Found a Temp Fix for the 4850 for Users That Need Wifi

[VulnoX]

Its not pretty, it requires you spend a few bucks, but it seems to work.

I did some searching on a WiFi USB adapter for the iMac, and found the Zonet ZEW2500P.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833130111&Tpk=Zonet ZEW2500P

Also available from Amazon.

I plugged it in, got the drivers from:
http://www.ralinktech.com/ralink/Home/Support/Macintosh.html
(Second link is the 2500)

It installs just fine, you have to use their stupid Wireless Utility... BUT...

No more lockups in WoW or otherwise (So far, I will continue testing, and if it proves to somehow NOT fix the problem, I will report back).

No Ethernet Cable connected, WoW has lasted longer than I have ever had it last while on WiFi.

So yeah, its not pretty, it costs money, we shouldn't HAVE to do this, I know that, doesn't have to be said again.

But if you are waiting on Apple's fix and NEED WiFi, then this so far works.

 

[Wender]

I took a slightly different route, simply because I had a spare AirPort Extreme just sitting there, not used since I replaced it with a Time Capsule some months ago. So this is more expensive, but if you happen to have an AirPort unit to spare it's not and you may do this:

I re-configured my Time Capsule (which is connected to my cable modem by ethernet and serves as my main wireless router) to create a WDS network. Then I configured the extra AirPort Extreme to participate in that WDS network and connected it to my new 4850-equipped iMac 3.06 with an ethernet cable. I have disabled AirPort on the iMac but now I get amazing speeds, seems to be slightly faster than when I used the built-in AirPort but I haven't tested it properly. I did get freezes 5+ times a day when using AirPort on this new machine, and none after using the base station for wireless connecting.

Anyway: I am after all wireless, I have the "n" speed and everything's great. Just not exactly like it should have been

Looking forward to that fix.

 

[WizardHunt]

Its not pretty, it requires you spend a few bucks, but it seems to work.

I did some searching on a WiFi USB adapter for the iMac, and found the Zonet ZEW2500P.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833130111&Tpk=Zonet ZEW2500P

Also available from Amazon.

I plugged it in, got the drivers from:
http://www.ralinktech.com/ralink/Home/Support/Macintosh.html
(Second link is the 2500)

It installs just fine, you have to use their stupid Wireless Utility... BUT...

No more lockups in WoW or otherwise (So far, I will continue testing, and if it proves to somehow NOT fix the problem, I will report back).

No Ethernet Cable connected, WoW has lasted longer than I have ever had it last while on WiFi.

So yeah, its not pretty, it costs money, we shouldn't HAVE to do this, I know that, doesn't have to be said again.

But if you are waiting on Apple's fix and NEED WiFi, then this so far works.

So you are turning off airport is this right? And using their software to connect wirelessly? How exactly did you set it up? Just curious.

 

[VulnoX]

So you are turning off airport is this right? And using their software to connect wirelessly? How exactly did you set it up? Just curious.

Yeah, I turned Airport off. Installed the software. Plugged in the Network Adapter. OSX brought up a message saying that there was a new network adapter connected and it must be configured. You hit cancel because you use their network software (which was a simple install that can be taken off if/when they get the airport fixed).

You start their WiFi client software, it gives a list of available networks, you select yours, it connects (and it gets better signal strength than the Airport, which was what I had read on other forums, but it was cool to actually see it).

Internet and everything works just fine, if you want, I can take a picture of the unit connected, but its basically just a small black box with a fold up antenna that has a USB cable that runs to the iMac, so you can hide it.

Doesn't require an outside power source, just the USB.

Hope that helps!

 

[VulnoX]

Oh, and I left WoW running for about 2-3 hours, Ultra settings, etc, no freeze at all. I wasn't making it past 30 minutes consistently before on Airport.

 

[WizardHunt]

Internet and everything works just fine, if you want, I can take a picture of the unit connected, but its basically just a small black box with a fold up antenna that has a USB cable that runs to the iMac, so you can hide it.

Doesn't require an outside power source, just the USB.

Hope that helps!

That would be cool. I would love to see it in operation.