When was OS support dropped for the AirPort Card?

[TheMacGuy]

So I decided to try and install Leopard on the eMac again, this time with better specs. Anyway, I remember that when I was having problems with it, I put the computer in verbose mode to check the code, and it threw an error having to do with the AirPort Card. With 10.5 it ran great, but it wouldn't boot with 10.5.8.

So I went through all of the models that were out at the time to see if there were any Leopard-capable, original AirPort Card only Macs. I turned up a few TiBooks and Quicksilvers that were over Leopard's official 867MHz limit and only took an AirPort Card, not Extreme. So this got me thinking, when did Apple drop support for the original AirPort Card?

 

[Macdrone]

I know they had a stand alone installer for it not sure if it was in place of existing os or not. I had to use it to get airport to work on a early g3 PowerBook.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

My iMac G4 running Leopard 10.5.8 works with an original AirPort card just fine. Same with my Power Mac G4 Digital Audio.

 

[LCGuy]

I have a TiBook 500 (which itself isn't supported by Apple to run Leopard) running 10.5.8 with an original AirPort card, never had to install any additional drivers or anything, it "just worked".

 

[Macdrone]

but airport was an option so if he is installing a new card or replacing he may need the stand alone software. It didnt install if the hardware was not there under easy install.

 

[Byrd]

but airport was an option so if he is installing a new card or replacing he may need the stand alone software. It didnt install if the hardware was not there under easy install.

All installs of OS X are the same (notwithstanding PPC/Intel variants), with the same driver set installed. This differs from Windows where only the drivers required are installed/configured. So no software is missing for the Airport card. Sounds like a dud 10.5.8 install - I'd try reinstalling 10.5.8 again, on an external HD perhaps. I've had an Airport card go bad in my Cube - it refused to boot with it plugged in, so could be faulty as well.

 

[TheMacGuy]

It only happened after the Combo update took the eMac from 10.5 to 10.5.8. The verbose boot showed something with the AirPort Card. Took it out, booted fine. Decided to downgrade to Tiger after that, but when I started this tread I decided to try it again, and so far no problems. eMac runs like a beast, but shadows in the speed of the iMac G4 sitting next to it (faster HDD, processor, and AirPort).