Q: AirPort won't turn on unless restarted, then causes computer to freeze

OMG Baby Boomer......I retried this method and picked a different channel than the last time I tried it and...maybe I'm being premature in my happiness but YAY...I think this attempt is working!!! I am moving my computer and it isn't bumping me offline or freezing up! Again ty for your knowledge!

...no surprise......fix didn't hold...**beating head off wall**

Thanks for updating Fraser...I too dropped my laptop off yesterday to an authorised Apple repair shop ...just waiting for the call...now I know what to expect the verdict to be. Mine too began to say it didn't recognize the airport as being installed.Also my fans stopped running.

I am just disgusted! My computer guy says absolutely NOTHING is showing up as being defective except a weird bad sector warning! He said the computer could last 3 days or 3 years before it fails but no red flags are coming up! I get the same response everytime I take it in. He says he saw all the dropoffs from the reports but it hasn't lost a connection or froze up on him while he watched a 45 minute video. I guess I just have to except defeat and go out and buy a NON Apple computer so I can get my work done.

Datnice

This doesn't sound good at all.  I haven't had much success so far but I didn't get a chance to head to my local Apple Retailer.  I will however drop a line to update you folks as soon as I get word. 

good luck Cyndi

Well Sliq...refusing to believe that there is nothing wrong I demanded the VST test and not just the same old diagnostic test....I mentioned that others have posted that their computers work fine in safe mode and/or using ethernet. Low and behold......airport wouldn't launch inside my profile! Now I have to wait for word on Monday since now it is the weekend. *praying to the skys* please work ,please work! Demand that test if you take it in Sliq...as usual I will report back as well!

So on the Monday.....tech again tried to tell me nothing was wrong. He offered to change my airport card with an old comp (same age as mine) that was left at his shop and I totally said DO IT! I have it home now....very very very slow start up...no ping and still no fan sounds. I couldn't get pages to load at all so I changed the DNS servers and I am able to surf the web now and have had no freeze ups or airport drops. That's all for now until the next problem arises ...which I fully expect. Safe to say changing the airport card like both Fraser and I did solved this issue.

This is the exact same thing that happens to me. I notice that my fan spins like crazy before the wifi stops working. It will show internet connections, but when you want to connect, it will ask you for the password again. When you put in the password, it just says connection timed out. So if you try turning off airport and turning it back on, it just won't let you. The only way to resolve this is to restart. However, when restarting the fan is spinning like crazy and it also freezes/hangs during the restart or a bit after.

Sometimes it just hangs/freezes but the wifi is working perfectly fine. This usually happens when the laptop is heating up and the fan is spinning.

Does anyone have an update here on any fixes? I am having the same issue with high speed constant fan, freezing, airport issues etc?

thanks all!

hi guys, I have a macbook pro 13, got it sometime 2years ago ( sept. 2010), i renember having a recent update on my mac partition. I have all the problems you guys get, the airport going crazy, freezing, slow restarts or actually no restarts. I always have to switch it off by holding the power button which is crazy having bought a mac instead of a pc just to avoid these things. strangely on my windows particion the wifi seems working properly only when connecting to free wifi. but then when i restart on the apple particion it all freezes back. the problem is that I live in italy and client services and general knowledge of the tech guys is simply $h*t!!! is juct changing the airport card solving the problem?

thanks guys

Tano....changing the airport card worked for me.....haven't had any issues since doing so. Hope that helps

thanks datnice, I surrended and called in to fix an appointment, hoping for the best.

for any help to others I also called the support but they didn't manage to do anything, I also did a new disk and system permision check, and what came out was horrible, then tried to work with windows partition and everything was f****** up, so I removed it. but nothing changed, I'm on my ipad which if it worked properly would be better but apple decided to hate me. anyways this was to tell anyone else who has this problem to do as I did: if you still have your apple care plan activated just call in to get an appointment and hand-in the computer. last thing i want to do is start opening the computer by myself.

I have this exact same problem. At first I I didn't make anything of it, My computer was constantly hot I thought it was normal then out of no where the battery started getting fat and the silver thing with blue tape inside started leaking and stained my desk at work, I simply thought fine it's time for a new battery so I replaced it 2 months later the same thing happened except this time the battery & the power cord were completly dead, I tried it with my roomates charger and it worked fine it would pick up the battery except wouldn't work if you unplug it.. Repurchased both.. Now, as I doing work at home it froze the music stopped and sounded as if it was a scratched CD. I restarted it 'cause I needed to finish up my report. It was saved to 5 minutes before thank god. Out of no where safari wouldn't load anything and the airport wouldn't turn on. I called apple and the rep pretty much said there's nothing they can do. I refuse to buy a new logic board for $799 when I've invested more than that. I'm really disappointed with apple as they've let this product die out and not willing to repair it. At the genius bar they came up with so many excuses as to how it's NOTHING to do with the graphics card. EVEN though infront of them it would freeze. They said "It's gonna be cheaper to buy a new computer than to fix this one" I've never had any issue this big with another brand laptop. Sony replaced my friends entire computer when all that was wrong with his was a simple network problem.

This sounds like the airport cable attached to the MLB is faulty.  I recently fixed this same problem.  The cable connection at the end sometimes comes apart at the pin points and changing the cable fixed my problem.  My problem was airport wouldn't turn on. Then I'd unplug the battery (unibody Macbook pro) and it would turn on but not connect to a network nor show any networks.  I believe shifting the case and opening it temporarily got the pins to touch on my cable end and then it would get moved and disconnect again.  So just change the $8 cable first before you go and drop money on a new Mother board.