iMac and Airport problems

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iMac and Airport problems

Hello All - be gentle with me - Im not very techie and Im a windows refugee! so Im not well versed in the ways of Mac fully yet!!

Im having a problem with my iMac (which i love) and airport wifi..... The iMac is 5 months old and is running OS x 10.5.6 I am using a wireless Netgear modem/router on 802.1n. I have 100% signal strength in the Airport Status bar and it connects perfectly.....however about 4-5 minutes the signal just disappears and the Airport status bar greys out and I lose my wifi connection. When you click on the Airport in the status bar, even the network name has disappeared, and then about 20 seconds later it reappears and reconnects itself automatically. Its like the card is turning itself off and then back on again and rebooting and its doing it like clockwork.

I didn't really notice it at first, but it came to light when i bought a Time Capsule - which after 10 days of failed back ups I took back to the shop thinking it was that that was faulty.

As the problem is still there, i figured it might be a router/modem issue so i got our IT guy to check all the settings and he confirmed it was properly set up and working fine.

I've just bought a Mac Air Book also running Leopard 10.5.6 and the weird thing is that the Airport connection on that is bullet proof, as is the wireless connection on my daughters Windows XP Profession SP3 lap top - which leads me to conclude it has to be either a faulty airport card in the iMac or some sort of software issue ??

Any one got any suggestions how to fix the issue - as its driving me nuts! Is this a known issue ?

iMac 2.8, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Feb 18, 2009 7:41 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 21, 2009 1:35 AM in response to 998gsb

Hi,

I am having the exact same problem with my imac running 10.5.6.

All other computers on the network are fine and have no internet problems at all. Even my iphone works fine.

The problem is very frustrating. Anybody got any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Will

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Answer 2

998gsb Author

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Feb 21, 2009 6:26 AM in response to French_Will

OK - this is early days, but this fix touch wood appears to have worked (after spending hours on the phone to Apple Support (who in fairness were very helpful)).

We tried all the usual routes - run disk checker, resolve conflicts, moving plists out of the library - exactly the same, if not worse.

Then we tried this - which HAS worked so far - 24 hours and it hasn't dropped once.

Dig out Disc 1 that came with your mac and put in to the drive. Click on the Apple logo. and then select - OSX Software. The Mac will want to restart - let it.

You then need to tell it to install OS X again. MAKE SURE you click the Install and ARCHIVE option - if you dont it will wipe your disk and all your settings and data. The Archive option basically saves all your settings and reinstalls them once the software has reinstalled.

My iMAC came with OS X 10.5.2. - once all this had reloaded (mine took about 2hours) - airport worked fine. Then the problem arose - my iMac is set up to automatically download and install updates - after about 10 mins, it beetled off to check, then loaded and installed Mac OS X 10.5.6 update together with Aiport Utility 5.3.2; Quicktime 7.6; Remote Desktop client 3.2.2; iTunes 8.0.2; and Frontrow 2.1.6 - it managed to download the whole lot in one go - about 750mb seemlessly without falling over - as soon as it installed however - my wifi connection went down.... :o(

So I figured there had to be a problem with one of the updates - so i started from scratch again and install/archive OS X 10.5.2. I then turned off the auto install updates feature, so i could manually install each update in turn, to see which one it was that upset Airport.

I found that if you download and install the updates 1 by 1 - then Airport remains happy....

I did it in this order..

Remote Desktop
Quicktime
iTunes
Airport Utility
Front Row
OS X 10.5.6

As I say i dont know if this is a permanent fix, but in 24 hours it hasn't dropped wifi once, and that's way longer than it has survived for the last 2 months.....

I have no idea why this apparently seems to work either - but it does seem to have cured it....

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Answer 3

samletuk

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4 points

Feb 21, 2009 11:37 AM in response to 998gsb

Like you all I'm having the exact same problem. My intel based Imac running 10.5.6. I have recently switched to Virgin Media's 20meg broadband yet the speed was slow on the imac but fast on my macbook and apple tv. I went and bought the Belkin N1 vision router thinking this would sort it however it's still the same.

The signal on the imac goes low then disappears then reappears later. I do not have this issue with the macbook (i have even held them side-by-side) to see if the same occurs. Also the apple tv works perfectly fast everytime and never loses the signal. It seems only the imac is affected for some reason.

Please help!!!

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Answer 4

Feb 21, 2009 3:11 PM in response to 998gsb

I am having the same issue with a 2.4ghz 20" core2duo iMac running 10.5.6 connected via 802.11n to a Time Capsule as well. 2 other Macs in the house, a macbook and a macbook air, do not have the same problem, but they also get put to sleep often while the iMac sometimes does not.
I've noticed that if I put the iMac to sleep at night it won't have the wifi lose connectivity for a while, but if I let it stay on all day and night at some point I won't be able to visit sites on safari or firefox, but I can ping sites or use traceroute and they will return results. If I turn off wifi on the iMac then immediately turn it back on the connection returns and I can browse the internet again.
I'm sorry, but an archive install is going way beyond what should be considered normal to fix such a problem. I'd rather not resort to such things if possible. In addition, my brother with a 20" imac is having similar problems so I'm wondering if it's hardware related in some way.
Thanks

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Answer 5

998gsb Author

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Feb 22, 2009 11:57 AM in response to Danny Sohayda

It might be a bit extreme - but 48 hours later its still working, and hasn't dropped once........its not a difficult fix to execute, and certainly on mine, i've proved its software rather than hardware related....

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Answer 6

Feb 22, 2009 10:38 PM in response to 998gsb

I have the exact same issue! it's sooo anoying... cause for example sometimes my computer behaive but other time just doesnt want to conect to the internet... i thought that it was a hardware issue and i only have 1 month with my new mac... i'm gonna try this that you say and i'm gonna let you know my computer came with the disc of 10.5.4

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Answer 7

avpepsi

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Feb 24, 2009 8:29 PM in response to 998gsb

998gsb -- I cannot thank you enough for posting this. OK, granted it's only been 15 minutes since I did your fix. But that is longer than my mac has ever been able to connect to the internet uninterrupted before.

Apple customer service? Of no help and a huge waste of time. Genius store? Not helpful, and quite honestly, more than a little bit rude. Apple, you need to wake up. This issue had nearly convinced me to never buy another Mac (and still makes me doubt my getting another mac, despite being a mac person).

I'll post an update in a couple days as well, but thanks again. Just wanted to post my positive experience.

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Answer 8

Feb 25, 2009 4:37 AM in response to avpepsi

I'll wait until Snow Leopard before archive-installing anything. So far, putting the computer to sleep seems to 'fix' the issue.

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Answer 9

Feb 25, 2009 11:35 AM in response to 998gsb

Hi,
i was having the same problem and did exactly what you said. during the whole process the internet never lost the signal and i could tell it was a lot faster. until i updated the last step "mac OS update combined" then i lost it again. is there a 10.5.6 out there that isn't combined?

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Answer 10

avpepsi

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Feb 25, 2009 1:38 PM in response to Danny Sohayda

You may have a different problem. My problem was clearly software (Windows XP had perfect wireless on the same machine). Multiple other threads have addressed similar issues to what I was experiencing.

I kept waiting for apple to fix it .. every update Apple sent didn't help, 10.5.5 no good, 10.5.6 no good. Go ahead and wait it out, but archive and install was really simple to perform.

Update: my mac wireless still works today!

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Answer 11

998gsb Author

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Feb 25, 2009 3:28 PM in response to avpepsi

Well nearly a week on - and I still have perfect 100% wi fi on the iMac - i can stream music from iTunes to my AV system perfectly - curiously, I put an airport express on to my network as a client so i could stream from iTunes, and the wi-fi on the Mac immediately fell over as soon as the express was added - so I did archive install again - and runs perfectly again and hasn't dropped once in 5 days......

Weird but it definitely does seem to work...

Im really pleased i've been able to help in this debate as it does seem to be a big issue Apple - please address it in the next update to fix whatever the gremlin is!!

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Answer 12

Feb 28, 2009 5:53 PM in response to 998gsb

I found signal strength makes a difference. After 10.5.6 update my computer suddenly could not keep contact with my base station (Extreme). The signal I normally get is weak, about 35% (read with iStumbler), and there are several other signals of about the same strength. I stay on a different channel. Anyway, I moved my computer next to the base station (to hook up an ethernet cable), and look the problem disappeared. The signal next to the base station is about 65% (you'd think higher...), and the wireless internet connection is fine. Put it back in the other room at 35%, problem reappears. Also, my Express is out of commission. Won't configure I tried your fix 998gsb, exactly as you said, but it did not work in my case. I've had this problem for a week now. What is up. My plan is to hang out next to the base station until a fix comes around.

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Answer 13

avpepsi

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Mar 2, 2009 2:37 PM in response to 998gsb

Mine is still working too. I had a recurrence after I used Boot Camp and left windows on overnight. Not sure if it was related, but deleted the Boot Camp partition and switched to a true virtual machine on VMware, no problems since.

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Answer 14

Mar 4, 2009 3:01 AM in response to 998gsb

Running 10.5.6. I've posted numerous times before regarding this. It seems to happen around every two months for me. I can do nothing except wait for it to fix itself. It's unacceptable that this hasn't been fixed yet, with so many people suffering the same problem.

Reverting back to a previous update is not a viable option, and this shouldn't have to be the case.

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Answer 15

lizart

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Mar 12, 2009 4:16 PM in response to 998gsb

Hi,

I'm having the same problem. My iMac sits right next to my MacBookPro. The laptop is always reliably connected to the wireless modem, whereas the iMac has a fit every so often and drops the signal, or shows very little signal and is interminably slow. My office mate's PC also has a reliable wireless connection to the same modem. After reading this thread I realized the iMac airport goes wacky after an update.

Sorry, but reinstalling the system and updating one at a time just doesn't fit my "gotta get work done NOW" life. I connected via Ethernet and it's working perfectly. But I wanted to add my frustration to this thread and keep track. Apple needs to fix this. Or do I just have a bad airport card?

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