airport refuses to cooperate with router (iMac 10.5.8)

Well you may or may not recognize me as posting here previously, but my iMac is giving me heck again. Posting this from an iPhone a few feet from our router.

This is not a router issue except for the fact that the airport will not cooperate with the router. I know it is not a router issue because 1) I already brought the iMac upstairs and connected directly to the router through Ethernet 2) this happened three days ago as it has happened previously 3) I'm able to connect via iPhone to our wireless network just fine.

Basically, I know the problem. The airport (card?) will not find the wifi signal and provide my iMac with the proper DHCP setting to give me an IP address.

What is weird is that in my attempts to "fix" this problem, it seems the Airport can actually SEE our network (we call it cainbollen) as when it searches for networks after I re-add Airport, it's able to give me this network as an option to list it for an Airport connection.

Here's what I have attempted so far:

-reset the pram
-delete Airport under the Network option (leaving Ethernet and Bluetooth) and re-add Airport as a connection
-renew DHCP settings manually by providing the appropriate IPs and router (this is also how I know airport is "reading" our network; if I give a number in use it tells me)
-renew DHCP automatically
-powercycled the router (Belkin) and modem (comcast) and iMac (even though I know it's not a powercycle possibility)
-gone into the system library and deleted the appropriate files and rebooted
-deleted and re-added our network as a listing related to DHCP and network settings

I really don't know what else to do.

It's maddening---each time this has happened it us usually a " wait it out " attitude. Meaning that say if I went to bed, the connection is fine in the morning. Last time was three days ago and it took several hours. Now it's been more than a day. I was online fine last night at about 6 pm; 11 pm and nothing.

I've heard maybe static electricity could be a culprit? Could it be dust in the computer? It is a bit dusty downstairs in the basement where this iMac is housed.

This is maddening and I need the **** thing to be online to access crucial documents online. I'd rather not drag the whole mess up a floor and connect directly to the router via Ethernet but if that is what I will have to do then I guess I can deal with it. Problem is that the permanent home for the computer, at least for now, is downstairs.

I forgot to mention that I believe I am running Mac Leopard (rather than Snow Leopard) if that helps any. I have found through multiple Google searches that it seems I am not alone in having router-Airport troubles with this Leopard
user interface.

This might upset you but it's an observation after years of helping people with Networking. Some Belkin routers do not play nice with SOME chipsets. I have had friends with Belkins with your almost exact issue and going to another router solved the issue. Just something to think about.

is there a particular brand of modem to suggest?
The reason I ask is because we run two laptops and three iPhones on this home network and out if all that this iMac is the only one with a "problem."

I'd rather see about getting the stupid ip number through dhcp first, if the iMac will cooperate this time. Not sure if our current budget or living situation would allow for a new router purchase just for a single iMac at this time. As u said, a direct line to the Ethernet works just fine.

Lordy, Lordy, my computer is online....y.

Like I mentioned, this is more random than anything else.

I have no idea why it is online now as compared to say, 60 minutes ago when I was communicating via iPhone.

I do, however, support the idea of a different router. Belkin is nice, but among my Google searches - and I did a LOT of them, 24 hours ago I didn't even know how to reset my PRAM - I did find some technical issues associated with Belkin.

Wow, I couldn't disagree more about the Belkin Routers. Mine works perfectly and I think I've had it for around 8 months now.

We had a Linksys Router prior to Belkin. I really never played around with the networking, wireless or otherwise as my wife has a degree in computer science and I always relied on her for that. However while using it we had constant internet problems which I blamed Time Warner Cable for. We would have to reset the modem and sometimes the router. When we had to do a router reset I had to also reset my two TiVo's so that they could communicate with the router. The ip address constantly changed.

Then one day it just up and died. I'm not exactly sure how I figured it out because my wife was out of state but it was clear that the router was not working. So I ran over to Target and the guy handed me the Belkin. I was hesitant because most of those guys don't know what they are talking about. I almost grabbed the more expensive Lynksys but went with the Belkin.

It was a matter of plug and play. I have reset it a couple of times initially when I first got it (user error) but in those times I did that my TiVo's stayed on the same ip address so no need to reset them and more importantly I've not had one single internet problem.

One thing I do want to mention, if you are using Airport to play iTunes remember to go into your preferences/network and turn off IPV6. I couldn't get iTunes to even play with that on or even get my remote apps on my Droid and iPad to work.

Which Linksys? WRT54GL here. 5 years + 24 hours a day with a network of over 20 computers, wired and wireless. NEVER once did it lock, crash.

With Belkin it really depends on the model also (as it does with Linksys). Not all are equal.

Hello from Mr. iPhone again.

In my research into this Airport "issue" I did not entirely find everything I sought.

After what I am calling a personal best for my machine (around a few days) my iMac desktop has once again stopped talking to our router.

Can anyone shed some light or provide insight into why an iMac would be dropping the airport signal at random? Every time this happens nothing I try seems to actually work. It's more of a random issue; I have to simply wait for things to fix themselves.

This is the third time in a week.

Well it's back online again.

System 10.5.8 which is Leopard...and Leopard has across-the-board wireless issues when it comes to staying connected to a router. Using my iPhone I found Google hits on Macbook Pros, iMacs, among others.

Guess for now I'll just wait for a bit,see how stable things "stay" and as soon as I am able to do so I will at least try to get the Airport card upgraded. This is a 2008 computer, so that wouldn't hurt, I suppose.