Compatible Wireless Card Help

Hi, DrSirus. There are a number of PCMCIA Card wireless adapters, both 802.11b and 802.11g, that use the Broadcom chipset which is fully supported by Apple's own Airport software. No third-party drivers are required with those cards. They include Sonnet's Aria Extreme, which in my own experience has been 100% plug-and-play, even in a Tibook that already had an Airport card installed. There are also these two MacWireless cards, one of which has provision for an external antenna extension to increase its wireless range. All three of these have been highly recommended by posters far more expert in this area than I am. On the strength of those recommendations, I bought my daughter an Aria Extreme for her Tibook 867, and I also tried it in my Airport-equipped 1GHz Tibook. It worked beautifully in both.

For other possibilities, see this table, and look for PCMCIA cards that are supported by Airport. Some of the cards listed may be much more widely available than others.

I have been using both a Buffalo and Asante PC card in my PB 1Ghz for more than two years. It required a hack initially, but finally OS X recognized it as an Airport card with no major problems. Until, that is, I updated from Panther to Tiger two weeks ago. Although it still works fine from boot, as soon as I put the PB to sleep and remove the card, when I wake it back up, it says "No Airport card installed" in the Airport menu. With Panther, I could pretty much insert the card and turn off Airport and eject it at will. It would always recognize it. Now, once Tiger loses the card, I have to reboot. Major change in the OS, major pain in the OSS.

I suspect some process is crashing causing the card not to be recognized. I cannot find a process called "Airport", and other networking ports continue to work fine when Airport is lost.

Anyone have an idea?

Hi, MacToeKnee. See the table I linked above, find your Asante and Buffalo card models in it, make sure they're listed as compatible with Tiger, and download the driver that's indicated for each card. Maybe a newer driver will enable Tiger to find one or both of your cards after sleep.

If that doesn't do the trick and no one else shows up here with a better idea, I suggest reposting here or here to reach people who know a lot more about this than I do. The first of those links (the Tiger networking forum) is probably the better bet.

I just picked up a Buffalo card from Microcenter. 802.11g card PCMCIA Model number WLI-CB-G54A. I have not upgraded the Airport software and probably wont since it is working with airport software now. They suggest the Aria G card but it was out of stock so I looked this one. On the box it does not say it supports Mac but on the website it does. At least they are not like Belkin.. tried that card also.

best of luck.

If you read the posts in this forum responding to: "pb G4 titanium 1ghz 15" - 802.11g upgrade?" below, you'll see the recommendations to use the Sonnet card and my own response after I purchased one. It's still working well.

I just purchased a Motorola card (WN825G) off ebay. Works flawlessly with airport and is recognized as an airport extreme card in the system profiler. You might want to check it out should you wish to avoid the higher priced cards.

Okay, so I know my computer is old. It works great, but I'd like to go wireless. Is it possible/worth the headache or should I look into getting another computer? If it's possible, what do I need to get? Can my computer support Airport Extreme Card?

Hi, laniwa, and welcome to Apple Discussions. Yes, your Tibook can easily be equipped with a wireless card: either an original Airport card (not Airport Extreme — it won't fit), or a third-party wireless card that fits in the PC Card slot. The original Airport card is outlandishly expensive now that it's discontinued and scarce; some of the available third-party cards cost half as much and work just as well or better. Read the other posts in this thread for some ideas.

Be aware that for internet browsing and email on a single, non-networked computer, 802.11B (standard WiFi speed) is just as fast as 802.11G ("extreme" speed). A "G" card's extra speed shows up in sharing over a local network, but not in web browsing.

I looked on that table, and didn't see anything the local best buy or circuit city carried. I think I may be alright just buying something linksys, and if it doesn't work, bring it back.

I don't know if there are any current models in that list.

I ought to be ok right?

James: You would be better off ordering a card that is known to be Mac-compatible from an online vendor than buying one that isn't from Best Buy or Circuit City. I think both chains must administer a test to prospective employees, and anyone who knows the first thing about Macs is automatically disqualified from getting a job. If you buy something from either chain for use with a Mac and need help with it, the store will be worse than useless. So will LinkSys tech support — they don't know anything about Macs and aren't interested in learning. Give your business to someone who respects and supports your chosen computer platform and values your patronage.

Eww,

I bring good news! I bought a linksys wpc54G notebook card from my work (circuit city) and upon restarting, my TiBook automatically recognized it as an Airport card. No drivers, no fuss, nothing.

I highly reccomend this option to other TiBook users. I'm getting 100% full signal now too, from my neighbors signal!

Hi, I just got my Asus WL-107g 802.11g Wireless Cardbus Adapter from MacMall which listed the product as compatible with both PC & Mac. However, it didn't work on my TiBook. After reading your suggestion, it gave me some hope since I really don't want to go through the hassles of returning and researching again. The model is not listed in your table for proper driver. Any suggestion? Thanks.

Hi MacToeKnee

I'm just picking up on this part of your post -

"I have been using both a Buffalo and Asante PC card in my PB 1Ghz for more than two years"
Can you remember the serial numbers for these two cards? Was it WLICB54GA (Buffalo) and Asante AL5403-XG?
and when you said they needed a hack initially to get them to work what exactly did you have to do?
Did you solve your problem? Are they now working with Tiger and if so how did you solve it?
The Buffalo card WLICB54GA is no longer available in the UK but a later version is - WLICB54GS - I'm trying to find out if this one will work with my powerbook/Airport.

many thanks barry

PowerBook G3500mhz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Hi eww, I just got the Aria Extreme you suggested, and it really worked the minute I plugged in to my powerbook. Thanks! One thing that's still bugging me is that the Airport menu says I am connected to my router, but Safari can't load any page like there's no internet connection, but if I use ethernet cable to connect to the router, the browser loads fine. Something I missed? Thanks again for your help.

My two cents worth, plug and play with the Belkin f5d7010 ver. 1315, it has the Broadcom chip, works great. The card is about $25. on ebay when it turns up.
Anybody find that the Belkin f5d7011 works plug and play? I think I saw these for $39.95 at the Apple store.
BTW, no mac support to be expected from Belkin, you are own your own with their products in my experience.