What wireless security does my iBook support?

Question

I have a D-Link 624 wireless router, with upgraded firmware and running plain 802.11 B/G (no turbo). No problem connecting with WPA2 Personal using my Macbook or my son's Macbook Pro (though both have frequent loss of internet connectivity, which may be a problem others have reported with recent versions of OS X).
However we have not been able to get a wireless connection using PowerPC laptops -- a 2005 PowerBook 12", and a 2001 white iBook 700 MHz.
All these Macs are running OS X 10.4.10.
The PowerBook came with an Airport card that supports 802.11g, and ought to support WPA2. It sees the correct security type and lets me enter the password. If I enter a wrong password that is reported. If I enter the right password I get that less than helpful message that there was an error connecting. Retries do not help. It works fine with other wireless networks.
The iBook supports only the older 802.11b, as far as I know. When I select the home network (which at the moment is broadcasting its SSID), it comes up asking for a WEP password. I can select WPA2 and enter a password, but if I do I get a message that suggests that the router does not support that kind of security.
I really do not want to downgrade my wireless security to WEP. The latest exploits apparently allow breaking it in a minute or so. I'm pretty sure that I remember getting a friend's PC to work with WPA (not WPA2) using 802.11b, though it required both new drivers and an OS patch.
Is there any hope of getting the old iBook to connect using any version of WPA? Any hints on tricks to make the much newer PowerBook work?

Answer 1

Try downgrading to 10.4.8 or 10.4.9 or earlier version of Tiger. Airport connectivity problems have been often reported problem with 10.4.10.
How to Perform an Archive and Install
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger) and/or TechTool Pro (4.5.2 for Tiger) to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.
Message was edited by: Kappy