Intermittent Connection Drop since the 7.3.2 update.

Same issue here, began after firmware update. Only is a problem when my son is here with his MacBook. He connects, and I am bumped, no internet access. I can turn Airport off and then on again, and that seems a temporary fix. Very temporary. If my son is online, I need to restart Airport every so often. As soon as he closes his 'book, the problem goes away.

I hope a fix is in the works.

Anyone know when Apple are going to release a fix for this massively frustrating issue??

Thanks

Nick

My computer is sitting right under my Airport base station, so I can see the light go amber when it does this. It disconnects for no apparent reason, then blinks for a while, and, fortunately, reconnects.

I read here the suggestion to go back to previous firmware.

The update function in the Airport Utility allows access to previous firmware upgrades (hold down "option" key while hitting the update function on the menu--the "control" key if you're using a PC). Unfortunately, the previous firmware (7.3.1) on the resulting is blanked out--no check box. I can't select it to revert, and no matter how I reset to factory settings, including plugging it in while pushing the reset button, 7.3.2 is still in there.

Guess we have to wait for a fix.

Same problem here. I have a brand new iMac that just can't hold the connection whenever my Macbook (running Tiger) is on. Don't know if it has something to do with the OS, but I don't think so since a lot of people seem to be complaining about that even with XP.

Hope they fix it ASAP, I tried to reset my TC and even downgrade it to 7.3.1, but nothing seems to work. Only when I performed a clean install of Leopard it worked for a while, but right after I installed iLife and iWork the problems began again.

I'm having the same problem here.
I tried downgrading to 7.3.1. Worked a little but problems came back.
Upgraded to 7.3.2 again. Still the same problems. Constantly dropping connections.
Haven't had these problems before the very first upgrade to 7.3.2. 😟

So, what's this "Airport Extreme disk utility" you mentioned? I cannot find it. Is it a 3rd party tool? Or did you mean the usual AirPort Utility?

Same issue. I had a difficult time just getting the base station set up. It seems that accepting the 7.3.2 update has just made matters worse. It seems more likely that I'll be returning the base station this week while I can.

Here's a little excerpt from my AirPort Extreme's BaseStation's logfile:
-----
Jul 28 21:04:21 Gewichtung: 5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Jul 28 21:04:22 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:04:22 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:17:ab:d2:00:4e
Jul 28 21:04:22 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:04:22 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast TKIP key for supplicant 00:17:ab:d2:00:4e
Jul 28 21:04:51 Gewichtung: 5 Disassociated with station 00:17:ab:d2:00:4e
Jul 28 21:04:52 Gewichtung: 5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Jul 28 21:06:22 Gewichtung: 5 Disassociated with station 00:15:af:bb:ff:25
Jul 28 21:06:22 Gewichtung: 5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Jul 28 21:06:49 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:06:49 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:08:28 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:15:e9:d9:3c:04
Jul 28 21:08:31 Gewichtung: 5 Deauthenticating with station 00:15:e9:d9:3c:04 (reserved 2).
Jul 28 21:08:31 Gewichtung: 5 Disassociated with station 00:15:e9:d9:3c:04
Jul 28 21:10:47 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:10:47 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:13:31 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:15:e9:d9:3c:04
Jul 28 21:13:32 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast TKIP key for supplicant 00:15:e9:d9:3c:04
Jul 28 21:13:53 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:13:53 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:13:55 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:17:ab:d2:00:4e
Jul 28 21:13:55 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast TKIP key for supplicant 00:17:ab:d2:00:4e
Jul 28 21:14:23 Gewichtung: 5 Clock synchronized to network time server time.apple.com (adjusted +0 seconds).
Jul 28 21:14:24 Gewichtung: 5 Disassociated with station 00:17:ab:d2:00:4e
Jul 28 21:14:28 Gewichtung: 5 Deauthenticating with station 00:15:e9:d9:3c:04 (reserved 2).
Jul 28 21:14:28 Gewichtung: 5 Disassociated with station 00:15:e9:d9:3c:04
Jul 28 21:14:28 Gewichtung: 5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Jul 28 21:14:53 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:17:ab:d2:00:4e
Jul 28 21:14:53 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast TKIP key for supplicant 00:17:ab:d2:00:4e
Jul 28 21:14:55 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:14:55 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:15:22 Gewichtung: 5 Disassociated with station 00:17:ab:d2:00:4e
Jul 28 21:15:25 Gewichtung: 5 Deauthenticating with station 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e (reserved 2).
Jul 28 21:15:25 Gewichtung: 5 Disassociated with station 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:15:25 Gewichtung: 5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Jul 28 21:15:26 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:15:26 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:15:26 Gewichtung: 5 Rotated TKIP group key.
Jul 28 21:15:55 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:15:55 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:16:25 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:16:25 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:16:55 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:16:55 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:19:25 Gewichtung: 5 Associated with station 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
Jul 28 21:19:25 Gewichtung: 5 Installed unicast CCMP key for supplicant 00:16:cb:bd:05:4e
-----

As you can see, clients are connected and shortly after that disconnected. Then connected again and disconnected. Obviously, that's pretty annoying and one can't work with it. 😟

My setup is as follows: I'm using a Fritz!Box as my DSL modem. The AirPort Extreme BaseStation is connected via LAN cable to the DSL modem. The DSL modem has a DHCP server running, the AirPort station, of course, NOT. Most of the computers in the house have a fixed IP address -- the DCHP is needed for guests and the laptops from work. (But if I switch off the DHCP server on the DSL modem, it's the same problem.)

As stated earlier in this thread, I downgraded to 7.3.1 and upgraded back to 7.3.2 -- to no avail. 😟

If you need any more info, please ask. Hopefully somebody can help and has a clue what's going on here.

Thanks!
Stefan.

oh, btw: is there any way to follow the log file "live", while it's written?
to see live when a client is about to connect and so on?
like a unix "tail -f system.log" command?

that would help a lot in narrowing it down...

thx,
Stefan.

P.S.: tried to setup the syslog feature -- to no avail. the corresponding article ( http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107993) dates from September 2005.
Plus, I get an error after the "syslogd -m 0 -u" command:
10186 launchd lookup of LAUNCH JOBKEYMACHSERVICES failed

(and the -u commandline switch isn't documented in the syslogd's man page at all ...)

This issue is incredibly frustrating. In the unlikely event that Apple employees are actually reading this thread, here is some additional information I have compiled:

- I am lucky that my Airport Extreme is rebooting only several times a day, and not every 15 minutes.
- Often, the Airport Extreme will stop passing all traffic. When you open the utility, it indicated that an Ethernet cable has been disconnected; this is never the case, and the status light remains green. I suspect this is a programming mistake.
- The wireless connection will randomly drop to wireless Mac clients only; PCs and wired connections remain online.
- DNS will often drop randomly; I have hard coded internet DNS servers locally to avoid this issue.
Upon the logs indicate that the base station is trying to join another base station's network. Until I open the utility and walk through the basic setup steps again, the base station acts like a brick.

Long story short, I feel like I've been screwed by an Apple product again. I realize that products like the Airport Extreme are just add-ons and not a priority for Apple, but issues like this really destroy the whole "it just works" image that Apple has tried so hard to make people believe. Not that the fully booked genius bars and 3 week backlog at the local Apple store didn't screw that image up for them already. Well, this just doesn't work. Apple routinely rushes products/updates without adequate testing to market due to managerial pressure. I paid nearly $200 for this POS when an $80 Linksys or Netgear router would have given me better reliability; besides, I can update those brands with DD-WRT firmware so that they can be used like a real router (like a Cisco/Juniper router, not this mickey mouse club, no web/telnet/serial interface piece of junk). Last time I cave to pressure from my Mac using roommate with regard to infrastructure purchases.

These issues only popped up after installing the 7.3.2 firmware. A downgrade did not help the issue. Apple really needs to fix this. I use VoIP for work purposes and nothing is more annoying that the router freezing up/dropping the connection in the middle of a call.

Fix your programming Apple.

I started experiencing the same thing suddenly. Our local tech guy thought it was because I was using an older airport, so I spent the money on a new Extreme.

That worked well for a little while (probably because I had the battery plugged in).

Why is Apple not properly testing updates before sending them out (smacks of Microsoft)?

More importantly, when will this issue be resolved?

My problem is solved because my son and his MacBook are away for two weeks. So my iMac stays rock-solid connected. Maybe Apple can take a look at this issue, figure out what the multiple-machine conflict is and how it related to the firmware update. AND FIX IT!!!

I am still having this problem but have discovered that by changing the direction my MacBook Pro faces before the signal gets too weak it will strengthen. But this means a constant watch and redirecting.

Isn't it frustrating when an old powerbook or iBook has better reception than our newer geewiz bangers!!!!!

jazmacstuff, are you having issues solely with you Airport reception? I think this may be a slightly different issue to what others on this thread are reporting, as (correct me if I am wrong) most of us have good Airport signal strength while this issue is going on. I'm not saying you don't have a problem that has been caused by the firmware update, it just might be a different one!

I have to say ('knock on wood') that my AEBSn has been behaving itself since I returned it to factory settings through the Airport Utility app. I've had to run it in bridge mode, but my internet connection hasn't been lost for about a week now. If anyone else has attempted this and not had success let us know. Interestingly I haven't had to downgrade the firmware.

Just to be clear, this isn't resetting the base station and going through the setup process again. You need to open Airport Utility, select the BS and enter manual setup. You'll then be able to select 'Restore Default Settings...' through the 'Base Station' menu.