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wludavid · Sep 25, 2003, 07:59 PM

Recently my Airport has been behaving strangely. Usually it's quick - as quick as 56k can be - but occasionally it slows down to a crawl. I've recorded rates on CNet of 10 bps. It's connected but just very slow. I've tried just connecting via the iBook's modem, and that worked fine. But because it's spotty, I don't know if the problem went away, or if the problem exists only with Airport. For what it's worth, I didnt have any problems using a high speed connection connected directly to the computer.

Any insight is appreciated.

rambo47 · Sep 25, 2003, 11:13 PM

Unfortunatley, your AirPort Base Station could be dying. Mine exhibited your symptoms after 3 years of faithful service (Graphite model). I replaced it with an AirPort Extreme Base Station and I'm back up to speed, and using the USB port on the new model for my printer.

wludavid · Sep 26, 2003, 07:53 AM

Originally posted by rambo47:
Unfortunatley, your AirPort Base Station could be dying. Mine exhibited your symptoms after 3 years of faithful service (Graphite model). I replaced it with an AirPort Extreme Base Station and I'm back up to speed, and using the USB port on the new model for my printer.

I afraid you might be right. I've got the graphite version and it's up over 3 years of use. The frustrating thing is that I bought it used from a friend less than a year ago. Do you know what failed on yours? Or did you just classify it as "AirPort Death"? Did it exhibit those problems with the modem or both modem and ethernet?

Grrr · Sep 26, 2003, 07:03 PM

Dead/Dying Graphite base stations are not at all uncommon. And 9 times out of 10, they all die of the same fault. I have 2 that died. Both with the same fault. Obviously I cant be sure that yours has this exact same problem. but it is likely.
Basically, Because the entire thing is enclosed, it gets way too hot in there, and there are a couple of power regulating capacitors, that simply can not take the heat. So they fail prematurely. The symptoms are not always consistent either.
Fortunately, replacement capacitors are very cheap. That is, once you have located suitable ones that are no bigger than the original. As there is simply no room in there at all to fit larger ones.
Trick is, getting them fitted. Someone with good electronics soldering experience with the proper tools would have to do it. I did it myself, so the repair was extremely cheap. Probably well under $2 for both the required components.

Some more info is available here..
http://www.vonwentzel.net/ABS/Repair/index.html

wludavid · Sep 28, 2003, 10:04 PM

Thanks, I'll take a closer look at this site soon. ie, when I'm on the company's dime. I've got a PW949 base station. Maybe I can convince somebody at apple to repair it for me. My warranty ended but a few short months ago. Isn't that how it always is?