Macbook Air: Update on what's wrong

[Follow-up to last week's post.]

Here's more detail on why the Macbook Air I used to own wouldn't connect to the 802.1x network in question...

There are two problems, according to the onsite expert:

1. Leopard does not validate security certificates the same way Tiger did; Leopard is more robust, but previous infrastructure built to work properly with Tiger does not work with Leopard. 

2. Internet Connect in Leopard does not work with this site's older infrastructure; Tiger did. 

Result: Pre-Air Macs with Leopard had to be loaded with a small workaround program to permit connecting the way Tiger does. 

But the Macbook Air apparently has new technology wireless hardware (N-2?) that the connect-like-Tiger program does not recognize; therefore, "Airport" does not appear on the dropdown list in Internet Connect. 

Therefore, the Macbook Air turned out to be useless for the primary function I bought it to perform.  Therefore, I returned it to the Apple Store.  If and when this is fixed, I will repurchase it.

I hope that's sufficient info for anyone who is in a position to help fix the problem.  If not, send me a private email and I'll facilitate next steps.

Comments

[Tim Lundeen]

Leopard 10.5.2 Update Released, Bug Fixes Galore -- maybe you are in luck :-)

[Salvatorem]

Steve,
I can't offer you any help, but I sure can sympathize about your situation. I'm not a trained computer geek, but, among other things, I take care of the 11 computers at my office plus the 5 computers in my house. There is always something somewhere that doesn't work quite right, even though it may have worked fine yesterday. I find that my best path for a solution is to swap out this component or that until I get to the bottom of the problem. Other than trying to get an Ubuntu OS to function with a Broadcom wireless card, I've done ok, knock on wood. Never had to deal with Apple products, though.

Good luck.

[Teddy Ruxpin]

I can recommend you don't use 802.1x as your authentication scheme, if that's the only problem. You really don't need authentication on a WAP, it's a common, stubborn belief.