Flaky Mac Pro Airport performance...what the hell is going on?

placeboplacebo
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I've been having wierd problems in both Windows and Mac OS X since I bought my Mac Pro in regards to the Airport connection speed. It'll be cruising along at full speed, with pages loading brilliantly, and then crash down to speeds WORSE THAN DIALUP. It's the most annoying thing in the world. Then, if I reconnect to the network, it sometimes goes back up to full speed. It is an absolute bitch.



Does anybody else have this problem or know a solution?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    deepdarkfunkydeepdarkfunky Posts: 22member
    I have this problem as well... it's annoyed me to the point where I have turned AirPort off and started using Express basestation in WDS with a ethernet cable hooked up to the computer... I have tried switching all the cables on the AirPort card itself, but to no avail. The "proper" connection is to use cables 1 and 3, tucking away cable 2...
  • Reply 2 of 7
    carniphagecarniphage Posts: 1,984member
    Me too. There is something rotten in the state of the driver.



    I am seeing less than a quarter of the network bandwidth of a MacMini on the same network.



    I don't get the feeling this is the hardware or anything to do with the antenna wires. Some people have reported it fixed after re-installing the OS. Not sure if I want to go down that path just yet.



    My only question is - Is there *anyone* with a Mac Pro who is getting expected WiFi performance?



    C.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Well it doesn't work any better in Windows, so there goes blaming the drivers.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    almalm Posts: 111member
    I read somewhere that some of Mac Pros have wrong wires connected to Bluetooth and Airport card. Apparently those that connected to BT should go to Airport and vise versa. I think I saw report about it on Mac OS X hints. Guy was compailing about crappy BT performance and it turns out that switching antenna cables solved the problem.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    carniphagecarniphage Posts: 1,984member
    I have seen the "wrong wires theory" but I'm not sure that I am buying it.

    Too many people are reporting the problem. And of those who have tried swapping wires - none seem to be reporting an improvement.



    Interesting the French website MacBidioulle reports that the problem is a driver issue because in Windows the Aiport card signal indicator reads full strength.



    I tried this but although Windows says the signal quality is excellent - the card still gives very poor performance. In Windows you can watch the link speed change in real time. And mine went rapdidly down from 216Mb to 54 to 18 and then fluctuated around 5 and 11!



    Something is broken here.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    It's not a signal strength issue at all.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    carniphagecarniphage Posts: 1,984member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Placebo


    It's not a signal strength issue at all.



    I think you are right.



    Saw this on the Apple discussions board - from a fellow sufferer.



    Update: Apple Engineers have analysed the data I sent them and have found out that my Ethernet hardware is failing (turning itself on/off continuously which also causes the kernel (network part) to be affected negatively). This will affect networking overall, so Airport will also be affected. I'm switching the hardware next week and will get back to you all if it solves the issue or not.



    It's interesting - but I just tested my wired ethernet performance and it seems pretty good.



    C.
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