Level 1

6 points

MacBook Pro constantly losing wireless connectivity

Hi folks,

Well, I read a ton of posts regarding MacBook Pro wireless networking issues before buying a wireless router last month, and now it's "me too."

Our iBook has no problems whatsoever with dropped connections, but the MBP loses access every few minutes or so. I usually follow a sequence of "Turn AirPort Off"/"Turn Airport On" to cycle the connection, and sometimes this works. It's an almost constant problem. This is a standard configuration MBP.

The router happens to be a D-Link DIR-615, but I've seen enough posts about problems with the Airport Express and MacBook Pros to know it's not the router that's the problem--it's the MacBook Pro (I notice a few similar posts even on the first page of this forum).

Dear Apple: what are you doing about this issue?

Has anyone else somehow resolved this problem? If there was only a couple of posts about this issue, then it might be written off as problems with a specific router, or specific users. But when there's a ton of messages all complaining about the same problem, then it's more likely a significant defect that needs to be fixed by the manufacturer, and won't be fixed by standard troubleshooting procedures of the mundane kind (Tech Support Theater: "Is your router turned on?").

Dear Apple: where are you?

MBP, Mac OS X (10.4.11), non

Posted on Jan 20, 2008 8:45 AM

2,055 replies

E_r_i_c

Level 1

72 points

May 27, 2008 6:34 PM in response to ffredburger

I was having the same excruciatingly frustrating problem. After reading some of these posts I switched my router to G only and so far, it seems to have fixed the problem (several hours and sleep/wake cycles now-- it used to crap out whenever it went to sleep). I have an older NetGear routers and its B & G mode only, no N mode as some others reported. But it was configured to B AND G, switching it to G Only seems to have done the trick.

May 28, 2008 4:37 PM in response to ffredburger

Connecting using wire and running traceroute to google.com did not timeout anywhere. When connecting using airport i've tried B only and G only and that did not make any diff, had traceroute timeout in 4 places. The only difference i saw was switching from WPA to WEP or Unprotected connection between my router and MBP, that did make difference and timeout was only in 1 place.

Message was edited by: WebMoskal

May 29, 2008 7:10 AM in response to ffredburger

I'm sorry to say that I've joined you folks with wireless misery. I've just completed the upgrade to 10.5.3, which has made no difference, and tried just about every other permutation and combination of anything to do with wireless on the MBP: nothing has made the slightest bit of difference. I still have five bars in the Airport icon, but never even a hint of a webpage. If I had wanted a desktop I'd have bought an iMac. This really *****.

May 29, 2008 7:55 AM in response to ffredburger

Wow, glad to see I'm not alone in this annoying problem.

I have some similarities- sudden dropping off as of a few weeks ago, but I have not recently updated my OS. Also, my bars do not stay black even when I'm kicked off (I know a few have mentioned their bars stay on). I can see my bars fading. I did download iStumbler and notice that when I can't get on with my Airport, I can't pick up any other neighboring signals either. Guess this rules out interference or an Airport problem? (A Dell laptop in the house still connects to Airport fine.) Also, my connection works fine in the morning, after the MBP has been off all night, but as the day goes on, and it goes in and out of sleep mode, the signal goes down. By 2pm, I'm down to the smallest light on the signal bar and by 8pm, I can't connect at all. Anyone else have these similarities? A friend mentioned replacing the internal wireless card? Sorry if these have been mentioned in previous posts, I haven't had time to read them all, as my internet time is limited to mornings before I'm booted off.

Thanks.

jeffmr

Level 1

37 points

May 29, 2008 8:07 AM in response to ffredburger

See my possible fix listed in the Macbook Internet forum.

May 29, 2008 1:10 PM in response to jeffmr

Changing to different encryption helps but does not solve problem completly for me, still using WEP. This problem with wireless card will be a problem outside my home network where I'll unable to tweak router. Updating to 10.5.3 did not solve this problem.

Message was edited by: WebMoskal

May 30, 2008 2:11 PM in response to WebMoskal

Brand new MBP 17", I have the same problem. Setting my router to 'G-only' resolves it, but this is not a fix. I hope the guys at Apple provide us with one VERY soon... Not very happy at the moment...

May 31, 2008 7:14 AM in response to ffredburger

Little update: now even with my router on 'G-only'-mode the connection is slow at best, it loses connection constantly. Is anyone else still experiencing this problem or did 10.5.3 fix this for all of you? I'd think it made matters even worse for me...

tipo158

Level 1

16 points

May 31, 2008 8:55 AM in response to KarstenDW

I responded to the other question on the topic, but I wanted to add my name to this one.

Got my Penryn MBP in Feb. Running WinXP and MacOS X (10.5.3 now) on it. Because I need to run certain applications, the machine is running WinXP most of the time. My access point is a Linksys WAP54G which is supposed to do 802.11b and g.

There are a gaggle of machine in the house and only the MBP is having problems with the wifi. The problem does not seem as bad under MacOS. I have a Powerbook G4 (Aluminum) and an Intel Mac Mini using the same wifi with no issues.

The symptom is that the connection will just drop. Sometimes it comes back on its own quickly. Sometimes it comes back after a long wait. Sometimes it does not come back and I have to reboot. Rebooting corrects the problem.

There was a Windows driver update from Apple a month or so ago. Since the driver update, the system suffers less from BSOD (though they still happen), but drops wifi connections more frequently and it takes three times as long to burn DVDs.

I can't believe that Apple doesn't have a fix for this by now.

Nick Rao

Level 1

10 points

May 31, 2008 8:24 PM in response to tipo158

Just installed 10.5.3. Problem is the same. tried to download a rental from iTunes and the wireless on my MBP dropped 4 times. My other Mac and Windows system all running on the same network with no problems. This is an embarasment for Apple and I am losing my patience.

Badsky2k

Level 1

4 points

Jun 1, 2008 4:16 PM in response to Nick Rao

Same here and I have had it. I am taking this issue public in the newspapers and every tech/computer magazine in the country.) 10.5.3 was suppose to fix this "issue"...
<post edited by host>

Jun 1, 2008 5:41 PM in response to ffredburger

I was having a similar problem to the one you all are having. Pinging 4chan.org would look like this:

64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27586 ttl=48 time=721.931 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27587 ttl=48 time=48.937 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27588 ttl=48 time=51.848 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27589 ttl=48 time=645.903 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27590 ttl=48 time=448.310 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27591 ttl=48 time=150.926 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27592 ttl=48 time=50.579 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27593 ttl=48 time=215.832 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27594 ttl=48 time=310.341 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27595 ttl=48 time=48.986 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27596 ttl=48 time=66.029 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27597 ttl=48 time=589.417 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27598 ttl=48 time=435.960 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27599 ttl=48 time=58.562 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27600 ttl=48 time=48.648 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27601 ttl=48 time=539.189 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27602 ttl=48 time=567.103 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27603 ttl=48 time=141.387 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27604 ttl=48 time=48.727 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27605 ttl=48 time=338.147 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27606 ttl=48 time=178.393 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27607 ttl=48 time=47.747 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27608 ttl=48 time=47.787 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27609 ttl=48 time=448.751 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27610 ttl=48 time=477.588 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27611 ttl=48 time=47.915 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27612 ttl=48 time=56.028 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=27613 ttl=48 time=845.949 ms

Randomly, about half of the time, my computer would lag out and be unable to load anything. Every 10 minutes or so, it would lose about 40 packets, then reconnect and go back to this sporadic mix of 50ms pings and 800ms pings.

After changing my Airport Extreme from 802.11g/b compatible to 802.11g only, pinging 4chan.org looks like this:

64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=0 ttl=48 time=51.958 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=1 ttl=48 time=68.150 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=2 ttl=48 time=54.859 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=3 ttl=48 time=53.700 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=4 ttl=48 time=56.317 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=5 ttl=48 time=52.704 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=6 ttl=48 time=65.489 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=7 ttl=48 time=51.982 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=8 ttl=48 time=54.519 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=9 ttl=48 time=50.833 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=10 ttl=48 time=54.294 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=11 ttl=48 time=54.016 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=12 ttl=48 time=48.198 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=13 ttl=48 time=50.007 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=14 ttl=48 time=52.387 ms
....
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=89 ttl=48 time=62.198 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=90 ttl=48 time=49.212 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=91 ttl=48 time=79.124 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=92 ttl=48 time=47.470 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=93 ttl=48 time=55.527 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=94 ttl=48 time=49.640 ms
64 bytes from 66.207.165.166: icmp_seq=95 ttl=48 time=50.280 ms

Works perfectly, and has been up for about an hour now with no drops.

If you haven't tried this, try it now. It very well might work.

Jun 1, 2008 5:57 PM in response to John Wittle

Been doing that for quite awhile now. G only network. Same problem.

Jun 2, 2008 8:45 AM in response to ffredburger

I have been having this same problem as well with my old 15" MacBook Pro. I also have a PowerBook and a new iMac 24" that don't have this problem at all. One note is that it seem that if I am really close to the hub (a Linksys b/g in this case) then I don't have the problem (or at least not as often). I need to be basically in the same room though. If I move a little bit away, even though I still have all the bars on the signal, then it starts to drop the connection periodically. The PowerBook and iMac don't have this problem at all.

I also figured it would be fixed for sure in 10.5.3, but to no avail. Also, I don't remember this happening at all prior to 10.5 (and I'm sure I would have remembered it).

Jun 2, 2008 3:00 PM in response to Patrick Young3

I'm no more than 2 feet from my Airport Base Station. Using only G network. Still happens occasionally.

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MacBook Pro constantly losing wireless connectivity