Sudden Drop in WiFi Performance - iBook G4

Question

My wife's iBook G4 14" (1.1 GHz CPU) with Airport Extreme card has had great wireless performance since we've had it. About a month ago, it began having terrible reception. It used to connect fine from upstairs. Now it can only connect consistently within about 20 feet of the wireless router (a Linksys WRT54G v2.1). At the Apple store, its wireless performance is spotty as well.
The Genius at the Genius Bar says it needs the $300 "Fix everything" treatment. I'm, of course, reluctant to spend $300 to fix a now-obsolete machine and just as reluctant to drop $1k+ for a new replacement.
My question: has anyone else seen this problem? What fixed it?

Answer 1

Hi and welcome to Apple Discussions.
There's a few things that it could be but for starters have a look at : Antenna and check underneath the keyboard to make sure that the AX card and antenna are seated properly. Don't be surprised if you don't see a card there though as later models had an integrated card on the logic board. Nothing can be done re connections if you have one of those.
Second thing to try is to download and run MacStumbler to see if a neighbour is using a wireless router on the same channel as yours. If so, log into your router, (the documentation that came with it will have the procedure and password) and change the channel. You don't need to do anything with the iBook, it will adjust accordingly after a brief loss of connection.
Try the above and post back.
Good luck,
Adrian