[mrtew]

I've had my iMac600 G3 for about a year and a half and have had an airport card in it the whole time. Today it quit working and after a trying everything and a total system reinstall (my first) it started working again... although not at first... it kinda started after a while. But then it quit again, and then after a while it started up again and then quit. I can't think of anything that is causing it to start and stop and wonder if the AirPort card is just giving out intermittently. Has anyone ever had one go... and if so is this what happens? I can't think of anything else that it could be at this point!

Edit: Well, I got a new airport card at the Apple store and it fixed the problem so I've answered my own question. Maybe someone else can be helped by this info.

[Severed Hand of Skywalker]

Anything can break dude. Call apple.

P.S. you might also want to check the cards connection inside the iMac.

[ghporter]

This is usually more a problem on iBooks and TiBooks, but it's worth a shot. Open the access point for the AirPort card and make sure the antenna cable is firmly attached. Look here for Apple's instructions on installing the card-they show the door and the antenna cable very well. Once sure the antenna cable is secure, make sure the card itself is securely installed, too.

Thermal stresses, including simply turning the computer on and off, can cause parts to shift slightly, and that can loosten connections enough for things like the AirPort card not to work consistently.

Good luck.