Hi,
First, sorry for my English.

I was in trouble to config my network with Ethernet and Airport on PowerBook G4 with MacOS X 10.4.5.
I found, that is not possible to use the Airport and Ethernet on the G4 in the same time. Which interface is active depends on the order in which I order them in the „System Preferences / Network / Network Port Configurations“.

I’m really disappointed about that constellation :mad: , because I was believing that MacOSX is multihome able. Now I’m wondering, if it exists a “hidden” Preference to get both interfaces (Ethernet + Airport) work in the same time, so I can connect from my PowerBook to Ethernet (cable) and Airport without switching between them. I know, that is possible with Apple X-Serve and the two onboard Ethernet-ports.
Do you have some knowledge and can help me with that?

Thanks to everybody…

I think you can get it to "multihome" if the two interfaces are using different sub-nets. I recall some threads about this a while ( a few years?) back so maybe searching these forums might give some clues. Also look on the main macosxhints site.

Thanks
 

Thanks, I will test it as soon I'm at home. If I understand it right; example:
ethernet 192.168.0.15 / 255.255.255.0
airport: 192.168.1.15 / 255.255.255.0
would work?

I was searching on the web and in this forum a lot but found not much. Would be very nice, if it works...

Yep, something along those lines should help you out. Unless you have to routers that operate on different subnets, you won't be able to have both device connect to the Internet at the same time, however; it should work for local network communications. Yes/No??

Thanks
 

I config the interfaces with different subnets and it works. Also internet sharing (routing Airport -> Ethernet) works for me too. Thanks!!! ;)

BUT! I step into the next problem. Maybe you can help me with the following problem. :(
I discovered that the range the airport acts in my home is very low. The distance between two airport devices should not become more than 3-5 Meters and should have intervisibility. If the distance get bigger or a devices becomes out of sight to the other device -> the connection breaks up in my case! :mad:

I know, that wifi-devices should have a range at least of 50 meters (indoor). So what’s wrong in my constellation?
No Base Station or other Accesspoint is in use, only the Powerbook and a PDA, in a peer_to_peer wireless network. Unfortunately I have only these two wifi devices, so I don’t know which of them is too weak. Some advices I can do? :confused:

Use the 3rd-party utility "iStumbler" (www.istumbler.net) to see what the noise level of your network is and whether other wireless networks are in the vicinity. Change the channel used by your network (if possible) to be at least 3 away from other networks.
It would also be useful to use the "Airport Management Tools" that are available via a link on the bottom right of this web page: http://www.apple.com/support/airport/

Many factors may affect signal strength...
 

including the proximity of some wireless telephones, microwave ovens, or any other device that could produce radio-frequency interference. Additionally, the barriers the transmitting device has to get through can make a difference, and even the HEIGHT at with the transmitter is situated can make a difference. The 50-meter range isn't unreasonable under optimal conditions, but you may have to just experiment (as well as using tools like those mentioned by Hayne and following his advice) to discover just what the effective range is going to end up being in your particular environment. If you are using an AirPort Extreme, an external antenna might help, too, and are not very expensive.

Joe VanZandt

Thanks....

Yesterday I’m testing with different channels, no improvement at all. I was with my PowerBook and my PDA in a room, where no radio-devices exists, no improvement ether.
The signal nearly drops, when the PDA is 1 meter (3,5 feet) away from the powerbook and my body was between (interference)!
Today I was on the apple sides, reading some reviews about the Dr. Bott ExtendAIR Direct Antenna, and there I found my answer:

“…. As we had been forewarned, this powerbook has a weak internal antenna and the Airport reception dropped off and out too much ….”

“….even when I placed my 15 inch Powerbook (which has a bad rap for suppressing Airport signals) ….”

If I understand this parts of reviews right, so has the PowerBook a very bad and weak build-in antenna. And this makes me disappointed and followed by new questions:


-->
Exists an extern optional antenna for a G4 PowerBook (15’, 1,67 Ghz)?
Exists an alternative Wifi-USB-Stick (W-Lan adapter to put in the USB port) with MacOS X driver on the market?
Would a Base Station or equal accesspoint solve the range problem?
<--


Independently there from, I will, as soon I’m home, testing these recommended tools and power off all radio-devices in the whole house… I will report my findings…

There is also the possibility that there is a bad connection between the Airport card and the antenna internal to your PowerBook.
I recall some articles a long time ago (older PB models) about people who had improved their Airport reception by opening their PBs and squeezing some connection together.

A base station would likely make things a lot better.
Maybe try using your PB's Airport in some other location (Apple Store, cafe, etc) that has a wireless network.

Thanks.

I was also thinking about this internal antenna connection as problem and I'm allready have download the -howto- from www.apple.com . The screws a very small and I'm must find a screwdriver for that...

I dont know, where the next location with wireless network is, so I'm on my own. But I will ask friends some can help with that, but allways apple-free pc-users. But do you know a wlan-usb product with MacOSX driver?

Thnx

Microwaves don't traverse water (which is the main constituent of the human body), so there's no big surprise here.

Until you have made tests with both the PDA, the AluBook and a known good AP, you have no idea whether the former or the latter have a problem.

There were real range issues with the Titanium PowerBooks because Apple had thought that the laws of physics and in particular those about a Faradays cage and its dramatic consequences for radio signals did not apply.
But since then, some courageous guy managed to get these plastic RF-ears where the antennas are on the upper end of the monitor and that has pretty much solved the problem.

Also make sure there are no microwave ovens, any of those nasty 2,4 GHz video transmitters or whatever else that might interfere while you're doing your testing. If you have radio amateur friends, ask them for advice, RF is a tricky subject.

Thanks.

I'm surprised, must I say. OK, my body = water, but only 1 meter?! And then we have reflections, so the signal don't must go thru my body...

I don't realy know, where the problem comes from, maybe the PDA is also weak. But I only have two w-lan devices, so not much to test with...
I will look for a "known good AP" and testing there, must asking some friends for that...

But, like I wrote, I will power off all radio-devices in the whole house and testing again, maybe some 2,4 device makes some trouble...

I will report...

Get your neighbours to power off all their cordless phones etc too!

no need for that
 

Because the next neighbor is about 50 meters away. Yesterday I crash my PowerBook after an update to 10.4.7, so I must set up my PowerBook again before I can continue testing my w-lan.
I will report my results after the weekend, I hope…

That's tough luck. If you can reproduce a problem related to the 10.4.7 update, make sure to post the details here, so far no serious bugs have been reported.

I don't know what went wrong, I can't reproduce it. After installing the update followed by a restart, the PB boots not to the LogIn-Window. If I boot in SingleUserMode, message lines tells me that some USB port could not be suspent (something like this). No Usb device was connected... I don't know, what went wroong and how to solve it...

First off, please try again and copy down the exact text of the error message this time and show it to us.

Otherwise, try the standard troubleshooting suggestions:
http://www.apple.com/support/mac101/ (see the "My Mac needs help" section)
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...04011205473937
http://forums.osxfaq.com/viewtopic.php?t=7269
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/faqs.html

In particular, be sure to do "Repair Disk" (different from "Repair Disk Permissions"!) in Disk Utility when booted from the Install DVD. I.e. you restart from the Install DVD, then run the version of Disk Utility that is available from one of the menus there.
See this Apple doc:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

Thanks for this advices and links you send me...

But I think it’s not worth to troubleshooting for hours, because
1. I have a half year old image, which I can asr back
2. the current installation was over headed and marginal instable before update already
3. I don’t know, which update was responsible for this crash (I made a online update, 3 Updates suggested (1047 + QT7.x + ?), I selected all, some error message appear, I was to tired to read and made a restart, the PB didn’t come to the login-win
4. I have other Macintoshes I can work on in the meantime

But here the line:
A link/load error occurred for kernel extension /System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBTopCase.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBTCKeyboard.kext
…
…
USBF: 49.918 AppleUSBHubPort [0x1f62300]: :ResetPort for port 2 Port is still suspended after clearing it


I can test to exchange this kext-file from the image, maybe that’s helps, if not, I clone back the image and make some installs I did in the past half year (takes 3 hours)…

But if you think it’s important to troubleshooting, then I’m ready to go thru some steps…

Thanks for this advices and links you send me...

But I think it’s not worth to troubleshooting for hours, because
1. I have a half year old image, which I can asr back
2. the current installation was over headed and marginal instable before update already
3. I don’t know, which update was responsible for this crash (I made a online update, 3 Updates suggested (1047 + QT7.x + ?), I selected all, some error message appear, I was to tired to read and made a restart, the PB didn’t come to the login-win
4. I have other Macintoshes I can work on in the meantime

But here the line:
A link/load error occurred for kernel extension /System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBTopCase.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBTCKeyboard.kext
…
…
USBF: 49.918 AppleUSBHubPort [0x1f62300]: :ResetPort for port 2 Port is still suspended after clearing it


I can test to exchange this kext-file from the image, maybe that’s helps, if not, I clone back the image and make some installs I did in the past half year (takes 3 hours)…

But if you think it’s important to troubleshooting, then I’m ready to go thru some steps…

Don't install anything after restoring until you test it to make sure all is working.

That doesn't matter, if the restore is not 100%. I must install this from the scratch anyway some day, when I find the time. To much overhead already in the installation, so I’m unemotional about this, except the fact that the crash presently unfavorable…
But can you interpret those error-messages and how to solve it easily and fast?

I don't know what specific problem the error messages point to.
Maybe it is a hardware problem with your keyboard?

The best way to fix things is to simplify your system as much as possible.
Remove all peripherals. Disconnect from all networks (including turning off Airport).
Then go through the standard troubleshooting steps.

its kind of fun, would I say now...
I exchanged this kext-file with ditto and this kind of error disappear, but now it hangs on other position. I'm not sure if it hangs on or if it has pass the following line:
hfs mount: enabling extended security on Daten_40GB

If I boot from a Firewire HD I can access this Daten_40GB partition and the Keyboard and all other hardware is fine. If I try to boot from 10.4.x, then ofcourse no hardware attached.

Its time to clone back the image, as soon I'm home, think its the simplest way to get a working environment on my PB back...