MacBook wireless suffering after recent Mac OS X updates
Owners of Apple's 13-inch notebooks are reporting that their Wi-Fi access is much less reliable after installing Mac OS X Leopard or more recent updates to Mac OS X Tiger, especially when the systems switch to battery power.
System users in Apple's discussion forums (one, two), as well as those speaking directly with AppleInsider, say the problem first surfaced after the appearance of the Mac OS X 10.4.10 update this summer and so far is known to affect most models, though reports are currently scarce from buyers of Apple's fall 2007 units.
The exact behavior of affected systems can vary slightly, but appears to largely be connected to the computer's power supply. While the connection remains largely stable when plugged into an AC adapter, switching to battery power renders the wireless link intermittent and in many cases drops network access entirely when idle.
"Whenever I unplug my AC adapter, my wireless Internet goes a little crazy and starts continually disconnecting and reconnecting moments later," says one owner.
Users often can't detect nearby networks after restarting the card through software, but can almost always regain a dependable connection after reattaching the power plug. A handful of owners report having to restart the computer to restore the Wi-Fi connection, however.
To date, the intermittent connection issue has not been publicly acknowledged by Apple and affects systems regardless of subsequent Mac OS X updates. Both the recent 10.4.11 update and all current versions of Leopard continue to exhibit the symptoms of the problem, although some note the situation improving for their systems after the most recent upgrades to both Leopard and Tiger.
For those still affected, successful workarounds have included reverting to Mac OS X 10.4.9 when possible, and setting up commands in Terminal that send out data to keep the connection active. But since the issue does not occur when running Windows XP or Vista in Boot Camp, several users say Apple has no reason to leave the apparent flaw unresolved.
"Wi-Fi works OK under other OS X releases and also with Windows Vista running on the MacBook hardware," says one report. "Apple's engineers need to quit playing with their iPhones, roll up their sleeves and look for bugs."
System users in Apple's discussion forums (one, two), as well as those speaking directly with AppleInsider, say the problem first surfaced after the appearance of the Mac OS X 10.4.10 update this summer and so far is known to affect most models, though reports are currently scarce from buyers of Apple's fall 2007 units.
The exact behavior of affected systems can vary slightly, but appears to largely be connected to the computer's power supply. While the connection remains largely stable when plugged into an AC adapter, switching to battery power renders the wireless link intermittent and in many cases drops network access entirely when idle.
"Whenever I unplug my AC adapter, my wireless Internet goes a little crazy and starts continually disconnecting and reconnecting moments later," says one owner.
Users often can't detect nearby networks after restarting the card through software, but can almost always regain a dependable connection after reattaching the power plug. A handful of owners report having to restart the computer to restore the Wi-Fi connection, however.
To date, the intermittent connection issue has not been publicly acknowledged by Apple and affects systems regardless of subsequent Mac OS X updates. Both the recent 10.4.11 update and all current versions of Leopard continue to exhibit the symptoms of the problem, although some note the situation improving for their systems after the most recent upgrades to both Leopard and Tiger.
For those still affected, successful workarounds have included reverting to Mac OS X 10.4.9 when possible, and setting up commands in Terminal that send out data to keep the connection active. But since the issue does not occur when running Windows XP or Vista in Boot Camp, several users say Apple has no reason to leave the apparent flaw unresolved.
"Wi-Fi works OK under other OS X releases and also with Windows Vista running on the MacBook hardware," says one report. "Apple's engineers need to quit playing with their iPhones, roll up their sleeves and look for bugs."
Comments
I hope Apple rolls out a patch for this issue soon...
Owners of Apple's 13-inch notebooks are reporting that their Wi-Fi access is much less reliable after installing Mac OS X Leopard or more recent updates to Mac OS X Tiger, especially when the systems switch to battery power.
System users in Apple's discussion forums (one, two), as well as those speaking directly with AppleInsider, say the problem first surfaced after the appearance of the Mac OS X 10.4.10 update this summer and so far is known to affect most models, though reports are currently scarce from buyers of Apple's fall 2007 units.
The exact behavior of affected systems can vary slightly, but appears to largely be connected to the computer's power supply. While the connection remains largely stable when plugged into an AC adapter, switching to battery power renders the wireless link intermittent and in many cases drops network access entirely when idle.
"Whenever I unplug my AC adapter, my wireless Internet goes a little crazy and starts continually disconnecting and reconnecting moments later," says one owner.
Users often can't detect nearby networks after restarting the card through software, but can almost always regain a dependable connection after reattaching the power plug. A handful of owners report having to restart the computer to restore the Wi-Fi connection, however.
To date, the intermittent connection issue has not been publicly acknowledged by Apple and affects systems regardless of subsequent Mac OS X updates. Both the recent 10.4.11 update and all current versions of Leopard continue to exhibit the symptoms of the problem, although some note the situation improving for their systems after the most recent upgrades to both Leopard and Tiger.
For those still affected, successful workarounds have included reverting to Mac OS X 10.4.9 when possible, and setting up commands in Terminal that send out data to keep the connection active. But since the issue does not occur when running Windows XP or Vista in Boot Camp, several users say Apple has no reason to leave the apparent flaw unresolved.
"Wi-Fi works OK under other OS X releases and also with Windows Vista running on the MacBook hardware," says one report. "Apple's engineers need to quit playing with their iPhones, roll up their sleeves and look for bugs."
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Mine has been like this for a while, it sucks!
Mine was like this for a long time as well, after upgrading to Leopard and updating to 10.5.1 the issue is almost non existent. Only a minor glitch when waking from sleep 1 out of 10 times I would say.
Steve
--Dave
Batter time has gone from 3+ hours to less than 2 on a full charge.
Reset everything - PMU NVRAM PRAM, let it completely die twice...
No improvement.
I never experienced this problem with my 13in Macbook or MacBook Pro on my Linksys WCG200 router, however, when I switched over to a 2Wire router, both laptops began experiencing this problem immediately; great connection while plugged-in, spotty connection and frequent disconnect when on battery.
I think there is actually a technical article posted by Apple covering this issue and their solution was to buy an AirPort Base Station, seesh. If I'm able to find the URL to the article before someone else does I'll post it here.
I think there is actually a technical article posted by Apple covering this issue and their solution was to buy an AirPort Base Station, seesh. If I'm able to find the URL to the article before someone else does I'll post it here.
Interesting if true. I have a September 07 MacBook and an Airport Extreme and I have no problems.
Haven't had any problems under 10.4.10, 10.5 or 10.5.1
Not pleased with Leopard's speed or stability right now.
Running 10.5.1.
I am plugged into AC power
Airport Extreme Router (Gigabit) version 7.2.1
I am connected to an external monitor via mini-dvi to vga
Tried both WPA and no wireless security
Laptop lid is closed
Power settings are set to not sleep, do not turn off monitor, and do not turn off HDD
At night I've left my NZB downloader running and each morning I wake up and I've lost connection. I can regain it be either rebooting or turning the airport card off and then on again.
I have also had issues during the day where I will also lose connectivity.
Hopefully Apple addresses the issue soon...
"Apple's engineers need to quit playing with their iPhones, roll up their sleeves and look for bugs."
Reseting your Airport Extreme. I took it too Apple Store and after Trouble Shooting they said resetting will do the trick. It has been running Awesome for over 2 weeks.
My roommate with the macbook was having problems with 4.10 and the only thing that ended up fixing the problem was to downgrade to 4.9, and now he's working fine on the internet. also he was experiencing the problem connecting to the wireless even when connected to power.
So don't really know what it means but it seems like it was 4.10 since downgrading to 4.9 fixed it not to mention no other computer had a problem connecting to the router.