Airport Worries

trevormtrevorm
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
Just a quick question:



My powerbook is alwys used in the same room and I have ALWAYS got airport reception [4-5 Bars] but now I fail to get any!!!



Is it because the other night when I was playing around with Airport Admin utility I noticed that my airport was only going at 2Mbits so i changed the density so I could have it running at 11Mbits.



Is my card faulty?? Time to get a new one on applecare support/Warenty???



Additional Info:

My iMac g4 sitting almost next to the airport base station is not having a single issue!





<img src="confused.gif" border="0">

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    spotbugspotbug Posts: 361member
    Try resetting the base station (if you haven't already).



    There's a way to reset it without using the AirPort Admin Utility. I can't remember off-hand how to do it, but the info should be in the base station's manual or on the 'net somewhere (sorry, not much help <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" /> ).



    Looking at the back of my snow base station (I can't find the manual just now), I see there's a small pin-hole. Perhaps pushing a paperclip in there would reset it?



    Also, I see that my own "Multicast rate" is set at 2 mb/s as well. Does anybody know what "Multicast rate" is? Do I want that number to be high or low?
  • Reply 2 of 7
    trevormtrevorm Posts: 841member
    [quote]Originally posted by spotbug:

    <strong>Try resetting the base station (if you haven't already).



    There's a way to reset it without using the AirPort Admin Utility. I can't remember off-hand how to do it, but the info should be in the base station's manual or on the 'net somewhere (sorry, not much help <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" /> ).



    Looking at the back of my snow base station (I can't find the manual just now), I see there's a small pin-hole. Perhaps pushing a paperclip in there would reset it?



    Also, I see that my own "Multicast rate" is set at 2 mb/s as well. Does anybody know what "Multicast rate" is? Do I want that number to be high or low?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Yeah what is MULTICAST rate, does that effect covereage perormace or not??? - Could be why I am having problems
  • Reply 3 of 7
    spotbugspotbug Posts: 361member
    [quote]Originally posted by trevorM:

    <strong>Yeah what is MULTICAST rate, does that effect covereage perormace or not??? - Could be why I am having problems</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I just went ahead and turned Multicast up to 11 mb/s (had to set Density to High, too). Doesn't seem to make any difference. Same signal level, same speed.



    So, did you try resetting your base station?
  • Reply 4 of 7
    arbernautarbernaut Posts: 182member
    I have a similar issue: I have a basestation plumbed into my ADSL and up until a few weeks ago I could decent signal all over my house with my airport-card equipped ibook. Now I get a really crappy signal and the ibook is only really usable in the same room as the basestation, which somewhat defeats the point of having airport! I didn't install anything new or do anything different - just one day it was like that.



    I have since installed OSX10.2 and tried to restart the base station, both of which have made no difference, and reinstalled my airport card in the ibook, which also did nothing to improve the signal.



    I wondered if my ibook's aerial may have become damaged (I take my ibook with me everywhere)... is there a utility to test this?



    Any suggestions, much appreciated...
  • Reply 5 of 7
    jay contoniojay contonio Posts: 101member
    Well I know I was posting my problem before...not being able to see my base station. I even tried resetting it and plugging it into my G4 via an ethernet cable...thought everything was going smooth but the second I unplugged it my airport card couldn't see it.



    Then I read the instructions...CROSSOVER cable. So I plugged my G4 and base station into an ethernet hub and presto. I configured it fine.



    Now should I have it set to 11? I don't even see it as an option. I just see 2.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    for a 3 day period my airport reception also was lower then usual and nothing had changed on my end.. I'm using a SWBS but i'm not sure if that makes a difference... about a week ago it came back all by itself... who knows...



    maybe sometimes these things just fluctuate
  • Reply 7 of 7
    spotbugspotbug Posts: 361member
    [quote]Originally posted by Jay Contonio:

    <strong>Now should I have it set to 11? I don't even see it as an option. I just see 2.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    As I mentioned before, I changed mine from 2 to 11 and it made no difference for me. Same signal level. Same network speed.



    As I mentioned before, in order to get the higher-numbered "Multicast Rate" choices, you need to increase the "Density" (for 11 mb/s, I had to set "Density" to "High").
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