MacMini - wifi problems

My MacMini has driven me nuts over the last couple of years. I have
the older Intel MacMini, 2GHz dual core, and have had problems with
the wifi (lots of similar reports on the web). This is a design flaw
in the hardware.

I was so close to just jumping up and down on it and melting it.

Originally, the wifi would stop working for a day or two. About
once per month. After a while, it grew to maybe working one or two days
before giving up.

There are numerous reports of heat problems with the card - which is bad
news. If the problem strikes, it will get worse until total failure.

I tried a homeplug ethernet connection to bypass the wifi. This
worked for a while, but after a while, I had problems with this. Never
sure if it was the macmini getting flaky or the homeplug. I do so hate
devices that wont tell you what they are doing, so I relented back to the
wifi.

When the problems got so bad, I searched the net for various solutions.
USB wifi devices seemed to be the solution, but I am loathe to buy
one of these devices, only to find Snow Leopard isnt supported or even
some future O/S. Much better if Apple supports it - more chance of driver
updates when needed.

So I eventually settled on an Airport Express. I hadnt really wanted one
of these - although I had thought that having a bridging wifi might
solve/help the problems. I had a lot of problems getting it to work.
(My setup is complicated because I wanted to join my existing LAN). But after
a few hours of screaming at it, and the macmini, it works.

I even learned about WDS and the Airport Express has an output for speakers,
which might solve another problem I have. So, I like the device - very much
overpriced, and it gets a little hot to the touch, but lets see if it can
last a year or two.

Post created by CRiSP v10.0.2a-b5886