Intermittent WIFI with Leopard on Macbook

Yeah, my airport doesn't work worth a darn. It's always connecting and reconnecting. Also, I seem to not be able to verify my disk permissions, could you guys see if you have this problem? I am on a SR Macbook that I bought 15 days (d'oh, just one day ago I could have returned the danged thing!) ago.

Looks like we got something to look forward to in the new year..

"...Apple seems to be addressing most of those remaining bugs with its 10.5.2 update, which it just seeded to developers. There are apparently 76 fixes listed in the release notes, ranging from fan-faves like MacBook AirPort funkiness to obscure gems like Rosetta PowerPC compatibility memory leaks. This is just the first distribution of the update, and a release to users is rumored to hit mid-January, coinciding with new hardware at Macworld."

via http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/mac-os-x-10-5-2-is-packing-hefty-fixes-due-ja nuary-ish/

*Idea for new Mac commercial: "Hi, I'm a Mac. I release essential fixes to coincide with publicity stunts instead of when you actually need them."

...Apple seems to be addressing most of those remaining bugs with its 10.5.2 update, which it just seeded to developers. There are apparently 76 fixes listed in the release notes, ranging from fan-faves like MacBook AirPort funkiness

Well ... that's nice, but they need to fix it in 10.4, as well. Everything was great until 10.4.10. Having to purchase an upgrade to 10.5 to fix what got broken in 10.4 is not the right answer.

tarpozo, we're both running 10.5.1.

i'll bring one of my airport express thingies and the tiger DVD as a last ressort when going home for christmas.

i can't believe that there's not a single word or acknowledgement from apple. this is a very new face you guys are showing.

What are you, DWB, some kind of major Apple shareholder? You seem to have a child-like faith in Apple's benevolent wisdom. I have owned this Macbook for 15 days and think that if the wireless doesn't work I should get an instant exchange, not endless haggling with call centres in Greece and tedious trips to the Regent Street Apple store to visit a so-called 'genius'. You really seem to have bought into their 'good-guy' advertising hook, line, and sinker.

I realize that it can be a bit difficult to follow threads sometimes but if you are going to launch a personal attack try making sure you have all the facts. I was not responding to someone whose computer was brand new. I was responding to someone who had upgraded to Leopard from Tiger. Had you started a new thread about your new computer (or posted to a thread about a new computer) not connecting to WiFi, my response would have been quite different. But since I never had a chance to do so - have a nice life buster.

I also have the maddening problem of losing connectivity while web browsing. If I turn Airport off and on it recovers. I have a Macbook, upgraded to Leopard, and an Airport Extreme Base Gigabit router. I don't think the problem plagues my iMac G5, my iBook G4 or a couple of Windows machines but I think I have encountered it with my iPhone. They really need to get this resolved. Not only is Apple's silence deafening it makes their entire ease of use PR campaign disingenuous.
Merry Christmas,
Charlie

I have had the same problems with connectivity for the past six weeks or so.

As reported on this forum in various threads by hundreds of others, I could only keep a secure wifi connection when running off the power cord. The problem started on 10.4.10 but I upgraded to Leopard to try to fix the airport issue. But no such luck, it still dropped every two mins.

BUT- STOP PRESS - for the past 20 or so hours I can use my airport connection, on battery, without it dropping every two mins. Unbelievable or what??????

So, what has changed?? I'm still using 10.5.1.

Am hoping this is it ... the problem is fixed somehow.

Any one else running without power cord with no drops? Am holding my breath on this .......

I also have been on battery power for almost three hours without a drop in connection.

It's almost like it fixed itself on its own.

Did you happen to download the latest Security Update?

I haven't as of yet.

I spoke too soon.

Now I am having connection drops even when it is plugged in with the ac adapter.

Well my Late 2007 Macbook works just fine on my wireless network. I use it hours each day with no problems. I'm connected 99% of the time to the Apple AC adapter. Never had an issue since purchasing new on Nov 1. I have all the OSX updates installed for Leopard.

My router is a Linksys WRT54GL with high gain antennas, running on channel 9. The connection is 802.11G. I run ToFu v 13.c firmware (modified Linksys code). My security is WPA Personal with a 63 character key.

Hope this helps someone. I've installed 14 WRT54GL's this year. They ROCK. Check buy.com and newegg.com

Ok, this may or may not even work for you guys, but it has worked for me.

I noticed I get the same problems described here, except, to fix it, I change the wifi's channel on the base station. I have a Wireless-N Extreme Base Station (Gigabit) and I notice whenever I rotate between channels 1, 6, and 11, it has helped with the problem. So far, I leave my macbook on all the time, usually this happen every 2-3 weeks for me (which is not too bad when yoou think about it) and just rotating through the channels works.

Also, use network utility and check, you're getting packet errors, a lot of them in the "Receive" mostly.

It turns out that not only does Safari stop responding but Firefox does as well. As such, I don't know if it is a Leopard problem or a Airport Extreme Base (gigabit) problem. I do know that it beyond annoying.
Charlie

Hi all,

My sister's MacBook is having a similar problem that you all are describing, and she is still running Tiger. Her wireless signal intermittently drops out, even if she is right next to the router. Turning the airport off and on sometimes fixes the problem, but not always - apple has been no help, and its frustrating at this point.

It seems like other people are having this problem with a MacBook running Tiger (as well as Leopard). Could this be a hardware problem? Some design flaw in the antenna perhaps?

I also see that some people had no problems with MacBooks running 10.4.9 and earlier, but had the intermittent wireless problem at 10.4.10? Has anyone tried reverting to 10.4.9 to see if that fixes the problem? Is that even possible?

Thanks all.