G3 but no airport card

My friend has been given a G3 iMac (10.3.9) which has the airport utilities but no airport card. Where can I get a card? And how much hassle to install it? Thanks for any help.

MBL

MovableBookLady said:

My friend has been given a G3 iMac (10.3.9) which has the airport utilities but no airport card. Where can I get a card? And how much hassle to install it? Thanks for any help.

MBL

Click to expand...

All Mac's with OS X have "airport utilities"...this is just part of the OS...and part of the default OS install. It has nothing to do with whether an airport card is installed or not.

Plenty of Airport cards on e-Bay. Used they'll cost you about $25-$30 for the card...and another $15 for a G3 iMac adapter card. Installing it isn't too bad.

HTH,

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

All Mac's with OS X have "airport utilities"...this is just part of the OS...and part of the default OS install. It has nothing to do with whether an airport card is installed or not.

Plenty of Airport cards on e-Bay. Used they'll cost you about $25-$30 for the card...and another $15 for a G3 iMac adapter card. Installing it isn't too bad.

HTH,

- Nick

Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick reply. I just assumed that airport came with OS X. Guess I'll go look for one on ebay and then find somebody to install it. My friend knows nothing about Macs and I've never cracked the case on one. Can you recommend some instructions? I might give it a go myself.

MBL

MovableBookLady said:

Thanks for the quick reply. I just assumed that airport came with OS X. Guess I'll go look for one on ebay and then find somebody to install it. My friend knows nothing about Macs and I've never cracked the case on one. Can you recommend some instructions? I might give it a go myself.

MBL

Click to expand...

Here's DIY instructions for installing the airport card into a G3 iMac:

iMac (Slot Loading): Installing or replacing an AirPort Card

Here's a small photo of the airport card adapter for G3 iMac's:



Here's a better e-Bay auction photo of the G3 iMac airport card adapter:

iMac G3 AirPort Card Adapter (NEW) - eBay (item 280575400678 end time Mar-13-11 10:00:01 PDT)

p.s. I should also mention that the very early G3 iMacs CAN NOT use an airport card. Chances are your G3 iMac can use an airport card...but we should probably verify what G3 iMac model you have before you start buying items. Basically one quick way to know if it can use an airport card...is the CD-rom drive a "tray-loading" or a "slot-loading" model. If it's a "slot-loader" than it can use an airport card.

pigoo3 said:

Here's DIY instructions for installing the airport card into a G3 iMac:

iMac (Slot Loading): Installing or replacing an AirPort Card

Here's a small photo of the airport card adapter for G3 iMac's:

Here's a better e-Bay auction photo of the G3 iMac airport card adapter:

iMac G3 AirPort Card Adapter (NEW) - eBay (item 280575400678 end time Mar-13-11 10:00:01 PDT)

p.s. I should also mention that the very early G3 iMacs CAN NOT use an airport card. Chances are your G3 iMac can use an airport card...but we should probably verify what G3 iMac model you have before you start buying items. Basically one quick way to know if it can use an airport card...is the CD-rom drive a "tray-loading" or a "slot-loading" model. If it's a "slot-loader" than it can use an airport card.

Click to expand...

Hooray, it's a slot-loader. And many thanks for the instructions -- I saved them as a pdf so I can take my laptop up and read the stuff as I go. Much appreciated. I'll try to remember to come back and report progress, successful or not.

MBL

And from memory make sure your network security is not set up as WPA. iMac G3's and Panther could not connect with WPA. If that is wrong someone will correct me!

Ta da! I did it I did it (capering around the room). The instructions (and the picture in them) were very helpful. I got a card and an adaptor on ebay (two different sellers) for a total of $38 (incl. shipping). They both arrived today and I put them together and installed it and IT WORKED. I'm so pleased with myself.

Thanks so much for all the help.

MBL

Awesome...great that everything worked out. Yeah...those adapter cards are not the easiest to find...I'm not surprised you had to purchase from two different sellers.

Congrats again,

- Nick