[gromit95]

my mb is having issyes with the wireless card
sometimes when i boot the mb is shows no airport installed
is this a common issue?
according to the apple store it needs a new airport card
$185.00 anf if that's not the fix it needs a logic board $350.00
i have looked online to where the card is located in the mb
its in the display frame not an easy place to get to.
very frustrating it's only 16 monthes old.

fred

[Snow-i]

Well before writing this off to hardware failure, lets go through some basic troubleshooting.

Does this happen only on your account, and with what frequency? Do you need to reboot to get it to show back up? What does your system profiler look like when this issue occurs? You can check this by going to your apple menu in the upper left, "About this mac" -> system profiler. Airport will be listed under Ethernet Cards.

[gromit95]

I think I made it worse
I restored it back to factory with the restored cd set
Now its like it never existed at all
I will look at the system profiler
To see what it shows.
I know the problem was not isolated to my home network
I would get the no airport card message in my dorm room.


fred

[Waragainstsleep]

I assume this is one of the unibody MacBooks. I hate the Airport cards in the Unibody Macs. I was unimpressed by their failure rate and the cabling is poorly designed.

Its worth mentioning that if you do take it apart yourself to check the connection, make sure you plug the card back in the correct way up. If you don't, you will blow up the logic board. Literally, I saw one go once, a surface mount component literally burns out and kills your video as I recall. It really shouldn't be possible to do this by accident but it very much is.

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

I assume this is one of the unibody MacBooks.

Well, the title of the thread says "MacBook unibody."

Current Macs use one chip for both Bluetooth and Wifi, does Bluetooth work?

[mcdermd]

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep 

Its worth mentioning that if you do take it apart yourself to check the connection, make sure you plug the card back in the correct way up. If you don't, you will blow up the logic board. Literally, I saw one go once, a surface mount component literally burns out and kills your video as I recall. It really shouldn't be possible to do this by accident but it very much is.

I think I did this

The cable was loose (broken) in the cable-end connector and I plugged it back in anyways I think the loose ends shorted and fried something on the back side of the logic board. I need to take it out to be sure. Fortunately, with the Airport/Bluetooth/iSight cable unplugged, everything else works just fine.

When I fit the replacement, is there an easy way to tell which way is the proper way the connector plugs into the Airport card?

[AKcrab]

There are two U-shaped marks on one side of the connecter. The U-shaped marks should face AWAY from you when you plug it into the airport card.

Yes, I fried a logic board once because I wasn't paying attention.

[mcdermd]

Thanks a million! That is really great info to have, AKcrab. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for not having to attempt a logic board repair.

[Waragainstsleep]

You might be able to spot the burned out component on the board. It should be near the LVDS connector if I recall correctly.