I will have to say that this Macbook/MBP wireless issue is very irritating - I am experiencing the same thing with my Macbook 1.83 C2D/2GB. I've had the issue since I've had it new. Pretty much the same thing everybody else here has posted - very slow throughput and intermittent diconnects from my Westell 327W wireless DSL/modem/router. I also have a Dell Inspiron 1405e w/ the Intel 3945 Centrino chipset that I use beside the Macbook for comparison purposes - there is no comparison - the Dell consistently performs better on the wireless connection than my Macbook. Have done all the research I could do to try and fix the problem on my own with no results. BTW - I'm running 10.4.11.
I give the detail above because I finally took my machine to the local Mac store (not an Apple store) to have it sent in for repair. They sent me home and told me to call Apple support to rule out any software issue because they would have to charge me if it turned out to be software-related. Went home & called Apple and after 1.75 hours they gave me a case number and sent me back to the store for warranty repair to CHANGE OUT THE AIRPORT CARD. Took it in and gave the case number, the store said that it would be ready in a couple of days. Picked it up yesterday and brought it home and THE PROBLEM STILL EXISTS.
Going to take it back to the store because the repair tech that gave me the machine said that if the problem still exists to bring it back and he will have to send to Apple because it will be considered a multi-part repair.
Sorry for the long-winded post; thought I would provide detail to let all know that apparently the retail/repair indirect channel and Apple support seem to be completely unaware of the issue or they are playing dumb because they don't know how to fix it.
I've posted my issue to the Apple support forums where it seems that I'm not alone. The thread might involve mostly non-Apple routers (I have a Linksys WRT150N - which was working fine up to to 10.4.10).
I have a call into ACare support but their only reco was 're-install your OS' which I did - and everything worked fine UNTIL i installed the 10.4.11 update - then it broke again.
MacBook Pro 2.2Ghz (purchased as a refurb in early Oct)
I will try replacing my IO80211Family.kext w/ v1.6 (which I still have) to see if that has any effect.
after trying everthing i copuld think of fresh install etc i decided to get the sony veio laptop i used to use to use and when i connected it it worked fine and hasnt dropped yet -so it isnt airport(replaced) isnt the install(re-installed) and works with another pc. perfectly so this makes it pretty obvious its the update im having to use the pc at the moment untill apple come up with the update to fix this mess and i am one unhappy customer
I've posted my issue to the Apple support forums where it seems that I'm not alone. The thread might involve mostly non-Apple routers (I have a Linksys WRT150N - which was working fine up to to 10.4.10).
I have a call into ACare support but their only reco was 're-install your OS' which I did - and everything worked fine UNTIL i installed the 10.4.11 update - then it broke again.
MacBook Pro 2.2Ghz (purchased as a refurb in early Oct)
I will try replacing my IO80211Family.kext w/ v1.6 (which I still have) to see if that has any effect.
It seems to be working. You have to repair permissions on the disc after you replace the file or your wireless won't work, but after a re-boot it works again.
So - what's the diff btw that .kext v 1.6 and 1.62?
I've got a white intel macbook (late Nov 07) with leopard 10.5.1 that has been suffering badly from these frequent wireless disconnects.
I use a Netgear WNR854T router and have previously had very little trouble with it.
Fortunately it seems that I've managed to stabilize the wireless connection somewhat by changing the encryption settings to WPA2 Personal (AES) after something I read on the apple forums about a bug in the TKIP implementation with leopard.
Hi, I'm from the Philippines and I will be getting the white 2.2 Gb Macbook this week.
Is there a possibility that wireless connection problem (and the hard drive problem) with Macbooks is manufacturer-related? Maybe those problematic Macbooks are only the ones sold in the US? I think Apple products sold here in Asia are China-made. I'm not sure about those sold in the US.
US Macbooks are also manufactured and shipped directly from China. At least mine was. It's definitely got to be software related because my early 2006 2.0Ghz Macbook has been having these problems off and on recently.
I can't express how disappointing this is to learn. I'm actually crushed! I had my heart set on a macbook for Christmas and now will have to get washer/dryer instead. I wish Mac would have stepped up and fixed this. I can't take the risk as I need my laptop for online school and I'm not chancing losing my connection in the middle of class or an exam. A laptop is useless without a connection. What is Apple thinking?!
I can't express how disappointing this is to learn. I'm actually crushed! I had my heart set on a macbook for Christmas and now will have to get washer/dryer instead. I wish Mac would have stepped up and fixed this. I can't take the risk as I need my laptop for online school and I'm not chancing losing my connection in the middle of class or an exam. A laptop is useless without a connection. What is Apple thinking?!
This is one of the funniest posts I've read in weeks! Whoever just signed on as kaznatius, thanks: you made my day.
And who is this "Mac" fellow who should have fixed this?
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."
It's not just MacBooks or MacBook Pros. I have had all kinds of problems with my new Intel 24" "Extreme" iMac. There is a huge discussion thread in the Apple Support Forum about this.
For what it's worth, this is what I said:
Leopard Airport Networking Bugs
The trouble ticket number for this is 88131035. I have spoken to five different Apple Tech advisors and none of their solutions worked. All the obvious fixes where tired including trashing Airport Keychain items, trashing network .plist files, and installing a fresh System.
The following are all reproducible bugs
From an iMac 24? Extreme running OS 10.5 Leopard it is not possible to copy files from one machine to another via a WiFi connection.
Initially after booting the iMac one can go to Go > Connect to Server and connect another machine. In this case I am connection to a PowerBook G4. The volume I connect to shows up on the desktop.
When I open the remote volume on the desktop it shows me the files and folders in that volume as one would expect.
However, if I attempt to copy a file from one machine to another the connection fails. For example, if I try to copy a 100MB file from the iMac to the PowerBook inevitably the file will get about halfway through the transfer before the the connection fails. A small dialog box pops up advising the the connection has been lost. Once that is dismissed, another dialog warning box pops up noting that ?The file can neither be read nor written to, Error -36? When this dialog box is dismissed, it is not possible to dismiss the file copy progress box which is now frozen on the desktop. The only way to get rid of it is to choose Force Quit from the Apple Menu and restart the Finder.
After the iMac has been asleep for a while and is reawakened the Airport connection is lost. This doesn?t happen immediately. If the machine is only asleep for a few minutes it will wake up. If it is asleep overnight or for several hours the connection is lost. The Airport signal indicator in the menu bar is grayed out. The only way to regain an active connection is by turning the Airport off in the menu bar and then turning it back on again. or rebooting the computer.
The Airport connection is also lost even though there are four bars of signal strength in the menu bar indicator. Usually this happens while in Safari and a Network Diagnostics page shows up asking to troubleshoot the connection. Again, the only way to fix the problem is to turn the Airport off in the menu bar and then turn it back on again.
When uploading photos From Aperture to Flickr.com, the Airport connection is lost in the middle of the upload. Again, the menu bar indicator shows four bars of signal strength when there is no signal. Aperture also crashes at this point with no warning or notice ?The application [Aperture] has quit unexpectedly....?
Needless to say, it is also not possible to play iTunes through the Airport Express for longer than 4 or five minutes. This is not a problem with the PowerBook G4 15? which also runs Leopard. This leads me to believe there is something buggy about the Intel-based iMac and Leopard that is at the root of the problem.
I encourage all who have this or similar problems to call Apple and make trouble tickets so they will GET IT and start doing something to fix the problem even if they offer no solutions at the moment. We may have to wait until 10.5.6 or so before they get around to doing anything at the rate they're going.
My iBook (1.3 ghz) had this issue when in battery mode under tiger. With leopard it got persistent. The main problem were web pages, especially "interactive" ones, not loading after clicking on a link. It seemed like the connection got lost without the operating system noticing. I have been using an old, cheap router for wlan. Since I took another one the problem is gone.
Xerothecat said "This leads me to believe there is something buggy about the Intel-based iMac and Leopard that is at the root of the problem."
That is a conclusion I have also come to. My MacBook Pro (running 10.4.11) has been having this problem for some time, but the G4 MacBook and the G5 iMac my kids use have no issues at all.
Really hoping for a fix. It isn't my router (Airport Extreme), because it's happened when I travel, as well. The inconsistency of the problem makes it baffling to troubleshoot. I may have a reliable connection for days, and then the signal will start fluctuating and booting me offline.
When I take my MBP to work, I plug into the ethernet. Then I put it to sleep, come home, and connect to the wireless network. For a few seconds, usually, before the cycling starts.
There is no reliable fix to get back onto my home network other than to sit and wait. The fixes that "seem" to work (turning Airport off and on, restarting, moving to another location), are apparently more anecdotal/coincidental than true fixes.
I am going to try to do a hard reset of the base station, which I haven't done in maybe a year, since a couple of posts have suggested that worked for them.
I installed 10.4.11 two months ago on my MBP, never had an airport problem, and now since 2 weeks (not months) I have terrible airport reception.
My router is not far from my computer.
My G5 doesn't have a problem with airport.
Sometimes I do get a full signal, it's really strange.
I opened up my computer to see if the airport antenna was still properly connected and it looked ok. I don't know how it is inside the screen because I didn't want to dismantle it.
I've read a thread where someone says he read an airport temperature of 70°C, which would be too high.
Is it possible that the airport card got fried by some OSX update, and that it does work, but not as intended? Did anyone succesfully got rid of the airport problems?
Interference by other wifi networks? I recently noticed someone added a router in my neighbourhood. Sometimes I can 'catch' 5 networks, now I can barely log into my own network and I don't see other networks even if they do exist. (that's why I thought somethings was wrong with the antenna.)
Possibly a virus?
Is it possible to buy a new airport card (type n) for my MBP CD (first revision, not 2CD)
I'm pretty convinced that this has something to do with the routers that we are trying to connect to, combined with the operating systems we are running.
I was running 10.4.10 (and later 10.4.11) with no issues at all, while connecting to a Motorola DSL modem. Recently I have upgraded my MacBook (13-Inch Mid 2007) to 10.5.2, and now it will not hold a connection for more than a few seconds before dropping it completely, only to reconnect a few seconds later.
None of the following fixed the issue:
Turning airport off/on, rebooting the mac/router, resetting the router, removing/readding the wireless connection on the mac.
The same Mac is also running Windows XP using BootCamp and has no wireless problems.
Note that I also have an iMac (20-Inch Mid 2007) running 10.5.2, and an Acer laptop (Win XP) without any wireless problems.
I've brought the laptop to work today, and connected to both an Airport Base Station, and a Cisco VPN router (via wireless of course). Both have stayed connected for over an hour each without fault (tested while using only A/C power, Only battery, and both at the same time), both being used to browse and download.
To Rosary
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rosary
It isn't my router (Airport Extreme)
What model of Base Station are you using? I connected to an Airport Extreme Base Station (With Modem) (Introduced Jan 2003, Discontinued Jan 2007) and that seemed to work ok. It could be possible that different versions of the Base Station have different results.
Possible workarounds as far as I can tell, are to downgrade to 10.4.x (whichever revision people say works, some say anything above 4.9 is bad, but as I said, mine worked on 4.10 and 4.11), and to try different routers until you find one that works.
I have had wireless issues since the Leopard upgrade and am now running 10.5.4. I use an Airport Extreme (older spaceship model) at home and have a Macwireless router system at work (these are re-labeled TRENDnet products). My MacBook constantly is in "Airport: Scanning..." mode, web sites are delayed at each click, 30 second to a minute average. I experience the same thing at all free wireless access points throughout the city. So, I can only conclude this is a Apple issue. Are there any definitive answers?
Comments
I give the detail above because I finally took my machine to the local Mac store (not an Apple store) to have it sent in for repair. They sent me home and told me to call Apple support to rule out any software issue because they would have to charge me if it turned out to be software-related. Went home & called Apple and after 1.75 hours they gave me a case number and sent me back to the store for warranty repair to CHANGE OUT THE AIRPORT CARD. Took it in and gave the case number, the store said that it would be ready in a couple of days. Picked it up yesterday and brought it home and THE PROBLEM STILL EXISTS.
Going to take it back to the store because the repair tech that gave me the machine said that if the problem still exists to bring it back and he will have to send to Apple because it will be considered a multi-part repair.
Sorry for the long-winded post; thought I would provide detail to let all know that apparently the retail/repair indirect channel and Apple support seem to be completely unaware of the issue or they are playing dumb because they don't know how to fix it.
I have a call into ACare support but their only reco was 're-install your OS' which I did - and everything worked fine UNTIL i installed the 10.4.11 update - then it broke again.
MacBook Pro 2.2Ghz (purchased as a refurb in early Oct)
I will try replacing my IO80211Family.kext w/ v1.6 (which I still have) to see if that has any effect.
I've posted my issue to the Apple support forums where it seems that I'm not alone. The thread might involve mostly non-Apple routers (I have a Linksys WRT150N - which was working fine up to to 10.4.10).
I have a call into ACare support but their only reco was 're-install your OS' which I did - and everything worked fine UNTIL i installed the 10.4.11 update - then it broke again.
MacBook Pro 2.2Ghz (purchased as a refurb in early Oct)
I will try replacing my IO80211Family.kext w/ v1.6 (which I still have) to see if that has any effect.
It seems to be working. You have to repair permissions on the disc after you replace the file or your wireless won't work, but after a re-boot it works again.
So - what's the diff btw that .kext v 1.6 and 1.62?
I use a Netgear WNR854T router and have previously had very little trouble with it.
Fortunately it seems that I've managed to stabilize the wireless connection somewhat by changing the encryption settings to WPA2 Personal (AES) after something I read on the apple forums about a bug in the TKIP implementation with leopard.
Would love to know if this works for anyone else.
Is there a possibility that wireless connection problem (and the hard drive problem) with Macbooks is manufacturer-related? Maybe those problematic Macbooks are only the ones sold in the US? I think Apple products sold here in Asia are China-made. I'm not sure about those sold in the US.
I can't express how disappointing this is to learn. I'm actually crushed! I had my heart set on a macbook for Christmas and now will have to get washer/dryer instead. I wish Mac would have stepped up and fixed this. I can't take the risk as I need my laptop for online school and I'm not chancing losing my connection in the middle of class or an exam. A laptop is useless without a connection. What is Apple thinking?!
And who is this "Mac" fellow who should have fixed this?
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 ]
It's not just MacBooks or MacBook Pros. I have had all kinds of problems with my new Intel 24" "Extreme" iMac. There is a huge discussion thread in the Apple Support Forum about this.
For what it's worth, this is what I said:
Leopard Airport Networking Bugs
The trouble ticket number for this is 88131035. I have spoken to five different Apple Tech advisors and none of their solutions worked. All the obvious fixes where tired including trashing Airport Keychain items, trashing network .plist files, and installing a fresh System.
The following are all reproducible bugs
From an iMac 24? Extreme running OS 10.5 Leopard it is not possible to copy files from one machine to another via a WiFi connection.
Initially after booting the iMac one can go to Go > Connect to Server and connect another machine. In this case I am connection to a PowerBook G4. The volume I connect to shows up on the desktop.
When I open the remote volume on the desktop it shows me the files and folders in that volume as one would expect.
However, if I attempt to copy a file from one machine to another the connection fails. For example, if I try to copy a 100MB file from the iMac to the PowerBook inevitably the file will get about halfway through the transfer before the the connection fails. A small dialog box pops up advising the the connection has been lost. Once that is dismissed, another dialog warning box pops up noting that ?The file can neither be read nor written to, Error -36? When this dialog box is dismissed, it is not possible to dismiss the file copy progress box which is now frozen on the desktop. The only way to get rid of it is to choose Force Quit from the Apple Menu and restart the Finder.
After the iMac has been asleep for a while and is reawakened the Airport connection is lost. This doesn?t happen immediately. If the machine is only asleep for a few minutes it will wake up. If it is asleep overnight or for several hours the connection is lost. The Airport signal indicator in the menu bar is grayed out. The only way to regain an active connection is by turning the Airport off in the menu bar and then turning it back on again. or rebooting the computer.
The Airport connection is also lost even though there are four bars of signal strength in the menu bar indicator. Usually this happens while in Safari and a Network Diagnostics page shows up asking to troubleshoot the connection. Again, the only way to fix the problem is to turn the Airport off in the menu bar and then turn it back on again.
When uploading photos From Aperture to Flickr.com, the Airport connection is lost in the middle of the upload. Again, the menu bar indicator shows four bars of signal strength when there is no signal. Aperture also crashes at this point with no warning or notice ?The application [Aperture] has quit unexpectedly....?
Needless to say, it is also not possible to play iTunes through the Airport Express for longer than 4 or five minutes. This is not a problem with the PowerBook G4 15? which also runs Leopard. This leads me to believe there is something buggy about the Intel-based iMac and Leopard that is at the root of the problem.
I encourage all who have this or similar problems to call Apple and make trouble tickets so they will GET IT and start doing something to fix the problem even if they offer no solutions at the moment. We may have to wait until 10.5.6 or so before they get around to doing anything at the rate they're going.
That is a conclusion I have also come to. My MacBook Pro (running 10.4.11) has been having this problem for some time, but the G4 MacBook and the G5 iMac my kids use have no issues at all.
Really hoping for a fix. It isn't my router (Airport Extreme), because it's happened when I travel, as well. The inconsistency of the problem makes it baffling to troubleshoot. I may have a reliable connection for days, and then the signal will start fluctuating and booting me offline.
When I take my MBP to work, I plug into the ethernet. Then I put it to sleep, come home, and connect to the wireless network. For a few seconds, usually, before the cycling starts.
There is no reliable fix to get back onto my home network other than to sit and wait. The fixes that "seem" to work (turning Airport off and on, restarting, moving to another location), are apparently more anecdotal/coincidental than true fixes.
I am going to try to do a hard reset of the base station, which I haven't done in maybe a year, since a couple of posts have suggested that worked for them.
edit: hard reset didn't help.
My router is not far from my computer.
My G5 doesn't have a problem with airport.
Sometimes I do get a full signal, it's really strange.
I opened up my computer to see if the airport antenna was still properly connected and it looked ok. I don't know how it is inside the screen because I didn't want to dismantle it.
I've read a thread where someone says he read an airport temperature of 70°C, which would be too high.
Is it possible that the airport card got fried by some OSX update, and that it does work, but not as intended? Did anyone succesfully got rid of the airport problems?
Interference by other wifi networks? I recently noticed someone added a router in my neighbourhood. Sometimes I can 'catch' 5 networks, now I can barely log into my own network and I don't see other networks even if they do exist. (that's why I thought somethings was wrong with the antenna.)
Possibly a virus?
Is it possible to buy a new airport card (type n) for my MBP CD (first revision, not 2CD)
Thanks
Thanks for all your help guys...
I was running 10.4.10 (and later 10.4.11) with no issues at all, while connecting to a Motorola DSL modem. Recently I have upgraded my MacBook (13-Inch Mid 2007) to 10.5.2, and now it will not hold a connection for more than a few seconds before dropping it completely, only to reconnect a few seconds later.
None of the following fixed the issue:
Turning airport off/on, rebooting the mac/router, resetting the router, removing/readding the wireless connection on the mac.
The same Mac is also running Windows XP using BootCamp and has no wireless problems.
Note that I also have an iMac (20-Inch Mid 2007) running 10.5.2, and an Acer laptop (Win XP) without any wireless problems.
I've brought the laptop to work today, and connected to both an Airport Base Station, and a Cisco VPN router (via wireless of course). Both have stayed connected for over an hour each without fault (tested while using only A/C power, Only battery, and both at the same time), both being used to browse and download.
To Rosary
It isn't my router (Airport Extreme)
What model of Base Station are you using? I connected to an Airport Extreme Base Station (With Modem) (Introduced Jan 2003, Discontinued Jan 2007) and that seemed to work ok. It could be possible that different versions of the Base Station have different results.
Possible workarounds as far as I can tell, are to downgrade to 10.4.x (whichever revision people say works, some say anything above 4.9 is bad, but as I said, mine worked on 4.10 and 4.11), and to try different routers until you find one that works.