More on "bad" AirPort cards and kernel panics

We continue to receive reports of AirPort Extreme cards causing consistent startup kernel panics and other issues. In many of these cases, replacement of the faulty card is the only option.

MacFixIt reader Mark Reid writes "I had a similar problem to the one described about kernel panics and a bad Airport card. My situation was that my PowerBook would boot but after about 30 minutes or so there would be a kernel panic. Through looking at the panic log for the crash it mentioned the Airport card. I turned Airport off in the menu bar and never had a problem since I did that. I took my PowerBook into Scotsys, an Apple Reseller, here in Edinburgh, Scotland and they replaced the card since the PowerBook which I bought from them was under a year old and everything has been fine since."

Testing in another machine To make sure that your AirPort card is not seated improperly or simply having problems with a specific machine, try using the card in another Mac or having it tested at a local Apple reseller or Apple Store.

One reader writes "In response to your note on Kernel panics and "bad" AirPort cards, I bought an AirPort Extreme card to add to my G4 iBook. The iBook had been running perfectly so I installed it without expecting a problem. When I tried to start it, the iBook fan came on and ran, but there was no startup chime and the screen stayed blank.

"I took the card out and the iBook ran fine. I tried the card in my G5, and it too refused to start, running the fan at power up as normal, but no chime and the screen stayed blank."

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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