Q: MacBook Pro constantly losing wireless connectivity

My MBP is too new for this update:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macbookproefifirmwareupdate15.html

Is there another one?

does this only work with leopard OS or just new MBP?

My MacBook Pro loses its wireless connection only when I'm Running OSX!! When I use Windows XP, on the SAME machine with bootcamp, it works fine!!! This started happening the day my system did an auto Update and asked me to accept the update. If someone had bet me a million dollars that one day i would be depending on Windows XP on my MacBook to get online because Apple's software was faulty, i would've lost a lot of money!!!! And to top it all off Apple Won't even listen to me (unless i pay them) when i try to tell them that i works on bootcamp and windows, because my warranty expired a few months ago...Im not looking for free service. i just want to let you know it has to be a software issue if airport is working fine with Explorer when i Boot in Windows APPLE!!!

Looks like you're not the only one. A school is having the same problem

http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9922461-37.html?tag=nefd.only

Maybe Apple will finally admit that there is a problem.

You think they would by now. Anyway mine finally stabilized after setting the Apple Base Station to not transmit its SSID as egalsim suggested. Once that was done, MBP works fine and no more losing connectivity. This was back in March 26. To date still no issues.

I don't have issues at home on my linksys router but there are no other wireless networks nearby. When I visited another location my connection dropped regularly. There was another network there. After installing the most recent updates I stabilized at this location also (however the second network was gone by this time) until the 2.4 Hz wireless house phone rings. My connection is totally lost until the phone is hung up and you don't even see the network in AP Grapher. Didn't try XP when the phone rang but will test if I get another chance. Watched AP Grapher and connection appeared very solid.

If you are having issues due to 2.4 Hz phones then changing the channel on your router might be a fix.

if it were hardware then it wouldn't start as soon as you install leopard, and disappear without a trace when tiger is re-installed.

But thanks for the info there are obviously some people suffering hardware failure as you would expect with all laptops/technology in general. The mass failure is in the software's interoperability or it's ability to adapt/work to tolerances not exact laboratory circumstances.

yep, it looks like it took some bad PR and possibly losing a really big order, but the word's finally getting out...

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/04/18/appleoffers_developers_weekend_10_5_3seed.html

and

http://www.9to5mac.com/leopardwirelesswoes

Folks, I have a very weird story for you, that may help some of you out.

I have been experiencing this problem for over 8 months on my wife's 15" Macbook Pro LED 2.4. The airport dropping off. It got better for a small amount of time, and then when Leopard was installed, got worse. I tried every workaround known to man. I found that going into network, airport and renewing my DHCP Lease helped sometimes, I had to be content with this because sometimes it ran superfast for a few hours. I hated that she would bring it to work or school and wireless had no issues, and when we returned home, using Apple wireless products it didn't.

Finally I became so fed up last week, I called AppleCare and they suggested bringing it to the Genius Bar and have the Airport card looked at and most likely replaced. We made an appointment and went. They asked to keep it overnight. The next day they called and said that it has been running fine on their network... NO REALLY???

They wanted me to bring down my home network, that my iPhone, 17" Macbook Pro, AppleTV, Wii, Tivo, Airport Express and older Airport Snow HAD NO PROBLEMS connecting to, and bring in my Airport Extreme Base Station so they could look at it... HELLLO.. How on earth are you going to try to tell me it is my network when so many other components do not have an issue.

I explained that I have seen some people getting new Airport Cards and Logic Boards because of this problem. The Genius put me on hold, after I forcefully demanded an explanation to my question on how so many items connected no problem that it had to be the 15" MBP. He then told me the only way they could replace the card and logic board is to verify connectivity with my extreme. I said OK I will be in later that night.

When I went to the Apple Store, I told them we did not want to take down our network for a day, and that we would like the MBP back.

Now here is the funny part. Since bringing it home we have NOT had one Airport connectivity problem at all. It connects lightning fast no matter what, How weird is that? I did check my logs, and there are a few funny items that may suggest that they did change the Airport card, and didn't mention it.

What do you guys think? Apple has a fix and won't tell?

"...What do you guys think? Apple has a fix and won't tell?"

Nope it just needed some good karma.

I have a iMac 20" purchased in December 2007 and a MacBook Pro 17" purchased in April 2008. Both machines have the Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 AirPort cards with the 4.170.46.5 firmware. Both machines have the recent Apple updates.

The MacBook Pro is the only machine I am still having major wireless issues with since installing Leopard.

I have changed channels on my wireless router and tested the entire spectrum.
I have turned off SSID broadcasting.
I have tested with each separately - 802.11b and 802.11g.
I have testing with and without security enabled, just to make sure.

My patience is wearing.

Have you tried a different router?

I recently purchased a MBP penryn 17". My wireless drops during large downloads, usually during iTunes movie rentals. My network is driven by the wireless "G" Airport extreme router and an Airport express acting in WDS mode. I have 2 other machines that run off this network, an iMac G4 and a Windows thinkpad running XP pro. The other machines have no difficulty in this environment, only the MBP. Oddly enough, if I put the MBP in sleep mode, then immediately wake it up. The wireless comes back and I continue. This is a real pain and not a solution. I recently saw a firmware update for MBP was posted on the apple download site. Although my machine is 1 month old, when I check the firmware version, it was not at the appropriate firmware version. Has anyone tried the update? Since it was a firmware update, I thought maybe this would address the issue.

"... I recently saw a firmware update for MBP was posted on the apple download site. Although my machine is 1 month old, when I check the firmware version, it was not at the appropriate firmware version. Has anyone tried the update? Since it was a firmware update, I thought maybe this would address the issue."

If Software Update didn't indicate the firmware update for your MBP then you are up to date and don't require it. I would try changing the wireless channel on the router.