How I got my Wireless G USB Adapter working with a Mac
Posted on: January 1, 2007
I recently purchased a D-Link WUA-1340 Wireless G USB Adapter. Fresh orange-and-black design, and I was looking forward to plugging it into my iMac G4/800 to get it connected sans cords to my network. Alas, my excitement got the better of me, because upon examining the package contents and sifting through D-Link's site — no Mac driver! I plugged the thing in and it wouldn't light up.
Thus began a trek of arduous googling such as:
- USB Wireless Driver Hacking
- D-Link WUA-1340 Wireless Adapter with Mac
- D-Link WUA Confirmed working 10.4.5
- Which USB wireless adaptor has Mac OS X support?
Apparently, I'd come onto a whole minefield of problems before mine. Not wanting to purchase a more expensive AirPort Extreme Card, as it were, the solution lay in chipset manufacturer Ralink's website. After navigating my way past more broken drivers, I finally found the Ralink Macintosh drivers page!
Apparently, there are a lot of wireless devices using those Ralink chipsets.
From here, what I did — your specific details may vary:
Download the Ralink USB (RT257x/RT2671) drivers. (I was initially on a wired Ethernet connection so I could do this.)
Install them on your Mac — just as you would any standard program.
Restart.
Insert your Ralink-based wireless USB adapter in a free USB slot. If it has a status indicator light, it should glow like this:
Next, in your main Applications folder, look for "USBWirelessUtility". (It may open automatically after inserting your wireless USB adapter, but it didn't for me.) Open it and look at the different tabs. Since this doesn't use Apple's de facto AirPort means (e.g., putting an icon in the menu bar to indicate signal strength), it's not so intuitive. However, it is more detailed.
Go to Wireless Utility > Site Survey tab and click "CONNECT". (It'll ask you to enter details accordingly. If you have security like WEP turned on, put that info in or you won't be able to connect.)
Go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Network.
From the "Show" popup menu, select "Network Port Configurations".
Click "New".
Click "Port". You'll see something like "Ethernet Adaptor (en1)".
Give it a name, and click "OK".
The port will show up in the list. (I dragged it to the top to give it the highest priority when trying to connect.)
From "Show", select that Ethernet adaptor port.
Under the "TCP/IP" tab, "Configure IPv4" should be "Using DHCP".
Click "Apply Now". Shortly, it should refresh and show you numbers for "IP Address", "Subnet Mask", and "Router". If it doesn't update, you may need to click "Renew DHCP Lease".
After OKing that and waiting a few moments, you should see that you're connected. If everything worked as planned, you're now networked!
I wrote this with the intention of saving troubling for the next poor soul who finds themselves in the same situation — if that's you and it's keeping you from better things like spending time with your lover, I hope this helps. YAYZERAMA!!!!
January 3rd, 2007 at 3:47 AM PST
This is how it sometimes feels to be a Linux user.
January 3rd, 2007 at 8:26 AM PST
*laughs at Dillon* I stopped by to ask if Torley could write me a driver for my wireless card in Ubuntu.
January 5th, 2007 at 9:12 PM PST
Funny thing was, I did come across some Linux sites describing similar things! I've also seen the occasional bounty offered to write certain device drivers. What a world.
January 10th, 2007 at 9:47 PM PST
Thank you for saving me a ton of research and money. I immediately ran out and bought one of these after reading your post. Works great on 10.3.9. One problem I am experiencing is "no device" on start up. I have to unplug/plug the usb adapter before I can get a connection each time I restart. The device has a solid light on start up but is just not recognized until I remove and replace. This is something that is easily lived with for this price.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:37 PM PST
Dwaine, yer totally welcome! Glad it worked for you too. I've come across the same inconvenience: what I've been doing is having the Wireless Utility set to launch on startup and clicking "CONNECT". Altho if there's a better, more automatic way, I'm sure we'd both like to know about it.
January 11th, 2007 at 10:41 AM PST
Any chance you still have the dmg kicking around? The ralink site seems to be busted (i've gotten 502 errors for the last 2 days on it).
Mail me it if you can - thanks!!
df
January 11th, 2007 at 5:50 PM PST
Dirty, I was just able to download it fine. I'll upload it to my server and add a mirror link above. Let me know if that works.
January 11th, 2007 at 6:59 PM PST
Their is back up and I've got the file fine. Thanks for this tutorial, its a big help!
January 11th, 2007 at 7:16 PM PST
You're super-welcome, Dirty! Glad I could be of help.
January 15th, 2007 at 12:50 PM PST
I found out about the Ralink drivers from this site and a few other websites before I bought a Wireless USB adapter.
In the course of my searching, I saw that there were quite a number of products similar to the D-Link but at lower prices (no doubt due to stiffer competition in the Windows world). Seeing that the Ralink chipsets were identical, and that Mac drivers were available for free, I decided to try one. I bookmarked this site so I could report what I found.
Now, my one purchase doesn't mean much when compared to the well-known capabilities of the D-Link, but I'm perfectly happy with what I got. It's sold as a "Chiefmax Ralink RT73 802.11g Wireless USB Ethernet Adaptor Dongle," and I found it online at an outfit called 3BTech.net. The price is $17.79 (no tax outside of Indiana), which includes free shipping.
I'd never heard of either one before, but I took a chance. (I mean,"Chiefmax?" The name doesn't exactly inspire confidence, does it? I didn't see anyone else who sold that brand, so it may just be 3BTech's own proprietary name. Also, 3BTech is in South Bend, Indiana — which is not exactly a global center of electronics vendors.) The upshot is, after receiving a confirmation e-mail for the sale and a subsequent 'Your package has shipped/Track your package" e-mail, it arrived when expected.
The dongle itself comes in a plain white OEM box, with a (useless) CD for Windows drivers and a decent quality USB extension cable (unnecessary, but unexpected for the price).
Negatives: You can't ship to anywhere other than your credit card billing address, the warranty is only for 90 days, and there's no orange power light. I can live with all that.
I have no idea if anyone else will have the same easy experience I had with 3BTech.net. I'm always a little hinky about dealing with these small online outfits, and I'm sure you are, too. All I can say for now is that for the price of one D-Link, you could buy two of these little units.
January 16th, 2007 at 7:30 PM PST
Ambrose, great tip. I've never heard of a "Chiefmax" before either; but since it helped you to be frugal and works well for you, what a discovery win! Where I was, I didn't have any lower-priced solutions. But provided the quality's there, I'm all for saving the big bucks! Thanx a lot for sharing in such detail.
January 16th, 2007 at 7:40 PM PST
Thanks man.
I did the same mistake (assuming I would find a mac driver in the box!)
Worked super-fine as you explained!
I saved a lot of precious time thanx to you.
Cheers.
January 20th, 2007 at 2:56 PM PST
Awesome, franck! Glad you found this to be of use too. Cheers! =)
January 23rd, 2007 at 5:01 PM PST
Hi there, was wandering if this will work on any D-link wireless adapter like the D-Link DWL-G122?
cheers.
January 24th, 2007 at 1:01 PM PST
I was hoping to find some info on the "no device" at startup. I see you are having the same issue. I just purchased a Asus WL167g from zipzoomfly for $20 with free shipping, retail boxed. It actually had drivers for 10.3 and 10.4 on the disk (Win), but no mention of Macs anywhere.
Time will tell if it holds up, but it is working good right now. My other option was running over 150 feet of cable through a steel building, to my work area. Not my idea of fun…
January 26th, 2007 at 4:16 PM PST
@ndrew, it should work for D-Link wireless adapters using the same Ralink chipset. Looks like the DWL-G122 is on that list.
Oscar, by all means, let me know if you find a way so we don't have to keep changing settings after startup, please share. Glad to hear aside from that, it's working well. I was in a similar situation of snaking a cable cord before discovering this.
January 27th, 2007 at 10:01 PM PST
thank you sir.Now if I can make it work with kismac.
February 11th, 2007 at 10:35 AM PST
Thanks for all the tips, guys… Much appreciated…
For your info, I have used the same Ralink drivers to get an ASUS WL-162g USB WLAN Adapter working on my G4 iBook running Mac OS X 10.4…
Works a treat!
February 11th, 2007 at 12:17 PM PST
You're welcome, ian, and glad to hear it's been continuing to work well for you, Andy! Sweet.
February 14th, 2007 at 2:17 PM PST
i am still running 10.2.8 on my G4/800. Any idea if this drive/solution will work. Trying to avoid the steep cost of a OEM airport card.
February 15th, 2007 at 3:41 PM PST
Cadrien, sorry, I haven't tried it on Jaguar, and it looks like Ralink only designed them for 10.3.x and 10.4.x.
Anyone know?
February 16th, 2007 at 11:21 AM PST
dear torley
great site for explanation
will this device work with USB 1 port ???? on a g3 Mac
to hook myself for internet and print to an airport express
February 18th, 2007 at 11:05 AM PST
marc, you're welcome! Pardon, it's hard to say without more details; I'd generally advise buying from a place with a good return policy just in case it doesn't work, and also as referenced above, current drivers look like they're only for Panther and Tiger.
February 18th, 2007 at 10:32 PM PST
Thank you for saving me a bunch of time. This worked on my wife's mac mini perfectly.
Thanks
February 19th, 2007 at 9:04 PM PST
Just got one for $30 to connect to my os 10.4 ibook. I did exactly what you did except when I went into my applications folder I did not see the usb wireless utility ( think my kid deleted the file) how can I get this back? Any help will be greatly appreciated since I cannot see any of the available wireless networks.
February 21st, 2007 at 5:02 PM PST
Worked great on my emac, thanks for the info.
February 21st, 2007 at 8:37 PM PST
Awesome you guys are finding it useful, Christopher, explorer44, Scott H! You're welcome.
explorer44: Try installing from the RaLink drivers disk image again, then look… if it doesn't appear there, search your whole hard drive. If that still doesn't dig it up, then I can post a copy of the USBWirelessUtility. Best of hope!
February 28th, 2007 at 8:31 PM PST
I love you FOREVER for doing this. The Source by Circuit City listed this product as being the mac-compatible DWLG-122, which it IS NOT, so this saved me a lot of running around to find it. Thank you so much!
March 3rd, 2007 at 1:12 PM PST
@Christy: O that is too awesome! All the kind comments have helped me justify my feelings for writing this in the first place, which was to save YOU time. It's worked out well.
March 6th, 2007 at 6:41 PM PST
Torley your information was very helpful.
Thank you very much!
George
March 7th, 2007 at 2:55 PM PST
Hello and thank you so much to you for posting your instructions on installing Ralink driver for USB wireless adaptor on a Mac. Using them, I successfully connected my G3 iMac running Panther to two PCs to share an internet connection. I had purchased another wireless USB adaptor because it was on sale, however couldn't get it to work despite it being on the list referred to here on this site. I ended up returning it and getting the d-Link one, which works like a charm. However….I would have been sitting blankly staring at the driver utility interface without your help. Thanks again!
March 8th, 2007 at 9:36 PM PST
Hi there. I just bought a Belkin USB WIFI adapter [F5D7050]. I believe it is also running a Ralink chipset, so this is going to help save a lot of time. If it works out, I'll post back here to let others know. Thanks again.
March 10th, 2007 at 1:53 AM PST
Everyone having problems with the "no device at startup" issue - having to unplug/replug - should check out this workaround… http://mitglied.lycos.de/thomsmac/RT2500Replug.html
March 11th, 2007 at 11:13 AM PDT
I'm so happy to see this info continues to be very useful! Borne out of frustration for me, and now of benefit to *you*!
@TC: Thanks for that tip, I haven't had a chance to try it yet but that looks useful.
@Jose: I look forward to finding out what you learn!
@Erin: Rght on, and you're welcome. Glad to hear your experiences worked well too.
@George: You're very welcome!
March 13th, 2007 at 5:53 AM PDT
Had similar problem only with a Cnet USB adapter not a D-LInk. No drivers for Mac existed so 'borrowed' the driver from a Belkin product which had the same chip. Did more or less what you suggest and zippety do dah it worked a treat.
You need to launch it every time you start up but thats no big deal
March 13th, 2007 at 5:55 AM PDT
incidentally I am in the UK - just so you know you are not alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 18th, 2007 at 7:28 PM PDT
@Dragonslayer: Right on, glad to hear it worked for you too!!
March 22nd, 2007 at 4:22 AM PDT
Thank you, this is a dream come true for me! Your instructions were very clear and easy to follow. Thanks again, you saved me a lot of trouble!
March 22nd, 2007 at 10:27 AM PDT
I have installed the Railling driver on my old G3 iBook with slimmed version of OS 10.3 installed. The wifi adapter shows up as a USB device in system profiler but the driver window says no device is connected. The Adapter is not picked up as a new port under network config either even though the light is burning brightly on the side of the dongle. Any thoughts anyone?
March 22nd, 2007 at 5:41 PM PDT
Torley,
Thanks for original tutorial on this! Made my day!
Ambrose, Thanks for making my day even better with the "Chiefmax" tip and last but not least …
TC, Thanks for the "no device startup link".
I used info from all three of you guys to set up a humdinger wireless connection that starts up and purrs flawlessly!!
I'm an old PC guy, retired and loves to tinker. I've been playing (learning) with an old IMac G3 a friend of mine gave me. We're now wirelessly purring all over the net!
Now, if I can just get the Ubuntu Linux distro that I've added along side OS X 10.3.9 to hook up wirelessly, I'll be in IMac heaven :-).
Thanks again one and all,
DFM
March 24th, 2007 at 11:55 AM PDT
@J and DFM! You're super-welcome, hey I'm just thrilled you found this. I can never express strongly enough, that's exactly why I did this tutorial, to help save you trouble. =^_~=
@bigblog: What USB wireless adapter are you using, and you're sure it has a compatible Ralink chipset?
March 27th, 2007 at 7:28 AM PDT
I just got my eMac up and running using the Belkin Wireless G USB Network Adapter VERSION 4! Wooo hooo! Best Buy was out of the D-Link 1340 so I went with the Belkin. For those who get the Belkin Wireless G Version 4, you will need the driver found at this link:
ftp://ftp.zyxeltech.de/ZyDAS/ZD1211_USB/Macintosh/ZDA211MacUSB_install_4_5_7_0.dmg
It's a pain to find drivers for the Belkin Wireless G Versions 3 and 4 but somehow, and I'm not sure how, I found one that works like a gem! Haven't had any issues with it at all so far. I followed some of the Network system preference steps from this site but honestly, I'm not really sure what I did to get the thing to work! Ha ha! I think it was because after 3 hours of trying to find drivers (that didn't work) and dead website links, that I was mentally dead and infuriated to the point where I lost my memory. I got the thing to work literally on my last attempt before returning the dang Belkin to Best Buy. Gotta admit that once the thing worked, I forgot all about the time and trouble I spent finding what I needed to get my new wireless to work.
If it wasn't for the great info on this site then I NEVER would have bought an inexpensive USB wireless adapter and would now be out of God knows how much by buying an Airport.
Torley is a GOD! Or a Goddess…not like it really matters. Ha ha!
Thank you!
March 27th, 2007 at 5:51 PM PDT
Thanks a lot,
I just bought it today but I can't use it with KISMAC, and i just bought it because i'm in Hollyday in NY and I would like to crack a wep key because 1$->10minutes is toooo expensive.
Thanks in advance
March 29th, 2007 at 8:57 AM PDT
Hi Torley!
I already tried the ralink drivers before I read your thread. I'm trying to connect my mother's computer to the wireless network that I setup.
I have been haveing problems with the whole connection issue. Installing the drivers works but as soon as I start to connect to my network, a screen will pop up telling me to reboot and I can't do anything else other than rebooting. (by pressing the power button)
Now I think you might want to know that I'm using the wpa security protocol, I don't know if this is supposed to change anything, also like I said earlier, I tried that before reading the thread and so I just did the first part of the tutorial which was to download the drivers.
Do you think that I'm having those problems because I didn't do the network settings part of your tutorial?
I really need the help please.
Thank you very much for your precious help!
Sam
March 29th, 2007 at 9:00 AM PDT
Oh and by the way I'm using the d-link wua-1340
Sorry
April 1st, 2007 at 10:37 AM PDT
@John: You're welcome! Thanks for sharing your experience, I enjoy hearing that it worked out for you at last.
@reno: Best of hope when you do get it working!
@Samuel: I'm not sure offhand what the differing variable that forces you to reboot is. Unfortunately my tutorial can't account for all varieties of networks, it's just what worked for me, and I haven't tried it on other systems. Since I don't know, perhaps someone else reading this may have a clue, e.g., what's the exact message you get telling you to reboot? That's odd, is it an error? I would try going through the same steps I did (as closely as possible) tho.
April 2nd, 2007 at 2:33 PM PDT
you are a gentleman and a scholar. much appreciated
April 4th, 2007 at 5:37 AM PDT
The reason that these "dongels" are getting so hard to get drivers for in anything but Windows 32 bit is that Atheros bought up Zydast. Zydast was an amazing little Taiwan company that developed the great ZD1211 USB wireless card which was RETAILING for as little as $10 here in the US. They supported almost any operating system and drivers were freely available all over the net. Atheros bought the company and the Zydast drivers (as well as the $10 NIC) disappeared from the net overnight. 64 bit and Mac drivers are now nearly impossible to find. Must have had lawyers send letters. Talk about stifling innovation. It appears to me that the company was bought up to kill off a competitor not because they wanted their product. After all, how much money can you make selling wireless NICs for ten bucks? Of course, this is all my opinion based on long observation.
April 4th, 2007 at 5:42 AM PDT
I failed to mention in #48 above that all these lower priced dongels talked about in this thread are re-branded Zygast zd1211U and zd1211UB cards.
April 6th, 2007 at 5:48 PM PDT
Thanks so much… this solved a lot of problems for me with an older G4 iMac…. Working great.
April 6th, 2007 at 9:08 PM PDT
I am using the drivers and Dlinks wgl122 on my mac cube. It works but tends to time out when downloading large files. It could be a sleep or energy saving issue.
April 8th, 2007 at 9:34 AM PDT
Keep the comments coming, and to those who find it useful, you're awesomely welcome. Thanks for providing additional details too!
April 18th, 2007 at 10:15 AM PDT
Torley's instructions are just fine for the RAlink chipset, but here is an added hint. If you have a Belkin USB adapter that is a version 4, the driver needed is found on post 42 and copied here. It is a Zydas1211 chipset. The only place I could find this driver with a working link is from post 42
ftp://ftp.zyxeltech.de/ZyDAS/ZD1211_USB/Macintosh/ZDA211MacUSB_install_4_5_7_0.dmg
But using Torley's instructions, the result is the same. The above driver connects with the adapter hardware. If you have WEP and TKIP, it seems that that both the ZA (instead of RAlink) application must be opened on the mac and then the Mac Networking Preferences must be used. I can't begin to list the steps I went through here, but it works fine for the v4 Belkin USB adapter. Noone in Belkin seems to know that the chipset is changed and the driver is available. I used the 10.4 driver with an old Ibook with no airport card. The down side seems that the download speed is incredibly slow as measured, but in practice, pages seem to load at average speed.
I am not a Mac user, but a customer came to me and it seemed a good challenge to try and solve the problem of wireless ibook with no airport card.
cheers and thanks for all the above references!
April 22nd, 2007 at 10:53 AM PDT
@Jaybee: Thanks for contributing that tip!
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:33 AM PDT
Hi there. just got a imac and have tried to install the software for the belkin wireless adapter. initially after the restart the adapter would not work and now the mac has crashed. what can i do now?
April 27th, 2007 at 7:16 AM PDT
This is great info. I'm still having some problems. I had previously been able to connect wirelessly using my D-link DWL-G122 USB adaptor and then started having problems. The connection would drop and I wouldn't be able to reconnect. I checked and the driver had been updated so I downloaded is per your instructions here. I restarted and plugged in my adaptor. The wireless utility can't find it. When I plug it in, the lights don't come on. Any advice? TIA!
April 29th, 2007 at 9:44 AM PDT
I'm not sure what to suggest here, not having had the same experience (if anyone has, please chime in); clean uninstall and trying again would be a basic first step. What version of Mac OS are you guys on?
May 1st, 2007 at 8:03 AM PDT
help!!! when I click aply now the ip address and the subnet mask show numbers but the "router" doesnt say anything!
what should i do!
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:02 PM PDT
ya i use ubuntu and linux too.. and thank you god for feisty u make my wireless work!!! after 4 different versions.. but any way.. i am thinking about getting a mac mini once leopard comes out or if they giver coupons like vista did.. and ya.. this helped me a ton.. because ill use one moniter and a swithc from the mini to my windows/ubuntu machine.. so yea for me.. don't know if it works..but i am sure it does. Oh and thank you for posting stuff like this to help out us less experienced mac users :]
May 14th, 2007 at 6:25 AM PDT
hey torley ive got a windows vista dell but my stepfather has an ibook running 10.2.4 and i downloaded the ralink stuff and put it on to a flash drive because the ether net port on his mac has burned out transfered it to his mac and it wont download ive also tried loads of other stuff to no availe could you please please help me in some way the wireles adapter is a belkin wireless g usb adapter model number f5d7050 i have one on my pc and it works very well and my wireless router is a netgear if thats any help
May 16th, 2007 at 5:15 PM PDT
Thanks Torley first and #10 second.
The item arrived in a couple of days for $18 delv. and in 15 min I'm online. Hard wire is not an option where I live, and this connects my Mac Mini wirelessly.
I am PC born and raised but have turned to the Mac for my music, and it is a shock how easy this was.
May 20th, 2007 at 2:14 PM PDT
My apologies I can't provide further assistance past my own experiences, as there are myriad combinations of what might work out there — my guide was intended as starting points, but if anyone knows missing info later asked about in these comments, please fill it in. =)
May 22nd, 2007 at 2:33 PM PDT
I can't mount the dmg when i try to open it. I know ppl have been able to get it to work on 10.2.8 but i can't even open the dmg!!!!! Is there some other format and/or way for me to install the driver on my machine?
Please Help!!!
June 6th, 2007 at 10:51 AM PDT
Thanks Torley that worked well for me and my Mac Mini using 10.4.9
June 7th, 2007 at 12:14 AM PDT
torley,
I just got myself a linksys WUSB54GC as I find it in the list with the RT73 chipset. After the driver install and restart, I tried running the utility but still I cannot find the device.
Am I doing something wrong? Ill be glad if you could help me.
Thanks,
derick
June 7th, 2007 at 5:50 AM PDT
Hi,
I guess I just cant wait. I went back to the shop and replaced my Linksys with a D-link DWL-G122. I am now surfing with my iMac G4 thanks to all the info I got from your site. Im a bot dissapointed with my DWL-G122 as it is weak in getting signal from downstairs as I need to use the extender for the DWL-G122.
Many thanks!
derick
June 10th, 2007 at 9:38 AM PDT
Just try Asus WL-167G on my G3 600 MHz iBook with the Ralink driver. Works very well.
Many thanks !
Isaac
June 11th, 2007 at 7:09 PM PDT
Oh wow glad i could help out, Webterractive, Derick, and Isaac!
@Jonathan: Are you able to mount other DMGs? Any errors?
June 12th, 2007 at 1:17 PM PDT
Hey Torley!
Thanks so much for saving me from having to spend $189 on an Airport Card for my G4 Cube.
I found this page after a long googling session similar to yours.
Here's what I have and what I did:
My G4 Cube is running 10.4.8
I bought a Belkin Wireless G USB (F5D7050) version 3002 and plugged it directly into one of the Cube's main USB ports.
I used the (RTUSB D70-1.1.3.0 D71W-1.1.7.0 UI-1.3.0.0_2006_11_10.dmg) from Ralink that you have linked at the top of your page.
After following your great instructions I was able to get connected to my Linksys WRT300N Router in less than ten minutes.
Thanks again, you've made my day.
June 18th, 2007 at 3:43 PM PDT
@Patrick: Oh, wicked. I'm so happy to hear about your experience. Thanks for letting me know and for sharing your config! Schweeeet.
July 9th, 2007 at 10:00 PM PDT
Thank you thank you this site saved our little Ibook. We accidentally threw an older D-link into the trash and I searched everywhere for a new one. The airport slot does not work on my Mac so the USB was the only choice. I bought the WUA 1340, downloaded the drivers and was online in less than 5 minutes. I have to say the only thing I do not like is how ugly this black and orange chunk of plastic looks attached to my Ibook.
Again thank you thank you thank you.
July 15th, 2007 at 7:39 AM PDT
@Robert: You're welcome welcome welcome!
July 17th, 2007 at 5:23 PM PDT
Hi!
I bought a no-name wireless USB adapter and I can't seem to find drivers for it.
Any suggestions on where to look???
Thanks!
July 30th, 2007 at 6:04 AM PDT
Thanks a million! This worked in OS 10.4 for the Chiefmax RaLink RT73 802.11G Wireless Ethernet Adapter Dongle, but it DID NOT WORK for the Chiefmax NKRUSB-400 802.11B Wireless USB Ethernet Adapter Dongle (both from 3btech.net). 3btech has a link to this driver on the listing for the 802.11G card, but it does not have the link to it on the page for the 802.11B card.
I already have an AirPort card that has served well for about 4 years, but the USB connector picks the signal better and allows me to use the free community WiFi. I would STRONGLY recommend this over the airport card. I use a 25' USB M-F extension cord for the best signal possible.
August 7th, 2007 at 11:47 PM PDT
You are the BEST. Works great on a titanium Powerbook g4 Panther OS X 10.39 and D-Link WUA-1340 bought refurb for 20$ from global computer.
August 8th, 2007 at 9:03 AM PDT
I got a D-Link DWL-G122, installed exactly as you've set out here, on a G4 10.3.9. Useless. It shows all available networks but refuses to connect to any. You hit connect and nothing happens on WEP and completely open. So I switched my router to WPA-PSK using a housemate's laptop. Almost as useless; the connection now comes on for 5 secs, then off for 5, then on for 5, then off for…. What's going on!!?!
August 15th, 2007 at 8:52 PM PDT
I just troubleshooted (troubleshot?) my way into figuring all this out, too, but I'm stumped on the encryption. I'm using a Belkin USB wireless adapter… Can't WEP encrypt the thing for the life of me. Any advice, folks?
August 19th, 2007 at 6:10 AM PDT
Anyone who has additional info about the above cases, please feel free to contribute. My own experiences are pretty much confined to what I blogged about originally, and extra supporting knowledge is most appreciated in getting our wireless USB adapters to work!
August 23rd, 2007 at 8:34 PM PDT
I had success with the same setup as note #69. (Except I have an Airport Express, not a Linksys router.)
This post saved me quite a lot of money. Rock n roll! Thanks a bunch.
August 26th, 2007 at 3:37 PM PDT
I just spent a long time setting up a Belkin F5D7050 on a 800MHz PPC G3 iBook running OS X 10.3.9. Here's what worked for me:
1. Download the driver mentioned by Jaybee above, NOT the RALink one.
2. Install the driver and restart
3. Plug in the Belkin F5D7050, and the "WLan" application should open up.
4. WLan should recognize the dongle as "Belkin USB2.0 WLAN"
5. Click "Refresh" in WLan to have it scan for wireless networks
6. Select the network you want (by double clicking or by clicking "connect")
7. Do not use the previous WEP settings to connect.
8. Instead, click the "Change" button in the WEP sheet that comes up. Enter your WEP password in the password fields, and make sure you have the correct bit encryption turned on.
9. Click "OK" or "Change" or whatever the submittal button is called, and WLan should connect you to the network.
Somewhere in there, SysPrefs will also come up saying that it's found a new network port (mine was "Ethernet Adapter (en3)"). Save that port configuration, make sure it's using DHCP, etc.
if that doesn't work, keep looking.
But thanks everyone for your research and comments! We finally got it working over here at our end.
Dave
August 28th, 2007 at 3:42 PM PDT
Can I connect this wireless, D-Link USB adapter to a G3 366 clamshell, running O SX 10.2.8, and then connect to the internet network wirelessly?
September 1st, 2007 at 1:32 AM PDT
Cheers mate! this worked a treat, saved me a ton of time in the end, couldnt get it to work for love nor money at first.
respect!
Paul
September 1st, 2007 at 12:09 PM PDT
Nice! I should buy a new computer soon, thinking of buying one of the new iMacs, since they got a feature to embed Windows
(I know, I know, separately sold! 
). I recently discovered, no matter WHAT you do on Windows, the more you use it, even if you never install a thing, it just gets slower and slower. Jeez Microsoft! Stop the annoying bug! >.> .
September 5th, 2007 at 5:32 PM PDT
Tried both drivers referenced using a Buffalo Air Station Turbo G USB WLI-U@-KG125S. In the system profiler I see the nic but it does not light and neither the RA or the ZD apps find the nic? Any suggestions emac 700 osx 10.4.10
September 7th, 2007 at 8:47 PM PDT
Thanks sooo much, Torley! I had just about given up on ever going wireless with my G3 until I could find an legit alternative to the airport or at least until they became more affordable (fat chance!). But I stumbled upon your website and within an hour, I'm surfing without wires. Again, many thanks!
September 12th, 2007 at 10:17 PM PDT
Returned the Buffalo to Best Buy and foung a Belkin Wireless G Plus MIMO F5D9050. Downloaded the drivers from Ralink, works great now our old G-Mac running Tiger is wireless. By the way got the Belkin usb nic at Target of all places for $49 bucks. Thanks for all the tips! Working great!
September 26th, 2007 at 7:08 PM PDT
Hey i have a 600mHz iMac G3, I bought the Cheifmax Ralink USB Wireless-G USB Dongle thing for 17 bucks, but i only have Mac OS X 10.1, Do i need a upgrade, i really cant afford Tiger for 129 bucks, i have a feeling this wont work unless i get 10.3 or 10.4? has any one been successful with 10.1? thanks
September 27th, 2007 at 7:09 PM PDT
Thanks for the info, could i ask one more bit of help? Should be easy, but i'm not very bright: I got the whole thing working with my (very old) iMac DV, and my airport express. Everything is good, but: I want to secure my wireless connection so the kid next door doesn't still another 6 GB from me this month!
I have figured out how to use Airport Admin Utility to configure a WEP key (only one allowed, the mac doesn't support WPA etc, it tells me). So, when i fire up my Asus 167g USB thingy, and it asks me for my WEP key, i can plug it in, and it works. But, how can i configure my dongle so it doesn't require me to input it each and every time? Is there a way? It's hard to remember and do, every single time! Thanks for any advice anyone can give me! I am an amateur at this stuff, but can follow directions well : ) Thanks/kanga
October 5th, 2007 at 12:33 PM PDT
running a g3 with jag 10.2 OSX and i try to do the install got Belkin F5D7050 and i can not install driver will not mount error 95 could someone help plzz.. TY and much apriciated thx John
October 17th, 2007 at 3:10 PM PDT
Hey -
My mom has an old G3 iMac - the big one thats white. It's my old one. Anyway, she's been using it just fine, until finally I think the airport card is dying. I've gone through so much and finally this site with these helpful instructions looks very promising, however, when I try to download the D-Link driver it won't mount. She has OS 10.3 installed, is it just cuz it's a G3? I almost oredered the D-link adaptor, but if I can't get this driver working 1st, what's the point?
Alternatively, I saw this product: http://afterthemac.com/?gclid=CL_429nylo8CFQHgPAodDwpXeQ
Anyone used it?
Any help would be hugely appreciated. - pete
October 22nd, 2007 at 9:24 AM PDT
Thanks for this. It works great on my Mini. I am looking forward to upgrading to Leopard. Anyone tried these drivers on a beta release of Leopard yet?
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:48 PM PDT
[...] found other Macintosh users with the same problem and taught me about chipsets in these devices. Torley Lives gives some directions, and points to the ralink drivers, but they support earlier versions of the [...]
November 1st, 2007 at 4:11 AM PDT
Thank you so much!
November 1st, 2007 at 7:39 PM PDT
I wonder if you can help me? I recieved a Cheifmax NKRUSB-400 for my birthday from my parents, but i can get the thing to work at all. I have and 800mhz powermac g4 agp running 10.4 tiger and it lights up but the driver you have posted above doesn't work. Are ther any for this model or should I have them send it back?
November 1st, 2007 at 7:39 PM PDT
my hero. you are a star. thank you so much.
November 4th, 2007 at 5:58 PM PST
I apologize I'm not going to be of much more help beyond my own experiences; I haven't tried some of the other models I've heard mentioned, but if they use the same/similar chipset as those mentioned in my post, it's worth trying this (if you haven't already). But by all means, if anyone reading the comments can help further, please do! =)
November 6th, 2007 at 5:21 PM PST
Thanx for the follow up. I took the one I got and gave to my Mom for her second computer and it works fine. I went and bought a Belkin G+ usb adapter and it is fully mac compatable. Even came with the cd with the driver you requested. I got it for about $50. Spent a little more but the range and rate are so much better than the Chiefmax USB-400 model. Thanx again. Oh, I got it at Walmart.
November 16th, 2007 at 6:59 PM PST
Thanks sir, for the detailed walkthrough. I refer to your site all the time when I go and reformat my Mac for a fresh start, and I need to get my USB dongle up and working again.
November 19th, 2007 at 3:05 PM PST
Thanks, Torley, for making it this time easier on me finding this driver and refreshing my memory. While out of town my wife and I gave a friend an old G4 (400MHz), and told her to get a D-Link USB adapter similar to yours, since I had experience with this brand before being able to hack it to work with Macs — I've done with our old iBook G3 and Mac mini G4 — but the my driver backup was back at home, and we needed something quickly… Here your site was a lifesaver! haha. Keep the good works flowing. Also thanks to Dave DeLong, now I know I can recommend the Belkin's and tell people to come to this page to find out how to install it. And to end this, watch out with those Trendnet, I got one and never found anything to make it work! — I gave it away to a friend using Windows…
November 20th, 2007 at 7:08 AM PST
After you get your USB Ethernet adapter to recognize your network, give an IP address and subnet mask - what do you do if you to connect to the internet? I restarted Airport Extreme base station and my comcast cable modem - still will not give me a router address. Please help. Using n-Nanao USB from Quicker Tek. Trying to replace an old Airport b card in a G4, running 10.5.1. As I said. no problem connecting to the network.
November 25th, 2007 at 8:50 AM PST
Thanks HEAPS! I was on my fourth USB + router box!! The first two Dlink USB adaptors just stopped working, the netgear… well I couldn't even find the drivers and now the belkin one I have working thanks to the Rlink site you provided! It is working wonderfully! Much appreciated
November 26th, 2007 at 11:06 PM PST
Just to let you know, this worked as well on a 10.5 Intel 2.66GHz mac pro and a Belkin Wireless G (part# F5D7050) network adapter.
November 27th, 2007 at 1:50 PM PST
Thank you!!!!!
November 29th, 2007 at 4:58 AM PST
Can anyone help a lazy fellow MAC user?
I baught a USB Wireless Utility and installed it, but it keeps asking me for a WEP pre-shared key and Hexadecimal info.
The kit I bought doesn't provide me any info about this (quite useless actually) and you all seem to be on the ball about this so… figured I'd ask.
Also I am in france which automatically makes everything three times more difficult !
Thanks in advance for the help.
December 17th, 2007 at 6:47 AM PST
January 5th, 2008 at 8:50 AM PST
I'm looking to buy a Belkin Wireless G USB Adapter for my G3 350mhz which I assume to be a version 4 (RAXWN4501H)
John says in post 42 that the driver at ftp://ftp.zyxeltech.de/ZyDAS/ZD1211_USB/Macintosh/ZDA211MacUSB_install_4_5_7_0.dmg
works with the version 4, does this download include the software too? or will i need software from a seperate source?
Can anyone tell me what drivers/software work best with this adapter?
I will be buying the adapter tomorrow so I'll update the details if its not a version 4.
January 7th, 2008 at 9:09 AM PST
I purchased the Belkin v4 adapter today, and downloaded the ZD driver mentioned above. After restarting the application came up automatically before I plugged the adapter in, but failed to recognise the adapter. I tried restarting, restarting with the adapter plugged in already and reinstalling the driver but nothing worked. I also tried using the Ralink driver but this was no use either, both utilities just reported that no adapter was plugged in.
Can anyone help me please? I dont want to have wasted £22 ($44) on a chunk of useless plastic!
I'm using MAC OS 10.3 on a 350mhz G3.
thanks in advance.
January 16th, 2008 at 5:59 PM PST
I had a similar problem when I bought the adapter for a Titanium PowerBook G4, I had to go in to the advanced section and enable "802.1X login".
Sean M.
January 20th, 2008 at 9:31 PM PST
In my country i can only buy these kind of usb wifi: Zonet ZEW2502, D-Link DWA110, This things will work for my ibook g4? please answer me
January 24th, 2008 at 2:18 PM PST
Will it work using a Linksys Wireless- G adapter on my MAC Power Book G4?
January 30th, 2008 at 8:03 PM PST
I picked up a Chiefmax NKRUSB-400 and wanted to use it for my OSX but could not find a driver that would work with my MAC. I tried to use the drivers that you recommended and my MAC would see the USB wireless but when I try to set up in the network it wouldn't take. Maybe its just me not setting my wireless up right.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:29 AM PST
Well, so far, no go on my older Belkin wireless USB adapter in Leopard with ANY driver I could find.
So I'm looking at alternatives. I wondered if anyone has had any success with Buffalo equipment? Like this:
Buffalo Technology Nfiniti WLI-U2-G300N Pre-802.11n Wireless Adapter
I have a Buffalo router, and love it.
February 2nd, 2008 at 10:56 AM PST
For number 20, Cadrien: This may be a bit outdated, but several months ago I got an Addlogix Wireless-G usb network adapted for under $20 and it came with Mac drivers which, I just discovered by checking the referenced page in this discussion, are the Rlink drivers. Anyway, I used it on a 700 Mhz G3 ibook running 10.2.8 and it worked just fine. Hope this helps someone!
February 18th, 2008 at 1:31 PM PST
Still works!
Belkin 802.11g USB dongle from Target on a G4 iMac 800, after downloading the drivers and recognizing in Network Prefs we're good to go.
thanks MUCH -
M
February 26th, 2008 at 10:24 AM PST
Great tutorial. Works on G4 with Leopard, although using WPA2 / AES, it doesn't like to stay connected so dropping to WPA / TKIP worked right away. Airport Extreme sucks on anything but an airport base station…
Cheers.
Jeff
March 17th, 2008 at 2:32 PM PDT
Hey, i have a power pc G5 with 4 gigs of ram for my video editing, and just ukpgraded to Leopard 10.5.2…
The issue im having is very similar, just in leopard…
i have a Beldin USB Network Adapter (Wireless G) and have tried several versions of the RTWireless Utility…
every time its the same… It says my connection is great, but have no real existing acsess to the internet…
any sugestions? Thanks
March 17th, 2008 at 2:33 PM PDT
Belkin* USB SRY!!
haha
April 5th, 2008 at 5:23 PM PDT
Hi, I just brought a Belkin Wireless adapter and installed the driver to my G3 ibook. after installing and reboot the ibook, I went to application folder and open the wireless utility. However, it takes a long time to search for my usb wireless device (I did plug in the usb wireless adapter already) and don't know when it will stop searching. then I try to uninstall that belkin wireless device and install Ra+ wireless utility diver but when I click on the site survey and it said "No Device" I also had tried to plug in different USB port to test and it still said "No Device" but the adapter has light on it. I want to know how to do next.
Thanks
April 11th, 2008 at 9:22 AM PDT
How can I get this to support 802.11x? My school only supports 802.11x authentication
April 20th, 2008 at 2:33 PM PDT
Ok well i have a problem. I have a bufflo supported usb but it says that theres no device in the application even when i un pluug and plug it back in . what do i do?
May 24th, 2008 at 4:54 PM PDT
The drivers work fine when I connect to any other network besides a WEP, which, incidentally, is the type of network I am running. Every time I do this it seems like within 30 seconds to a minute, a screen comes up telling me I have to reboot.
Another person had this same issue as mentioned above.
Anyone know how to fix this problem yet?
May 24th, 2008 at 7:21 PM PDT
OK I've solved the issue. For anyone else out there who is having this problem make sure your wireless mode is set to "802.11 B only" in the 'Advanced' tab of the USB Wireless utility.
@ Samuel Goulet - Don't know if you are still around or are still having this problem but here's the fix for it.
Hope this helps!
May 26th, 2008 at 8:12 PM PDT
Awesome find! Thank you!
June 8th, 2008 at 4:53 PM PDT
can someone help me get this to work with my buffalo WLI-U2-KG54-AI
June 13th, 2008 at 5:58 PM PDT
Thanks very much for this tutorial!!!! This works for both my iMac (G4 - running OS 10.4) and my Intel PowerMac (G5 - running Leopard). For Leopard, I just used the driver for 10.4.
Thanks so much again!
June 17th, 2008 at 7:24 AM PDT
Hi, any hope for a D-Link DWA-130 draft N wireless adapter?
June 24th, 2008 at 10:50 PM PDT
My airport card went on the fritz, and preferred an inexpensive alternative, so I started the google quest, and found your informative page within a few clicks. I just wanted to thank you for the excellent instructions. It so happened, that Fry's had that exact model for about half the retail price, as a returned marked down item. It's working perfectly on my iBook G4 1.25G, with a Belkin Router. The only hitch, was on the last step the IP #, etc didn't automatically update in that pane, even after clicking the refresh button, but after choosing DHCP manual, and then re-choosing "using DHCP", all of the numbers instantly filled in, and I was connected!!!! Thanks again!
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:02 AM PDT
thank you!! worked perfectly on my old G4.
July 10th, 2008 at 6:00 AM PDT
[...] up saving far more time than what you originally invested. I do this for a living and a hobby, and here’s a specific example. And since happiness often accompanies simplicity, you should [...]
July 10th, 2008 at 6:19 AM PDT
[...] up saving far more time than what you originally invested. I do this for a living and a hobby, and here’s a specific example. And since happiness often accompanies simplicity, you should [...]
July 18th, 2008 at 5:18 PM PDT
#1113, Dan T said:
August 10th, 2008 at 9:58 AM PDT
Got this thing connected. Can't get it to connect to the router for internet. Help
August 15th, 2008 at 5:50 AM PDT
Thanks to you, my mood has gone from bad to glad.
August 17th, 2008 at 10:58 AM PDT
@Simon: I like that turn of events!
August 17th, 2008 at 12:48 PM PDT
Had to reset WEP. Now all is working great.
September 20th, 2008 at 8:45 AM PDT
Thankyouthankyouthankyou. We recently had cable installed and wanted to have a wireless network. The cable company was clueless as to how to set up a Mac without using Airport. This worked on the first try, and I am not exceptionally tech saavy. You're a god among men for sharing this info. Thanks again.
(Btw, I ended up using the D link. Unfortunately the new - and only - Chiefmax dongle that's available on the site mentioned above doesn't have supported drivers on Ralink. Bummer 'cuz it was 3 times cheaper. I'm giving it to a PC friend).
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:41 AM PDT
Hey, just wanted to say thankyou.
This guide COMPLETELY solved my problem, in a straightfoward manner.
Thankyou.
September 28th, 2008 at 7:24 AM PDT
You are very welcome!
September 28th, 2008 at 1:32 PM PDT
Thank you, works great. Only problem is no internet connection. can anyone help?
September 28th, 2008 at 11:14 PM PDT
NO DEVICE!!
Regardless of what I do, the Wireless Utility, nor my computer, will recognize my D-Link WUA-1340.
I am running:
Power Mac G4 1.5 GHz (upgraded from dual 500)
OS X 10.3.9
I have installed:
Apple driver provided on D-Link site
Ralink USB RT2870 10.3 Driver
-I have the Ralink Wireless Utility, and under "Link Status" - "Status" it lists, "No Device!!".
-Under "System Profiler" - "Hardware" - "USB", when the dongle is not plugged it, it read only my keyboard and mouse. When the dongle is plugged in, it reads,"802.11 bg WLAN", but, there is no light, and no status change.
-The dongle runs flawlessly, with the light, on my PC 100% of the time.
-In "System Preferences" - "Other" - "WUA-1340", no matter what I do, it reads, "Link State: No Device!!" and "Signal Strength: No card detected!!"
I can plug and unplug the D-Link adapter until I'm blue in the face in any one of the six USB ports I have, and the light will never come on when it is attached to my Mac.
ANY ideas would be GREATLY appreciated.
September 29th, 2008 at 4:04 AM PDT
Internet up running, reboot was necessary. Thank you Torley for sharing
October 4th, 2008 at 5:16 PM PDT
having same problem as chad. It worked perfectly until just recently - any ideas?
October 29th, 2008 at 5:58 AM PDT
Similar to problems above … I've been running an RT73 USB dongle (with the Ralink Wireless Utility software ) on an ancient G3 iBook for ages. And all was good, and until I did a recent software update that obviously changed things. To begin with, I had the 'dialogue from hell' http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?p=496709
And after I fixed that, I couldn't get the wireless internet connection going. .. It spots my wireless network, but jsut can't connect.
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:04 PM PST
Been using the D-Link 1340 for about 3 months. Today, it would cause a forced shutdown every time I tried to connect. Retured it to Target. They didn't have any D-Links, so I picked up Belkin F5D7050. Installed the ZD driver and it works perfectly.
November 7th, 2008 at 12:17 AM PST
Thanks so much!!! I am on 10.3.9, PowerPC G5 1.8 GHz and your instructions worked like a dream. I really appreciate the info!!
November 21st, 2008 at 5:30 AM PST
Hi thanks for this info, I just installed everything and have the network connection running okay BUT I can't get any internet connection, meaning no browser is finding any connection… I tried changing DHCP connection and manually filled in the right IP adress router and so forth and that is all w