iBook G4 won't connect to Wireless Internet

Hello, I'm super new to Apple products. I've owned PC's that run on Microsoft my whole life, and my father usually takes care making sure the computers are connected. I recently received an old iBook G4 from a friend. She said she wiped the whole thing, but it appears to have all the basic Apple programs. However, it will NOT connect to my home wi-fi. We've had other Apple products that will connect (iPad, and a newer iBook). It's a modem that connects directly to the PC's in our house, and also has Wi-Fi.

My laptop is a PowerBook 4,3, runs on Mac OS X 10.4.6, and it definitely has an AirPort card in it. I know I'm not using the wrong password, and my wireless is a WPA2 Personal. If it at all helps I recently changed the date/time on the iBook (that messed something up on my PC once, so maybe that's important). Can anyone help me get my iBook G4 connected?

Thanks for any help, and I'll try to answer any questions you might have.

Hello and welcome,

What appears when you click on the wireless icon on the menu bar, does it find your network and is your network ticked?

Hello, and thank you.
When I click the wireless icon on the menu bar, my home wireless network does show up. i'm not sure what you mean by ticked, but there are no icons around it and it's not marked in any way, but I am able to select it, and try to connect (if that helps). Sorry.

Sincerely,
Moe

Hi,
Ok , from there you should be able to open Network Preferences, what's showing in 'Location' ..is it 'Automatic' and is the Network name shown in the pane the one you want to connect to?

When I go to Network Preferences, Location is marked Automatic and the pane displays the one I want to connect to, yes.

Thanks.
Moe

MoeWhoHides said:

When I go to Network Preferences, Location is marked Automatic and the pane displays the one I want to connect to, yes.

Thanks.
Moe

Click to expand...

OK, in the same pane click 'Advanced' and choose the W-Fi tab at the top, where is your network in the preferred list..if it's not at the top you need to drag it to the top of the list as indicated?

One thing I forgot to mention..if you are new to Macs and the book has been 'wiped' and changed hands then I would recommend some maintenance. In Applications/Disc Utility choose your Hard Drive (probably called Macintosh HD or similar) and click 'Repair Disc Permissions', let it run until complete.

So, this is where my google searches took me, but here's where the problem is... There is no "Advanced" Option in the pane with the network names. What I'm looking at is a window that says "Network" with two drop down menus for Location and Show. Beneath that is a pane with two options, AirPort and Internal Modem. Airport say it's logged in but no connected, and the Internal Modem says it's not set up. That might be the problem.

When I select Airport, it takes me to a different page in the same window with Location and Show at the top, and then a row of 5 options (AirPort, TCP/IP, PPPoE, AppleTalk, And Proxies). Below those is my AirPort ID and a drop down menu for selecting default options for connecting. Just below that is a pane where is displays my person home Network Name and type of Security.

Neither of these windows has "Advanced" tabs. In the first menu, AirPort (Wi-Fi) is at the topof the list.

Sorry if this is confusing, I think I'm pretty confused myself, so I might be describing this all wrong.

No you're not confusing, it may be a bit more difficult for me though because I'm on Mountain Lion 10.8 and your machine is 10.4 Tiger which is some versions older and won't have the same attributes and options.
Is there an option that says 'Network Diagnostics' at all or 'Assist Me?

Yeah, it's a super old computer (The only reason I got it was because it was obsolete to my friend). Fortunately, there is an Assist Me option!

When I click it, it displays "Diagnostics" and "Assistant" options.

Thanks!
Moe

MoeWhoHides said:

Yeah, it's a super old computer (The only reason I got it was because it was obsolete to my friend). Fortunately, there is an Assist Me option!

When I click it, it displays "Diagnostics" and "Assistant" options.

Thanks!
Moe

Click to expand...

Ha ha...you could probably update it to it's optimal OS version at some point.

Ok..run Diagnostics first and then the Assistant and report back.

Cheers
Liam

P.s I found this http://www.skyprod.net/pub/howto/Airport_Tiger_2/

Ack, I have work tomorrow, so I need to get some sleep. I will continue and update you later (More likely I'll be asking for more advice!). Thanks, again.

Moe

Hi, iBooks with an older Airport card cannot connect with WPA encryption.
You need to drop down to WEP and then all will be good.

Hope this helps,

Cheers

Hugh

hugtheslug said:

Hi, iBooks with an older Airport card cannot connect with WPA encryption.
You need to drop down to WEP and then all will be good.

Hope this helps,

Cheers

Hugh

Click to expand...

Well spotted. If that's good then that's a wrap as they say