Flaky wireless is nothing new - been a problem on my 2007 MacBook w/Tiger and as far as I know never fixed.
Agreed friend, I had this problem with my 2.33 MBP, my GFs 2.0 MB, and now my early 08 MBP. I have had an Apple Network Specialist Technician admit this is a known problem with BOTH Tiger and Leopard; but nothing more... The only solutions offered have been purchase an offical Apple AirPort, or go wired. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me.
I am no techie but I have been experiencing what seem to be similar problems though mine are non-existent on both my home wifi and at a particular cafe where I work regularly. If I go to any public unencrypted networks, and one encrypted network (so far) I show full strength reception but I am unable to go online.
Does this seem consistent with these other problems? Do any of you more technically inclined folks have any advice?
It definitely isn't just Macbook Pro owners... It's the Macbook Aluminum unibody owners also.
I'm typing this from my 2007 Macbook Pro... sitting RIGHT NEXT TO my 2008 Macbook Aluminum. Why? Because my MBP will stay connected to my Airport Extreme, and my Macbook WON'T CONNECT today. It just isn't in the mood I guess. It connected yesterday, but today it changed it's mind.
Toss out any ideas that it might be 'too far' from the base station, unless of course the radius is less than 5 feet.
Sadly enough, the PC users I've converted are rapidly returning their Macbooks to Apple, and opting for a piece of garbage PC. Can't go for market share when perception is your device is a failure.
-Come on Mr. Jobs... 'The Bean Counter' Mac vs PC commercial is funny, but you yourself might need to move some money from the advertising pile, and pop it over to the 'fix the new machine' pile. My former-pc-user-but-now-former-mac-user friends are finding sad irony in that commercial. Tick tock Doc.
Black Friday fast approaches, and selling laptops that can't connect wirelessly is a BIG mud in the eye for Apple (and my diminishing value of Apple in my stock portfolio). Economic "change" is upon us; not getting it right the first time and failing to fix it, is no longer an option for companies in 2009.
I bought a white Macbook 2.4 last week. Fired it up - no issue. Downloaded the software updates and have been struggling to get a decent wireless connection ever since. (I have nothing other than the out-of the-box software loaded on the machine, for what it's worth). Sometimes the wireless works perfectly. Sometimes it doesn't work at all. It doesn't seem to matter where I am. I have been 5 feet from the router and unable to get a signal.
One thing that I've noticed is that if I hit the airport icon, it will say "scanning" momentarily, then connect. Whether it stays connected is iffy.
I am new to Macs and find this issue troubling. I have used mutliple PC laptops on my router with no issue. My iPod Touch works great. So I don't think it's a router issue. Based on all of the online comments I have read, it appears that the issue is widespread. And I haven't seen anything that indicates an easy way to fix it. I'm chagrined and questioning my purchase decision.
I have the new MBP, and I used to get d/c every 5-10 minutes, and the only way to fix the problem was to turn Airport off and on. I reset the PRAM, deleted info on keychain, etc., but that stuff didn't work.
I updated the firmware on my router and changed the channel (just as someone previously mentioned), and so far so good. I haven't got disconnected in 3 days and counting.
Crossing my fingers because after the Airport Extreme update, I got 2 days w/o being d/c, then the connection seemed worse than before.
It's better but not perfect. Internet still gets lost
I have had this exact problem with a new 2.66 GHz iMac and an existing Airport Extreme "n" network. All existing computers in the household continue to work perfectly, but the iMac keeps dropping connections despite a seemingly perfect signal. Try the following: download and run iStumbler (a program that provides information about other radios in the neighborhood). I did this to try to find a clear channel over which to broadcast, but find, oddly, that the network connection to the iMac is rock solid as long as iStumbler is running. The network connection to my iMac drops intermittently as soon as I turn iStumbler off. I think iStumbler (or another similar program) must help the poor, daft iMac remember with whom it's talking... Another Mac in the house has the same updates (10.5.6 & Airport updates) & works perfectly (as it always has), so I wonder if it's a problem with the Broadcom radio in the iMac or its firmware: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.38.24). I've tried a variety of other solutions that have been outlined in previous posts & at http://www.macmaps.com/WIFI1048.html. All work...temporarily. This ridiculous iStumbler solution is the most stable thing I've found so far. The machine even sleeps & wakes normally to an intact wireless connection... Apple???
I have a 20" imac (1 year old). Over the past month it hasn't been able to keep a wireless connection. My PC laptop can get a connection and so can my iphone. I spoke to Apple and they said it was my router so I went out and bought the Airport Express which worked straight away and i has itunes streaming to it to, it worked for 2 days and now again my imac won't connect again. I've taken my imac from upstairs in the study to downstairs where the router is and it connects!!? but as soon as I take it upstairs again it won't connect. Occasionally it will see the wireless router however literally only for a minute or less and even then it won't allow me to get on the web!?! Really frustrated and banging my head against a wall, especially as there's only 1 week of my warranty left! Has anyone got any ideas, Apple Tech support don't seem very helpful unless I pay them!!
I have a 20" imac (1 year old). Over the past month it hasn't been able to keep a wireless connection. My PC laptop can get a connection and so can my iphone. I spoke to Apple and they said it was my router so I went out and bought the Airport Express which worked straight away and i has itunes streaming to it to, it worked for 2 days and now again my imac won't connect again. I've taken my imac from upstairs in the study to downstairs where the router is and it connects!!? but as soon as I take it upstairs again it won't connect. Occasionally it will see the wireless router however literally only for a minute or less and even then it won't allow me to get on the web!?! Really frustrated and banging my head against a wall, especially as there's only 1 week of my warranty left! Has anyone got any ideas, Apple Tech support don't seem very helpful unless I pay them!!
download the radar app from apple's download pages
change the channel on the router
check for interference from DECT digital telephone bass stations etc..
Hurray at last someone will talk about this. I have my suspicions this is due to the stupid aluminium cases these things come in. I have 2 previous model white iMacs which have none of the problems in identical locations relative to the Airport Extreme.
I have had this since June and have spent countless hours talking to AppleCare about it and being constantly told to wipe my hard drive and reinstall.
And that as we all know is the road to HELL!!!!
I've had the same problem with my BlackBook (MacBook), occasionally it will drop the Wi-Fi signal. I suspect it's software related cause I haven't had the problem before the 10.5.4 or 10.5.5 update.
I feel sorry for your problems, but I don't think it's down to the Unibody enclosure.
So I also join the band of aluminium iMac wireless victims (that is I'm on a 24" 2.66GHz Intel Core Duo 2 running 10.5.6). I have done many of the tests, side-by-side etc. that are mentioned here.
I have noticed one peculiarity that I wish to add to this forum:
in desperation, I decided to try turn the iMac on the table (45-60 degrees) - and this helps! - but then I can not see the screen (and I'm not ready to redo my flat to make this work). This COULD support the aluminium hypothesis, but I appreciate the "experiment" reported by scr021.
From this thread, I realise that there is little hope that our dear Apple Inc has a fix for us in the nearest forseeable future. SO: question is: is there any thing that can be purchased that will work as a signal amplifier?! I have already tried to move two of my three airport expresses around and quite close to the iMac, - but it doesn't seem to help.
I recently purchased a Lynksys WRT54-GL and replaced the firmware with Tomato firmware. In between cell phones, tablets and laptops there are 10 devices connecting to the wireless router. I decided to optimize the channel it was transmitting on. So under the menu Basic -> Network I selected channel 12 - 2.467 GHZ. All my devices worked fine except for my MacBook Pro 13 inch mid 2012. At first it would try to connect and then tell me i should get closer to the access point. In order for me to see my access point again I would have to turn wifi off and then back on again. Repeated this several times and then decided to let the troubleshooter for wifi on the MacPro run. In a nut shell it told me there was a lot of interference. I then proceeded to change the channel on the Lynksys to 8 - 2.447 GHZ and my MacBook is now back online. Hope this helps or guides someone.
Comments
Flaky wireless is nothing new - been a problem on my 2007 MacBook w/Tiger and as far as I know never fixed.
Agreed friend, I had this problem with my 2.33 MBP, my GFs 2.0 MB, and now my early 08 MBP. I have had an Apple Network Specialist Technician admit this is a known problem with BOTH Tiger and Leopard; but nothing more... The only solutions offered have been purchase an offical Apple AirPort, or go wired. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me.
Does this seem consistent with these other problems? Do any of you more technically inclined folks have any advice?
Thanks.
I'm typing this from my 2007 Macbook Pro... sitting RIGHT NEXT TO my 2008 Macbook Aluminum. Why? Because my MBP will stay connected to my Airport Extreme, and my Macbook WON'T CONNECT today. It just isn't in the mood I guess. It connected yesterday, but today it changed it's mind.
Toss out any ideas that it might be 'too far' from the base station, unless of course the radius is less than 5 feet.
Sadly enough, the PC users I've converted are rapidly returning their Macbooks to Apple, and opting for a piece of garbage PC. Can't go for market share when perception is your device is a failure.
-Come on Mr. Jobs... 'The Bean Counter' Mac vs PC commercial is funny, but you yourself might need to move some money from the advertising pile, and pop it over to the 'fix the new machine' pile. My former-pc-user-but-now-former-mac-user friends are finding sad irony in that commercial. Tick tock Doc.
Black Friday fast approaches, and selling laptops that can't connect wirelessly is a BIG mud in the eye for Apple (and my diminishing value of Apple in my stock portfolio). Economic "change" is upon us; not getting it right the first time and failing to fix it, is no longer an option for companies in 2009.
One thing that I've noticed is that if I hit the airport icon, it will say "scanning" momentarily, then connect. Whether it stays connected is iffy.
I am new to Macs and find this issue troubling. I have used mutliple PC laptops on my router with no issue. My iPod Touch works great. So I don't think it's a router issue. Based on all of the online comments I have read, it appears that the issue is widespread. And I haven't seen anything that indicates an easy way to fix it. I'm chagrined and questioning my purchase decision.
I updated the firmware on my router and changed the channel (just as someone previously mentioned), and so far so good. I haven't got disconnected in 3 days and counting.
Crossing my fingers because after the Airport Extreme update, I got 2 days w/o being d/c, then the connection seemed worse than before.
It's better but not perfect. Internet still gets lost
I have had this exact problem with a new 2.66 GHz iMac and an existing Airport Extreme "n" network. All existing computers in the household continue to work perfectly, but the iMac keeps dropping connections despite a seemingly perfect signal. Try the following: download and run iStumbler (a program that provides information about other radios in the neighborhood). I did this to try to find a clear channel over which to broadcast, but find, oddly, that the network connection to the iMac is rock solid as long as iStumbler is running. The network connection to my iMac drops intermittently as soon as I turn iStumbler off. I think iStumbler (or another similar program) must help the poor, daft iMac remember with whom it's talking... Another Mac in the house has the same updates (10.5.6 & Airport updates) & works perfectly (as it always has), so I wonder if it's a problem with the Broadcom radio in the iMac or its firmware: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.38.24). I've tried a variety of other solutions that have been outlined in previous posts & at http://www.macmaps.com/WIFI1048.html. All work...temporarily. This ridiculous iStumbler solution is the most stable thing I've found so far. The machine even sleeps & wakes normally to an intact wireless connection... Apple???
I have a 20" imac (1 year old). Over the past month it hasn't been able to keep a wireless connection. My PC laptop can get a connection and so can my iphone. I spoke to Apple and they said it was my router so I went out and bought the Airport Express which worked straight away and i has itunes streaming to it to, it worked for 2 days and now again my imac won't connect again. I've taken my imac from upstairs in the study to downstairs where the router is and it connects!!? but as soon as I take it upstairs again it won't connect. Occasionally it will see the wireless router however literally only for a minute or less and even then it won't allow me to get on the web!?! Really frustrated and banging my head against a wall, especially as there's only 1 week of my warranty left! Has anyone got any ideas, Apple Tech support don't seem very helpful unless I pay them!!
download the radar app from apple's download pages
change the channel on the router
check for interference from DECT digital telephone bass stations etc..
move the router to another location.
gat a wireless access point for upstairs...
Hurray at last someone will talk about this. I have my suspicions this is due to the stupid aluminium cases these things come in. I have 2 previous model white iMacs which have none of the problems in identical locations relative to the Airport Extreme.
I have had this since June and have spent countless hours talking to AppleCare about it and being constantly told to wipe my hard drive and reinstall.
And that as we all know is the road to HELL!!!!
I've had the same problem with my BlackBook (MacBook), occasionally it will drop the Wi-Fi signal. I suspect it's software related cause I haven't had the problem before the 10.5.4 or 10.5.5 update.
I feel sorry for your problems, but I don't think it's down to the Unibody enclosure.
I have noticed one peculiarity that I wish to add to this forum:
in desperation, I decided to try turn the iMac on the table (45-60 degrees) - and this helps! - but then I can not see the screen (and I'm not ready to redo my flat to make this work). This COULD support the aluminium hypothesis, but I appreciate the "experiment" reported by scr021.
From this thread, I realise that there is little hope that our dear Apple Inc has a fix for us in the nearest forseeable future. SO: question is: is there any thing that can be purchased that will work as a signal amplifier?! I have already tried to move two of my three airport expresses around and quite close to the iMac, - but it doesn't seem to help.
Rein