Airport extreme network problems

[Unicyclist]

I have not been around much because things have been really busy. I have a minor problem and I am not sure how to describe it.

I have a wireless network in my house. I am using an airport extreme base station. It has been set up for over a year and I have not had any problems until now. For Christmas we got a new iMac. Whenever the iMac is turned on it cripples the network. The signal to all the other computers seems to weaken and the Internet is slow or does not work at all. If I turn off the iMac everything goes back to normal. Any ideas on what is going on or how to fix it?

[daver2]

Sorry, not a MAC person but I'll chip in what I know from a PC perspective.

I assume the new iMac comes with the appropriate wireless hardware/software to connect to the base station as standard? I would further assume that this wireless equipment is enabled as standard by Apple as the assumption would be that these days everyone would want to use the wireless network.

Have you, therefore, configured the new iMac to work with your home wireless network or not? If you have - does it work? If you haven't it may be that the new iMac signal is 'swamping' or interfering with your existing network and causing problems.

If you do not plan to use the new iMac with your wireless network - there should be an on/off switch to disable the wireless network somewhere. I would suggest locating this and turning it OFF.

A lot of assumptions on my part...

Dave

[cmchamp]

System Preferences/Sharing/Network - make sure network sharing is off.
And, just as with microphones, any time you can use a cable you should.
Where is the new iMac in proximity to the AirPort Extreme transmitter?

[petereit]

If you just got the iMac, your first stop should be Apple ExpressLane. I love that there's no "on hold": you tell them when the best time would be for them to call you. I have only had to use them twice; both times they called me within a minute or two of the time I requested and quickly resolved my issues.

[Unicyclist]

Okay I think I have it back working. Is it possible for the iMac to be too close to the airport?

I was going to try again to have the iMac connected with a cable. Before I connected the cable, I turned off the wireless. Even with the computer not connected at all it still weakened the signal.

The airport was directly above the computer on a shelf. I moved it about three feet away from the computer and now it seems to be working. Could moving it have fixed the problem?

[cmchamp]

yeah, the antenna in the iMac, as well as the other metal parts, would cause interference with the transmission pattern if it were right above it.

[Unicyclist]

Thanks for all the help!