dreamsINdigital Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 I have the original 1st generation Core Duo MacBook, and I'm having some trouble with the wifi. Often, when I go to a new location like to a library or a friend's house, I won't be able to connect to the wifi (it will timeout) or it will connect, but the signal strength will be very weak or the internet will be very slow. It's not that it's out of range, I'm in an area that's known to have wifi and others around me can pick it up fine with full strength. At home, my wifi works fine, but the router is in the same room I use the computer in. Does anyone know why this is happening and how to fix it? I'm not sure if this is related, but I've noticed that my MacBook seems to have a shorter range where it can pick up wifi signals than a lot of other laptops like PCs or the newer MacBooks. Has anyone with an older MacBook also noticed this? I know newer MacBooks have 802.11n cards, but I've seen older PC laptops around me that almost certainly don't have 802.11n cards, and they pick up wifi better than mine. I'm almost sure the networks I use are not using wireless N routers though. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vice Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 If you feel your MacBook wireless is broken (and you are out of warranty by now) you can open your notebook up and remove the Airport card inside and replace it with a new one. In-fact an 802.11n card so that you will get much faster WiFi. You can get a new card from ebay for around $20 USD and fit it yourself. iFixIt have a great guide here for your specific MacBook: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/MacBook...port-Card/287/1 The card you want to buy is a BroadCom BCM94321MC this is fully supported by Mac OS X Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard out of the box. It is the same card that shipped in early Mac Pros meaning it will have built in support for pretty much every OS X release going forward. The Bootcamp drivers also will run this card out of the box so you won't need to do any software hacking to get it working. The card is also the exact same size as the card already in the MacBook and uses the same 2 antenna cables, no hardware hacking necessary. So to break this down: Open your MacBook remove old card. Slot new card in, Put your MacBook back together Boot Up Mac OS X 10.4 10.5 or 10.6 You now have 802.11a/b/g/n Wireless for about $20 USD I believe this to be the best solution to your problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamsINdigital Posted September 17, 2009 Author Share Posted September 17, 2009 That sounds like it would be a good upgrade, but is my wifi really broken to the point that the only fix would be to replace the card? Is this not some kind of configuration issue, with DNS, IP addresses, or whatever? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vice Posted September 17, 2009 Share Posted September 17, 2009 Based on what you said in your first post I would say it's likely the card is failing or something along those lines. But it is entirely possible that there is another issue like the cable connecting the card to the antenna in the screen has become damaged thus limiting the range and signal quality significantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamsINdigital Posted September 17, 2009 Author Share Posted September 17, 2009 That might be the case. I just went from my room where the router is located to the living room downstairs, and the connection dropped. I might open it up and take a look to make sure the connections are good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreamsINdigital Posted October 1, 2009 Author Share Posted October 1, 2009 Just to follow up, I've opened up the Mac and looked around. I've reseated the card and checked the wires. Everything looks fine, but it's still having issues with connections. I'm probably going to replace the card. Is the BroadCom BCM94321MC the best N card for me to buy since new N cards and Macs have three antennas, while mine only has two antennas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts