Airport Extreme Powerbook Antenna

Question

Level 1

35 points

Airport Extreme Powerbook Antenna

Baak when I got my Powerbook I installed in per Apple's instructions. I attempted to remove it today and the antenna somehow snagged itself on something inside the powerbook. To make a long story short, the antenna is now half its original length and the other half is still stuck somewhere inside. The airport's typically bad reception is now worse.

So, does anyone know if it's possible to purchase ONLY the antenna? If not, has anyone had any success rigging an antenna of their own?

Powerbook G4/1.0 15, Mac OS X (10.4)

Posted on Jun 28, 2007 8:27 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 29, 2007 7:55 PM in response to jabel119

My quess is from your report that this one may cost you to fix it.
I haven't read any reports from any users ever having this issue.
I suggest you take it to a Certified Apple Reseller and have it fixed properly.
Be sure you explain your bad reception to begin with.
Just another short add on, I can't think of any senerio that could warrant the anttena conection breaking without being forced.
Don

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Answer 2

Duane

Level 10

124,293 points

Jul 2, 2007 8:34 AM in response to jabel119

The antenna wire is permanently attached to the PowerBook not to the AirPort Extreme card.

When removing the card, the antenna wire is disconnected from the card completely.

From your description you tried to remove the antenna wire from the PowerBook. Now you have a broken antenna wire which is going to require disassembly of the PowerBook to replace.

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Answer 3

McJoe

Level 1

0 points

Jul 4, 2007 7:09 PM in response to jabel119

One of the possibilities is to bypass the embedded antenna and install (hack) an external third-party antenna to the Airport Card in your PowerBook. The antennas are sold by MacWireless and other resellers (eg., Quickertek).

MacWireless has instructions at
www.macwireless.com/html/products/antennas_boosters/whips.php
Scroll down 1/4 of the page to "Product Information." Click on "Installation Instructions" and select your Apple model from the drop-down menu.

NOTE: I have not performed this upgrade myself, nor have I purchased from either of these resellers. I am considering it as a way to improve the performance of the wireless network in my home. I think as a first step instead, I will try upgrading (hacking) an external antenna to my Airport Extreme Base Station (model w/o an ext ant port) provides any improvement before I attempt to bypass the internal antenna in my PowerBook.

Best of luck to you,

Joe

PBG4

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Answer 4

jabel119 Author

Level 1

35 points

Jul 9, 2007 2:43 PM in response to jabel119

I ordered the part from powerbookmedic.com. They sell a cable that connects the airport card to the internal antenna connector for around $25.

The internal connector is very easy to access once the top cover is off, but routing the cable required almost totall disassembly, including the logic board.

All and all this was somewhat time consuming but a simple and straightforward task. The laptop is running perfectly and seems to get better wireless reception than it used to before I broke it (though I could be wrong).

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