Weal wireless signal

[Ben Wallach]

I have a brand new Linksys WAP54g that is transmitting my wirless
signal. A brand new Imac with an "airport extreme" wirless card to
"receive" signal (no mac base station). I believe you need the base
station to get the "g" wirless, but "b" is just fine for me right now.

When Imac is right next to WAP, I get an o.k signal. The imac signal
strength bar (in the "open internet connect" window) is at about half
way. The airport signal strength indicator in the top right corner of
the screen moves between 2-3 lines. I would however, expect it to be
all the way up (being right next to the WAP)? When I move the Imac to
the adjacent room, I get no signal or a very very weak signal which
drops out frequently. All other locations in the house get no signal
either.

So my "wireless" setup is not useful at this point. I am not sure if
this is an Imac issue or a Linksys issue.

Things I tried:
* Resitting the airport card and reconnecting the small "antenna"
chord to the card.
* Changed channels on the WAP (10, 1 ,2..). All exhibit simialir
peformance.
* Upgrade Linksys with latest firmware (1.08).
* Change WAP transmission to "B-only".
* Changed position/location of WAP.

Thanks in advance for any help/feedback anyone can provide..

Ben Wallach
[email]benwallach@comcast.net[/email]

[skypilotNOSPAM@writeme.com]

Where do you have the router installed?

Go to linksys.com and have a look around. They specifically say that the
router should not be near thick concret wall, fish tank, or be on top of a
metal filing cabinet.

Good luck

Brian



[email]benwallach@comcast.net[/email] (Ben Wallach) pounded on the keyboard and wrote:

>I have a brand new Linksys WAP54g that is transmitting my wirless
>signal. A brand new Imac with an "airport extreme" wirless card to
>"receive" signal (no mac base station). I believe you need the base
>station to get the "g" wirless, but "b" is just fine for me right now.
>
>When Imac is right next to WAP, I get an o.k signal. The imac signal
>strength bar (in the "open internet connect" window) is at about half
>way. The airport signal strength indicator in the top right corner of
>the screen moves between 2-3 lines. I would however, expect it to be
>all the way up (being right next to the WAP)? When I move the Imac to
>the adjacent room, I get no signal or a very very weak signal which
>drops out frequently. All other locations in the house get no signal
>either.
>
>So my "wireless" setup is not useful at this point. I am not sure if
>this is an Imac issue or a Linksys issue.
>
>Things I tried:
>* Resitting the airport card and reconnecting the small "antenna"
>chord to the card.
>* Changed channels on the WAP (10, 1 ,2..). All exhibit simialir
>peformance.
>* Upgrade Linksys with latest firmware (1.08).
>* Change WAP transmission to "B-only".
>* Changed position/location of WAP.
>
>Thanks in advance for any help/feedback anyone can provide..
>
>Ben Wallach
>benwallach@comcast.net

[Ben Wallach]

Well I have isolated the problem to the IMac. Tried another WAP made by
Cisco. I get the same signal strength which tells me that the IMac
and/or the airport-extreme card are not picking up signal properly.

Additional things I tried:

- Moved WAP to different locations while observing signal strength (to
discount "interference" cause).
- Upgraded IMac to O.S. 10.2.6
- Ran MAC OS hardware diagnostics test (from cd-rom)
- Disconnected "antenna" from airport-extreme card and re-booted
computer. The theory here being that maybe the antenna connection was
actually doing more harm than good by shorting out somewhere....No luck
though. Without antenna plugged into card, signal strength = 0..


Thanks again for any help with IMac signal strength issues ??

Ben Wallach
[email]benwallach@comcast.net[/email]



Ben Wallach wrote:

> I have a brand new Linksys WAP54g that is transmitting my wirless
> signal. A brand new Imac with an "airport extreme" wirless card to
> "receive" signal (no mac base station). I believe you need the base
> station to get the "g" wirless, but "b" is just fine for me right now.
>
> When Imac is right next to WAP, I get an o.k signal. The imac signal
> strength bar (in the "open internet connect" window) is at about half
> way. The airport signal strength indicator in the top right corner of
> the screen moves between 2-3 lines. I would however, expect it to be
> all the way up (being right next to the WAP)? When I move the Imac to
> the adjacent room, I get no signal or a very very weak signal which
> drops out frequently. All other locations in the house get no signal
> either.
>
> So my "wireless" setup is not useful at this point. I am not sure if
> this is an Imac issue or a Linksys issue.
>
> Things I tried:
> * Resitting the airport card and reconnecting the small "antenna"
> chord to the card.
> * Changed channels on the WAP (10, 1 ,2..). All exhibit simialir
> peformance.
> * Upgrade Linksys with latest firmware (1.08).
> * Change WAP transmission to "B-only".
> * Changed position/location of WAP.
>
> Thanks in advance for any help/feedback anyone can provide..
>
> Ben Wallach
> [email]benwallach@comcast.net[/email]

[Vincent Vega]

In article <3F630C7B.8030904@comcast.net>,
Ben Wallach <benwallach@comcast.net> wrote:

> Thanks again for any help with IMac signal strength issues ??

Sounds like the infamous atenna problem. Go to a place away from Base
Station where you should be getting a good reception but have a weak
signal anyway.

Then move, ever so slightly, the lid/screen of the iBook a little
forward or a little backward. If you're like a lot of people you'll find
that the black bar indicators will go to full strength.

[Ben Wallach]

Thanks for your suggestion Vincent. The computer in trouble is an IMac
(not an IBook). However, I did try experimenting with different
positions of the screen to no avail..

I downloaded/installed "MacStumbler" and can see my network with a very
weak signal being registered. It fluctuates between 25 and 28 ! My
understanding is that a real good signal should register in the 90s on
the MacStumbler scale. This is with the Imac 2-feet away from the WAP.
At around 7-10 feet I loose all signal...

So at this point it is starting to smell indeed like some sort of
antenna issue. I don't really understand how the IMac antenna works ? Is
it built into the monitor ?


Thanks again..
Ben



Vincent Vega wrote:

> In article <3F630C7B.8030904@comcast.net>,
> Ben Wallach <benwallach@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>

>>Thanks again for any help with IMac signal strength issues ??

>
>
> Sounds like the infamous atenna problem. Go to a place away from Base
> Station where you should be getting a good reception but have a weak
> signal anyway.
>
> Then move, ever so slightly, the lid/screen of the iBook a little
> forward or a little backward. If you're like a lot of people you'll find
> that the black bar indicators will go to full strength.

[Vincent Vega]

In article <3F633053.3020605@comcast.net>,
Ben Wallach <benwallach@comcast.net> wrote:

> Thanks for your suggestion Vincent. The computer in trouble is an IMac
> (not an IBook).

Sorry, I'm illiterate. :(

[Not Me]

| Thanks for your suggestion Vincent. The computer in trouble is an IMac
| (not an IBook). However, I did try experimenting with different
| positions of the screen to no avail..
|
| I downloaded/installed "MacStumbler" and can see my network with a very
| weak signal being registered. It fluctuates between 25 and 28 ! My
| understanding is that a real good signal should register in the 90s on
| the MacStumbler scale. This is with the Imac 2-feet away from the WAP.
| At around 7-10 feet I loose all signal...
|
| So at this point it is starting to smell indeed like some sort of
| antenna issue. I don't really understand how the IMac antenna works ? Is
| it built into the monitor ?

Where is the MacStumbler software to be had?

[Ben Wallach]

> Where is the MacStumbler software to be had?

MacStumbler.com

[Tony Morgan]

In message <3F636210.40708@comcast.net>, Ben Wallach
<benwallach@comcast.net> writes

>> Where is the MacStumbler software to be had?

>
>MacStumbler.com

:-)
Sorry, I couldn't help but smile... even though it's a reasonable
question :-)
--
Tony Morgan
Smile in the face of adversity - and adversity will probably
think you're taking the piss and kick the shit out of you.

[Not Me]

| >> Where is the MacStumbler software to be had?
| >
| >MacStumbler.com
|
| :-)
| Sorry, I couldn't help but smile... even though it's a reasonable
| question :-)

Reasonable or not as long as I get the answer. <g> Thanks.