[SOLVED] Trouble using Original AirPort card on iMac G3

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2015, January 11 - 3:06am

SuperMew98

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Joined: 2013 Mar 14

[SOLVED] Trouble using Original AirPort card on iMac G3

Hello everyone,

so I bought an original AirPort card and adapter a while ago, and it finally came in today. I installed it into my iMac G3 correctly, and it told me a new one had been discovered. I just have one problem: connecting to a password-protected network. I can connect to a network without a password, but I don't really want to use an unprotected network.

I've tried using WPA Personal and WPA/WPA2 Personal for the security, but neither work. My computer specs are:

iMac G3 PowerPC
OS: Mac OS X Jaguar (10.2.8)
Kernel Version: Darwin Kernel Version 6.8: Wed Sep 10 15:20:55 PDT 2003; root:xnu/xnu-344.49.obj~2/RELEASE_PPC
Machine Speed: 400 MHz
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Number of Processors: 1
L2 Cache Size: 512K
Machine Model: iMac (version = 83.0)

I had read somewhere that if you update to 10.3 it has a higher chance of working. I haven't tried this yet because I didn't really want to have to update, but if I have to I will.

Thank you,
SuperMew98

Comments

2015, January 11 - 7:06am

jonnyboy

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Joined: 2009 Dec 7

This is in no way an answer to your question, but other relevant information could include:

- the firmware version of the Airport card (older firmware could be causing authentication problems)
- the router you are trying to connect to (newer routers may not be playing nice with old wireless cards)

I have very little experience with Jaguar - but for the 3 days I used it before I "upgraded" to Panther I'm pretty sure it authenticated to WEP ok (with a somewhat older Airport Express)

Mind you WEP isn't much safer than open, but you can at least use a closed network to slow down the hacker monkeys a little bit ...

2015, January 11 - 5:12pm

butterburger

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Joined: 2014 Aug 16

Perhaps these resources might help you.
TidBITS: Apple Slips WPA Security into Original AirPort Cards
AirPort Card: When You Can Join a WPA Network - Apple Support
Original Airport Card, WiFi b, and WPA/WPA2. - MacRumors Forums

Summary:
• You can use impatient immature draft-802.11i, so-called 'WPA TKIP', with Mac OS X 10.3 Panther or newer.
• But, to do so is not really more prudent than to use WEP or 'to use an unprotected network'.
• If you want to not 'use an unprotected network', then consider using another computer to serve as 'wireless router' or 'wireless bridge'. If configuring a computer is too difficult, then consider a commercial, supported product, such as Securifi Almond (Amazon.com).

2015, January 11 - 10:29pm

SuperMew98

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Joined: 2013 Mar 14

Thanks, butterburger. My card is working fine now, I just had to update to 10.3 and install AirPort software version 3.3.