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Level 1

20 points

Internet connection drops intermittently after 10.4.3 update

My brand new iBook came with 10.4.2 installed and on the DVDs. I used Software Update to install the 10.4.3 upgrade and all seems fine bar my internet connection.

I connect via the iBook's Airport Extreme card to a Netgear 802.11g router set to broadcast and receive g and b signals. There seems to be no problem maintaining the network connection but I have very frustrating connection problems to the outside world.

At times every other web page call returns the Safari message "You are not connected to the internet" Refreshing the page a few times resumes the connection and the page displays. Then the next page will return the error again. This problem is intermittent. Currently the connection seems to be working well, at times at least 50% of the page calls fail reporting the not connected message. At all times Airport status shows a full four bars.

A ping from the shell to say, google.com reports 100% packet loss until the connection is restored. I'm sure therefore it's not Safari. My mail app, Entourage, is having similar connectivity problems. I think pings to the router or other machines look fine, but I have no idea if I've just been lucky pinging them when the connection is ok. I have a feeling this is just an internet problem. Somehow the network is fine but it's stumbling over the internet connection only.

There are four other machines connected to the network, all experiencing no problems. This one, my grandad G4 533 Panther machine using Airport, a PowerBook G4 using Airport Extreme, a laptop PC whith whoknowswhat wireless and a wired always on Linux machine. The router, a Netgear DG834G, while not being the most reliable piece of hardware, is up and working fine. I updated the firmware to version 3.01.25 as part of my troubleshooting process. This made no difference.

Anybody have any similar experiences post 10.4.3? Anybody got any suggestions for troubleshooting?

Thanks very much,
Mark.

Posted on Nov 8, 2005 7:45 AM

52 replies

Mark Russell Author

Level 1

20 points

Feb 10, 2006 5:48 AM in response to SuddenSam

Well, I think most people are probably listening, but not replying. They're most likely delirious, banging their heads against the wall.

I don't wish to speak too soon but I might have 'fixed' the problem for me. Not by choice mind. My iBook (prime mover in this woeful thread) is with Apple for repair. Why? Well the Airport card went "Bang" causing endless kernel panics on boot. This is discussed at length elsewhere here. So my fix will occur by virtue of the fact I'll be back on the stable 10.4.2. I won't be upgrading until I hear all is well, so please keep posting your woes or solutions.

Though seemingly drastic it is an option for everybody I suppose. You could archive and install to 10.4.2 keeping your user details and network settings. Trash the old System directory and all will be working again. Not great that a downgrade is necessary I know.

As for Apple in this fray, you'll find no direct participation in any discussion thread. It's a user only board. This is extremely frustrating. The cynic in me suggests a large part of their support costs are being covered by end users generous with their knowledge. Suddenly the the weather over Cupertino is looking much like the weather over Redmond five years ago wouldn't you say?

Did I mention that both these problems (the 10.4.3 & 4's issues and a multitude of hardware problems) look suspiciously like live beta testing of the OS and Apple hardware? No I didn't did I? I'll save my vitriol over that for another day.

Mark Russell Author

Level 1

20 points

Feb 10, 2006 5:53 AM in response to Irvin Lustig

There is our sister thread mapping the same problem for 10.4.4 ...

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=326967

It seems most people over there used a combo update from 10.4.2 which might suggest it's still 10.4.3 causing the problem and that 10.4.4 doesn't fix it.

Mar 19, 2006 1:56 PM in response to Mark Russell

Same problem here. I am using wireless internet with Airport Express. I can restore my connection by turning airport off and then on again, but this is reall really annoying.

Mar 20, 2006 5:46 AM in response to Mark Russell

No solution here either but just reiterating the problem everyone else is experiencing. It's very annoying and it seems to happen everytime I'm transferring large files over our network. I've found that unplugging the ethernet cable, waiting for the DHCP IP address to blank out and then plugging back in the cable is a better fix than rebooting. I hope the fix comes through soon.

iMac 2 Ghz Intel Core Duo Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Wender.

Level 2

199 points

Mar 20, 2006 2:36 PM in response to Tom Sanpakit1

No solution here either but similar experiences:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=407640

I used to think it had to do with BitTorrent and it may have gotten better after doing this:

http://azureus.aelitis.com/wiki/index.php/NetworkConnectionDying

...but it still happens occasionally, with or without bittorrent.

Strange thing is: It got solved for me one year ago, don't know how. Started again after migrating to my new Intel iMac.

Intel iMac 2gHz/500/2GB/20" Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Mar 28, 2006 10:30 AM in response to Wender.

I have a client with this issue on three different Macs (out of 20). A 15" Ai Book, G5 and iMac G4. I rebuilt the OS on the PB and didn't copy over the System Configuration prefs. The PB was originally at 10.4.5 with this problem, I took it back to 10.4.3 and it worked for a day but then the problem surfaced again. The issue seems to have started around the same time as a power outage.

Jun 4, 2006 5:59 AM in response to Ryan Burkholder

has anyone found any relief for this problem? I"m still experiencing the same problems...

jA

Internet connection drops intermittently after 10.4.3 update