Q: MacBook Pro constantly losing wireless connectivity

After meeting with the Genius at the Genius bar, I taken action. The connectivity problem happened right at bar, in the Apple store.Imagine that? Airport extremes and base stations popping in and out fo range, and the 802.11 appearing and disappearing. I'm out of Apple care, but we ordered the internal Airport Extreme card anyway. He told me they would not sell it directly to me ($84.00) but they would install if for another $90 or so. I said I would think about it, knowing that I had already ordered the card from another vender, and which ever company delivered the correct 2006, MBP 1st gen Airport Extreme card would get my business.

Apple got the card in 1 day slower than a local Mac shop, who were happy to sell it to me and even go over some tips on installation (which I studied on iFixit).

Tonight I swapped out the Airport card (and did some other dusting and checking while under the hood), screwed it back together, and so far GREAT!. I have a stronger, more steady 802.11 connection to not only Apple networks but other routers on the street. I'll try to break it (by using my laptop well with-in the typical, predictable, reasonable, normal, usage) and see if the problem returns.

So far so good. Took the matter into my own hands (along with a Torx head, Phillips, and Spudger).

Will update in a couple days.

After meeting with the Genius at the Genius bar, I took action.

The connectivity problem happened right at the bar, in the Apple store. Imagine that? Airport extremes and base stations popping in and out of scan, and the 802.11 appearing and disappearing. I'm out of Apple care so my options were limited, but I knew the next step. It was time to change hardware on this model. We ordered the internal Airport Extreme card. He told me they would not sell it directly to me ($84.00) but they would install if for another $90 or so. I said I would think about it, and to get it in ( knowing that I had already ordered the card from another vender), and which ever company delivered the correct 2006, MBP 1st gen Airport Extreme card 802.11g ((not n )) would get my business.

Apple got the card in 1 day slower than a local Mac shop, who were happy to sell it to me and even go over some tips on installation (which I studied and printed out on iFixit).

Tonight I swapped out the Airport card (and did some dusting and checking while under the hood), screwed it back together, and so far GREAT! I have a stronger, more steady 802.11 connection to not only Apple networks but other routers on the street. I'll try to break it (by using my laptop well with-in the typical, predictable, reasonable, normal, behavior) and see if the problem returns.

So far so good. Took the matter into my own hands (along with a Torx head, Phillips, and Spudger).

Will update in a couple days.

I just wanted to pass this tip along to everyone here because it has absolutely solved this problem.

My wifi began to cut out about eight months ago. Originally I started with a weak signal and it progressed to the point where I'd have to literally stand within 3-5 feet of the wireless station to get any type of signal. I live off of my laptop and it's been an absolute pain, especially considering my wife's 10 year old iBook is humming along on the internet next to mine.

The other evening, I decided to either drill a hole in the ceiling to drop down an ethernet line or buy a new macbook that perhaps wouldn't heat to 2,000 degrees and melt the wires coming from the airport card.

I literally googled for help and found a company called AftertheMac. I purchased a wireless USB adapter and basestation from them two evenings ago and paid for $20 rush shipping. It's arrived a few moments ago and setup took about two minutes, total. I have shut down the airport card from **** and am currently getting excellent reception in an area of the house that notoriously doesn't get a signal. I have no clue if anyone has tried them or if there are more competitors out there, but for $30-$50, you could bypass the airport card entirely and get much more mileage out of your laptop!

In response to Bluecool - I'm having the exact same problems. I've changed the antenna with no luck, but not the wireless card. I'm curious - is your new wireless card still working well for you? Any more problems or did that seem to fix it??

I thought the antenna would be a slam dunk for me (apple Genius suggested it) but I guess not. Hoping a new wireless card will work. If that doesn't work I really have no idea what to do.

I just started having a problem with the wireless on my MBP.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the computer itself, because the problems came after yet another tragically unsuccessful attempt to set up my Time Capsule. The thing hasn't been working for months, but I've pretty much given up on it for now. It's unplugged and in time out until I am less annoyed with it.

But since I tried to set up the Time Capsule using my MBP, I can't connect normally to our usual wireless verizon network. I have to go into the System Preferences, then the Network settings, and run the diagnostics every time I start up the computer, or come back to it after being away for a few minutes. It's making me crazy. And I would assume that it's looking for the Time Capsule network instead, except that I've turned off the Time Machine option entirely, so I don't think it would even try to connect.

Does anyone know what's going wrong here? Is there some hidden setting that isn't allowing me to connect properly? Help?

Mine is still working great. No loss of connectivity and it's picking up more wireless networks in the area. I'm surprised, please, and hopeful it will continue to work.

I'm convinced the problem was caused if not exacerbated by the faulty airport card.
I hope you find a solution on your end and will post any changes here.

bc

I ordered a new (used actually, I think) airport card for my Macbook and installed it last night. So far everything seems to be back to normal. Previously I could sometimes connect to my wireless router, but usually the signal would fade after a few minutes of use. I literally had to be on top of the router to connect wirelessly. This is the reason I thought it was the antenna, so I replaced it but it turned out not to help (what a pain that was to replace). The new card, however, has shown a dramatic improvement. I will certainly update if I start having problems again, but for now it seems to be fixed!

Exact same problems with BCM94321MC and Macbook White 4.1 (Mac OS X 10.6.1).

In my case the 5ghz band in 802.11n works marvellous. The drops of the connection arise ONLY in the 2.4 ghz band.

Today I found out that if I disconnect the RIGHT connector on the card, and leave only 1 antenna on the left connector everything runs fine!! No more drops.
However the speed in 802.11n drops to half excactly.
In 802.11g, there is no change in speed with one antenna.

Hope this helps.

Having problems with Wifi Connectivity. Ill be surfing the net, then all the sudden my internet connection will go down, I still show full bars, but I can't access the internet anymore.. i have to disable then re enable to get the wifi to work.

I do not have the same problem when I boot up in boot camp with windows 7. It never has a wifi problem? what is going on? I have tried changing to WPA. nothing seem's to work. I have a linksys WRT54G2. what's the problem? i'm going crazy trying everything. I have deleted the keychain then re entered. I have changed the channels on the router to see if it was interference. I'm assuming it has to be either a compatability issue with linksys and SnowLeopard. I read about disabling ipv6, and or reseting the PRam? what do you guys think?

As I pointed out in my previous post, it seems that the combination of the two antennas in the 2.4 Ghz band is faulty (Broadcom BCM94321MC).

When there is only the left antenna connected to the WLAN card, it functions normally in 2.4 Ghz. Whether this is a firmware or hardware I cannot tell. However if it functions normally in Windows, then it might be a firmware/driver fault on Mac OS X.

I have been running mine with the left antenna only for 48 hours and there are no drops at all.

Interesting, So you only have problems in the 2.4 band not the 5? yes mine seems to work fine so far in boot camp windows.. but alas, the reason I got a mac was for Snow leopard not so i can use windows on my mac machine

What is the final fix for this? I have a macbook pro from 2006 and it drops the my wireless connection after upgrading to Leopard. It seems to only drop it when the computer gets hot. How do i fix this once and for all without buying a new computer?

I read something about Turning off the IPV6 on my mac, and have done so, I reset the nvram, repaired permissions, and so far, "knock on wood" my problem is fixed. I read somewhere that the mac is set to automatically configure IPV6, many routers do not play nice with IPV6, so when the mac tries to configure IPV6 automatically, it realizes the router doesn't support it, in theory it shouldn't effect your connection, but in my case i think it did. Also I changed my router to broadcast Wireless G only.

Not sure which one fixed the issue, but it seems to be working for me.

To turn off your IPV6 go to System Preferences, Select airport, select advanced settings and change the IPV6 option to "off" instead of automatic.. hope this helps other people.

For me the "final" fix was trashing the airport prefs (that store your previous locations/IP data) AND replacing the internal Airport card. (the exact same part - not trying to upgrade from802.11g to n). On the 2006, 1st Gen MBP, that is what fixed the problem.


By the way I didn't order the airport card from Apple, I got it from a place recommended by the Genius at the Genius bar. If the Apple store got the card they would have to install it themselves, but that was $100 I wanted to save. If you are not comfortable going under the hood of your MBP, and this does involve removing the entire casing and exposing the mother board, HD, and other goodies) have an Apple Tech do it.

So far, no dropped signals and steady, strong connectivity. Let me know if you need the exact Apple part number.

Wishing everyone else luck on this one.
bc

I had been having the same problem with a wireless connection using Time Capsule on my Mac from at some point. There may be some other solutions as other people point out, but the below worked for me so far:

1. Try "Keychain First Aid" under "Keychain Access";
2. Verify & Repair "Disk Permissions" at "Disk Utility"; and
3. Verify & Repair "Disk" at "Disk Utility."

I hope the above helps those who are experiencing this wireless connection problem.