Q: MacBook Pro constantly losing wireless connectivity

I just wanted to share with you a workaround that has been working for me for the last week. I am not the first to find out about this.

Just install iStumbler http://www.istumbler.net/ and leave it running in the background. The application is a freeware wireless discovery tool.

Whatever iStumbler does under the bonnet, it keeps my wifi performance at acceptable levels. I can see that performance still is not ideal, but at least it does not drop, and I (almost) have no packet loss.

You can see wifi still suffering from the output of pinging my access point:

giaceccos-macbook-pro:~ giacecco$ ping -c 100 192.168.1.1
PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=0.979 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=0.991 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=5.101 ms <----
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=255 time=131.898 ms <----
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=255 time=0.560 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=255 time=1.109 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=255 time=1.155 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=255 time=8.160 ms <----
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=255 time=136.637 ms <----
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=255 time=0.750 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=255 time=0.746 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=255 time=1.223 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=255 time=3.525 ms <----
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=255 time=128.260 ms <----
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=255 time=0.554 ms
...

Clearly there is a pattern there. If the Apple guys read this forum (and I do not mean the censors but the techies) they may find this very very useful.

Giacecco

my MiniMac shows the same symptoms. However, my impression is that periodic increase in ping time gets worse when istumbler operates in the background. In fact, it seems that whenever a software connects to the airport card it makes a long ping. Try changing istumbler parameters and see whether the period changes.
You may also, while pinging, open the airport card icon in the menu bar (if it is there). You will see pining time increasing. I think problems most people have with loosing connection is due to the fact that there is something in OS software that interferes with airport card operation. It could just be because the card constantly scans the environment. This is reflected in increased ping time and in worse cases drop of connection. Why it recovers by itself for some machines and not in others is probably a question of some configuration.
Instead of istumbler try using AP grapher (also a freeware). Transmission rate will change depending on whether you use only grapher or both grapher and scanner.
AP Grapher can also be run in the background mode and will improve your connection but it will be better if run in grapher mode only (disconnect scanning of other networks). I find that AP grapher does a better job (less interference) than istumbler. (not that I have anything against istumbler)

dd-blues,
your post was very interesting. I gave AP Grapher a try for a couple of hours, running the grapher only as you described, but, unfortunately, it seems that it is not capable of the same magic that iStumbler does on my troubled MBP.

I will need to keep iStumbler running... a slow network is better than an unreliable one. The hope, of course, still is that Apple does something about this problem...

G.

This just happened to me today, out of the blue. Airport has been working fine for more than a year. I'm running Leopard with the latest updates. All of a sudden I can't keep a connection. It drops and scans to no avail. this is very frustrating. I can't work. APPLE - YOU HAVE TO RESPOND AND FIX THIS!

I'm running an SMC router, using G, and this setup has been working with my MacBook Pro for a long time, until today. What's going on?

All,
I have just tried to collect all of our reasoning around the MBP wifi issue in a diagram you can download at http://www.giacec.co.uk/mbp/ . It's in PDF format so you should have no problem reading it.

If Apple can't fix the problem, at least we can try understanding what the problem is and help them.

Please contribute and let me know of any missing information or mistakes I made. I look forward to collect your feedback and upgrade the diagram regularly. The email address to send your comments to is in the PDF.

Thank you in advance,

Giacecco

Hi Guys
I am having this same problem to, I use an apple express base station with a new macbook. After spending four hours on the phone this afternoon the best apple techs could come up with was change the router channel. I was on channel 1 but have now changed to channel 11 and have also turned on interface robustness (this can all be found in airport utility). So far (the first few hours) the connection has not been dropped and seems faster than normal. If anyone gets to the bottom of this issue could they please post a solution as it is really frustrating that this is happening. I have already had one macbook changed due to a supposedly faulty network card but my suspicions for the change are now this, as I have now found this thread and would think it was not a faulty network card. Especially on such new kit it shouldn't be!!!
Has anyone thought about bringing this up with one of the independent mac sites to give it some coverage??

All,
I managed to make up my mind and decided to start the procedure to leave my MBP to the support guys, even if we know it is probably not achieving anything.

Simon, at the Genius Bar of the Milton Keynes (UK) Apple Store has been extremely kind, listened carefully to the series of tests I have made and understood he had not much to add to it.

I was lucky enough to be able to let the problem show up while at the Bar. Simon got an almost identical MBP and both machines pinged the access point. Mine was losing packets up to 54%, the other was non particularly fast, but without packet losses.

Simon ordered a new Airport card for my MBP, the obvious first step, and asked me to come back when it is in, for replacement. I live at about 50 minutes from the Apple Store by car, so it is doable. Wish me good luck!

Giacecco

For those thinking this is an isolated Leopard issue...

I have this problem when running my MBP under Bootcamp with Vista SP 2. My limited understanding is that Bootcamp is nothing more than a partitioning tool, which would mean that it is independant from Leopard when operating in Windows.

That said, it has to be something hardware oriented, whether it be something to do with the communication signals coming from the Wireless card within the MBP models or something defunct with the card itself.

It would be nice to see something official from Apple on this.

I wanted to let you all know that I was also experiencing some major networking issues on my MacBook Pro. Our MacBook and new MacBook Air were not experiencing any issues over our wireless Airport Extreme network.

I downloaded the 10.5.5 Combo Update on both MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. On the air, I was getting around 300 KB/s and on the MacBook Pro, I was getting 20 to 50 KB/s.

I logged into the Airport Extreme and changed the Wireless Channel from Auto, where it has been set at for a year, and changed it to Channel 8. Once this was done, the MacBook Pro was downloading at the same speeds as the other machines on the network.

Try updating the channel on your router and it may just resolve your issue.

I guess I'm not really a "me too," though earlier today I thought I was.

I've got a MBP from late 2006 - a much earlier MBP than most of the posters here. I have been using it for hours a day since then and never a problem until a few days ago, when all of a sudden websites stopped loading reliably. I'd get 5 minutes or so of solid, normal connectivity, then, with no warning, I'd get a minute or two of no connectivity at all - but the signal strength would still remain at full-strength. Then it would go back to working fine - but then drop again later.

Then I came across this massive thread and thought, "yep, that's me." But I just couldn't understand why this would happen to me so suddenly. I hadn't updated, installed, or changed any system settings. It just... happened. So I didn't rest there.

I booted up my Dell Windows laptop, my brother's Windows laptop, and my girlfriend's white MacBook and got them all in front of me, and started browsing the web on all of them. And - what do you know - when one stopped loading websites, all the others did, too. So then I knew it wasn't isolated to my MBP (and I thanked the heavens, at that point).

First, I updated my router's firmware (I use a Linksys WRT54GS, by the way). That didn't really help anything, so I went back to this thread and found the post that mentioned the website www.opendns.com. I decided that it was worth a shot, and I changed my DNS settings on my wireless router to the free, public DNS settings provided at opendns.com.

And it worked! I now have perfect connectivity and have been online, frequently browsing on both of my computers, for over an hour with not a single issue.

For those of you whom it may help:

My computer is a MacBook Pro 2.16Ghz Intel Core Duo (purchased in November 2006)

My airport card info: Airport Extreme (0x168C, 0x86)
Wireless card firmware: 1.4.8.0
Wireless channel: 11

So if anyone has an older MBP, this may be another option to try. For those of you with newer MBPs and newer AirPorts, I am sorry that this most likely won't help you. I've read through 90% of these posts and am extremely frustrated and disappointed that Apple would let so many users (many of which are faithful, long-time Mac owners) fall through the cracks. It is criminal that they have gone nearly a full year without a fix for this. I truly offer my condolences.

Thanks.

Been watching this thread for weeks hoping for a solution. I've tried dozens of configs including changing the DNS settings on the router (as suggested above) with no results. The only thing that seems to have helped a little with my slow connection is setting the AEBS channel to 1 rather than auto. Still my connection is unacceptably slow even within ten feet of AEBS.

...but clearly my problem is NOT with the router. It's with the Airport card. I need only need go to the wifi cafe down the street to prove it. A few weeks ago I could go there and enjoy my coffee along with the other laptopers, but now for some mysterious reason my MacBook Pro can only be (sort of) used if I sit virtually on top of my reconfigured AEBS. Almost everywhere else in the world I now get near-zero to zero reception. All the router suggestions are appreciated, but it's our MBPs that have the problem - we can't possibly ask all the wifi providers to reconfigure!

All,
I just wanted to let you know that I got my airport card replaced yesterday and I did not have any problems since then.

Of course it is too early to celebrate, but I believe this taught me something: there is no point in whining and building castles of hypothesis about the issue until you have given the MBP to the support guys.

I don't know why I spent months waiting for this. I believe I trusted too much the messages I found about people replacing the card and obtaining nothing. It is important for Apple to see from their shops' activity that there is a problem out there, without waiting for some journalist to get interested in it.

I believe I also need to thank the people at the Apple Store in Milton Keynes (UK) for their patience. They spent a lot of time with me and showed authentic interest in the issue and ordered a spare logic board in advance, to gain time in case replacing the airport card wasn't enough.

Fingers crossed, the problem is over for me. I strongly advise you to go and get your airport card replaced, if you did not do it already.

Giacecco

Let us know if it stops working again! I've taken mine in to have the Airport card replaced as well, I really hope that will do the trick.

Still working here...

Hi Giacecco,
Would you be able to do some speedtest and see if it is at its optimal speed. I had a change of airport card but that didn't alleviate the wifi issue. I did some stuff and it seems to disconenct much less but runs at a much lower speed than it should.