Original Airport cards and e-Bay

I have a 17inch flat panel iMac, 800 mhz speed and am thinking of going wireless. I know I need an original airport card for my computer, NOT the airport extreme. I have been searching on e-Bay and found various sellers with a huge difference in prices. My question is: are there different models of the original airport card? One vendor lists an airport card model # M7600LL/A for a high price, but in the information it lists my computer as one of the models this card will work with. Another vendor has an airport card model # M7600LL/E for a much lower price but the information on the card's compatability is rather sparse. Are they the same card just with a different price? What is your advice about buying an airport card from e-Bay in general? I will also need a wireless router and have my eye on a Linksys model that a few of my friends have in their wireless networks and they recommend it highly. Any thoughts on that area?
17 inch Flat panel iMac, 800mhz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Basically the difference between the two is one was for American market I believe and the other the European market.
Both should work fine.
Original Airport Card Alternatives
http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/1030.html
A Mac with an original Airport card can connect to any wifi certified 802.11b wireless network (or 802.11g in backward compatible mode).
Out of all the different wireless routers I have used, I have found my Airports to be reliable and easy to setup.

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Apple original Airport card and AEX

I have an iMac slot loading SE 600mhz and want to connect with my wireless network via Airport Express. Are there any compatibility issues witth the Apple originla Airport Card? I am about to bid on ebay but thought I should check. Any help out there?

A Mac with an original Airport card will work perfectly with the Airport Express - the only requirement is that the Mac is running a minimum of MacOS 10.3 in order to be able to configure the device.

Original Airport Card and Leopard

I have a Power Mac G4 (Dual 1.25 GHz)
I have the original airport card in picking up a wireless signal from my basement - and I am two floors up. When I had Tiger - I had no problems. With Leopard, I am not getting a full signal - according to the status bar - and sometimes I can't open certain webpages - saying I can't connect to the server. Any chance Apple can fix this?

I called my service provider (Verizon FIOS internet) - they said it was a Mac issue and to call Mac. I know that is useless since the issue of the original airport cards struggling with Leopard is out there. My problem isn't connecting and getting on the internet. When I first boot up - it takes a few minutes to get a website to come out - and every so often I won't be able to get on a website. It says I am not connected to the internet and cannot get on the server for that website (google or apple for example) - yet I can get to another site.

Original airport card mysteriously stopped connecting to network

i have a powermac G4 tower and have been using the original airport card for about four months. Just recently it stopped connecting to the network at all. the bars are all gray on the menu bar and when i try to connect to any network in the drop down menu the popup window just says "there was an error connecting to the specified network" when I go to network diagnostics and try to connect it asks for a WEP pasword even though none of the networks require a password and network security is set to none in system preferences for the network. I've been able to get a connection back a couple times but it was only by restarting my computer and that hasn't worked for a couple days. Is my airport card broken or is there something wrong with the operating system? I've also talked to the tech support people for the wireless network I'm using and they had no clue how to help me.

I had trouble getting my Airport card online for the longest time. Finally, I ditched the Linksys wireless router I was trying to use, and switched to a D-Link. I still don't always get full signal, but I can get online 95% of the time.
Have no idea why it worked, but it definitely works better than the Linksys.
PMG4 (3.4), Silver Door, FW400 Mac OS X (10.3.9) Dual 1.25, 512 RAM, original Airport card

Original airport card connection to Belkin Wireless G Plus router

I have an iBook G3 with an original airport card in it. The card works because I can acess the internet at school or the local Wi-Fi hotspots. I cannot however connect to my own network at home. The computer will pick up my network but when I try to connect I am asked for a password. I DO NOT have NEVER HAD a password for my network and my PC will connect wirelessly just fine. I have read the manuals for every thing I have and can not figure out why it wont connect. Any suggestions other than getting a new computer?

Already tried that
Is the Belkin running in 802.11g mode?
It needs to be running in 802.11b or 802.11b/g mixed mode for a Mac with the original Airport card to connect.
Has the Mac been able to connect to any wireless network?

How does one update original airport card for WPA?

Hi, I've an earlier AX, and an original airport card that I understand can be updated to be able to be WPA compatible. How do I do this? The AX is setup for WPA/WPA2 personal, and I have no trouble joining the network from other macs, and I just learned that the original airport card is supposedly able to be updated to also handle WPA. This card is installed on a g3 imac 700 se with os 10.4.11.
I also posted this question in the airport express forum, but thought it may have a better chance of being answered here after I thought about it a bit.
Thank you,
ez

You can't get it to do WPA2.
You can get it to do WPA if you have the right software installed, which you probably already do:
AirPort Card: When You Can Join a WPA Network
The base station or equivalent has to be set up for 802.11b/g that is BOTH b and g, since the \[original] Airport card is 802.11b.

Anyone ever tried to use an original airport card in an emate 300?

I know it sounds crazy, but I am attempting to think outside the box and save money.
Lemme know what you think of my crazy idea, please!

The original Airport card may look like a PCMCIA card, but it is not. It won't work in a slot that was not specifically designed to accept it. It doesn't even have a built-in antenna.
Also, I suppose that it would save money if you already have one. But those original Airport cards sell for $40-50 on eBay, including shipping. You can get an 802.11b wireless PCMCIA card on eBay for less than $20 including shipping. You'd make some money if you sold the Airport card and got a generic card that is known to work in that slot.

Two versions of original Airport card?

I have only today learned that the original Airport card came in two versions: 661-2219, which does not have the capability of accessing a WPA-protected router, and 661-2549, which does. My question is, how do you distinguish between these two cards, visibly or otherwise?

It was not 'suddenly discovered,' as we have made this claim for many years. I don't understand how it is inconsistent with what you insist to be the case, as…
• we refer only to the A/B revisions—which you agree do not support WEP beyond 40 bits—to be incapable of supporting WPA, as they shipped from the factory
• we sell such cards with the lower level of capability for use in pre-OS X 10.3 installations with the clear caveat that such cards, as sold, don't support WPA or—if you will—are not guaranteed to, and should be expected to, support WPA
It's not in our financial interest to apply firmware to the older cards which we periodically encounter and we don't claim that it has been done, as we don't test each card specifically for such capabilities. Why bother to, when they are sold indicating that they do not support WPA? We don't speak for others in the industry, only for ourselves. And, we attempt to convey simple, accurate information. In this case, we think we achieve that in a way that lowers what might otherwise be heightened user expectations and avoid unintended outcomes.
Since the higher cost cards are priced at a level consistently at or lower than most vendors and carry a one-year warranty, and the less capable early cards are discounted from that level yet carry the same warranty, we think that they pair offer better overall value to most users under most circumstances. That said, they can be less expensive—or, more expensive—than some unsupported product sold on eBay. But, ours are tested and warranted, and the price has remained consistent across low and high availability situations, something that we again believe provides better overall value to buyers.
Sure, they might—in fact—support it, in some circumstances. But, we would be inundated with complaints from users wanting such support if the individual card they purchased did not support it when they received that specific card. While Apple claims that the original AirPort base station never supported WPA, you need only put a WPA capable replacement card in it and use the appropriate software to gain access to this feature. Components other than the card itself in an AirPort base station can be reasonably characterized as passive. It is the card itself that determines the capabilities of the base station.
We're currently out of the original cards, or I would arrange to ship you one of each to test in your own environment to satisfy your concerns. In our case, testing cards at one point for such capabilities reasonably satisfied us that M7600LL/A and B cards did not support WPA 'out of the box' and so we've simply pointed that out.
It's akin to saying that original iMacs based upon a G3 processor do not support the installation of Mac OS X, unless and until a suitable firmware update is applied. And that statement also is true, given that most shipped pre-OS X and without the installed firmware.
How do I put this? Most alternative suppliers in this industry are chumps: they know little, and care even less. It's all about 'turn and burn' to them, and they seek almost exclusively to maximize their opportunity. Despite their claims, they could care less about customers. You only have to look around the web to figure that out…
We've been quietly engaged in this market in the background for nearly twenty years, so we know a thing or two about the other players.
We find it too cumbersome to explain the capabilities of the original AirPort cards in general beyond what we describe, and not economical to upgrade the firmware of such cards and attempt to sell them as the second generation of that product line, thereby creating an instantaneous identification conflict.
When we receive and qualify additional cards, I will get ahold of you in The Lounge if you are interested in setting up a 'lab test' on your own premises, or modifying the A or B card by applying a firmware update.
To some degree, the argument is moot: Apple no longer supports the original card at all, and the second generation of the product line remains supported only in California, and only for a limited remaining time period.

Update--original Airport card w/ no signal

I have now been able to swap original Airport cards with a clamshell iBook and have determined that the "no signal" issue is with the PowerBook G4 Titanium 500 mHz or possibly the OS X 10.4.7 upgrade.
I had previously tried a Linksys 802.11b PCMCIA card and a D-Link 802.11b PCMCIA card in this PowerBook and had exactly the same symptoms--the card was recognized by the operating system, but no wi-fi signal was detected. I read some posts in this forum about PCMCIA card firmware version incompatibilities with OS X and wi-fi connectivity issues with PCMCIA cards after installing OS X 10.4.7, so I decided buying an original Airport card was best solution, and then found out that it doesn't work either!
Now I would like to find out if anyone has suggestions for resolving whatever issue I'm encountering. As I said in my earlier post, I've tried reseating the card and connector as well as unplugging and replugging the antenna connector. I've also tried pressing on the side of the battery compartment where the antennna is located. I haven't tried pulling the antenna out (don't know how difficult that is), but it's not visibly damaged. Probably not a related problem, but the DVD player doesn't work--it attempts to mount a disc but always fails.
Replacing the antenna might be an option; on the other hand, the PCMCIA cards didn't use the Airport antenna and they didn't work either, so I definitely wonder about a software issue.
When I got this machine I reformatted the HD, installed Tiger, and promptly installed all the updates through 10.4.7 before trying to set up wi-fi connectivity, so I don't actually know what effect the updates may have had.

Replacing the antenna might be an option; on the other hand, the PCMCIA cards didn't use the Airport antenna and they didn't work either...
Right — so it definitely isn't an antenna issue.
Is it possible that the network you're trying to connnect to is hidden? I know just barely enough about wireless networking to be dangerous, but I remember when I was setting my router up originally a couple of years ago, there was some option to cloak the network so it wouldn't be visible at all to unauthorized machines, or something like that. It was one of many security features, and I didn't opt to to use it because my router is several hundred feet from any road or other building and requires a password; I don't worry about anyone getting into my network without my knowedge.

Airport card and airport extreme compatibility

I am currently using APE with Powerbook G4...love it. I also have an older iMac SE Graphite 600mhz and want to add it to my wireless network. Is the Apple airport card w/adapter that is no longer sold by apple compatible with
my newer APE base station?? Any thoughts on whether ebay is a good source for purchase. I have used ebay several times and have not been dissapointed so far.

Yes, the a Mac equipped with an original Airport card is fully compatible with an Airport Extreme Base Station.
For what its worth, I've never been disappointed either with the dozens of items I've purchased via EBay.

Can an original Airport card connect to an Airport Extreme base station

I have an old iBook G3 10.3.9 with an original Airport card (System Profile says "Wireless Card Firmware Version: 8.70"). This computer/airport card connects fine with an old Airport Graphite.
But it will not connect with my main Airport Extreme 802.11n (1st Generation), running in 802.11n (802.11b/g compatible) mode. This Airport is using WPA/WPA2 Personal wireless security. This Airport Extreme works fine with my other computers and devices.
Does anybody know, offhand, whether it is just a setting, or is this completely unworkable?
Thanks in advance for any input.

I cannot remember all the details regarding the older iBooks, but suspect that the wireless card and possibly the operating system that you are using on the iBook cannot support WPA/WPA2 wireless encryption.
As a test....
Temporarily turn off the wireless security on the 1st Gen AirPort Extreme, then see if the iBook can connect to the wireless network that way.
If it can, this tells you that the wireless is at least working on the iBook....but it cannot connect to the WPA/WPA2 network.
The solution might be to use a USB wireless adapter that can handle the higher encryption levels, or connect the iBook using Ethernet.
If the iBook still cannot connect when security is disabled during the test, then the iBook has additional issues that you may or may not wish to pursue.

Unable to conect Original Airport Card to password protected wireless route

I am trying to connect a ClamShell notebook( OS 10.3.9) with an Apple Original Airport Card (installed) to a wireless router. When I access the network in System preferences, it detects the router and my Airport Card and indicates that a password is needed to access the that network. After inputting the password and with the location router highlighted, it does not connect me with the network as I go through the setup procedure. The system administrator successfully connected to the router with a PC laptop. Am I not selecting a topic that I should or have I not performed the set up procedure correctly? I did not have this problem when I connected to a non-password router.
Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Darrell

Never received a reply from Henry B. so I decided to experiment with my problem. I Inputted the password in the Setup assistant, highlighted the router location and clicked Continue to continue with the Assistant. The Airport icon in the top bar became more pronounced instead of faded. I did not receive confirmation of a connection, in fact the back up page button was the only button active. I closed out of the Setup Assistant. I brought a browser and found the browser was connected to the Internet.
MORAL: Don;t always believe the Setup Assistant

Where's best place to get original Airport card?

I was wondering if anyone could tell me where's the best place to get an original Airport card? I've just bought a new iMac and want to connect my old eMac to it. I've got a BT Homehub wireless router but just need an original Airport card for the eMac downstairs. I'm a bit new to the computer game and just wondered if anyone could recommend a decent place to buy accessories.
Thanks
Damarall
iMac 20in 2GHz 512MB Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Thank you guys for answering my question. I've just got one more now Will an American airport card still work on an English Apple Mac. I feel silly asking, as I'm sure it'd be fine, but I know American videos don't work in our players, and DVDs have different regions (although I've found the codes to stop that, he he). Thanks again. Damarall

Airport card and adaptor

Hello Hello.
I just received my Beautiful G3 Ibook in the mail this evening and I was surprised to see that it did not come with an Airport card
How do I tell which airport card is appropriate?
How do I tell if I need to buy the adapter separate?
I tried to configure my Ethernet and it did not work any suggestions?
I am very new to this, Have not used a Mac since Jr. High
thanks!

Hi, and welcome to Apple Discussions.
It's not as easy as calling the Apple Store, unfortunately. The iBook G3 takes an original AirPort card. Apple stopped selling them a couple of years ago.
Possible sources for the original AirPort card:
http://www.synaptech.com/catalog/index.php?mainpage=index&cPath=4953
http://www.expercom.com/productdetail.html?PRODUCTID=305851
http://www.powerbookguy.com/xcart/catalog/Airport-Cards-price0-p-1-c-507.html
http://store.macsolutions.com/airportad.html
http://memorysolutions.com/memorysolutions/orapaica1.html
http://store.airportcardsdirect.com/
http://techrestore.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16174
http://www.dvwarehouse.com/Apple-Original-AirPort-Wireless-Card-802.11B-p-31366. html
http://www.megamacs.com/v1/?action=view&pid=967052
http://www.lacomputercompany.com/cgi-bin/rpcart/index.cgi?command=dispitem&type= sku&sku=10061
Instructions for installing the original AirPort card can be found in this Apple Knowledge Base article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=111919
Wireless is wonderful!

Difference in Original Airport card

I was wondering what the difference in Original Airport card numbers mean....ie: Part # 630-2883, and 630-2883c
Thanks
Frank

These different numbers simply refer to different revisions of the card that were created during the time this card was manufactured. From the point of view of a user like yourself, there is absolutely NO difference in the functional abilities between different revisions.

Original Airport cards and e-Bay

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