Apple specialist22
Level 1 (8 points)
Wireless

Q: iBook G3 "Dual USB" 2001 AirPort Wi-Fi problems

Hello! Before you say anything, I have a newer macbook. The iBook was given to me as a donation, which surprisingly was given to me by a teacher. The computer came with the AirPort card, which supports 802.11b, and I heard that 802.11n would work as its backwards compatible with 802.11b. The problem is that my router's PHY mode says 802.11n. With my MacBook, it's really fast. Now the problem is that when I connect, it only gives me WPA personal, but my MacBook says WPA2 Personal. If I go to options on my iBook G3, It shows the WAP2 Personal, but I will not connect. The Password compromises of Numbers and letters (Example: 1AD23B4C5D), Not words. I tried the Wifi Assistance, But says that my Password is Invalid. The AirPort card works fine, as it connects to a local guest network (which also needs a guest password... go figure) and I would really like to see how well It works with just simple internet uses, as YT is too modern for the iBook G3 to even process a simple video. I looked inside the unit and it has been opened before, so I had to also repair it due to malfunctioning parts which needed upgrading:

10GB HDD to a new 60GB HHD

512MB RAM to 256 RAM, as it was cheaper

CD-ROM to a new DVD/CD-RW optical drive

New full display part

Thats all the replaced parts, all it needs now is a new Battery.

With that aside, any Ideas on how to fix the Wi-Fi issue? As I said, the AirPort card works just fine.

iBook, Mac OS X (10.4.11), iBook G3 "Dual USB" 2001

Posted on Jun 4, 2016 4:41 PM

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Apple specialist22

Q: iBook G3 "Dual USB" 2001 AirPort Wi-Fi problems

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  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Jun 5, 2016 12:55 PM in response to Apple specialist22
    Level 9 (53,908 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 5, 2016 12:55 PM in response to Apple specialist22

    First off, no one here should be giving you a hard time because you have a classic Mac. Most of us do too. Mine happens to be an old G3 Power Mac.

     

    So let's review the capabilities of your G3 iBook for wireless.

    • Your iBook should be model: PowerBook4,1
    • It had an option for an 802.11b AirPort card
    • The latest OS X version that can still run on it is: 10.4.11

     

    As you are probably already aware, the 802.11b radio mode runs on the 2.4 GHz network. 802.11n can run on either 2.4 or 5 GHz networks.

     

    What you may not be aware of is that there were two "versions" of the AirPort card. The earliest version only supported 40-bit WEP for wireless security. The newer version support both 40-bit WEP, but also 128-bit WEP and WPA ... but NOT WPA2.

     

    You didn't indicate that you have an Apple base station for your wireless router, so I am going to assume that it is not. If that is the case, other router manufacturers will use slightly different terms when talking about wireless encryption types. For example, non-Apple routers will use the term: WPA-PSK (TKIP) or WPA2-PSK (AES). These translate to Apple's WPA/WPA2 Personal / WPA2 Personal respectively. The bottom line, will depend on the actual AirPort card installed on your iBook. Even if you have the 2nd revision, it can only connect to network using WPA-PSK (TKIP). Anything using AES will not allow it to connect.

     

    The two versions are:

    • revision 1 661-2219 M7600LL/* EEE code G3G appears in the card serial number

    • revision 2 661-2549 M7600LL/D EEE codes LH8, M6Y or QAC appear in the card serial number

  • by Apple specialist22,

    Apple specialist22 Apple specialist22 Jun 5, 2016 1:10 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 5, 2016 1:10 PM in response to Tesserax

    I Do have a Comcast (Xfinity) router, I do not know what model. I also have an AirPort Base Station "snow" version, with no power cord, and is not activated. I don't know what version my AirPort card is, but, I will look into it. The AirPort card works like it should, and it connects to the Internet, just lower end Internet. I will look into it, and I will find out my iBook's model #. Thank you for your awnser, I want to give new life to my iBook G3.

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Jun 5, 2016 1:34 PM in response to Apple specialist22
    Level 9 (53,908 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 5, 2016 1:34 PM in response to Apple specialist22

    If I go to options on my iBook G3, It shows the WAP2 Personal, but I will not connect. The Password compromises of Numbers and letters (Example: 1AD23B4C5D), Not words.

    FWIW, the password that you provided is an example of a 10-hexadecimal digit password for 40-bit WEP.

  • by Apple specialist22,

    Apple specialist22 Apple specialist22 Jun 5, 2016 5:13 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 5, 2016 5:13 PM in response to Tesserax

    My password compromises of 15 digit password, and I do have an AirPort base station, without a powersource. My AirPort serial Number ends with a LH8. Does that mean its a second Revision?

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Jun 5, 2016 9:33 PM in response to Apple specialist22
    Level 9 (53,908 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 5, 2016 9:33 PM in response to Apple specialist22

    Yes, it appears that you have the 2nd revision of the AirPort card. Again, this card should support WPA ... but not WPA2. If you provide me with the security options for your gateway device, I can help you choose the option that should work.

  • by Apple specialist22,

    Apple specialist22 Apple specialist22 Jun 6, 2016 6:00 AM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 6, 2016 6:00 AM in response to Tesserax

    sadly, I don't have control over the wireless router we have, as my parents have control over it. If I tamper with the settings, they will find out what I have done, but my brother knows how a little bit about the settings of the wifi. I'm pretty sure our wireless router currently has the setting WPA2 AES for a faster, more secure wi-fi.

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Jun 6, 2016 7:46 AM in response to Apple specialist22
    Level 9 (53,908 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 6, 2016 7:46 AM in response to Apple specialist22

    Then your possible only other choice is to get a USB wireless adapter for the iBook that supports both 802.11n & AES security. This would be used instead of the internal AirPort card. There are a number of vendors that provide these. One would be Other World Computing (OWC). Good luck!

  • by Apple specialist22,

    Apple specialist22 Apple specialist22 Jun 6, 2016 11:08 AM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 6, 2016 11:08 AM in response to Tesserax

    The other question is, can it connect through Ethernet? And how do I set up the Internal Ethernet?

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Jun 6, 2016 11:58 AM in response to Apple specialist22
    Level 9 (53,908 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 6, 2016 11:58 AM in response to Apple specialist22

    I assume you mean can you connect the iBook directly to the Comcast router using an Ethernet cable. If so, then the answer is yes. By default, OS X has a number of default network "connectors" available. One of the is labeled: Ethernet. You should just be able to connect the iBook and it should connect without any issues.

     

    See the image below. Sorry, I don't have OS X Tiger available, so this screenshot is from El Capitan, but you should get an idea.

    CapturFiles.png

  • by Apple specialist22,

    Apple specialist22 Apple specialist22 Jun 6, 2016 12:35 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 6, 2016 12:35 PM in response to Tesserax

    I got the Ethernet to work, but I had to enter the whole information manually. I entered the information that was on my iPhone (Such as IP, DNS, and router), But instead, as you see in the background, Safari still says that I am not connected to the Internet. Of course, our router still has that 15-digit password. How do I get it to work? I am trying very hard to get this all to work. This screenshot was taken from my iBook G3! My battery says 93% but in reality, the battery lasts like an hour. Anyways, how to get it to connect is now the issue, am I missing something?

    And I got Picture 1.png

  • by Apple specialist22,

    Apple specialist22 Apple specialist22 Jun 6, 2016 12:51 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 6, 2016 12:51 PM in response to Tesserax

    Here you can see in location "Automatic" its a different story, same with Network Diagnostics, as it says that the Internet has failed. Soo, any new options?

    Picture 3.pngPicture 2.png

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Jun 6, 2016 1:00 PM in response to Apple specialist22
    Level 9 (53,908 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 6, 2016 1:00 PM in response to Apple specialist22

    You shouldn't have to enter the IP settings manually. By default, your iBook should be a DHCP client. That means, it would get the appropriate IP information from the DHCP service provided by the Comcast router. "Build-in Ethernet" is the correct choice here as this was the term used in the earlier versions of OS X.

     

    Based on the screenshot, the iBook is getting an IP address in the 10.0.x.x range which would be normal for those provided by an Apple router, but not so for routers from other manufacturers. These typically start with 192.168.x.x. It is also telling me that the iBook is connected to the Internet ... so I am a bit confused on what exactly is going on here.

     

    I am going to have to pull out (dust off) my OS X Tiger notes to see how you configure the iBook as a DHCP client.

  • by Apple specialist22,

    Apple specialist22 Apple specialist22 Jun 6, 2016 1:05 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 6, 2016 1:05 PM in response to Tesserax

    Alright, we can do this, its been a long battle, but I hope this iBook can connect to the internet soon..

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Jun 6, 2016 1:22 PM in response to Apple specialist22
    Level 9 (53,908 points)
    Wireless
    Jun 6, 2016 1:22 PM in response to Apple specialist22

    Let's start by clearing out the current network port connectors. We will add them back, as required.

     

    CapturFiles.png

     

    • Launch System Preferences, select the Network pane, and from the Show pop-up menu choose Network Port Configurations. The window should change to show you a list of all available ports.
    • Note the list of ports, and then, go ahead and delete them all.

     

    We will now add back the Built-in Ethernet port.

    • While still on the Network Port Configurations pane, select New...
    • Choose Built-in Ethernet. (The ports that will be available will depend on what is installed on your iBook.)
    • You should now have a single port in the list.
    • If not already, verify that the On box is checked. Click on it if it is not.
    • Click on Apply Now.

     

    We now want to configure the Ethernet port.

    • On the Network pane and from the Show pop-up menu choose Built-in Ethernet.
    • There should be five tabs for the Ethernet port settings: TCP/IP, PPPoE, AppleTalk, Proxies, & Ethernet.
    • Select the TCP/IP tab.
    • Set Configure IPv4 to: Using DHCP

    CapturFiles_1.png

    • Click on Apply Now.
    • You should be at the same pane.
    • Click on the Renew DHCP Lease button. The IP address fields should populate with the proper addresses from the Comcast router.
    • Try accessing the Internet with the iBook now. Can it connect?
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