blizzardkmb4
Level 1 (10 points)

Q: MacBook's Wireless range diminished

About two weeks ago the wireless range on my MacBook suddenly fell dramatically, so I have to be about twice as close to the router to receive signal, corresponding to a four-fold decrease in signal reception.

Let's say X is the old wireless range. When the laptop is within 1/2X, the internet works perfectly. When I am at distance X, the network doesn't appear. When I am at 3/4X and try to connect to the network, I get "Connection timeout" notices. Sometimes after I enter in my password and click "Connect," the "Network Preferences" window reloads the password prompt dialog box, with an empty password. If I turn off the AirPort and turn it back on, the network often fails to appear unless I move back to within 1/2X.

The wireless router is 3Com, with WEP encryption. I am 99% sure that the problem is with my computer, because my brother's similar black Macbook gets wireless in the old areas with no problems. I'm using 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 for DNS.

I've tried: Forgetting the wireless network and then reconnecting to it, powering off and on the router, manually entering the network name and password, and none of these steps has worked. I would appreciate if you could tell me other steps I can take to troubleshoot the problem, including possibly checking for damage to the wireless antenna. Thanks very much!

White late 2008 Macbook, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Jul 5, 2010 7:22 PM

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blizzardkmb4

Q: MacBook's Wireless range diminished

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  • by Randy Newspapers,

    Randy Newspapers Randy Newspapers Dec 30, 2013 6:28 AM in response to RAK_125
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 30, 2013 6:28 AM in response to RAK_125

    Sadly, they do this on purpose so they can sell more of their airport extremes. Every little bit adds up you know. I had to purchase them here because they just had weak-to-non-existent signals otherwise. Airport fixes it just fine though.

  • by RAK_125,

    RAK_125 RAK_125 Jan 1, 2014 4:51 PM in response to Randy Newspapers
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 1, 2014 4:51 PM in response to Randy Newspapers

    I have an old Airport Extreme that I had put away because the modem supplied with my internet plan is wireless. After reading your post I pulled out my AE and hooked it up. It gave me a glimmer of hope when it connected from the distant room, but then it disconnected and gave me an ! on my wifi icon. So unfortunately not even the Airport Extreme will let me use wireless from a distance (2 rooms away with a hall with no walls leading straight to it). Maybe beause it's an old one (??) 802.11n. I've only ever used Mac products and know nothing else. This is so dissapointing from Apple.

  • by H100,

    H100 H100 Jan 3, 2014 2:08 AM in response to blizzardkmb4
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 3, 2014 2:08 AM in response to blizzardkmb4

    I have this problem to. To be clear I think that there are two issues being discussed:

    1. Poor wifi that caused by router settings. In this case you should still be able to 'see; local wifi networks, connection and speed issues may exist or

    2. Poor wifi that is caused by a hardware fault, this limits what the laptop can 'see', so when I'm comparing my MBP with another device, the MBP can't 'see' that same number of networks and looses sight of my router way before the other device. - This is what's happening to me.

     

    So far my PD has consisted of trying a previous OS - no change

    Disconnecting the 3 antenna connections and trying them 1 at a time. Connections J0 and J2 showed the same behaviour as when all 3 connected, by J1 showed nothing.

     

    Next steps are to try connecting J0 (and/or J2) antenna to the cards J1 connection, this will tell me if the issue is the card or the antenna.

     

    Frankly given the amount of discussion on this issue I surprised that this hasn't be raised as a recall issue, c'mon Apple show this issue the kind of support that you're known for. Great customer service and support is part of the reason customers like me choose Apple products.

     

    Bug report filed

  • by H100,

    H100 H100 Jan 4, 2014 1:30 PM in response to H100
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 4, 2014 1:30 PM in response to H100

    More PD,

     

    So the results are in of the single antenna tests:

     

    Antenna     Board     Result

    J2               J2          Normal

    J2               J1          V poor

    J1               J1          V poor

    J1               J0          Normal

     

    I could have done more testing but the antenna connectors are quite fragile. The results look fairly conclusive, in that Board J1 always produced a weak  or no connection.

     

    So next I'll get a new board (unless Apple see sense and authorise an out of warranty repair?) and see what happens....

  • by BetuUuUu,

    BetuUuUu BetuUuUu Jan 6, 2014 11:06 AM in response to blizzardkmb4
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 6, 2014 11:06 AM in response to blizzardkmb4

    I wish they make a recall soon, I can't stand this issue.

  • by hooshang1335,

    hooshang1335 hooshang1335 Feb 4, 2016 10:24 PM in response to RAK_125
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2016 10:24 PM in response to RAK_125

    i need to a driver for my wi.fi what can i do

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