Internet stops working after a few minutes of connecting..

Has the same AirPort update been applied to the other two Macs you reference?

ptrrp wrote:
They haven't. I told my brother not to update after the problem began.

And actually, it's not that it shuts down completely, but there are random periods of time where the internet is ridiculously slow, in some cases pages fail to load.

You need to describe what you mean by "the internet being slow." "Internet speed" has no meaning.
What is your internet connection speed? Use something like
http://www.speedtest.net/
Also check your LAN and/or WiFi speed.

The temporary fix is turning off and turning on the airport, or renewing my DHCP lease in the settings.

It sounds to me like an ISP or router issue.
My speeds are typically as below. This is using my WiFi connection.
!http://www.speedtest.net/result/516729309.png!

Usual problems are related to old routers and/or old router firmware. There is no Leopard issue as far as I can determine.

I have the same or similar problem. My wireless airport stopped working on my Macbook. I got a few strange messages about an IP address conflict which I can't remember exactly what they said and now it won't turn on. I thought the card had failed but now I know it is a software problem. The card is recognized in system profiler. I know this because I have an older drive with 10.5.5 on it and it works with that drive installed. Recently just before it stopped working I did a software update. It updated to 10.5.7 and there was an airport update as well. Right after that it stopped working so I'm pretty sure that is the cause.

Any suggestions? It's a real headache not having wireless.

I could do an archive and reinstall back to 10.5.5. I could clone the old drive but I would have to reinstall a lot of software.

I've given this very simplified example innumerable times before.

Say there's a router bug where when asked to add "2 + 3" it returns "5," but when asked to add "3 + 2" it erroneously returns "6."

Say Mac OS X 10.5.7 now asks the router to add "3 + 2" where Windows, the iPhone and older versions of Mac OS X only ask to add "2 + 3."

Mac OS X will get the wrong answer, but it's not Apple's fault as it asked the router a legitimate question.

It's not a router problem as I explained in my post. If it was a router problem then I wouldn't have the problem everywhere I go. It is an issue with the software.

I solved my problem by reinstalling 10.5.5 and not doing the updates to 10.5.7. I don't know for sure if it is the update to 10.5.7 or the airport updates that caused my problem.

I put my old drive back in my Macbook and I had wireless again. So I put my new drive in and did the reinstall and now it works. There is a conflict with either the 10.5.7 update or the Airport update.

APPLE REALLY NEES TO FIX THESE ISSUES. you can read about them all over the internet. Many have just updated to 5.7 and then they have a problem.

So archiving and reinstalling 5.5 solved my problem. My old drive has 5.6 and it works. If had a copy of 5.6 I would have used that.

I will try doing another update to 5.7 and see if it still works. If that works I will update the airport.

The "Scanning" message is completely normal and means AirPort is scanning for available networks to display.

You will see it every time you click the AirPort icon, and scanning is only performed because you clicked the icon.

If it was a blanket Apple issue, all of us would have the problem; most of us do not.

Personally I just returned from a trip with my 15" MBP and had no issues connecting to any of the hotspots I tried.

It is also in no way Apple's responsibility to fix third party firmware, regardless of whether "it used to work."

ejwoodall wrote:
It's not a router problem as I explained in my post. If it was a router problem then I wouldn't have the problem everywhere I go. It is an issue with the software.

Then I guess the millions of people running 10.5.7 with no issues are just hallucinating that their machines are working fine?

I'm not trying to belittle your issues; you're certainly having them and I know first hand how annoying an intermittent AirPort issue can be. (In fact, mine was due to an AirPort driver bug that no one else seemed to suffer from.)

The single best diagnostic you could do is take your system running 10.5.7 to an Apple Store, and try using their in-store network.

If your machine performs flawlessly, it may be a router issue.

If your machine has connectivity issues there, it may be a hardware problem with your machine.

There have been numerous people in multiple threads over the years who swore that an update was buggy because things used to work, but returned later to sheepishly admit that they took their machine in, a problem was found and fixed, and now their Mac works flawlessly with the newer software.

But simply reinstalling 10.5.5 in no way means the explanation of how firmware bugs may be at play here is incorrect.

In the context of that explanation, all you've done is possibly reinstall software that asks to add "2 + 3."

When I updated to 10.5.7, I had the same problem. Whenever it slowed or completely stopped I could see the "Airport: Scanning", which made me think that was the problem. Of course I searched for "excessive airport scanning" and found that a lot of people were having similar issues.

I took my computer to work and found that it worked just fine there. I recently purchased a new wireless router for my house and since then everything has been working great. I don't know what the deal is with it, but the only explanation I have is that something wasn't working with my old router, which was a d-link.

Alex

I have the same problem with my 17"MBP that I purchased about a month a ago. I have a 14" iBook 14" in my house that runs off the same AT&T router with no problems. With my new Macbook, evrytime I get on the internet, I will at some point just lose my connection (airport icon grays out and page won't load.) Sometimes multiple times in one session. I turn Airport off, then on, and it works.

I understand the explanation put forth about the router misunderstanding the request 2+3=5, 3+2=6
*But what can we do about it?*, besides revert to an earlier OS or buy a new router.

My other Apple computer works fine with the one we've got.

My router's firmware is up to date.

Message was edited by: Fishman881

sf23103 wrote:
When I updated to 10.5.7, I had the same problem. Whenever it slowed or completely stopped I could see the "Airport: Scanning", which made me think that was the problem. Of course I searched for "excessive airport scanning" and found that a lot of people were having similar issues.

OK, one more time:

When you click the AirPort icon, AirPort will report it is "Scanning" because it's looking for the list of networks to show you in the drop-down menu.

It is "Scanning" because you told it to by clicking the icon.

You have not lost your connection because AirPort is scanning.

Your connection is not slow because AirPort is scanning.

AirPort is reporting it is scanning because you clicked on the menu bar icon.

The machine is doing exactly what you asked it to.

It's no different than any other menu presented in response to clicking anything else in the menu bar.

Fishman881 wrote:
*But what can we do about it?*, besides revert to an earlier OS or buy a new router.

You can try to diagnose whether it's software or hardware by making sure your machine works properly with a known good network, like the one in your local Apple Store.

If that works, then the short term fix is to either downgrade (if that fixes it for you and you don't need the other bug fixes and security patches that have been added in later releases) or use a different router.

The long term fix will either be an Apple software fix (if it's Apple's fault) or a firmware upgrade from the router's maker (if it's your router's fault.)