G5 does not have an Airport Extreme antenna?

[hkintner]

I moved to a new place a few weeks ago and have to connect to the internet wirelessly now, which I've never had to do before. I ordered an Airport Extreme card for my tower, which is a Dual 2 GHz Power PC G5. I followed the instructions from the internet for installation, however I hit a wall when I got to the part about connecting the antenna to the card. There are two black wires coming out of where it seems the antenna should be, but they do not connect to the card. (See image below: the black wires are on the right of the image, the airport card is in it's slot at the bottom right of the image.) I got the tower gently used from a company that would have never used an airport card, as they had their own network to connect to. Is it possible that the tower does NOT have an antenna? Or is it a simple fix, like I'm looking in the wrong place for the antenna? And if it doesn't have an antenna, what can I do to make the airport card work? I've seen something about an external "T" antenna, which I do not have... Would getting one of these allow my card to find my router? Or is that something that I need in addition to the interior antenna hook up? Thank you for any insight and feedback...

 

[dtravis7]

That picture is way too low resolution and small for us to see anything. I will do some looking on the net and get back to you.

 

[pigoo3]

I moved to a new place a few weeks ago and have to connect to the internet wirelessly now, which I've never had to do before. I ordered an Airport Extreme card for my tower, which is a Dual 2 GHz Power PC G5. I followed the instructions from the internet for installation, however I hit a wall when I got to the part about connecting the antenna to the card. There are two black wires coming out of where it seems the antenna should be, but they do not connect to the card. (See image below: the black wires are on the right of the image, the airport card is in it's slot at the bottom right of the image.) I got the tower gently used from a company that would have never used an airport card, as they had their own network to connect to. Is it possible that the tower does NOT have an antenna? Or is it a simple fix, like I'm looking in the wrong place for the antenna? And if it doesn't have an antenna, what can I do to make the airport card work? I've seen something about an external "T" antenna, which I do not have... Would getting one of these allow my card to find my router? Or is that something that I need in addition to the interior antenna hook up? Thank you for any insight and feedback...

It was great that you included a photo...unfortunately it is too small to see details.

I will say though that connecting the Airport Extreme card is very very easy...and you need to purchase (if you don't already have one)...the external Airport antenna which G5's need.

This is truly an "external" antenna...which plugs into a port on the back of the computer.

Hope this helps,

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

From all my reading so far the antenna plug is there unless it a newer Dual Core and not Dual CPU PM G5. There should be a loose wire right by where the AE card plugs in with a small end on it. Still can't find a good picture.

Could you please post a larger pic?

 

[pigoo3]

From all my reading so far the antenna plug is there unless it a newer Dual Core and not Dual CPU PM G5. There should be a loose wire right by where the AE card plugs in with a small end on it. Still can't find a good picture.

Could you please post a larger pic?

This very well could be. I'm more familiar with the "dual processor" G5's vs. the "dual core" G5's.

The 2nd wire on the inside could be for bluetooth.

"hkintner"...the wire that connects to the Airport Extreme card is usually a rather stiff metal braided/shielded wire...and should be located very close to where the Airport Extreme card plugs into the motherboard.

Get us a better picture, and we should be able to help more.

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/AirPort_Card.pdf

Best I can find right now.

 

[hkintner]

My apologies on the thumbnail photo instead of a full size... Here is the full size image.

 

[dtravis7]

Those 2 black wires are the antenna. One is for Airport and the other for Bluetooth. One should plug into the end of the Airport Extreme Card right there on the right hand side of the card in the pic. I can see the jack.

According to Apple and other sites there is a small external antenna that plugs into the back of the G5. It's small and white. They claim every PM G5 had it in the box.

 

[hkintner]

Unfortunately, neither of those black wires has the end on it that fits in to the jack in the airport card (which, I agree, is visible in the photo). I also have a G4 tower with an airport internal antenna, that end fits in to the jack on the Airport Extreme card. Here is a photo of the G4 antenna and it's end:

Sadly, neither of the two black wires in the G5 has that end and connects in to the Airport Extreme card jack. Here are two close-up photos of the ends of the G5 black wires (Again, my apologies for the image quality, it's difficult to get a crisp picture within the tower.)

Is it possible that I have two bluetooth wires?

Again, thank you for your input.

 

[dtravis7]

Ok, What seems to have happened is the Airport Extreme card is the wrong one. What you have there in your G5 are the small clips. My Mac Mini has an AE card with those. Does your G5 Powermac have Two separate 2.0Ghz G5 CPU's or a Dual Core single G5?

 

[hkintner]

MY G5 has two CPUs. And this is the Airport Card I have, which is what is listed as the compatible card for that model. The card does fit in to the designated Airport slot within the tower. Are you saying that there is another card that fits in to that slot that has the jack for the smaller clips that is also compatible with my G5?

 

[dtravis7]

The only Power Mac G5 that has those two wires with the two small clips on it is the 2005 model. That machine used a different Airport Extreme card that mounted on a carrier that plugged in where you have your AE installed right now. The card is both Bluetooth and Airport Extreme and uses those two clips.

This is right from the Apple G5 service manual.

All the other G5s had the wire with the plug like on your G4.

 

[dtravis7]

In addition to what I posted above, I am a computer tech and have a lot of the Apple Manuals. I check every model G5 and the last post is what I read and saw in the pics of the official Apple manuals for every G5 model. Even the pic of your board fits the last manual. So not sure what to say.

 

[pigoo3]

Unfortunately, neither of those black wires has the end on it that fits in to the jack in the airport card (which, I agree, is visible in the photo). I also have a G4 tower with an airport internal antenna, that end fits in to the jack on the Airport Extreme card. Here is a photo of the G4 antenna and it's end:

Sadly, neither of the two black wires in the G5 has that end and connects in to the Airport Extreme card jack. Here are two close-up photos of the ends of the G5 black wires (Again, my apologies for the image quality, it's difficult to get a crisp picture within the tower.)

Is it possible that I have two bluetooth wires?

Again, thank you for your input.

I apologize for not "staying connected" with this thread a bit better tonight. There seems to be some sort of issue with the Mac-Forums site...I've been getting EXTREMELY slow response from the website for the past 4-5 hours...while all other sites I go to are very responsive as usual.

In any case...those two black wires do not look like the wire that plugs into an Airport Extreme card...that photo you included from a G4 computer is definitely the correct connector. So I would say you know what to look for.

Just in case there is some confusion, I took a picture of both an Airport & an Airport Extreme card I have:

No matter how hard I look at the larger photo of your G5...I still cannot see the connector & wire for the Airport Extreme card. It usually is very close to where you insert the card.

Can you please verify for us if this is a "dual processor" 2.0 ghz G5...or a "dual core" 2.0 ghz G5? Apple made both, and maybe there are differences with how the Airport Extreme card hooks up in each of them.

Thanks,

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

Not trying to be argumentative here but...


Did you read my posts? I have every service manual here from Apple on every G5. His board with those two exact antenna wires is the Dual Core G5. It's a VERY DIFFERENT machine than the older G5's before it. All of them show the antenna wire you are talking about and on his G4. The later G5 had 2 wires with the clip on connectors. One is Airport and the other is Bluetooth. The card is different and goes into a carrier that plugs into the AE slot. There no PowerMac G5 with the older antenna plug and those 2 newer clip on ones. I have it here in writing with large pics from apple.

Can you show us a screen shot of More Info and CPU? Also what is the exact model number of your machine?

Apples service manuals do not lie, at least I would hope not!

 

[pigoo3]

Ok...I did find some additional info for the Airport Extreme Card for the "dual core" and "quad core" Powermac G5 computers.

Apparently this seems to be a "BTO" (built to order) item for the Power Mac G5 "dual core" and "quad core" models.

These cards seem to be pretty darn expensive as an "aftermarket item"...around $217 bucks new ($199 on e-Bay)!!!

Here is a photo & some links with more info:

Apple - Support - Discussions - Airport Card & the new Dual Core ...

AirPort Extreme / Bluetooth Kit MA252G/A $217.77 | 800-525-3888

APPLE AIRPORT EXTREME/BLUETOOTH COMBO CARD POWERMAC G5 - eBay (item 150371421907 end time Sep-14-09 13:25:32 PDT)


A lot of info here...hope this helps,

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

Yep, that is the card that comes with the PM G5 with those 2 wires with those connectors. It is mounted on that blue carrier (riser) card.

Quite expensive after market.

The card that holds the Airport Express/Bluetooth card is called the Runaway card according to the manual.

Why would Apple make a mistake on an older Model and put the two wires for that new card on an older G5?

On the older G5's you can't miss that wire and plug. It's in a plastic holder right next to where the AE card plugs in. You release it from the plastic retainer and plug it right in.




Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

 

[hkintner]

Sorry, I stepped out for a bit and am catching up on the posts now... Thank you dtravis7 for all your help. As I mentioned in the original post, I bought this machine "gently" used and [1] wasn't aware of the difference in this late 2005 G5 model and [2] wasn't sure what year my G5 was from. Thank you for that information, now I know what card to look for at least. Nick--- Thank you for your help too and those links.

 

[pigoo3]

Why would Apple make a mistake on an older Model and put the two wires for that new card on an older G5?

dtravis7:

Not sure if you were looking for an answer...and I want to apologize in advance if what I'm about to mention you already knew.

The earlier G5 desktop computers (before the final desktop G5 dual-core & quad-core models) had a problem with wireless Airport reception (Airport Extreme)...and that's why they needed those somewhat silly (but effective) external antenna's.

I'm guessing that the expensive BTO Airport Extreme card that connects to those two black wires (in the dual core & quad core G5's desktops) was the "solution" to the wireless reception problem...and the new card (and different internal antenna wiring in the Power Mac G5) eliminated the need for the external antenna (needed in earlier G5 desktops).

Of course at the potential confusion on the users end of what Airport card to use.

I'm guessing that this same Airport setup (or a very similar setup) is what is now used in Mac Pros. I have a Mac Pro...but I haven't really opened it up to specifically look at the Airport components...since it was never an issue.

I think that another confusing thing is...that the Airport Extreme in those dual-core & quad-core desktop G5's was a BTO option...where now in the Mac Pros Airport is a standard feature & not an option.

I'm also going to guess that "hkintner's" desktop G5 either never came with this BTO Airport Extreme...or the Airport Extreme card was removed before "hkintner" bought it due to it's very high resale value...almost $200 bucks.

Again I apologize if you already knew all or part of this info already.

- Nick

 

[dtravis7]

Originally Posted by dtravis7
Why would Apple make a mistake on an older Model and put the two wires for that new card on an older G5?

The main reason I said that is the OP kept asking if Apple made a mistake on the older G5 and put the two clips instead of the connector. Apple would not do that.

And yes, I figured the later G5 design was for better reception.

There are all kinds of guides on the Mac Pro and installing an AE but not as many on the older G5 Powermacs.