AirPort Automatic Re-Connection Problem in Tiger Resolved for iMac G5

Well, at least we think so. Dana Baggett, our New England Editor and owner of the recalcitrant iMac G5 wrote:

I may have solved my problem of getting Tiger to join an existing Airport network automatically. I went to System Preferences>Network>Location/Network Status>Configure>Options and under "If no networks are found" I switched from "Automatically join an open network" to "Keep looking for recent network."

Somewhat counter-intuitive. But I thought, if the iMac can't "see" that the network is open, perhaps it can remember the last connection. In any event I've had four in a row successful automatic connections at bootup including MUMenu connecting automatically. That hasn't happened until the change of settings. Let's hope this resolves the issue.

Later, he added:

So far, I'm batting 1000%. Every bootup since the config change has resulted in an automatic Airport connection. That's a total of probably 8 to 10 times. Enough to suggest a dramatic turnaround.

We use "Ask before joining an open network" selected on all of our Macs. But we have also selected "Preferred networks" in the "By default, join:" popup menu instead of "Automatic" and have had no further automatic AirPort re-connection problems at Macs Only!'s global HQ. We'll see if that works at the next airline WiFi that we hit. One or both of these settings may work for you if you are having an automatic AirPort re-connection problem with Tiger and have to enter the network name and password manually.

Unfortunately, Dana's flaky connections to his Apple Bluetooth Wireless Keyboard continue despite new batteries. But we are not having that problem with other Macs and a Bluetooth keyboard.

[Bill Fox]