[smax013]

Martian said:

BTW, if your MBP is too old to do 5GHz, you can look into an ExpressCard WiFi card if they have Mac drivers (yes Apple, it is boneheaded to make any laptop without an ExpressCard slot--even my cheap 10" Lenovo netobook has one)

All MacBook Pros, with the exception of the first generation one, are capable of using 802.11n and thus the 5 GHz range. The second generation requires the "enabler" software if you want to use 802.11n with Tiger as 802.11n was not enable with it by default...no enabler is needed with Leopard. All models after that came with 802.11n fully enabled right out of the box.

As to an ExpressCard option:

http://www.quickerte...expresscard.php

No drivers needed...it uses Apple's drivers.

Or you can do a USB option:

http://www.quickerte...ucts/n_nano.php

or

http://www.quickerte...cts/nquicky.php

or

http://www.quickerte...ducts/dualy.php

Or if you do not mind cracking open your first generation MacBook Pro, you can replace the internal card:

http://www.quickerte...11N_upgrade.php

I am sure there are other options, but there were the ones I was looking at when I was researching upgrading my first generation MacBook Pro (I ended up going with an Apple Airport card for a Mac Pro, which will fit a MacBook Pro...the tough part is getting one as Apple and Apple Stores will generally not sell it to an end user).

[5x5]

But see, we're back to my original problem. The techs at the Apple Store ran tests and found nothing wrong with the card (or anything, for that matter), so I don't need to replace anything (they would have).

The total distance from my computer and the router is like 60 feet? And at the moment, it's only like 5 feet from the booster. One of those two things should be working, since it was working like 2 weeks ago. I shouldn't have to keep buying stuff to make it work.

And it's all the more maddening because other devices can connect in this room, so if it's interference, it's only around the 15" square on my desk, which seems highly unlikely.

Maybe it's not something I can fix. At this point, I've gotten it to where it's useable. It's not necessarily stable or as fast as it was but it works.



Thank you all for your help. I really appreciate it.

5x5

[smax013]

5x5 said:

But see, we're back to my original problem. The techs at the Apple Store ran tests and found nothing wrong with the card (or anything, for that matter), so I don't need to replace anything (they would have).

Don't mind our "off topic" diversion...we were more going on about how you might want to upgrade if your MBP did not have an 802.11n card. Unless your MBP is a first gen, it is a complete non-issue. Even if it is a first gen, it should still work.

[smax013]

Are you using encryption (i.e. WEP, WPA, WPA2)?

If so, have you tried temporarily turning it off to see if that helps at all?

Are you using MAC filtering? If so, do you have the correct MAC address entered for the MBP?

[5x5]

I'm using WPA (or maybe WPA2 -- I dunno). I'm certain it doesn't have to do with encryption. And I have no idea what MAC filtering is, so if I'm using it, it's a defaul setting.

But there's a new weirdness with the Airport Extreme -- every time I've tried to update the firmware to 7.4.2, it says "an error has occurred" and then fails. Think this has something to do with the problem?