Dropping Wi FI Signal

I periodically check for updates for the Linksys router - there hasn't been one for a few months. The only thing that has changed in my network is the upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard. Remember there's no such thing as a coincidence it the world of IT 😉

The problem seems to be something to do with how SL handles WPA2 because I switched to WPA out of curiosity and my connection has been stable so far without a single drop out even after sleeping.

Somebody needs to carry out some low-level debugging to see exactly what's going on. If someone can tell me how to do it I volunteer. I've tried looking at the console messages but it didn't show anything.

Well, I was having the same issues...at least once/day. There were 2 things I did recently to my macbook pro...update to snow leopard and update my airport to 7.4.2. I tried other things in this thread with no luck so I decided to downgrade my airport to 7.4.1. So far, I have not dropped a link yet.

Was that the problem? Dunno..only time will tell.

its Snow Leopard. Hoping that of many people report this Apple will fix it faster!

Here is my experiment with around 10 devices of various types:

1. Item 1, a MacBook Alu. Been running long hrs on web for months, no problems with Wifi apart from very very rarely - and those were router issues as all devices dropped...
2. Installed Snow Leopard. IMMEDIATELY the Macbook drops Wifi several times each hr, with all the symptoms described here.
3. when this Macbook drops Wifi connection, ALL OTHER DEVICES (2-3 Macbooks and a MacMini all running Leopard, Wii, 2 iPod touches and an iPhone...) ALL remain rock solidly connected.
4. Router is unaltered.

So, QED. Its Snow Leopard as this is the only variable changed across some 10 bits of hardware. nine still work as before on the same Wifi network, whilst one - the one Macbook with SnowLeopard - is now malfunctioning.

Please release the update to fix it, Apple!

Well, John, I wish you were right but my experience shows that a my new MB Air is behaving exactly the same way under Leopard (10.5.8) or SL - dropping connection every 4 to 5 minutes and random extremely slow connection eventhought the wifi signal is at the maximum.

When booting on an external USB drive with Leopard (10.5.8) the MB Air is still dropping connection and is still slow. (tested of course on several Aiports and WiFi devices)

I think the problem is much more complicated and it is probably a hardware/software combination. Whatever, it's obvious that Apple has to make a move to solve that problem.

I've send my MB Air to rep under guaranty, hoping they're going to replace the wifi chip or whatever has to be replaced in order to make it work under SL.
Let see what happen…

Thought I'd add to the discussion because my version of the problem is sort of unique...

I'm using a 1st Gen MBP that worked fine before upgrading to SL. I can connect OK at my home. (though when I first installed SL I did have major problems...some of the "fixes" I attempted for my other problem may have solved this issue.)

However, at the university where I work I only get connectivity in very specific locations. For example, in my office on the 2nd floor of a 3 story building I do not get connectivity (or rather I connect and then lose that connection within 20s). However, if I'm on the 3rd floor of the same building I can connect fine. This happens in other buildings throughout the campus as well...sometimes the higher floor doesn't work and the lower floors do...

It may be worth noting that when I get that 20s of connectivity in my office the signal bars quickly disappear one by one until I lose the connection. Then when scanning for wireless networks sometimes the network won't show at all, other times it will show but have no signal strength and will not let me reconnect.

It should also be noted that my iphone connects to the wireless fine in all locations (as did my 1st Gen MBP before upgrading to SL).

I've tried all the tricks (plists, new locations, etc), talked to the university IT, handed my laptop over to be examined by the university IT, etc. Still no luck. It's almost as if the laptop is picky about which access points it approves of.

Not sure if that was helpful in diagnosing these issues, but thought I'd toss it out there.

I also have this issue and I did not have it until SL. One thing that I have noticed that doesn't seem to have been mentioned is I only get dropped when I am running on battery and time remaining gets down to about 5 minutes. After that the only way to get it back is to restart with it plugged in.

Mclarge ~ This AirRadar app will give you detailed info about the wireless network(s) in your university — it has a 15-day trial:

http://www.koingosw.com/products/airradar.php

And there's also this +Wireless Grapher+ widget:

http://macpod.net/software/WirelessGrapher.php

I just spent more time and money (now over 10EUR) to call Apple Care - again.

Here is what we tried this time:

1. the cmd-r(might have been d though)-alt-p-onswich and wait for 3 Reboot thing (might have been trying to reset the ram.
2. Checking the connections
3. trying the router without any encryption / with a lighter encryption
4. moving the folder SystemConfiguration from the library - Preferences (Its getting rewritten after a new start.
5. Checking the DNS
6. Checking if the Router is up to date

Well that was basically it and it took over 45 min. It would have helped if the Operator had not needed to jump over the language barrier every time - I even offered to speak english but he refused.
Here are some answers I found really interesting.

1. There is a forum with people having the same issues - well I think I've found it.
2. They MIGHT already work on a solution (do they or not?) in the next Update
3. The next time I´m calling I'm going up to the next Level of support - Thanks
My apple care is running out today so I might not be able to call since I don't have time to wait for the next drop.
I'll keep you posted if anything of the solutions above helped in anyway. Please do the same!

Now I'm far beyond a unhappy customer.

I forgot to mention one funny thing.
He suggested downgrading to Leopard would solve the issue.
But since It's kind a complex thing to downgrade especially with new data added I think I won't try this one.

Like Bickity's post, the drops seem to be correlated with going to sleep mode on my end. I'm not 100% sure I'm afraid though. BTW, I haven't checked this thread in a week or two and am surprised there still is not a fix for this...

.. try deleting and recreating the Airport Service in System Preferences/Network, then reboot.

I have discovered that the signal loss occurs when I am connected to a WiFi repeater. It seems like when the signal drops, the repeater is out of touch with the base. So, I would not have internet anyway. Unfortunately in this condition I cannot even connect to the repeater, which I would call a bug.

It's exactly what I said I'll do…and this is what I have one; I've send the computer for repair.
I got the MB Air back for a couple of days ago and you were right. It was faulty
Apple has replaced the Airport chip and now the computer i working fine on all types of networks / routers.
I would like to point out is that the symptoms described in this thread are similars to the ones I was experiencing with my MB Air:
- Slow connection
- Dropping out with: "Airport: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity)."
- Rebooting would resume the connection for a while and then i would drop again.
This makes me beleive that OS X might not be _the only_ cause for the problem that many are experiencing.

A good news is that Apple is looking into the problem and is following this thread.
I've received a mail from the escalation teams asking for some more informations about my wireless issues.

I've been following this thread for a week or so now and I thought i'd put in my voice. I just bought a new macbook pro and I am also having continuous problems with wifi dropping signal. The drops are not very systematic at all. Sometimes I can go a couple hours without a drop, sometimes not even a minute. I have tried all of possible fixes mentioned in this thread including: resetting wireless router to factory defaults (with latest firmware), deleting network preference files and creating a new network place. I do have two airport expresses piggy-backing onto my wireless router (belkin). One express is for the printer, one is airtunes streaming. It seems like the wifi drops much more often when streaming through airtunes and more often than that when trying to stream through airtunes AND printing.

I had this same setup on my old MBP with 10.6 and didn't seem to have a problem. This seems as though it would be a software issue, but I am wondering if people here would recommend I get i checked out at the local genius bar instead of trying to wait for 10.6.2?

I had this issue with a brand new MB Air:
The wireless chip in the computer was faulty and had to be replaced.
Before going to the store, I would create a new user account and try to connect to another wireless network (at school or at work for instance). That will rules out damaged user's preferences and faulty wireless hardware or wireless network.
If you still have problems after doing those changes, I would suggest that you take the MBPro to the nearest Apple store, explain them what you've done and have the computer repaired.