that, you would do well to get NoScript, Adblock Plus and WOT (My WOT or My Web of Trust ) addons at the very least. AND I would disable any Java on the system immediately since it can not be upgraded to any reasonably safe version. And I would never install Flash on it, same reason.

 

I will not tell you that doing these things will keep you safe on the Internet. i am pretty certain it will not.

 

Now, on to the technical question regarding your network card.

 

Yes, the WG111.v2 is supposed to work on Mac OS X 10.3.x as well as 10.4.x with an appropriate driver. It will not work on any Intel Macs. But it is supposed to work on PPC (PowerPC).

 

WG111v2 Software Version 1.0.0 for MAC OSX 10.3, 10.4

 

 

 

WG111v2

Software Version 1.0.0 for MAC OSX 10.3, 10.4

  • Supports Windows MAC OSX 10.3, 10.4 (G4 Platform only, does not support Intel platform).
     
  • Software release version: 1.0.0
     
  • Driver version: 1.4.5
     
  • Utility version: 1.4.6

 

This release is not compatible with model WG111 (or with TiVo), your adapter must be WG111v2 for this.

 

New Features and Enhancements

  • Initial release.
     
  • Does NOT work on Intel platform. It can only run on G4 platform and supports OSX 10.3 and 10.4.

 

That page does have an updated driver. Who knows whether it would make it work right or not.

 

How did you install the software? Before or after you connected the device? What were the instructions regarding when to plug the device in? It can make a big difference in whether it will see it correctly if you plug some USB devices in at the wrong time; especially with older OSes.

 

Also, are you sure the USB port is actually functioning? Have you tried any other devices in that port? Do you have another port you can try?

 

If it is saying you need to turn the device on, that could be a problem with the hardware. Either the USB port or the WG111v2 device itself. The WG111v2 is an RTL8187-based device. Have you tested that it works on other systems like Windows XP?

 

Also, be aware that the WG111v2 will only work with the already cracked WEP encryption security protocol. It can not work on the WPA/WPA2 (TKIP or AES) security on wireless routers. So I would also check to see what encryption protocol your wireless router is using. NOTE: The only really safe one these days is WPA2 AES especially if you live in a densely populated area where it is likely to be put through rigors by every hacker teen or bad guy in the area.

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MAC (media access control) authentication disabled should make it easier for any wireless device to connect to your network. i don't see that as the problem.

I have MAC address filtering turned on so I need to enter the MAC address of every thing I want to connect to my router.

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Oh well Back to the drawing board i guess . Thanks much for the input guys

This thing has me going nuts , It is worse than the first time I tried linux

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Guest LilBambi

Yes, Liz and Adam are right ... totally unrelated. MAC address authentication is locking down your system so it only allows network connections from specific network adapters with specific MAC addresses that are listed in your router as allowed.

 

MAC address:

 

A media access control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces for communications on the physical network segment. MAC addresses are used for numerous network technologies and most IEEE 802 network technologies, includingEthernet. Logically, MAC addresses are used in the media access control protocol sublayer of the OSI reference model.

 

MAC addresses are most often assigned by the manufacturer of a network interface card (NIC) and are stored in its hardware, such as the card's read-only memory or some other firmware mechanism. If assigned by the manufacturer, a MAC address usually encodes the manufacturer's registered identification number and may be referred to as the burned-in address. It may also be known as an Ethernet hardware address (EHA), hardware address or physical address. This is can be contrasted to a programmed address, where the host device issues commands to the NIC to use an arbitrary address. An example is manySOHO routers, where the ISP grants access to only one MAC address (used previously to inserting the router) so the router must use that MAC address on its Internet-facing NIC. Therefore the router administrator configures a MAC address to override the burned-in one.

 

A network node may have multiple NICs and each must have one unique MAC address per NIC.

 

It's not your fault or even the Mac iBook's fault. You are simply trying to use ancient Mac hardware and ancient Netgear USB wireless network adapter.

 

Routers today are making use of WPA2 AES Wireless security encryption for the wireless connection. That Netgear USB device - even if you could get it to work right - will only go to WEP wireless security encryption.

 

You would not want to go backwards to already cracked WEP wireless encryption on your router on all your devices, just to accommodate an ancient system and ancient USB wireless network adapter.

Edited by LilBambi
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Bambai you hit the nail on the head I have been trying to use ancient equipment as you said so I thought I also have an ancient router so I hooked up my ancient netgear router and turned on the i-book and I am now posting this reply on that ancient i-book wirelessly :)

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However, the old router using WEP is a MASSIVE security risk! It is trivial for someone to break that encryption and gain access to your network.

 

We CANNOT recommend this as a viable solution to get on the internet wirelessly.

 

Adam

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I know trhat Adam but this old computer is not worth worrying about if it gets a virus then I will just scrap it it has no personal information on it and I dont intend to put any on I will just use it to browse

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If you are running a network with WEP, then you are potentially exposing ALL your computers. Not just the Mac.

 

Adam

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Guest LilBambi

Totally agree with Adam and Temmu. Not worth the risk these days to use insecure hardware, software or encryption for wireless.

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