The flaw is with many MacBooks. Internet connection drops randomly, often re-setting automatically, sometimes every few minutes. The problem varies from somewhat annoying (pages won't load) to work stopping (pages REALLY won't load). Other computers with the same wireless router (including PCs) remain rock solid. Only those with Leopard drop out. (Or, according to others, Tiger too, after 10.4.10.) In fact, my MacBook worked flawlessly--never dropped--until 10.4.10. Now it's schizo.
Don't believe it's real? Take a look at the Apple forums under MacBook-->Internet and Networking
One thread has 51,000 views and 618 replies. Another has 9,000 views and 145 replies.
If you haven't seen this flaw with your MacBook, just be thankful. But, believe me, this is real. I hope this pressure helps Apple get on the ball.
I currently have a MacBook, used to have a MacBook Pro after I broke it by accidently throwing some at my screen, and before that has a PowerBook, and I have noticed this issue with everyone of my Apple laptops, and i think the issue has to do with when there are multiple locations pushing out the wireless signal for the same network. THANK YOU SOMEONE FOR FIXING THIS PROBLEMS???? APPLE I LOVE YOU, BUT GO F*** YOURSELF FOR NOT ADDRESSING THIS KNOWN ISSUE INT HE PAST!!!!
That sucks and I feel for you... I come with my own tale of insanity that revolved around 10.2 or 10.3 (can't remember) mounting SMB shares (hosted by W2k3 servers) and Mac users trying to save Excel files while other people had them open in read only mode... The files would get TOTALLY NUKED!!!! Yea that would be BAD in a research environment...
Talk about a circle jerk...
Apple -- It's W2k3
Apple -- It could also be the MacBU who wrote Office 2004
MS Server Group -- Its Apple
MacBU -- Its Apple
Blah blah blah -- static static static...
Problem went unfixed for close to a yea IIRC - I **think** 10.4 had the fix in it... but OH what a nightmare!!
Dave
Multi-vendor finger pointing nightmare. Sorry
I try to stay vanilla one-vendor, but I know it is not feasible for most people.
For my intel mac mini, after installing the logitech software for mouse, the wi fi connection went dead, after thrashing it, the connection came back to life.
The only problem I have is connecting to another mac through the wi fi but the PPC laptop running Leopard works fine, my conclusion is, it has something to do with the Intel chip (could be wrong here)
I'm a NYC teacher who just purchased a MacBook two months ago. I have gone all over the place and gotten on various WiFi networks - except in my school, there I must use an ethernet cable. My school's intel iMacs (Leopard) are having WiFi problems as well ... there is a teacher with a 17" MacBook Pro who is still running Tiger and she has no problems with the schools WiFi.
Am I the only one wondeing why DELL IS SHIPPING APPLE PRODUCTS? can someone please enlighten me?
thats about the only thing i took away from the article too!! and i have the same question! and, if they're being held, shouldnt apple be doing the holding?
My brother bought a 24" Alu iMac shortly after Leopard was released … it came with Tiger pre-installed and a Leopard update disc in the box.
He had no end of Wi-Fi trouble on my AEBS.n from day one. Network not showing up, password and security not checking out, and of course dropped connections … many, many of them.
This happened both on Tiger and Leopard, probably versions 10.4.11 and 10.5.0 back then.
I got him to wipe it and clean install from our Leopard family pack and nothing seemed to change.
However, one day while helping out with a friend's faulty iBook (its Airport card antenna connector needed an extra hard push) I'd put the AEBS on channel 9 instead of automatic and that – reportedly – has kept the iMac's connection pretty stable. It ain't perfect, but it is pretty useable now. Neither 10.5.1 nor 10.5.2 did anything to alter matters.
Meanwhile the two Mac mini's and three PowerBooks in the house have been rock solid on the AEBS throughout, as well as a couple of visiting Intel Mac laptops on .n instead of .g…
I work at a university in Portugal and our issue here is that we connect to a WiFi network that is supposed to work in all european academic institutions - Eduroam. In theory I should be able to go to any university in europe and be able to log on to their Eduroam wireless network, through WPA Enterprise and 802.1x with TTLS Authentication. What We've noticed is that ever since Apple ditched "Internet Connect" in favour of "Network Preferences" you can't *make* OS X authenticate via User rather than System or Login Window . No matter what you do, OS X eventually defaults back to System or Login Window rather than User definded "username" and "password", so one does connect at startup, but if you lose connection for some reason the only way to get back is to restart, which make no sence to me and is pretty darn annoying, especially because it used to work fine - and still does - with tiger.
Sorry for the extensive explanation and my english, but I though it might be interesting to some.
APPLE I LOVE YOU, BUT GO F*** YOURSELF FOR NOT ADDRESSING THIS KNOWN ISSUE INT HE PAST!!!!
Software can be really complex, especially when it behaves unpredictably. Please save us from your temper tantrums next time. None of us know what Apple's action on this has been thus far, except that they've acknowledged the issue and are working on it.
I am not personally aware of the problem encountered by the NYC schools, but I suspect it is WPA. The earlier reference to the Macbook forums with the high number of hits centered around WPA. When my daughter got her new Macbook in mid summer (Tiger 10.4.10) it would not connect to our wireless network, or if id did connect it would take 5 to 10 minutes to paint a screen and graphics were blocked out. Apple's response was that if you can connect in an Apple Store then there is no problem. Of course, the network in the Apple Store does not use security. Instead of listening to customer complaints, Apple just used the base bad code in Leopard. People had hoped they had fixed the problem, but instead they just propogated it. In their extreme arrogance, Apple did not acknowledge the issue and instead just continued with the flawed code. At her University, they use a different security method. so wireless does work. When she comes hope we switch the wireless to WEP which is a less secure standard or give her a long ethernet cable which restricts her to working in the living room. When she goes back to school, we go back to WPA.
I am not personally aware of the problem encountered by the NYC schools, but I suspect it is WPA. ...
This is almost certainly true. And just to add a piece of totally anecdotal, subjective data to the pile ...
It seems to me (from reading reports of this bug), that almost everyone concerned who has had it is living or working in an area with "old" infrastructure (older US cities, etc.).
It's one of Apple's Achilles heels that all of the people that work for them, as well as a huge majority of their users, are using "state of the art" kit. It's only after releasing the software do they start to see problems from users with terribly old computers or those who are located in far-away places doing weird and wonderful things.
Is is almost certainly not! I've been one of the many people who do have problems, and my wireless access point is now configured with no security at all (except for mac address filtering).
I have to say that coming here and hear a load of people bleat on about how they've never seen the problem (with a tone that suggests therefore we're making it up) is frustrating. This is a very real problem.
I have several computers and internet devices, and my iMac is the only one that has any kind of trouble with wireless reliability. My iPod touch is rock solid. Even my HP professional laptop when I ran OSX86 (I was just curious to see how it ran) was better than my iMac!
When I bought my Mac I got 10.4 and 10.5. I spent some time a while back installing 10.4 alongside Leopard, and it was much better (in terms of reliability). However, the reason I got the Mac was to develop iPhone apps, so Leopard came back (with a clean install) and it's still flakey.
I would really, really like Apple to fix this problem. My HPs don't have these sorts of faults, even those that are now pretty ancient. One of the ways I sold the Mac to my wife was that it would be a 'perfect' experience, but all she wants to do is smash it up.
The only computer affected by this problem in my personal experience is the newest of them all: a late 2007 iMac. A pair of five year old PowerBooks have never had any wi-fi wobbles in all that time and soldier on today.
The base station is last year's white AirPort Extreme 802.11n, I've tried the network on a wide variety of modes of course including WEP and plain no protection at all. No difference. It's only channel 9 ? mysteriously ? which has any effect at all.
There's nothing more lame than being told a brand new system straight out of the factory in a base config has a problem with its wi-fi which is apparently "known" and no, you can't hear if there's anything being done about it. I'm glad it wasn't a laptop as ethernet was of course always possible (although not preferable). For affected MacBook owners this must really suck.
For folks with an iMac a temporary solution is to get another AEBS or some other router that can act as a bridge.
If you are on a G network there's a $50 Buffalo one that I got for travel once since I was somewhere for a couple weeks and I was like 10 feet from a reliable connection. The external antenna on the Buffalo had better range and was rock steady.
For those with a laptop...well, that's a lot more problematic unless you have a specific place you tend to compute from and can leave the access point/bridge in place.
So what is this bug? My Mac (running 10.5.2) has had no Wi-Fi problems connecting to Actiontec (Verizon FiOS) and Linksys base stations.
Tens of thousands of Apple users have been banging their heads against the Apple's criticism firewall since Leopard was released. Disappointment in 10.5.1 was followed by disbelief in 10.5.2. Workarounds include "bring your router to work" and downgrade to Tiger. Discussion boards on Apple littered with complaints. Each complaint rebuffed tenfold by the Mac faithful with sarcastic quips like "works for me" and mundane suggestions like "update your router's firmware"; denialism in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
6 months later this makes the news because its NYU. That's life I suppose.
Comments
I don't know the exact issue the NY DOE is facing. My case is as follows (in short):
MacBook+10.4.11+WPA2=
MacBook+10.5.0+WPA2=
MacBook+10.5.1+WPA2=
MacBook+10.5.2+WPA2=
MacBook+10.5.2+WPA1=
You'll be able to find lots of discussions in the Apple forums. The reason doesn't always seem to be the same, but just a few examples:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread....sageID=6643660
http://discussions.apple.com/thread....sageID=6466793
http://discussions.apple.com/thread....readID=1231631
http://discussions.apple.com/thread....readID=1008143
Some friends of mine had problems with their Macbooks right out of the box...
Same here although I started getting the loss of connections in Tiger 10.4.11 if I remember right.
The flaw is with many MacBooks. Internet connection drops randomly, often re-setting automatically, sometimes every few minutes. The problem varies from somewhat annoying (pages won't load) to work stopping (pages REALLY won't load). Other computers with the same wireless router (including PCs) remain rock solid. Only those with Leopard drop out. (Or, according to others, Tiger too, after 10.4.10.) In fact, my MacBook worked flawlessly--never dropped--until 10.4.10. Now it's schizo.
Don't believe it's real? Take a look at the Apple forums under MacBook-->Internet and Networking
One thread has 51,000 views and 618 replies. Another has 9,000 views and 145 replies.
If you haven't seen this flaw with your MacBook, just be thankful. But, believe me, this is real. I hope this pressure helps Apple get on the ball.
I currently have a MacBook, used to have a MacBook Pro after I broke it by accidently throwing some at my screen, and before that has a PowerBook, and I have noticed this issue with everyone of my Apple laptops, and i think the issue has to do with when there are multiple locations pushing out the wireless signal for the same network. THANK YOU SOMEONE FOR FIXING THIS PROBLEMS???? APPLE I LOVE YOU, BUT GO F*** YOURSELF FOR NOT ADDRESSING THIS KNOWN ISSUE INT HE PAST!!!!
Um. this is just unfair for all the student's who's parents got them a mac becasue they needed it, and now can't get it!
I say just put an apostrophe in every word, that way you can be sure to get it in the right one
That sucks and I feel for you... I come with my own tale of insanity that revolved around 10.2 or 10.3 (can't remember) mounting SMB shares (hosted by W2k3 servers) and Mac users trying to save Excel files while other people had them open in read only mode... The files would get TOTALLY NUKED!!!! Yea that would be BAD in a research environment...
Talk about a circle jerk...
Apple -- It's W2k3
Apple -- It could also be the MacBU who wrote Office 2004
MS Server Group -- Its Apple
MacBU -- Its Apple
Blah blah blah -- static static static...
Problem went unfixed for close to a yea IIRC - I **think** 10.4 had the fix in it... but OH what a nightmare!!
Dave
Multi-vendor finger pointing nightmare. Sorry
I try to stay vanilla one-vendor, but I know it is not feasible for most people.
(and even that doesn't prevent issues)
I say just put an apostrophe in every word, that way you can be sure to get it in the right one
sorry about that
dang typoes
and great comment!
The only problem I have is connecting to another mac through the wi fi but the PPC laptop running Leopard works fine, my conclusion is, it has something to do with the Intel chip (could be wrong here)
Nice caption. It's false, but hey whatever grabs your privates.
An accurate title:
Mac shipment suspended for NYC Schools over WiFi flaw in OS X Leopard
I would imagine the author was having fun with the "bad student gets suspended from school" concept.
Is it that hard to figure out?
Am I the only one wondeing why DELL IS SHIPPING APPLE PRODUCTS? can someone please enlighten me?
thats about the only thing i took away from the article too!! and i have the same question! and, if they're being held, shouldnt apple be doing the holding?
Um. this is just unfair for all the student's who's parents got them a mac becasue they needed it, and now can't get it!
The parents are not the one's who are buying the Macs for their kids. It's the department of education that's buying them for the schools.
He had no end of Wi-Fi trouble on my AEBS.n from day one. Network not showing up, password and security not checking out, and of course dropped connections … many, many of them.
This happened both on Tiger and Leopard, probably versions 10.4.11 and 10.5.0 back then.
I got him to wipe it and clean install from our Leopard family pack and nothing seemed to change.
However, one day while helping out with a friend's faulty iBook (its Airport card antenna connector needed an extra hard push) I'd put the AEBS on channel 9 instead of automatic and that – reportedly – has kept the iMac's connection pretty stable. It ain't perfect, but it is pretty useable now. Neither 10.5.1 nor 10.5.2 did anything to alter matters.
Meanwhile the two Mac mini's and three PowerBooks in the house have been rock solid on the AEBS throughout, as well as a couple of visiting Intel Mac laptops on .n instead of .g…
Sorry for the extensive explanation and my english, but I though it might be interesting to some.
Cheers
APPLE I LOVE YOU, BUT GO F*** YOURSELF FOR NOT ADDRESSING THIS KNOWN ISSUE INT HE PAST!!!!
Software can be really complex, especially when it behaves unpredictably. Please save us from your temper tantrums next time. None of us know what Apple's action on this has been thus far, except that they've acknowledged the issue and are working on it.
I am not personally aware of the problem encountered by the NYC schools, but I suspect it is WPA. ...
This is almost certainly true. And just to add a piece of totally anecdotal, subjective data to the pile ...
It seems to me (from reading reports of this bug), that almost everyone concerned who has had it is living or working in an area with "old" infrastructure (older US cities, etc.).
It's one of Apple's Achilles heels that all of the people that work for them, as well as a huge majority of their users, are using "state of the art" kit. It's only after releasing the software do they start to see problems from users with terribly old computers or those who are located in far-away places doing weird and wonderful things.
This is almost certainly true.
Is is almost certainly not! I've been one of the many people who do have problems, and my wireless access point is now configured with no security at all (except for mac address filtering).
I have to say that coming here and hear a load of people bleat on about how they've never seen the problem (with a tone that suggests therefore we're making it up) is frustrating. This is a very real problem.
I have several computers and internet devices, and my iMac is the only one that has any kind of trouble with wireless reliability. My iPod touch is rock solid. Even my HP professional laptop when I ran OSX86 (I was just curious to see how it ran) was better than my iMac!
When I bought my Mac I got 10.4 and 10.5. I spent some time a while back installing 10.4 alongside Leopard, and it was much better (in terms of reliability). However, the reason I got the Mac was to develop iPhone apps, so Leopard came back (with a clean install) and it's still flakey.
I would really, really like Apple to fix this problem. My HPs don't have these sorts of faults, even those that are now pretty ancient. One of the ways I sold the Mac to my wife was that it would be a 'perfect' experience, but all she wants to do is smash it up.
Bah, humbug.
The base station is last year's white AirPort Extreme 802.11n, I've tried the network on a wide variety of modes of course including WEP and plain no protection at all. No difference. It's only channel 9 ? mysteriously ? which has any effect at all.
There's nothing more lame than being told a brand new system straight out of the factory in a base config has a problem with its wi-fi which is apparently "known" and no, you can't hear if there's anything being done about it. I'm glad it wasn't a laptop as ethernet was of course always possible (although not preferable). For affected MacBook owners this must really suck.
If you are on a G network there's a $50 Buffalo one that I got for travel once since I was somewhere for a couple weeks and I was like 10 feet from a reliable connection. The external antenna on the Buffalo had better range and was rock steady.
For those with a laptop...well, that's a lot more problematic unless you have a specific place you tend to compute from and can leave the access point/bridge in place.
So what is this bug? My Mac (running 10.5.2) has had no Wi-Fi problems connecting to Actiontec (Verizon FiOS) and Linksys base stations.
Tens of thousands of Apple users have been banging their heads against the Apple's criticism firewall since Leopard was released. Disappointment in 10.5.1 was followed by disbelief in 10.5.2. Workarounds include "bring your router to work" and downgrade to Tiger. Discussion boards on Apple littered with complaints. Each complaint rebuffed tenfold by the Mac faithful with sarcastic quips like "works for me" and mundane suggestions like "update your router's firmware"; denialism in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
6 months later this makes the news because its NYU. That's life I suppose.