Intermittent WIFI with Leopard on Macbook

I'm also affected by this issue - new macbook with leopard. I had thought it was the right time to upgrade from my Powerbook G4 Tiger, but now considering returning the computer within the 2 week threshold.

So after a little internet sleuthing, I found another mac community venting and writing about the same issues. We have..

Apple Insider:
http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=81681

I'm curious how many of us out there who are having this exact same problem have learned that it doesn't happen when the power is plugged in. My MB has this same problem, forcing me to constantly click the airport signal strength icon on the top bar to force wifi to reinit. Sometimes, certain web pages won't load and I get a browser screen that indicates I don't have an internet connection, while a few web sites still work.

When the power is plugged in, there is simply no problem at all. It works just fine. I never had problems with Tiger until I upgraded to 10.4.10. I hoped upgrading to Leopard would take care of it but it still happens.

About the only thing that helps is to turn off Airport, go to Network Preferences, remove the remembered wireless network you were connected to, Apply the changes, and then turning Airport back on.

Also, don't use Safari -- using Firefox helps to minimize the loss of connectivity to the Internet. I tell you, it's the most annoying thing to have this happen; I've been using Vista more often then I'd like to be on my MacBook, but as long as I can surf the Internet without worrying about "Is the connection going to be dropped now?", I feel it's worth it. I'm dismayed at the lack of any official acknowledgment this is a problem.

I've been told to reset my router, and set it up using leopard, that there are some config settings that will be set between the router and all leopard systems by doing this. Also I am told this will not affect Tiger, XP,,,,,,, Will try tonight

I have the same problem, this is really starting to take the **** a little. If I wanted problems with drivers, I'd have used Vista..

Hello, I have my own thread going on about this. I just wanted to comment that the reason this kinda ****** me off is because Apples whole ad campaign is based on how the Mac works so much better than a pc. I have found that they both work ok and they both have problems that companies ignore or take their sweet time fixing and they both lock up sometimes among other things. I will say that my Mac is much prettier than any pc I have ever owned. My brick Airport Extreme is beautiful as well.
On a last note, there would be nothing wrong with Apple replying to a support email with something like " We are aware of this problem and are working on a fix. We are sorry for all the money you spent and we broke your wireless or you Mac sleeping." I don't think that would be bad. Also, When Windows puts out an operating system, it has to work on all kinds of different hardware and software. Vista ***** by the way. Apples OS Just works on Apples hardware, you would think they would test it on a few before selling it to all of us. Just my opinion.

I've seen your posts and I feel your pain. Unfortunately, other than suggesting that your problem is with your computer's hardware, which has already been suggested, I have no other suggestions. As for your AirPort, I wonder if you have been bitten by the bugs of the newest firmware upgrade.

Whether we are dealing with Apple, Microsoft, or XYZ, being an early adopter isn't a good choice. My own Extreme base is two firmware upgrades behind the curve.

I agree and that is why auto update is turned off on my Windows machines. I feel for the hype at first with the Macs I guess but have since turned off auto update on everything here as well. Take care

Out of curiosity, do you guys mind posting what type of router you are all using?

I have a Belkin N Wireless router.

I'm also on a Belkin N router. The strength varies on the same spot between 5 bars and no connection at all, this is a really serious issue and hope that Apple will fix this soon.

I completely and utterly feel your pain.

I attempted to scour around online to see if there was any related threads with Macbook owners with Belkin routers. I found this which was kinda interesting:

"WPA personal has had several wrinkles in how the standard was implemented by various parties......and in this case the big tail that wags the dog has been WinXP. I don't recall the specific site that I read it, but there seems to be a point of congruence where WPA personal will work with ALL clients if the pass phrase is EXACTLY ten characters in length."

via. ( http://www.macfixitforums.com/showflat.php?Board=tiger&Number=788662)

So I ended up elongating my wireless pass to EXACTLY 10 characters, I also went into the security settings and played around with different configurations to see maybe if the login is what was messing up wireless in OSX. I set my encryption to strictly TKIP, the authentication to WPA-PSK, and set my pass to 10 characters.

I'm not sure if I'm imagining things out of sheer hope and optimism but my connection seems to be slightly more stable. Try it out? I'm gonna come back to this thread in a few days with a follow-up.

my main question: do the dropouts only appear when using 3rd party wireless routers?

i just recently bought two macbooks - one for me and one for my brother. mine works just fine in my flat using the airport extreme n base station and two airport express bs - no dropouts whatsoever.

my brother's machine though is constantly having the known issues. he got a 3rd party router at home - i even had to first change the encryption method from WPA2 using TKIP to WPA2 using AES (or some other acronym) to even have his macbook SEE the network.

this really *** - since i'm a mac user for ages (and a very happy one) and now finally was able to convince my brother to come on over to "the bright side". guess how happy he is with his new high-end machine...

not cool.

No - it's not just 3rd party. We had a lot of trouble with a new MacBook losing internet connection via our Airport Extreme n base station. I'm sure I've seen reference to others having this problem with AEBS.

Only the MacBook was affected though - my Powerbook G4 didn't have this problem, even on Leopard. MacBook is back on Tiger now and no problems there either.

Do you know what version of OS X you and your brother are running?

After testing it out for a day, I'm not all too sure my router changes helped THAT much. It may have, or I may have just gotten to the point where I'm ridiculously good with clicking the wifi icon in the top corner subconsciously every time the internet begins to hiccup.

It's so sad. This is almost guaranteed a OSX-related issue. I guess all of us are holding our breath for the Leopard 10.5.2 release ina couple weeks. Boo-urns.