Q: MacBook Pro constantly losing wireless connectivity

Oops. In that case, this also works for me:

Step 1: Open Terminal.

Step 2: Run "ping www.google.com" (without the quotes).

Step 3: Leave this running while you do other things.

Any luck?

Comparing typing in 2 commands which combined require the knowledge of;

How to run terminal

What your router's IP address is (clue: look in the manual)

to assembler programming (anyone who's heard of assembler programming probably knows how to do this ;) is like comparing the cave scratchings of prehistoric man to the Cistine chapel :-)

wwbrannon wrote:

 

Solved my problem, which was similar.

 

That's an interesting solution.

My problem, back in November, was this. Five days in hotel in Hong Kong. Hotel router: Linksys (probably). Battered old Fujitsu Lifebook: clung to connection like a barnacle to an oyster. Signal strength "excellent". Early 2011 MBP, Mac OS X 10.6.8: couldn't stay on more than ~2 mins (beacon loss event; disassociated due to inactivity). Tried everything (except fiddling with the router, naturally). Nothing worked. Asked other hotel guests. All PC users; none reporting any problems. Two hours over the phone with Apple support -- nothing. Final suggestion: upgrade to Lion. "Will you guarantee it will work under Lion?" "Er, no." No time to go to Apple store (in HK for business, barely any time to sleep).

Tried everything suggested in this thread, except:

• upgrading to Lion; don't intend to
• ping the router every tenth of a second

Did try ping, but with 1 sec (default). Didn't work. Not clever enough to think of 1/10th. Audio streaming, etc, didn't work either. Little Snitch was on. (Don't think it sends anything on the network, anyway.)

Agree with you -- Broadcom driver problem. But I don't think this is applicable to everybody. Wish I'd been clever enough to think of pinging at shorter intervals.

On the way out, HK airport -- surprise, surprise, AirPort works. For 20 mins, at least. Lifebook, as usual, no WiFi problem at all.

After hours on the Apple Support line trying to sort out wifi constantly dropping from my Macbook Pro (2011), taking it to an Apple Store, re-installing my broadband network and buying an AirPort Express, I still have the wifi dropping out several times a day.  The man at the Apple Store guaranteed the AirPort Express to work, said my computer was fine, and if people were complaining about a similar problem on websites, well, there were always people ready to complain.  I am ready to throw this heap of rubbish out of the window and go back to my previous Microsoft computer which did not drop out once.  Funnily, my iPad has never dropped out either.  So what is the constant variable????

Apple obviously have grown too big to worry about a small issue like customer problems, or they are too proud to admit there may be a glitch in the Macbook Pro.

mapar70 wrote:

I have a 2011 MacBook Pro, so it's definitely not just for older hardware.

Well there were two releases of the MacBook Pro in 2011, an early 2011 release and a late release.  Did you get your machine well before October 24, 2011?  That is the date when the second release came out.  The specs of both releases are almost the same.  Apple basically only increased hard drive sizes and increased the speed of the processors just a bit on the second release.

I do think there are other differences between the systems though.  Like I said in previous posts, I originally purchased a refurbished early 2011 13" MacBook Pro.  It was on this system that I had the problem with losing wireless connection and also experienced freezing issues.  If you do a Google search many other people also experience freezing issues with MacBook Pros.  It was on this machine that unchecking the "ask to join new networks" setting inside network preferences fixed my wireless problem.

Even do I corrected the wireless issue with my fix, I still ended up returning the refurbished system due to the freezing issue I was having and bought a brand new late release 2011 13" MacBook Pro instead.  Since having this new system I have had no problems with my wireless connection, freezing issues or any other issues for that matter.  The system works perfectly and I never had to uncheck "ask to join new networks".

My point is that it seems that possibly Apple has corrected some problems on earlier MacBook Pros with their latest release.  That is why it would help if people on this thread would be very specific as to which systems they are having problems with.

I am a new Mac user, so I do not really know about a lot of the things that are talked about in this thread like "AirPort" for example.  It seems to me though that my fix of unchecking "ask to join new networks" would work for most people with connection issues.  If it does not work and your system is still under warranty, you should just ask Apple to replace your system.  This is not the type of issue which can be overlooked, you should not have to keep a system that cannot hold an Internet connection.  If you are out of the 3 month window where you can get phone support, just go to an apple store and ask for a replacement.

The fact is this is not an issue on all systems, and I am guessing it is only an issue on early 2011 systems and older.  Try to uncheck the "ask to join new network" option in your network preferences and if that does not work just ask for a replacement.  If you do not know where to find this setting just read my post in this thread dated 12/21/11.  For those out of warranty, I am just wondering how you pay so much for a computer and suffer with such a huge problem for over a year?

shadmanmosaddek wrote:

 

yea when i turn on the airport it reconnected to the internet i have to do this everytime, I called apple care and they are telling me to take apple care protection plan or pay per incident phone support :\ what should i do :s

GET THE APPLE CARE PROTECTION PLAN!!  The plan does not only provide you with phone support, but also extends your hardware warranty for an additional 2 years beyond the 1 year your system came with.  Do you have any idea how expensive it would be to have even a simple repair done on your system if something breaks?

The way I look at the math is I paid over 1K for my system, the Apple Care for my 13" MacBook Pro costs $249 ($183 with student discount).  A simple repair of my hardware would probably be at least $100 plus parts.  I also get full phone support for the 3 years.  Now I agree that Apple phone support isn't that great, but for those of you who have never owned a PC, take it from a life long PC owner that Apple phone support is much better than what you get from the PC makers.  At least with Apple you talk to people who speak proper English.  Half the time I had trouble even understanding what the phone agents were saying when I had to call in about my PC.

The phone support is mostly good for when you have a real hardware issue though, and instead of having to drive to an Apple store you are able to do most of the troubleshooting at home.  This way if you do need a repair or a replacement all you will have to do is basically drop your machine off at the Apple store and not have to worry about spending time at the store explaining what you could have explained in the comfort of your own home.

Especially if a person is not very computer savvy they should for sure get Apple Care, I would say in such a case Apple Care is invaluable.

That being said, concerning your wireless connection issue, read my post above and see if it helps with your issue.  If not, just ask Apple to replace your system.  You should not have to install additional software to fix something that should be working out of the box, like it does with my new MacBook Pro.

Have read al of these in horror.

MAcbookPro and D-Link 615 router

Had for 2 years.

Suddenly started losing signal. Did it coincide with apple update? I did'nt pay attention

1st solution:

drop wirless network to g mode
Hardcode ip address [ie reserver for macbook specific IP]

Horrible fix - but it worked for two weeks

Suddenly g mode wirless stops working too.

-changed channel id

-tweaked mtu

-read more and more unhappy posts

Read a post on here about some one changing their router as there's was failing.

Friend comes round with macook pro cant access wireless- grrr

Was thinking of swapping router to more powerful one.

Took the plunge and bough a DrayTek business class router fro £200 GBP

[Vigor 2830N ADSL Router Firewall]

Setup 8 minutes

Macbook Pro connected.

------------------------

CONCLUSION

it may be bad updates from apple at a low level but if you can try swapping a friends router that works to rule out yours its worht a go.  I dont know but I wonder if our router had been slowly malfunctioning for some time now. One thing I can sya about cheap routers is that they have slow admin screens. This Vigor 2830N is fast to admin. Yes its expensive but it solved the problem for now [fingers x]

I have been having similar problems (as described on this discussion thread) with a MacBook Air that is a couple of years old (2nd gen MacBook Air).  I finally noticed that it was not receiving broadcast transmissions (e.g. not seeing broadcast ping requests, not reliably seeing Bonjour devices, and the unreliable wireless network connection).  I have an Apple Time Capsule as my wireless router.  Under "Wireless Options", it was set for the 11 Mbps multicast rate.  I lowered that to the 5.5 Mbps setting and now the Macbook Air is reliably receiving the broadcasts, isn't dropping from network, joins quickly upon wakeup, etc.  The lower multicast data rate means more transmitted energy per bit, and hence more reliable reception.  Probably some of the suggested solutions where the 802.11 mode was locked to 802.11g-only or similar may resulted in the same kind of improved reception of the broadcast packets.  The increasingly dense RF environment we end up with as more devices go wireless may hilite issues like this where a device, for whatever reason, is operating on the hairy edge.  I have noticed my Mac laptops tend to not have the same reliable wireless ranges as other stuff.  My newer Macbook Air (3rg gen) has not had the issues this 2nd gen Macbook Air has been having.  Hopefully, this suggestion is helpful to others out there.

Nothing worked for me until Apple replaced my MacBook Pro.  For almost a year, Apple Care wasted hours and hours partitioning, reinstalling, etc., etc., etc.,  I bought Airport.  Nothing.  Then Apple told me it was my service provider - ATT.  So I HOUNDED ATT - they rewired my house, trenched outside, installed CAT-5, sent about 30 or 40 'techs' who played with the ATT router.  Nothing worked.

Finally, ATT said it was Apple, and ATT was no longer interested in my business!  I called Apple, escalated the call to Customer Service (outside of Apple Care), and Apple replaced my computer stating that "ATT and Apple don't communicate well".  I was ready to go back to a PC as well.  I cannot tell you how much time Apple wasted of mine, and how much money ATT spent trying to fix the problem.  In the end, Apple did the right thing, but the problem affected my life and home business so dramatically and for so long, that I'm still upset. There is a major connectivity problem (after update, and Lion made it worse) - Apple knows about it. 

Now that I have a new MacBook Pro, I have never 'lost' a signal - almost 5 months now.

That has to be a wind-up. AT&T retrenched and rewired your house because of a wifi issue? Interesting what you say about the new MBP. Someone else said their newer machine worked fine. Our MacBook is now working reliably (that new networks checkbox is off like many others, maybe that fixed it for us)

I too have been battling the loosing wifi connectivity on my 1st 2009 MBP and now my mid 2010 MBP. The Apple Care Warrany saved me from all of the mess because eventually the Genius Bar in Las Vegas just replaced my 2009 MBP for the newer 2010. However this time I was not able to purchase the Apple Care Warranty because I became disabled at 48.5 years old and now living off of Social Security at age 51.  I asked the Apple Care representative if there was anyway for me to purchase the added warranty now that I have saved some money and she replied no, I am sorry. There is nothing I can do to help.

If what is true that the only way to fix this is to buy a new MBP then I am out of luck.  I have tried the wireless router in the ceiling and using ping to keep the wifi connection alive.  I even spoke with a firend who is a wireless communications VP for a cellular company who also provides wifi connectivity in hotels and he finds it pretty strange for other devices to keep connection to a network however my MBP continues to lose connectivity.  He made the comment that , "It sounds like the radio or firmware / software driving the radio of your Apple Computer has a problem".

This computer is my life right now and Apple should stand up and take responsibility for it's problems.  They should be held accountable like other companies who make mistakes.  Has anyone seen Excedrin on the shelves of their grocery or drug store lately? No because all of it has been recalled because of a qulity control problem.  My computer isn't life threatening however it not working will affect the quality of life I have remaining.

As an update to my last post earlier this morning, my wife has a MB4,1 and has never had any issue losing wireless connectivity to our home network.  Her machine always has connectivity to the internet plus the new HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus I bought because my MBP and it's continued loss of network connectivity.

Our son and his wife are also living with us and they have a Windows 7 notebook plus two (2) Windows 7 desktops and none of them have ever had any issues.  They can also connect to the internet, multi function printers, each other and gaming systems.  WIth all of these posts I have glanced at over the past few hours I am appalled that Apple continues to ignore the problem.  Maybe it is time for a "Class Action Law Suit"?  I mean really, how can so many different devices work flawlessly on the same wireless network where MBP can not?  I guess we are not in Kansas any more Toto!

Hi all,

My first reply to all this, however i have been following this now since may last year.

I have to been losing wifi on my october 2010 macbook pro since about feb last year. I started with thinking it was never a £1000 laptop..........But it was always losing wifi every 2 mins and it was getting on my tits. I have tried all the ideas and tips on here but nothing. It always lost wifi. Then in the end it came up with no airport card 90% of the time.

Well in the end i gave in and went to the apple store in milton keynes, which for me was a 1:30 drive. Where i showed them what was going on and also showed them the 80+ pages on here all about it. They took it out back for some test then came back and said they think its the airport card that has gone wrong. However because its out of warttery its going to cost....... Which i thought here we go time to re mortage the house, but no..........£24 labour and £47 for the airport card which is not bad in my book. They said it would take up to 3 days.......However because me and my wife was of work and she wanted to do some shopping we stayed in milton keynes. 3 hours later my phone went......Hi apple here your mac is ready!!! Bonus!!!

Anyway i have now been using it for some time now and it all sorted!! at last, maybe i should and went and had it done under warttery....but hay its done now.

So for me its not software problems, its hardware.

Good luck to the rest of you suffers in your quest for wifi.

It is very ironic that while I was trying to write this post my internet dropped as it usually does.  I love this MAC computer and I recently got an Iphone and like it too, but this internet situation on this computer is rediculous.  I just wanted to add that I have the same problem and maybe APPLE will listen to the numbers of people having the same probelm and fix it.  Does anyone know of any updates or changes to fix this problem yet?

This is my first post on this site and first time owner of a MacBook Pro 13" Late 2011 Model using a wireless internet connection and Safari Browser.  I used this site to troubleshoot my problems so I wanted to contribute my findings on how I fixed my connection issues. 

When I would first start up the MBP it would surf the net great for about a minute then I would constantly have to hit the refresh button in the browser to get the web pages to load.  I was not losing connection between the MBP and the router because I was showing full signal on the MBP.  I had this happen while using wireless and ethernet cable directly to the modem.  If I was on websites with just text it was not really noticeable however if I tried to watch videos they would not load.  In the address bar of the browser the blue status bar would move about one inch from the left side showing that the page started to load but had stopped. 

I took it back to apple they replaced the MBP and I still had the exact same issues on my home network.  (Note: On my home network I had (2) Iphones, (2) Ipads, an old Dell Latitude and a PS3.  Everything worked fine on my network except the MBP)  I checked my upload and download speeds and got about 4mbps / 20mbps respectively.  I then decided to check the MBP on a different network at a local restaurant and had the same issues.

After contacting Apple it seemed to be that the MBP was functioning as it should.  I was told that what I was experiencing was a partial download hense the need to keep hitting refresh.  I was also told that most of the time it is not an issue with the computer but rather a modem / router issue. 

While troubleshooting I was in my back room where the modem is and the MBP picked up a neighbor's signal.  I went online and had perfect internet connection.  I then went and checked the MPB at a brand new restaurant in town and again perfect connection with no issues.

I went to Comcast and got a new modem, I then went and got a new Netgear router and my connection problems are solved.  I was previously using a netgear wireless modem / router combo that I found out was from 2008.  For some reason my MBP did not like my 2008 modem / router, for what reasons I couldn't tell you...I hope this information helps someone.