How To: Build your own "Real" Airport Card

[Bryan]

http://www.amazon.com/Mini-PCIe-Express ... B0057UPNBE

Has anyone tried this one? I'm trying not to wait a couple weeks for delivery...

 

[alpha90]

http://www.amazon.com/Mini-PCIe-Express-Adapter-Antenna/dp/B0057UPNBE

Has anyone tried this one? I'm trying not to wait a couple weeks for delivery...

Buying from Amazon with Prime shipping is reassuring and fast.
But what cannot be seen for sure in the photos is how the wifi card mounts to the adapter. It appears that beneath the 3 antenna leads is an aluminum shield cover to protect the wifi card. If so, that is one good feature.

But what is beneath that cover? After the wifi card is inserted into the adapter's slot, are there 2 holes with screws to fasten the card to the adapter? Not having fasteners has been an issue for many people with certain adapters. Some have fixed this by using twist-ties, but that's not an ideal approach.
Some have relied on the aluminum shield cover itself, but that method invites possible shorts between the cover and any IC traces on the wifi card's PC board.

It's too bad this Amazon adapter listing does not have a couple more photos to answer these design questions.

My adapater, linked in my sig, had the screws & cover, too. Although it shipped from China, it arrived in 6 or 8 days, startlingly quick. Your mileage may vary. Good luck on your choice.

 

[Bryan]

Thanks for your thoughts. I decided to order it, but since it should be easy to return I will make sure it has all those features you recommend and if it doesn't I will go with the one at has worked for you.

 

[aFlockOfMoosen]

Le sigh.

I've tried nearly everything. I can get the card to connect poorly, despite "full bars," for a short time, but it never stays connected. Thereafter, when attempting to connect, it says "Connection Timed Out." Or if I attempt to set up a new network it tells me my password is incorrect, which is most definitely not the case.

I've put a "Windsurfer" on my router. I rebuilt the Airport card altogether with more quality parts than the original card i put together. I even just purchased the antennae for the card that Alpha has linked in his system specs. Same results. The only thing I haven't tried is rebranding, mostly because it seems fairly complicated and I believe requires a Linux setup, which I don't have nor do I feel like setting up.

Ah well... As long as my girlfriend has her computer in the same room, I'll be okay sharing her connection via ethernet.

PS Yes, I know it's set to "Off."

 

[titsmgee]

Le sigh.

I've tried nearly everything. I can get the card to connect poorly, despite "full bars," for a short time, but it never stays connected. Thereafter, when attempting to connect, it says "Connection Timed Out." Or if I attempt to set up a new network it tells me my password is incorrect, which is most definitely not the case.

I've put a "Windsurfer" on my router. I rebuilt the Airport card altogether with more quality parts than the original card i put together. I even just purchased the antennae for the card that Alpha has linked in his system specs. Same results. The only thing I haven't tried is rebranding, mostly because it seems fairly complicated and I believe requires a Linux setup, which I don't have nor do I feel like setting up.

Ah well... As long as my girlfriend has her computer in the same room, I'll be okay sharing her connection via ethernet.

PS Yes, I know it's set to "Off."

Just throwing this out there
I rebranded mine in 20 minutes never having stepped foot into the linux before using Ubuntu live CD which does not require you to install anything. You just boot the OS off the DVD

 

[alpha90]

@flying flock of moose:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

 

[aFlockOfMoosen]

@flying flock of moose:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD

So i did this and followed a rebrand guide -- the rebrand worked great! My WiFi card is now seen as an Airport Extreme! Same damn problem, though. It actually seems to be having a harder time even finding the network. One thing i've noticed is that it is seeing my wireless network as having "WEP Enterprise" security -- i'm pretty sure it only uses standard WEP. Although if it mattered, i wouldn't be able to connect at all, right? Are there any kexts i should be using from MB?

*EDIT*
So after deleting and recreating the wifi network and tinkering with my router settings (added my MAC address to a list of wireless devices... even though i haven't enabled "accepted devices" function), the card is connected and working at a reasonable speed... it's been going for about 15 minutes so far, which is a record lately. I added a new shot of my network utility info... is there any other info that might be helpful to get better speed?

 

[titsmgee]

Have you tested this setup with another router?
Could be a router issue despite other computers functioning well.

On a side note I would use WPA2 encryption for my router not WEP. WEP is quite old and very easy to bruteforce.

 

[aFlockOfMoosen]

Have you tested this setup with another router?
Could be a router issue despite other computers functioning well.

On a side note I would use WPA2 encryption for my router not WEP. WEP is quite old and very easy to bruteforce.

I do actually have an extra linksys router lying around. I'm using a Belkin atm... I haven't tried swapping them out. I'll give it a shot tomorrow. As far as the security, I'm pretty isolated where I live, so I'm not too worried about it.

 

[alpha90]

Have you tested this setup with another router?
Could be a router issue despite other computers functioning well.

On a side note I would use WPA2 encryption for my router not WEP. WEP is quite old and very easy to bruteforce.

I do actually have an extra linksys router lying around. I'm using a Belkin atm... I haven't tried swapping them out. I'll give it a shot tomorrow. As far as the security, I'm pretty isolated where I live, so I'm not too worried about it.

Have you ever tried the CustoMac's wifi while your girlfriend's laptop was shutdown?
Is her laptop the only other PC the router is handling via wifi?
Although wifi router access points AP theoretically can handle 255 devices, I've never seen one that didn't fail or drop to a crawl for all units after about 9-10 connections. Similarly, some routers do provide significant signal reduction and performance degradation with just 4-5 wifi connects.
If your router has some issue, perhaps it is starting to degrade after just 1-2 connects. Just a theory, but before you swap routers it could be helpful to see how the CustoMac does when it has the AP all to itself.