My first Mac... so this might be obvious stuff....

Hi Justin,

Welcome to the Mac world, and congratulations on acquiring your iMac G5! Oh, and your questions aren't "dumb"; the only dumb question is the one that doesn't get asked.

First, what does the AirPort icon (up at the top in the menu bar) look like? If it's an empty cone-shaped icon, that means that AirPort is turned off. Click on that icon and select "Turn On AirPort". The icon should now have curved lines radiating from the point of the cone. The more lines, the better your wireless signal. If the lines are black, you're connected. If they're greyed out, it sees the network, but doesn't have access. If security is enabled on the router, you'll have to supply that password to get in.

When you installed your Airport Extreme card did you connect the antenna? It's a real thin white wire with a brass connector on the end. That connector gets plugged into the AirPort card, in the end of the card opposite the card edge connector.

If the antenna is connected, is it possible that your wireless router is set to not broadcast the network name? That's not usually set by default, but if it is set neither Airport Extreme nor MacStumbler will be able to see it. That doesn't mean you can't join the network, you just have to know the name. What you would do is click on the AirPort icon up at the top in the menu bar, and select "Join Other" (or "Connect Other"; I don't have my Mac in front of me, sorry!) from the drop down menu. Give it the network name, and unless they've got security set, you should get right in.

As far as Classic goes, I don't think Apple would have done away with it just yet. It should have been installed. If it's not you should be able to install it off of the DVD that came with the iMac. Click on Go (in the Menu bar) Utilities, and then double click on Software Restore. Insert the disc when prompted, and just check what you want to install.

Well, I hope this helps. Again, welcome, and I hope you really enjoy your new iMac! Please let us know how things work out.

Regards,
Marc

Hi Justin,

Glad you like your iMac G5. I'm considering getting one myself. We'll see...

You can check to see if Classic is there by opening your System Preferences and looking in the "System" category towards the bottom of the window. It should be just to the right of "Accounts". AFAIK, you can "disable" classic by removing that icon from the System Preferences window, but you can't choose to not install it. It should be there. Just out of curiousity... are you planning on using Classic for anything?

Ditto on the above post re: Airport Extreme. Check to make sure Airport is on. You can turn it on using the Internet Connect app or from the menu bar. If all of that still doesn't work for you, maybe try moving closer (next to) the wireless router and see if you're just too far away from the access point. Check the antenna as well, as was suggested in the previous post. Installing those Airport cards yourself is a little tricky... I had problems with mine in my PowerBook 12" when I got it.

Good luck and welcome to the Mac!

OK, the fact that you're seeing grey bars means that your AirPort card is seeing the wireless network, you just don't have access, yet, You need to find out what the hex value of your router's password is. If you use a Windows machine to access the router's firmware you should be able to get this information. Once you have it click on the AirPort icon; do you see your wireless network listed? If so, click on it. If not, click on Other ..., and give it your network name. Click on the Wireless Security dropdown box, and select WEP 40/128 hex. Enter the hex codes on the password line. For some reason Mac OS X will not work with an ASCII password. If you see a checkbox saying "Add this to your keychain" check it, otherwise you'll have to supply that password every time you want to connect.

Regards,
Marc

All you're answers can be found in this Apple Technical Article which says that OS 9 quit shipping with Jaguar (10.2).

Ummm... No.

silver.surfer has a new iMac G5.

The iMac G5 technical specification page says:

I don't think Classic is installed by default anymore. It's on the system CDs though if you want it. Frankly, I don't know what you would use it for. I would say that once you find something that only runs in Classic, then go foward with installing it. Otherwise, that hard drive space can be used for better things.

From what I see on your router, there's no password protection (if the WEP column says "No"). Your computer should be able to pick it up... try clicking on the airport grey bars, and connect to "Other"... type in the SSID of the network for the network name, and don't enter in a password. Click OK and see what happens.

OK silver ...
i'm not gonna help with your Airport .... mine just worked.

I've also got a new iMac G5 (20").

Classic isn't installed out of the box, but it IS available ... find the disc "Additional Software and Hardware Test" that came with the iMac. On that disc is a file called "About Additional Software & AHT.rtf" ... read it.
Basically, It tells you to run the "Install Additional Hardware" pkg to install OS9 ... you won't be able to boot into OS9 (as if youwould want to) but it will run Classic then.

As MCQ pointed out, there is no security set on your router, so everything I said about entering hex codes is not needed. Your router is set to channel 7; I think AirPort is set to channel 10 by default. I couldn't get my airport to work at first, either, until I set my router to channel 10. I'm not quite sure how to change the AirPort channel, but it should be relatively easy to change the channel of the router and the other PCs on the network. I'm sure that will solve your problem.

Regards,
Marc

It may be you have no signal. Make sure that airport is turned on then run Macstumbler. It will show you all the active networks visible to your machine regardless of how the network is configured.

OK, this is progress, I guess. From your first post I gather the wireless router is working with two other computers so there should be some signal for the iMac to see. You've installed an Airport Express card and have Airport turned on. I think there can only be three reasons MacStumbler doesn't see a signal.

1. Your iMac is too far from the wireless router or there is too much stuff (walls and such) in the way. I'll guess this is unlikely. Just as a test you could set up the iMac within a few feet of the wireless router and see if it gets any signal appearing in MacStumbler.

2. When you installed the AE card you didn't attach the antenna wire properly. I've never looked at this on the iMac so I can't comment. I know that these are pretty small. I see from another of your posts that you have rechecked this. You've probably already checked this but you could pull the card out and reseat it.

3. There is a problem with the antenna/cable on the iMac. The cable could be crimped somewhere or not properly attached to the antenna. If you can follow the cable back to the antenna you might see something. Don't touch anything, just observe. My PowerBook had a similar problem. It could only see a signal if it was less than about ten feet from the base station. I sent it back and Apple repaired it.

You have a new computer. Apple will take good care of you. Give them a call. When you call them it would be better if the iMac is set up near the router so that they can immediately eliminate distance as a factor. This will save you time.

yeah, definitely check the wireless antenna. you can actually install the card in some of the machines without attaching the antenna and frankly it's just not obviously intuitive to connect it.

check to see if you have the newest software update for airport cards. my secondary powerbook was having some connection issues to the linksys network in our house. the update seems to have repaired it to a degree. i was getting some of that turning on and off behavior as well.

How far is it from the WiFi router to the iMac? If it is in the same room it shouldn't be a problem. If it is 30 or 40 feet away with a few walls in between that may be an issue. When you are connected how many of the grey bars in the little airport icon change to black? If you never get much better than the corner dot then the signal strength is probably too weak.

yes, that antenna is tricky. i think i made that mistake once myself.

Congratulations!