On Apr 13, 2011, at 1:03 PM, Bruce - in Orlando wrote: > I recently purchased a 12" 1.5 Ghz Powerbook on eBay (running OS > 10.5.x). The auction description said "the Airport Extreme card > doesn't seem to be working correctly." Once I received the laptop, I > figured out that the problem is really that this powerbook has a very > short wireless reception distance - such that when I first powered it > on, sitting at my computer desk about 5 feet from the wireless router > (linksys) it worked just fine. But when I sat with the laptop on the > other side of the same room, about 15 feet from the router, reception > was only fair. Take the laptop to the next room, about 25 feet from > the router, and you're totally out of luck. > > So at first I thought the problem must be with the Airport card, so I > bought another one - they aren't very expensive. Now I find that the > reception problem has not changed at all, so the card can't be the > problem. > > Can anyone tell me what the real problem is? I'm just hoping it's not > on the motherboard, because they really are expensive.
There was one or more versions of the PowerBook that had problems with WiFi range. It was basically a design error (AFAIK). Your model is from around that period but I don't know specifics. This means that you may never get acceptable reception. Make sure your router is using 802.11g, it tends to do better than 802.11b. You could try a web search to dig up info from back when. Clark Martin Redwood City, CA, USA Macintosh / Internet Consulting "I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway" -- You received this message because you are a member of G-Group, a group for those using G3, G4, and G5 desktop Macs - with a particular focus on Power Macs. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to g3-5-list@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/g3-5-list
