Connection time out Airport express + Macbook

I have a similar problem - and it happens in a variety of locations using different servers - I'll get 5 to 10 good minutes then the signal degrades

I am having similar problems. I recently reconfigured my airport extreme base station from using a manual IP (from a different network) and brought it back home to set up using DHCP. I can get macbook to recognize the airport base station, and the signal strength is full. I will then open safari and the connection is great for about 30-60 seconds and then... nothing. It will cease to open any new pages after that short duration.

I have reset my modem and base station about 10 times. No change. When I link my macbook directly to the modem via ethernet cable, I have no issues. When I switch my macbook's airport to my neighbor's wireless network, I have no problems whatsoever.

I have tried doing a reset with the back switch and tried starting over by setting up a new wireless network in my home. I have a steady green LED on the front of the base station. If I turn my airport card on my macbook off, then back on, I get the same results - about a half minute of blazing connection... then nothing.

Can anyone offer any suggestions?

I'm experiencing the same problem. Macbook starts out with a full wifi signal and within a minute it drops down to just the bottom dot on the signal strength indicator. A few seconds later, I have no signal at all. When I attempt to sign back in to my wifi, I get the connection timeout message. I spent a good hour on the phone with Linksys to get things straightened out to no avail. My iphone has no problem with the wifi at the exact same location in my home. A solution would be greatly appreciated.

Yep! Same problem for me. Fippin' pain. iPhone works perfect. Tried updating to 10.5.6 but to no avail. It can't be the Macbook. Some kind of little setting on the Express....

I have the same problem with a unibody macbook/airport express. had problems with bt homehub 2 as well. any news from apple?

new aiport express, iphone online fine, macbook online fine, imac just keeps coming up with 'connection interupted'.

when i can connect, got nothing

Yeah. This new Airport Extreme has been nothing but problems.

After dealing with a suite of other difficulties (the much crappier and cheaper Belkin base station never had) my girlfriend's macbook is experiencing the same issue. Brief, occasional connectivity but mostly time out errors as others have described.

My Macbook Pro connects mostly fine but still isn't as consistent as it should be.

Please Apple (or someone) help out with this...

Ugh.

Hello,

I have exactly the same problem, do you already have the solution?
If I change the radio mode the macbook is functioning well but the rest still doesn't work.

Isn't it amazing how nobody on the Support or Expert category has made any response to your problem. We see from the subsequent postings just how rife this problem is. I've posted a similar question about my Macbook 13 Airport going unstable and nobody has any solutions.
I've resorted now to using a Mobile Phone Account Novate Modem to connect to the web because Airport is utterly useless.
It is a fussy muddled design that doesn't work.

Someone on here suggested that I would be better off buying a PC laptop instead which I thought was a dreadful admission that my criticisms of the Mac system are fully justified.
Personally I feel that the Mac system has been caught out by the variety and versatility of users mode of operation. We're all doing far more with the computers than they originally expected and the Hardware and Software have all been hurriedly patched up to try to keep up.

Airport in my case drops the signal whenever I open a browser like Safari or Firefox and it starts scanning the network trying to "read" my network signal. Then it can't see it at all, unless I go right into the room where the Netgear Wireless Access Point is. Yet a computer upstairs four rooms away receives the signal perfectly.

The signal shows up on Airport and then drops. At one point I got a better signal when turning my big 42inch TV off which might have been interfering with the strength or quality of the wireless signal but I've never heard of that before.

Is anyone with an expert bit of experience going to respond to this thread as there are a lot of folks out there tearing their hair out with this Airport problem it's one of the worst I've had so far with the Macbook and believe me there have been a lot of very frustrating issues.
The Macbook is very good at a limited number of very specialist tasks but there are a number of other tasks equally important that it seems to be completely inept at carrying out.
--
Plado

I'm having the same problem. Purchased a MacBook Pro last week. Worked perfectly on my wireless network (D-Link) for four days. Now it won't connect. I tried WPA, WEP and no security. Nothing works. iPhone, Tivo and other wireless devices work fine. The MacBook Pro worked on my father-in-laws network last week, but doesn't now.

I have a suggestion for you guys. I had a similar issue with inconsistent connection since my router is a little further away from where I normally use my MBP. I had the consistent dropping of the signal, etc. I replaced the IO80211Family.kext kernel file with the file from version 10.5.2 after completely reconfiguring the router and spending hours troubleshooting. Seems that in every version of OSX 10.5 after 10.5.2, the wifi connection degrades very quickly if the signal is not very strong. A Windows computer has no problems with such connection. The ultimate test was installing Windows in bootcamp on the same exact computer and having no problems with the WiFi, where OSX bogs down. If you want to try this fix, google IO80211Family.kext replacement and try it. I am very curious if that works for other people.

the 10.5.2 version of the IO80211Family.kext file for me worked for a few hours then it went back to the usual on again off again internet.

So I took the kext files from the original OS 10.5 (retail) install disc

IO80211Family.kext
and
AppleAirport.kext

The internet has been fine since.

Hey there could someone explain how to do that bit - taking the old 10.5 files into the existing 10.5.6 setup please? got the connection timeout blues

Just adding my name to the list. I have my Airport Express connected via CAT5 to an AT&T U-verse gateway. I reset my Airport about every day. The AE is set to Bridge Mode. The green light is on, yet no connection. I pull the AE out of the wall and plug it back in. Viola. The MacBook automatically connects. Anyone have any solutions? I'm wondering if this has something to do with either the NAT settings or the DHCP lease timing.