24" iMac Airport & Dock Problem

Question

I received my 24" iMac 2 days ago: beautiful machine! I am having trouble with various things, though, and I don't know if these are problems with hardware, software or both. I don't want to spend a lot of time installing programs and getting the computer set up if it is defective and will need to be replaced.
First of all, the computer will connect with my 1st generation AirPort Base Station manually, but it won't reconnect automatically after sleep or restart. I have 3 Apple laptops and a G5 iMac that work fine with this Airport, so I think this is a problem with my new machine.
The computer was dodgy from the start, possibly due to poor performance of my wireless mouse. I was convinced that the data I'd transferred from an old machine was causing my problems, so I erased the HD and reinstalled the system and base software, then did a software update to get everything up to date. I also reset the PRAM and repaired permissions (does that ever really help?). That is when I discovered the mouse issue so I'm not sure if the early problems I had were all due to the mouse's inconsistent performance.
I connected to the wireless network with the initial setup of the machine after I reinstalled the system. Since then I've successfully connected through the Airport icon menu as well as Internet Connect and the troubleshooter program, but the connection lasts only until the next sleep or shutdown. I have to type in the name of the network and the password each time.
I'm running a closed network. I've entered the Airport ID to the Airport base station and as I said, it will connect manually without problems. The Network is set to join preferred networks by default and my network "Home Wireless" is the only preferred network that shows up in the list.
Next, the dock intermittently won't show up when I drag the cursor to the bottom of the screen. It displays all the time if I unclick the "Automatically hide and show the Dock" button, but I like the dock hidden when I'm not using it. This behavior is different from any of my 6 other Macs. I have plugged in a USB mouse and the dock seems to be working more reliably with it, though there have been some episodes of the dock not appearing even when I'm using the USB mouse when the wireless mouse is also connected. Could the wireless mouse be causing this problem with the dock?
The wireless mighty mouse's performance IS very spotty. Pushing the scroll button won't reliably call up the Dashboard, and the side buttons seem to either activate the Expose function too easily or not at all. In fact, there have been times when each of the buttons haven't worked properly.
Thanks for any advice. I'm hoping that replacing the wireless mouse will fix the mouse and dock problem and that the airport issue will be a software problem that will be fixed soon. I've read several others' posts relating to networking problems with the current generation if intel macs. I don't think that these are all operator dependent.

Answer 1

I unclicked "create a closed network" and now
everything seems to work on wake from sleep and on
restart. Is that the same as broadcasting the SSID?
Yes
If anyone else is following in my footsteps, I also
changed the security from 40 to 128 bit WEP at the
same time because if WEP is a useless scheme as I've
read, I want it to be the best darn useless scheme
it can!
Though 128bit WEP can be hacked, it takes a lot more traffic to find the key then using 40bit WEP.
Thanks iFelix. Any idea how much chance there is for
someone hacking my WEP in a residential neighborhood?
Depends on who your neighbours are...
To be honest if you lived in an apartment block I would argue you were more at risk than if you live in a detached property with only a couple of neighbours.
Should I update my wireless system? I'm happy with
the performance of the AirPort otherwise,
If you're happy and it's working, keep it as it is.
but I'm
disappointed that they don't allow an upgrade to a
more secure system and also VERY disappointed that I
can't at least create a working closed network with
my new Apple iMac.
The thing is putting your Airport base station in a brown paper bag adds as much security as creating a closed network does.
A wireless network is still broadcasting and therefore detectable regardless of whether you broadcast the SSID (closed network) or not.
A determined hacker (one who can hack 128bit WEP) will not be put off by a closed network.
As for casual users, well the 128bit WEP will stop them.
Unfortunately "Closed" networks, MAC access control lists, and reduction in transmission power are all more "feel good" security rather than real security. All these various approaches are dated and mistakenly lead to overconfidence.
WPA is your friend if you value wireless security, but that will only be possible if you upgrade your wireless router.
It could be for a variety of reasons why your Mac and original Airport don't like working with a closed network, however it does seem to happen more often when using hardware from different manufacturers.
The reason why your previous Mac didn't have this issue is that it used a different wireless chipset to your new Mac, which is the main reason for the issue you are having now.
iFelix