My iMac G5 20" 2004 model on MacOS 10.5.8 has a defective ethernet port. The Apple USB Internet Adapter I purchsed was recognized by the machine but I can't access the internet. System Preference freezes everytime I click on Network Preference icon.

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My iMac G5 20" 2004 model on MacOS 10.5.8 has a defective ethernet port. The Apple USB Internet Adapter I purchsed was recognized by the machine but I can't access the internet. System Preference freezes everytime I click on Network Preference icon.

My iMac G5 20" 2004 model on MacOS 10.5.8 has a defective ethernet port. The Apple USB Internet Adapter was recognized by the machine the first time I plugged it in but I can't access the internet. System Preference freezes everytime I click on Network Preference icon. How can I make my old iMac work on the new Apple USB Ethernet Adapter. I am conmected via DLS modem. I don't have Airport Extreme Card on my iMac so I have not tested it with my Time Machine wifi access.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jul 19, 2012 5:29 AM

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Answer 1

DocBigmac Author

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Jul 20, 2012 6:39 AM in response to DocBigmac

The first time I used the USB Ethernet Adapter, it worked and my old iMac G5 20" (No iSight) was running on MacOS 10.5.0 but when I upgraded to MacOS 10.5.8, the adapter ceased to work and everytime try to access the Network Preference Panel the System Preference freezes.

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Answer 2

DocBigmac Author

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Jul 20, 2012 6:42 AM in response to DocBigmac

Can anyone help?

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Answer 3

rccharles

Level 6

13,037 points

Jul 20, 2012 10:28 AM in response to DocBigmac

It may only work with the mac book air.

Compatibility

Mac

Mac OS X v.10.4.8 or later

MacBook Air computer with available USB 2.0 port

see comments on this page:
http://store.apple.com/us_smb_78313/product/MC704ZM/A

Newer Technology MAXPower 802.11g/b Wireless USB 2.0 Stick Adapter $15.99 http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/MXP2802GU2/
Newer Technology MAXPower 802.11n/g/b USB Adapter. The easiest way to add Wireless Connectivity to ANY computer! 'n' speed is the newest and fastest. $29.99 http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/MXP802NU2C/

OWC 1-800-275-4676.

You would be better off with the more expensive dongle. The letters n/g/b correspond to the speed of the data transfer. You should match the speed to your existing router. You best match on the highest speed. N is the highest. G is middle. b is lowest.

Robert

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Answer 4

DocBigmac Author

Level 1

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Jul 21, 2012 10:48 PM in response to rccharles

@

rccharles USA - Thank you for your inputs. Before I finally purchased the Apple USB Ethernet Adapter I browsed on the issues re- ways to work around damaged Ethernet port in iMac G5 (No iSight) 2004 Models and many say the Ethernet Adapter works on practically all Macs with MacOS 10.4 and higher. I initiall bought a low end CDR King USB Wifi Ehternet Adapter which is supposed to be Mac compliant but it needs a lot of configuring to do which I don't even understand and can't figure out. So I went to a nearby Apple Center here in Iloilo City (Philippines) and got the Apple USB Ethernet Adapter. I tired it with my MacBookPro Intel with its Airport turned off as well as on my newer iMac Intel and it worked very well. Both are on MacOS v10.5.8. When I used the USB Ethernet Adapter on my old iMac G5 with the damaged ethrnet port, the USB was recognized and I was able to select it in the Network Preference and the USB Ethernet Adapter did connect me to the internet for the first time in years. However, I don't know what I actually did but maybe when I updated my Old G5 to MacOS 10.5.8 to maximize its OS something got corrupted and the System Preference freezes everytime I click on the Network Preference icon to set up the internet. Now I lost my internet connection again.

I have made a reinstallation of the MacOS 10.5.8 on the iMacG5 but still the Sysyem Preference freezes when Network is being accessed.

I am being tempted to buy the Airport Extreme Card but if the USB Ethernet Adapter can still save the day I would appreciate it so much. I am using the old iMac G5 at my office while the newer Macs are at home. If I buy the Airport Extreme Card for the old machine I'll be needing another wifi router for the office for it to function. I am not realy sure if the Airport Card will actually work on my iMacG5.

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Answer 5

rccharles

Level 6

13,037 points

Jul 22, 2012 10:11 AM in response to DocBigmac

I do not know anything in particular on your situation, but here are some ideas:

-- You can run ethernet across a firewire cable to another mac. On the other Mac you can share your network.

-- You could try re-loading 10.5.0 on an external hd.

-- OWC does take international orders. It will be slow & expensive.

-- You could try another post on how to configure the CDR King USB Wifi Ehternet Adapter. If you focused on what caused you problems perhaps someone could sort out the technical details.

Robert

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Answer 6

Oct 31, 2013 7:11 AM in response to DocBigmac

I had the same problem as all of you. My network prefpane would freeze with the Apple usb-ethernet adapter attached running 10.5.8 on my iMac G5. After a lot of digging around the net I finally found a fix for it. Go to the link I provide and about half way down the page there is a download link for a file called "USBAx8817x_103b11" the file you want is the middle of the 3 choices that are present. Download that and install it. I plugged the USB adapter in before installing without the network wire attached. Don't know if that is nesasary or not but that is what I did. After installing it wants you to reboot and updates boot caches.

After restart I plugged the network wire in and went to network pref pane and set it up as normal and all went well. I hope this works for everyone else that is having this issue as it did for me.

http://www.sustworks.com/site/news_usb_ethernet.html

if you need help feel free to ask.

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