PB wifi problems - PLEASE HELP

Hi,

I have been using 12" PB G4 for the past 6 months or so. Recently I upgraded my router to 802.11g - a Dlink 624. My PB started to lose connectivity very frequently. Two daays back I changed the router to Linksys - WRT54GSV4. Even with this, the wifi is losing connection constantly. My SSID appears for a short time and then vanishes and appears back again. I dont think router is the culprit here. My wife & I are very frustrated with this behavior. I will REALLY appreciate if someone could point me the right direction.

Thanks

Mahesh

Have you tried different channels - could be interference. Not got a microwave oven running in the background have you? In my experience of routers and Apple kit, it's nearly always the Apple kit which is fine and the lousy routers which are at fault. Try borrowing an Airport Express and seeing if that works.

Different channels may work.

Also, is there a cordless phone in use in the area? I had a Uniden cordless phone that, every time someone picked it up to make a call, completely whacked my wireless network. I fixed the problem by getting a new phone that operated in a different frequency range.

You may also want to try connecting the PowerBook to the router directly with an ethernet cable to see if the connection is solid that way.

I've had good experiences with Netgear, DLink, and Motorola routers, so I would not be hasty in saying that brands other than Apple are generally not good.

Just a stab in the dark here:

When I first got my mac I got a Wireless dlink router and set it up and had horrible connection issues. The router kept restarting everytime my PB connected to it (wired and wireless). Turns out the name of the PB was too long ( >20 characters) once I changed the name to something shorter it worked (and still does work) great.

I was seeing an ssid and getting to the internet between restarts, that is why I'm suggesting that the router still might be the problem.

Some development. I still have my Linksys as my main router and added the Dlink DI624 to it. So now I have two wireless routers running.

This happened this morning. When I was trying to open the browser, my wife turned on the microwave at the same time. My Safari said "You are not connected to internet" and when I looked at the wi-fi signal at the top, it was all greyed out. When I clicked on it, I couldnt see the SSID of the Linksys. But D-Link's SSID was there. So I connected to D-Link. If I dont have D-Link router at all, then how to resolve that issue. Why would the SSID disappear from that list, when I always broadcast it? This is what I dont seem to understand. I dont have plans to keep both the routers. One of them is likely to be returned.

Can someone explain this behavior?

Thanks

Mahesh

Ok, I am having a similar issue. I have a Linksys router, my wife recently switched to a PB G4 from work...it use to work with the router fine.

We just finished moving into our new home (the reason I am still on a PC, have to wait a bit till we both switch off...no money to buy new toys) and the DSL got up and running. Just last night we checked to see if the router was working. Her airport connection showed her work SSID and the home SSID, and she was able to surf the net.

This morning she gets out the PB and no SSID's are showing at all. I tried restarting the router...still nothing. In the System Preferences / Airport is shows my wireless network as a computer-to-computer connection (in green)...but the SSID is not showing the Airport menu.

Any ideas why it would disappear? I tried turning off our wireless phone...that didn't help. Could her card have fried?

Ted

Whoops...fixed it ...always seems to happen after I ask a question. I tried switching channels on the router, but she was on the wrong channel...

Thanks anyhow!

Ted

Ha...ok, all was well..now its dropping the signal every couple of minutes. Again, we tried changing the channel on both the router and PB, but its not helping.

Any ideas? I am using a Linksys WRT54G.

Lots of updates after my previous posting. I returned the Dlink and got Linksys 54GC. The stability just rocks but on my PB, the signal strength is too low. In my bedroom upstairs, I only get one bar or so. I got so frustated and took my machine to Apple store for tech help. They pushed their Airport Extreme Base Station to me to try if it works. If it still wont work, they agreed to replace my LCD as that is where the wi-fi antennas are buried. Surprisingly with my Airport Extreme Base station , the performance (range) rocks. Even in my bedroom, I get all bars and life is good. The only thing is the cost of the router is very expensive and it wont support Nortel's Contivity VPN software, which I need for my work laptop :baron: Otherwise, it is a great router - worth the money. I got a refreshed one for $129 - not sure if I am going to keep this. The other problem is, this one got only one LAN port so you can;t have more than one machine connected with wires.

Universible - I still have the same problem as in my original posting. However, I learnt something new that I need to wait for a few additional seconds for the PB to recognize and list all the SSIDs. So when you open the screen, you will never see your SSID the next second. Linksys wrt54G is a stable router - shouldnt drop out. Also please explain what do you mean by dropout. Once you are wirelessly connected, suddenly the wi-fi signals go out?

Yes, apparently the SSID will disappear and she will get knocked off the router at random times. She hasn't complained about it since I restarted everything, and had her shutdown the PB after changing to channel 11 again. One thing I noticed is that her machine has a LONG name for her work login...I don't think we can change it, since she needs that configuration for work. I could be wrong though.

Thanks,

Ted