MacBook Pro constantly losing wireless connectivity

gebitu wrote:
No, this is not router issue, this is OS X10.5.2 issue. My router is working fine for Windows on Fusion on Macbook Pro. But on OS X 10.5.2, it constantly drops connection. I cannot even download Skype.

Well... after my post the other day, I went out and bought a new Router - standard Linksys Wireless-N home router. With my MBP the connection stayed live for over 8 hours. I left the laptop downloading some very large files (over 10GB) over night, and when I woke up all the files were downloaded and the machine was still connected to the router....

My old router, as well as the access point at work would drop the connection about once an hour... So, new router = no problems for me. I don't think this is a universal issue, despite the realization that many, many people are having trouble from the MBP's with this. I realize many of us don't have the ability to change/adjust routers or access points, but I still think the real issue lies with Wireless-N. Maybe Apple should give us the ability to disable Wireless-N. I have a theory that the Mac's radio switches from the 5Ghz Wireless-N band to 2.4Ghz when it searches for new networks periodically, and maybe some routers drop the connection at that time?

Just a thought...

Hopefully this won't be considered bad form since I'm on a MacBook (10.5.2) and not a MBP, but same deal here. WRT54G v1.1, (tomato 1.19,) no channel changing, encryption setup, different firmware (tried the Linksys, tomato, DD-WRT,) I mean nothing router-specific will make this go away. And yet, two other wireless PCs in the house are able to keep a connection for 48 hours straight without a single drag or hiccup.

It's a MacBook/MacBook Pro issue. Yes, one can spend $300 bucks and make it go away; guess what Apple? I'm not going to buy more of your product to fix the broken product you sold me already.

I can guarantee that if I booted XP, or Vista that my card would work perfectly, so I think it's a crappy driver. I can't boot either of those, legally at this time however.

I still remember the first time I opened System Profiler on this thing and saw that it was a Broadcom wireless chipset. Gah.

I'll try resetting my PMU, but I had to do that once already because of one of the cooling utilities, so I'm not sure that will help.

-- Joshua

Message was edited by: overclockedmind

i too sometimes have the same problem but it is not a frequent. You have to remember, depending on how far you are from the router, The MBpro is aluminum which does slighlty decrease the reception...whereas the plastic/silicon ibook has a slighlty better signal reption and range...but i do have that same problem with the pro. im not sure what causes that. I have the same problem on my PC so i dont think my pro isnt the problem. but i have seen many people with the same problem as me, and i think my problem is a combination of my modem and the MB pro wireless problem. Im sure its some type issue apple is aware of and working on an update for....i hope

unfortunately from the amount of posts im finding on the forums regarding this issue im afraid that its going to be one of those "swept under the carpet" things that they will most likely fix with a hardware upgrade on production ready laptops.

This isnt the first time there has been a "known" issue that has plagued mac users. its just been a long time since the last.

ok so im going outside the apple forums on this one. im continuously reading over and over that some geeks have been testing heat vs signal drop as an issue. they actually were able to reproduce the problem repeatedly.

Im scared to even paste this as its lengthy but i'll do it anyway as i'd like to hear some input from the leet users here.

•••a bunch of us are having horrible problems with the Wifi dropping out (in Windows and OS X). You’ll surf fine for 20 second and it pauses for a minute then BANG the pages load and you’re good for another 20-30 seconds.
I agree! Sometimes the wireless connection becomes unusable! I was able to narrow this down to pinging my wireless access point. (This eliminates the randomness of the internet.) Sometimes I have about 20% to 40% lost packets. When the package is not lost entirely, the roundtrip time for packets from the mbp is statistically longer than from my other wireless computers. I have run this test not only on my personal wireless network, but also on four other unrelated wireless networks. I have checked and eliminated the obvious, like interference from neigboring WiFi networks. However, I could not duplicate the problem at the local Apple store.
GiredHoon 21:49, 12 March 2007 (MST) I have been able to identify and isolate this problem on my earlyish MacBook Pro. This is 100% due to overheating. I often use my MBP closed with a KB/mouse and monitor. Long story short, blowing a fan combined with elevating the MBP off the table solves this. If the MBP remains flat to the desk its underside will get super hot and is directly related to the number of packets being dropped. This took months between multiple wireless APs, different antennas and control computers but I am confident in this causal relationship. I have a feeling the heat is not enough to cause system wide failure, but rather localized to the airport, perhaps this is in such a "sweet spot" the fans fail to compensate. I'll be on the phone to Apple support or in an Apple store tomorrow and will attempt to follow up. Replication on demand may become a problem...
Check if both fans are running (AHT will tell you if there's a problem). See if increasing the fan speed (with smcFanControl for example) can alleviate the problem. Simon 00:39, 13 March 2007 (MST)
I can concur with the heat issue. I normally use my MBP while plugged in to mains and on my stainless steel bench (perfect heat sync). If I unplug it and move over to my coffee table, it starts dropping in and out of the wireless network almost immediately. Default settings seem to slow fans on battery power, so the MBP is less efficient at cooling while on batteries. Shame, but I guess the MBP is a fairly hefty piece of kit, so for true portability I should have gone for the smaller unit. Other than this problem (and the clicking fan under the delete button) my MBP has been excellent! Rstichno 21:27, 20 November 2007 (AEST)••

My connectivity is fine when my MBP is plugged in to the power adapter, but as soon as I disconnect the magsafe adapter I lose connectivity. I don't think that this has anything to do with heat as it happens right away and I think that it would take a few minutes for an increase in temperature. Like others, the strength indicator shows a strong signal, but I have to turn Airport off and back on to get it to work, only to have it drop again. As soon as I reattach the power adapter everything is fine again. Any easy DIY solutions for a novice, or do I need to contact Apple?

keithsjac wrote:
I have been able to identify and isolate this problem on my earlyish MacBook Pro. This is 100% due to overheating.

Not sure this is universally true... at least not for my new (not-'earlyish') Macbook Pro. As I stated in an earlier post, I got a new router this week - Linksys WRT150N - and have NOT lost connection ONCE. I have used it with the power adapter, on batteries, while extremely hot, on a desk, on a couch, while normal, let it sit idle and download, and never has it lost connection.

Has anyone tried connecting the MBP to a router without anything else being wirelessly connected? That's the way my current setup is - MBP at home, $80 router with no other wireless devices, perfect connection. At work, with much more expensive wireless access point, or even on the office's Time Capsule, with other devices connected, connection drops at least once an hour.

Not that that's a solution... just a note to those testing.

Doesn't seem to be heat related thing for me, after all when my MB has been asleep awhile, it's probably the coolest it can get.

I think it would be great to have something, somewhere where people vote for routers they have zero issues with, like the WRT150.

When mine is being problematic, holding the option key (to drop down the AirPort menu from its icon) down reports that the transmit rate is 1Mbps, and watching /var/log/system.log (tail -f /var/log/system.log) reveals that, essentially, my WRT54g kicks my MacBook off the network, it reconnects, and then all is well:

May 24 17:27:34 MacBook kernel[0]: AirPort: Roam (DeAuth/DisAssoc)

It's not n-specific, as I haven't even got an N router. If there were some way to tell my MacBook, "hey dont even bother trying N, go straight to G," (not the router, know how to do that) I'd be more than willing to try.

-- Joshua

Message was edited by: overclockedmind

I had the same problem, although the network was recognised I could not connect to it with the nasty "timeout" message appearing all the time.
A little lock was facing the network name "LiveBox-c245"!
I went into the page 192.168.1.1 of my Sagem LiveBox (Orange) and using the "admin" username and "admin" password i entered the "Reseau sans fil" (Wi Fi, for us french people) page.
There was a "MAC filter"! After desactivation I could unplug my ethernet cable and Airport is working fine!

My MBP starting dropping the wireless connection about a month of so ago. It's sort of random, happens about 3 or 4x per week. I haven't read through this forum yet, didn't even know it existed until today.

Mark

Took mine to the Apple store today. I was worried that the thing would work well there, so I captured several screens of iStumbler running and the history of the connection looked like a comb with many broken teeth. When I got to the Apple store it was doing the same thing. Dropping the connection every few seconds, then searching for it again.

Genius bar guy said that Airport card was probably bad and they will replace it under warranty. Problem is they don't have a card in stock and may not have one until the end of the week. They want me to bring it back then and leave it for 2-3 days for extensive testing.

Only problem is that I live 100 miles from the nearest Apple store. Two round trips and loosing my computer for 3 days isn't attractive to me. I can ship it in to the "Depot" for repairs, but they say 7-10 business days + transit time. I can see that running into three weeks easily.

The genius checked and the nearest authorized third party servicer is farther away than the Apple store.

Funny thing is, now at home with it on my desk, the connection is ROCK SOLID! I surmise that one of the following is true:
1. Short in card got bumped and isn't shorted right now.
2. Broken antenna on card is making a connection.
3. Netgear router at my house is better than the Airport at the Apple store?
4. Living half a mile from the nearest other WiFi with none in my
house but the MBP and Netgear eliminates all intereference and
that makes it work better.

Kirk

PS, Genius checked and I don't have the "N" update and that isn't the problem.

It's too bad you couldn't boot camp into XP. That would check software vs hardware. My MBP exhibits this problem in some locations but not at home with a Linksys router WRT54GX. Had to upgrade to the latest firmware on it but so far so good. There are two other wireless users in the house but no local WLAN's in the neighborhood yet. Have to laugh about the rumors on 10.5.3, just more Apple vaporware.

I have vmware and XP on it, but I never set it up as a bootcamp partition. So, can't boot to XP.

I have been testing this out for a few days, and it seems to work peachy for me. I dont know that it will help anyone here, but i sure hope so:

If your wireless connection seems to be "dead" or very slow when waking from sleep, try the following, works for me:

1)Click the AirPort icon --- > choose "Join Other Network"
2)Click Show Networks, double click your network

** NOTE: I think you have to do all this rather quickly, before the dialog "catches up with you." Also, I often have to do this twice for my wireless to straighten up.

If you watch /var/log/system.log, you should see "AirPort: Link Up on en1," confirming that the link's been taken down and re-established.

I just got my new MBP and am having the same exact problem. The first post was from January of 2008. Has Apple not come up with a fix in the past 5 months???