Q: Macbook Airport Drops Connection

I installed 10.5.6, and it's no help - still getting repeated dropouts, at times worse than ever. Turning Airport off and back on fixes the problem for a minute or two, and trashing all my Network prefs occasionally fixes things for a couple of hours, but the dropouts always return.

Has anyone here experienced these problems with an Airport Extreme? At this point I'm willing to consider buying one, but only if I'm sure it'll fix my problems.

same problem using Time Capsule here... random drops on my new MB Alu 10.5.6

I've got the exact same symptoms, but I'm not about to buy a whole new router when it works just fine for both of the other Macs in this house and Windows via Boot Camp has no issue whatsoever. What's strange is the wifi was perfectly fine for a few days after 10.5.6. I have no idea what could've broken it again, considering I haven't changed anything.

I think I found how to fix this. You have to change the order of "Service Order" within the Network Preferences. To get here, go into System Prefs --> Network, and then underneath the Airport, Bluetooth, Firewire, Ethernet you should see a little star-like icon that will allow a drop down menu. Click on that and then click on Set Service Order and drag Airport to the top of the list. I would restart your computer just for good measure. Let me know if this works please, I would like some feedback because it seems to be working for me. (I had the same problem on a Macbook, the WiFi was constantly connected but the connection was inconsistent).

It sort of worked. The connection stayed up for about a day, but throughput dwindled down to almost nothing. It couldn't be recovered. I've switched back to a LAN connection in the meantime.

Alright, this is weird. I deleted my Airport interface via System Preferences and recreated it, reordered the services, clicked Apply - and System Preferences crashed. Probably a fluke, but hey.

The plot thickens. I kept iStumbler running in the background for a few hours, and my connection stayed more or less in fine condition - but then iStumbler silently crashed. Syslogd and ... acsomethingorother - pushed my CPU to 100% utilization across both cores. I missed the name of the second one, but I figured it was dumping to the system logs.

Sure enough, I found my log file was full of this:

12/23/08 9:26:38 PM kernel [492] [0x86d8000] Req OpCode 0000 from: blued (49) status: 0 state: 0 timeout: 9400

with a different address in every line. For one, I have Bluetooth disabled. For another, my Airport connection dropped immediately when iStumbler terminated.

So now I have to wonder: does anybody else who's been having this issue have VMware installed? I dug through my system log files and found VMware's virtual network interface was still bound to all my network interfaces even though Fusion wasn't running.

Well, there we go. I tried connecting to another access point and found the Airport connection would bottom out entirely if there was no constant activity - running iStumbler in the background kept signal at full strength, terminating the program caused a complete loss of network connectivity. Of note, both access points use WPA. I suppose I've got no choice now except to try my luck taking the laptop to Apple for a replacement Airport card, or wait for them to actually fix the problem.

My MacBook Pro only drops internet connections when I'm at home and someone else also is also using wi-fi (my husband gets on his laptop, or my brother gets on his iPhone). We have a Time Capsule router. Nobody experiences any problems but me. I've got all the software updates, and they're not helping. I'll initially be able to connect, but then I get dropped and have to "run network diagnostics," which leads me to re-enter my password, which then leads to my being able to reconnect for shorter and shorter periods. Very, very frustrating.

I never have any problem connecting at work or at other places with wi-fi, just at home. I'll keep checking this forum to see if anybody ever finds a solution.

Same problem here. I went to the Genius Bar today. The guy told me they would keep my macbook and test it for the dropouts, then he quoted me $80. for a new card plus $70 labor to install it.

This seems to be a pretty big problem. I am hoping Apple fixes it for us. If not, I will buy a card and replace it myself...

I don't believe it, but I think I got it stable! I started getting drops a few months ago. It was happening with other computers as well, so I upgraded from an Asus wireless router to the Airport Extreme. Then the trouble really started. Now, all of the other computers could work, but the macbook got dropped off of the network all of the time (but worked fine in BootCamp).

I have been messing with the settings for a few months and scanning all of the forums (and finding many people with the same problem). After the 10.5.6 upgrade, I still had the same problem. Then I came across another post about problems with Real Player. I had an old real player installed from about a year ago. It was not loading the updater at boot, so I thought that it could not be it. But I did a full delete of the app, the pref, and also ripped out the iTunes plugin (this is probably the problem). That was a couple of days ago and it has been working since. I have never gone this long without a drop.

On top of that, the network speed has gotten better (significantly). It might be a coincidence, but I have been having a problem with VNC that would lock the keyboard (I had this problem back with my old iBook and 10.4 as well - also with Real Player). I thought it was a VNC problem, but it seems to be working reliably now. Incredible! Let's hope this is the real fix and does not creep up again...

I've had exactly the same problem as you - I'm happily connected to the internet via WIFI on my april 2008 Macbook, my wife logs in with her macbook pro, and within a few mins I no longer have internet access. It's been driving me crazy.
Anyway (inspired by some of the other postings on this thread), I just got my hands on an airport express router that has been knocking around for yonks unused and set up an 'apple network' in my house (this literally took 2 mins as we've got macs) and hey presto I've suddenly got my macbook, my wife's macbook pro and my mac desktop all running streaming video at the same time, and faster than before. I'm so happy!

I have the same problem with Airport on my MacBook. Similar to Tiresias314:

Tiresias314 wrote:

- Macbook purchased in very beginning of June, 2006 (right as soon as they were released).
- Intel Core Duo (not Core 2 Duo)
- I upgraded my own RAM and HD (twice), but never had any immediate correlation to the issue appearing.
- Problem started appearing BEFORE Leopard. Seems to be OS independent.

Specifics:
- Usually after reboot or coming out of sleep after extensive time (5+ hours), signal strength is good, immediately connects to network.
- After a short while of use, connection becomes unreliable. Safari has a lot of "Contacting www.google.com" or whatever site, as though it cannot reach a gateway.
- Signal sometimes visibly drops to 50% or lower. Sometimes I can shut off Airport and turn back on again, and it'll work very briefly.
- AP Grapher says no noise.
- Rebooting has no affect on the issue immediately. Seems to need "time out"
- Even sitting directly next to wireless router or access point, system shows a "full radar", but connection can turn unreliable.

I'm going to write up more of this in a lengthier article and send it to TUAW and MacRumors to see if anyone else is having similar issues.

Except I bought my MacBook in Sept or Oct 2006 in Canada and did RAM upgrade but only one HD upgrade.

Any word back from TUAW (???) or MacRumors.

I've called AppleCare (useless -- it sounded like they were having a party in the background) and they suggested:

-Changing the router setting -- didn't work
-trashing the plist -- didn't work
-using different networks (at home, WEP, WPA, free public...)

"didn't work" really means airport worked for a bit, like before, but then cut out. Or dropped down significantly, then dropped out.

I haven't tried:

-resetting PRAM or NVRAM
-cooling down my macbook by increasing fan speed (Fan Control or SMCfancontrol)
-replacing my airport extreme card
-the "little snitch" fix

all of the above "fixes" were found on this thread.
I feel like if its an airport card issue, apple should be replacing it free (i'm still under apple care.

has anyone had any success with any of the above fixes, given that i don't just want to connect to my home network, but also to the wireless network at work at at the local coffee shops.

thnx


I love Macs but I just wish Apple would respond to this in some way, shape, or form. I would like to believe that Macs are still products that work well, are user friendly and the service you get from Apple good.

I have a solution.

Install bootcamp and run windows. Never had a problem with connections dropping running xp on the same macbook. Next time I'll buy a Sony.

If thats true, then wouldn't that mean that the problem has nothing to do with the airport card or the antenna?

Besides I don't want to partition my Mac and I'd rather not have anything to do with Windows. I WANT MY MACBOOK TO WORK! IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK!

But how do you explain how other people who have posted on this thread solved their problem by replacing their airport card?

To me it suggests that there are multiple problems going on depending on:

1. *The MacBook or MacBook Pro* (fan - SMC Fan Control fix, computer tempurature, airport preferences - trashing plist fix, ability to detect too many signals - the littlesnitch fix, airport card, airport software update, OS updates, power source -- batter or power cord, resetting PRAM) and

2. *The corresponding router*, either at home, work, or public connection (router setting, frequency, channel, firmware update, connection type (WPA, WEP, open, etc), interference with other devices)

all of these problems and fixes are posted here on this thread and all have had success with some posters. The frusterating things is that there seems to be no one, or even two, quick fixes.

I would love for Apple to *step up to the plate* and research (as they do so well with user interface and R&D) what the problems are and which ones MOST people are having, why and what the fix would be.

To take matters into our own hands, I would love to set up a poll to see how many people have used which fix successfully to find out which one is working for more people, but I don't know if this discussion interface can create one. if anyone knows how to do so, please help out.

Until then, does anyone know a way that we can bring this thread, and really, this problem to the attention of Apple? How can we forward this thread to them?