After installing 10.5.2 I'm noticing that if I click on Airport icon it indicates that it's scanning briefly and then stops. Is this a bug with 10.5.2? Unplugging my Airport Express briefly didn't seem to do anything.
OK. Some results after an evening of messing about with it...
1) Deleting plist files/deleting all locations and re-installing Airport service. NO FIX
Was actually a nightmare at first as could not get any connection back. Airport refused to initiate for about 10mins. Had to hit the "renew DHCP lease" to finally get it back. Browsing seemed much, much slower generally when it did work.
Not recommended.
2) Disable widgets from Dashboard. NO FIX
Seemed to work initially, but failed after 10mins. Then every couple of mins.
3) PRAM reset. POSSIBLE PARTIAL FIX
Connection was stable for 30mins. Browsing much quicker. Then it failed. Turn off and on again and it held for another 30mins. Then an hour. Much improved, but still not reliable.
4) Channel change on my router. ??
Just tried this and everything seems stable at present (possibly in combo with (3)? Will see how it goes and report back.
For ref, I also intend to try (assuming I have no decent fix):
5) Turning off 'b' support on my router.
6) Replacing DNS entries with OpenDNS ones (see how desperate this is!).
7) Setting up a continuous ping.
8) Manually configuring the airport connection.
And if all these fail, will log some feedback to Apple and wait (may even buy a PC, god forbid!).
The problem is: under 10.5.2, when the airport is scanning for mDNS / Bonjour services, it would kill the connection quite frequently. You could easily repeat this with the Airport Utility as well, when AU opens up, it will start scanning for base station, and bam, the network is dropped.
Apple has fixed this problem with 10.5.3. It doesn't happen with me anymore.
What you are describing with frequent network disconnection is something else, maybe cause by interferences or very weak signal. Have you tried changing the multicast rate, with higher multicast rate will let you lock onto the base station signal better, and combat unwanted interferences better.
In case anyone's listening in, my machine's now gone a full day without the WiFi connection dropping.
Router channel change (I used 6, but needs to be something neighbours aren't using!) and resetting the PRAM seems to have helped (loathe to say cured) it.
Will keep the other items in the back pocket to check if it comes back.
Now I just need to get Time Machine working to my networked drive again (which, it would appear, 10.5.3 louses up. Joy :)).
I have OS X 10.4.11 and since I installed this version I get the same connection drop out issue as the rest of you guys. I reset PRAM did PMU reset etc no luck. Weird thing: my MacBook Pro doenst have a problem currently, its just my G5 thats loosing it.
I just bought my airport express for my macbook for when I travel. I just got home and was reading all of the replies to this message and was wondering if I would have the same problem. I have mac version 10.5.3.
P.S. I have an iMac to that I was thinking about hooking up
4 days on and mine's still OK. So it looks like a combo of making sure I'm on an unoccupied channel on the wifi router and resetting the PRAM has done the trick (for now - I'm expecting it to come back!).
On the PRAM reset, when the screen went black on restart I held down command-apple-p-r together and let the computer try to restart *4 times* before letting go. Whether this is necessary or not, I don't know (doesn't seem logical). But it works now.
UPDATE: After about a half day of doing fine, it went back to a lot of drop offs in the morning. Maybe it is something about coming out of sleep mode or the screen going to sleep?
However, it seems that turning Airport off and then on again restores things for me...until the next time.
When its scanning, for me now I'm having problems with iChat and email connections. And Safari. Everything disconnects. I have 10.5.3 (firmware update installed).
Here is what I have found....for my MBP 2.5 is that the airport card has trouble maintaining a signal with my Time Capsule after waking up after coming home from my office and logging on the first time. I get weak (2 bar signal) and slow speeds.
However, a quick off and on from the menu bar icon, and boom, Full signal strength and running as should be.
I found installing AP Grapher helpful for the first day, but then it was back to constant scanning.
I think I just found a fix for my situation, though. My Airport Express channel was set to "automatic." I just opened AirPort Utility and assigned a channel (see this link for which channel is best for you:
http://www.macworld.com/article/45248/2005/06/changechannel.html ) and have had a steady signal since.
Just piling on. I began having this problem after installing 10.5.3. No problems before that. I'm using an AEBS (one of the older flying saucer shaped ones). I have an iMac that can't hold a signal. I've tried so many different "fixes." I'm getting that weird "scanning" message when I click on the Airport icon too. I've now taken out of the menu and will see if it strengthens my connection. I can no longer stream music or use iChat effectively because of the constant dropouts. This really stinks. I can't believe Apple can't fix such a fundamental issue.
