Ask MetaFilter posts by Len

How can I fix my wireless connection?

Len — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:16:48 -0800

Why has my wireless connection gone wonky? And how can I fix it? I've got a G4 iBook, and a Belkin wireless router. Until about six months ago I was running 10.4 on the iBook, then, for reasons that don't matter, 10.3.9. Under both, the wireless signal was fine – full strength signal in all parts of the house, no dropped connections, etc. When I upgraded to 10.4.6 about two weeks ago, the wireless connection suddenly got very temperamental, and it's got to the point that the signal will disappear – i.e. when clicking on the Airport logo on the taskbar, my home network (nor any of the five or six others in the building) will not even appear as a network to join, in some parts of the house; previously, I could have wandered over to the other side of the street and still connected to my network. It's not the router – there's a Windows laptop in the same house that has no problems; in addition to that, there's a desktop eMac (running 10.2.8, if it matters) sat next to my iBook which has a perfect connection – and that's if I use the same Airport card that's currently in my iBook.

Frankly, I'm bored of this now, and it's starting to be a pain in the arse. I have an 8Mbps ADSL line, and I'd like to be able to use it to its full potential – as I had done before upgrading to 10.4.6. And I'm getting increasingly frustrated with the dropped connections, not to mention only being able to use my internet connection in prescribed parts of my flat.

I've hunted, and maybe I've missed some vital document, but is this (a) a known problem and/or (b) fixable? I'm presuming that there's some conflict between the OS and the router, but given that my iBook ran 10.4 and there were no problems previously, I'm at a loss ...

What are the best things about the Basque country?

Len — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 17:12:42 -0800

Bilbao. San Sebastian. Three days. What would you recommend? Obviously, there's the Guggenheim in Bilbao, but what else is there? I'm interested in hidden architectural gems, weird modern/postmodern buildings (if there are any), things off the beaten trail, great places to eat (everything from budget tapas to uber-swanky restaurants), local oddities, places related to local folklore/myth, art galleries, particular places/areas significant in Basque culture, places of significant literary interest, anywhere that you'd never heard of before visiting the area but which you would unfailingly recommend to other people.

Obviously, that's rather broad. But I'm sure that you're up to it ...

Why won't my iRiver show up on the desktop?

Len — Tue, 31 May 2005 17:02:08 -0800

I'm having problems mounting my iRiver on the (G4 iBook, OS 10.3.9) desktop. Basically, the deal is this: in a rush one morning, I hauled my iRiver (HP340) out of the dock whilst it was still hooked up to my computer. I got the standard warning on the computer about ejecting the disk and possibly losing what was on the iRiver's hard drive. Everything's still there, but now, every time I try to connect it to the computer, the computer won't recognise it. When connected to the computer (via the standard USB connection) the iRiver itself claims it's connected, but I can't for the life of me get my iBook to acknowledge that it's actually there.

So what do I do? Being a novice in geek terms, is there any way I can force mount the disk from the terminal window? Or am I just, well, screwed?

MailFilter: I've got a stack of old email stuff

Len — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 17:32:23 -0800

MailFilter: I've got a stack of old email stuff that dates back from when I used Outlook in OS9. I want to import it into an OS X mail client. Everything I've tried so far isn't working. [+]

When you're a kid, adults tell you fantastic

Len — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 16:00:54 -0800

When you're a kid, adults tell you fantastic stories. Which ones did you believe? [+]