Can i upgrade my iMac PowerPC G4 to use 802.11n?

Mine won't! I just bought an N-router to which two other Macs in my household connect with ease (the MacBook and iMac G5 iSight), but my iMac G4 won't do it. The router is set up to work for N, G and B, and has WPA2-PSK security switched on. Does the original Airport card in my iMac G4 not support that encryption perhaps? Any advice appreciated.

Is your iMac G4 a 700 or 800 MHz model? If so, it has the original AirPort card. The original AirPort card does NOT support WPA2.

The original AirPort card does support WPA or WEP.

Yes, it's an 800 MHz with an original Airport card. So what are my options? The Netgear N-router instructions say it needs WPA2-PSK in order to offer N-speeds, otherwise it will run at G-speeds - does that make sense? I can't drop just the iMac G4 down to WPA, can I - it would have to be the whole network, which would rather defeat the object of buying an N-router (which I did, btw, because my MacBook wouldn't connect properly by wifi to my G-router, see MacBook network discussions for more!)

The Netgear N-router instructions say it needs WPA2-PSK in order to offer N-speeds, otherwise it will run at G-speeds - does that make sense?

No that does not make sense. 802.11n is not dependent on using WPA2.

You can't run your Netgear in an "802.11n only" mode and expect the iMac G4 to connect wirelessly. The Netgear must run in an 802.11b compatible mode for the iMac G4 to connect wirelessly.

If you want to run an 802.11n only network, you will need to connect the iMac G4 to the Netgear via Ethernet.

I understand that the router cannot run in N-mode only and still connect to B and G devices, and it has been set to connect to all three standards all the while. What I am referring to is this entry from the instruction CD:

"WPA-PSK + WPA2-PSK (Wi-Fi Protected Access Pre-Shared Key ) - use both WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK standard encryption. A high performance client like the NETGEAR WN511B must connect using WPA2-PSK in order to achieve maximum performance. Wireless clients that connect to this router using WPA-PSK will run at no more than 802.11g speed."

I took that to mean that the G4 with original Airport card would connect, but at slower speed. However, it won't connect at all because the card doesn't work with WPA2. Do I have any options?

If you want the iMac G4 to connect wirelessly you need to configure the Netgear to use WPA.

Otherwise you need to connect the iMac G4 via Ethernet to the Netgear.

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