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Ryan83 Author

Level 1

0 points

Dropping Wi FI Signal

Ever since I installed 10.6 -- I constantly drop my wifi connection.
I have VPN turned off and the all the same settings from 10.5, and I never had a problem before.
Whether I am far away (reception is worse) or only 3 feet away, I drop my signal constantly for no reason.
I have latest Firmware on router and powered down modem and router.

Many times I can not turn off airport as well, and I need to restart my latpop in order to get a strong wifi signal again? Any suggestions?

My router is a Belkin G+ Mimo - most updated firmware

Thanks!

MacBook Pro 2.16 - 15 Inch, Mac OS X (10.6), 4 GB RAM, 320 Gb HD

Posted on Sep 3, 2009 5:41 PM

1,153 replies

Mar 16, 2011 9:35 AM in response to Ryan83

I'll throw mine in as well:

This only started to happen when upgrading to 10.6.5. When at home on my APX, I get fine reception, N-speeds. When at work connecting to WPA2 Interasys access points, I drop down to G speeds. It hasn't been much of an issue at work as I usually connect via wired ethernet. When connecting to the same work network on the open SSID, my speeds jump back to N. So it appear in my case, this is an issue with 10.6.5 and later with secure, non-Apple access points.

Mar 18, 2011 6:48 PM in response to johnnasset

I am a new Apple customer and am having the same issue. I am beyond frustrated that Apple is not doing anything about this issue. I am even more frustrated when calling Apple support, they are not even aware of any of their own tools. I had to learn on my own about the /var/log/kernel.log file and the airport command line utility. Being a UNIX engineer by profession these are the types of things I have been looking for. I had to reinstall the OS 3 days after getting the computer?

My dock goes transparent every now and again and I have to reboot... Problem after problem after problem.

So in short this may very well be my last Apple computer. Not only is it less stable than my work Windowz PC, the award willing support isn't so award winning. I am going to buy a cheaper PC and run Linux as that seems more stable then my MBP.

Dissappointed.

Oh yeah some technical details of my issue, from /var/log/kernel.log

/var/log # grep AirPort kernel.log |grep 'Link Down'
Mar 12 17:24:40 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 12 21:40:58 Brent-Weavers-MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 12 21:58:27 Brent-Weavers-MacBook-Pro kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 12 22:24:27 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 13 07:58:00 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 13 11:01:59 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 13 11:06:11 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).
Mar 13 15:55:55 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 13 17:38:28 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).
Mar 13 18:22:07 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 14 07:09:30 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 14 22:05:38 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 15 06:46:30 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 15 08:19:24 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 15 10:44:49 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 15 11:05:13 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 15 11:22:21 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 15 11:23:53 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 15 11:54:23 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).
Mar 15 12:59:17 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 15 13:07:47 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 2 (Previous authentication no longer valid).
Mar 15 13:11:51 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 15 16:18:56 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 15 19:29:36 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 15 19:34:24 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 15 19:34:57 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 15 19:36:23 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).
Mar 15 19:37:37 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).
Mar 15 21:54:34 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 16 07:05:29 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 16 22:32:29 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 17 07:29:08 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 17 13:30:10 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 17 14:04:39 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).
Mar 17 14:58:19 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).
Mar 17 15:29:07 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).
Mar 17 16:21:39 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).
Mar 17 17:46:33 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).
Mar 17 18:34:41 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 17 19:02:07 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 18 06:20:22 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 18 08:17:43 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
Mar 18 13:10:41 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 18 13:17:27 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 18 13:27:22 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 2 (Previous authentication no longer valid).
Mar 18 15:09:46 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).
Mar 18 15:37:23 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
Mar 18 15:57:36 spnner kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 2 (Previous authentication no longer valid).
Mar 18 20:17:27 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
/var/log #

Any advice is appreciated!

Mar 22, 2011 2:47 PM in response to johnnasset

Just upgraded to 10.6.7 using the combo update and this is not fixed.

tikigiant

Level 2

164 points

Mar 22, 2011 11:38 PM in response to Ryan83

Not sure how long this will work, but all i did right now, was hit "renew dhcp lease", then turnedoff airport and turned airport back oagain, and my signal instantly improved...........well..........appears ton have stalled again while typing this..........

tikigiant

Level 2

164 points

Mar 23, 2011 12:56 PM in response to Ryan83

So if I want to go back to a 10.5 update and reinstall it, how would one go about doing that?

Mar 23, 2011 1:46 PM in response to tikigiant

In my case Apple got so sick of hearing from me on this issue they are (kindly I might add) replacing my 1 1/2 month old MacBook pro. Once I got to the correct person it was quite an easy process and they were VERY helpful to me. I had to kick and scream a bit after 3 other "senior" support people denied that this is even an issue. I pointed them to this post and many others and their comment was "You can't believe everything you read on the web".

Although pleased with Apple right now since they are responding to me via a new machine, I am not pleased that they are in denial that this is a serious issue with the MBP.

Currently pleased awaiting my new MBP,

tikigiant

Level 2

164 points

Mar 23, 2011 2:05 PM in response to brent.weaver

Well, the fact that I am on a three year old iMac, I doubt they will be giving me a new machine!! =-) Everything had been going along fine. I am assuming when I updated to 10.5, the problems started the first time. I was able to call into Apple, and they were able to get it going again. We went in and deleted some files if memory serves and it had been running fine. Apparently, these files have come back to cause the problem everyone here is having with 10.5...and I can now tell you, after quite a challenge of turning Airport on and off while waiting for 10.6 to download so I can update, the problem still exists. My phone support has now expired, and I am not willing to pay $49.99 for them to try to walk me through a temporary fix, if it does seem to be a programming issue, so I was hoping I could find the fix here like I have for so many other things in the past. When I found this 74 page, year old thread, lets just say my optimism is dimming.

jetleets

Level 1

8 points

Apr 1, 2011 1:59 PM in response to Ryan83

I am having the same problem with the Wifi on all my Apple products - MBP, iPad2, iPhone4

Like many others, my connection drops although the wireless signal icon remains full. The Apple products thinks it's still connected when it is not connected to the internet anymore. I have to either turn off and on the Airport or "renew DHCP Lease" on MBP / turn off and on the Wireless or "Renew Lease" on iPad2 & iPhone4 to get back the internet connection. This has to be done on a regular basis like every 10 - 20 minutes!
This is disgusting! I am very disappointed with Apple! I have searched the internet on this issue and I have seen that this has been around since the year 2007, and Apple has done NOTHING about it!

jetleets

Level 1

8 points

Apr 1, 2011 2:14 PM in response to jetleets

Forgot to mention that my Microsoft PCs connected on the same network do not face this same problem that Apple for all it's innovation and technology cannot seem to resolve.
Another point to note is that there is no other wireless network where i am. My wireless is the only network available, therefore it is not a problem with channel interference.
This is obviously a major defect in Apple's products, and so far Apple has not responded nor acknowledged this problem! Again, disgusting conduct from an industry leader wannabe! - and I am an Apple fan! I have gone through 2 MBPs, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 4 and now iPad 2

Oh I have iPod, iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Touch!!

wifiguru

Level 2

240 points

Apr 2, 2011 1:34 PM in response to ilovepoodles1

What make and model of Netgear router do you have ? Have you checked if it has the latest firmware on it ?

wifiguru

Level 2

240 points

Apr 2, 2011 1:36 PM in response to johnnasset

You will get 11n speeds only if you are on a WPA2 Network or on a Open network. If your wireless network using WPA Security instead, you will only get 11g speeds. I believe this change was made in 10.6.5. So check your office network security when you connect in 11g mode. This is per the IEEE 802.11n spec.

Apr 20, 2011 1:08 PM in response to Ryan83

I have also the problem of the dropping airport signal on my Mid 2009 MacBook Pro 15". I also have it on my Mid 2006 MacBook white.

All the problems on my white MacBook started with 10.5.2 or 10.5.3 (can't exactly remember). I remember that 10.4 NEVER had any AirPort Problems.

Here's my Kernel Log from my Mid 2009 MacBook Pro:

r 20 06:44:59 Leopold kernel[0]: IO80211ScanManager::scanDone: Scheduling cache purge timer in 30 seconds.

Apr 20 06:44:59 Leopold kernel[0]: Auth result for: **:**:**:**:**:** MAC AUTH succeeded

Apr 20 06:45:02 Leopold kernel[0]: vmnet: VMNetDisconnect called for port 0xee71a00

Apr 20 06:45:02 Leopold kernel[0]: vmnet: Invalidating peer info for hub: 0, port: 0

Apr 20 06:45:02 Leopold kernel[0]: vmnet: bridge-en1: filter detached

Apr 20 06:45:02 Leopold kernel[0]: vmnet: bridge-en1: down

Apr 20 06:45:02 Leopold kernel[0]: vmnet: bridge-en1: detached

Apr 20 06:45:02 Leopold kernel[0]: vmnet: Freeing hub at 0xf10c000.

Apr 20 06:45:03 Leopold kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 14 (MIC failure).

Apr 20 06:45:03 Leopold kernel[0]: en1: link down event, informing supplicant.

Apr 20 06:45:05 Leopold kernel[0]: Auth result for: **:**:**:**:**:** MAC AUTH succeeded

Apr 20 06:45:31: --- last message repeated 4 times ---

Apr 20 06:45:29 Leopold kernel[0]: IO80211ScanManager::cachePurge: Firing!

Apr 20 06:45:29 Leopold kernel[0]: IO80211ScanManager::cachePurge: Rescheduling in 22 seconds.

Apr 20 06:45:33 Leopold kernel[0]: Auth result for: **:**:**:**:**:** MAC AUTH succeeded

Apr 20 06:45:51: --- last message repeated 3 times ---

Apr 20 06:45:51 Leopold kernel[0]: IO80211ScanManager::cachePurge: Firing!

Apr 20 06:45:51 Leopold kernel[0]: IO80211ScanManager::cachePurge: Rescheduling in 23 seconds.

Apr 20 06:45:55 Leopold kernel[0]: Auth result for: **:**:**:**:**:** MAC AUTH succeeded

Apr 20 06:45:55 Leopold kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Up on en1

Apr 20 06:45:55 Leopold kernel[0]: en1: Received EAPOL packet (length = 113)

And since this week (Apr. 20th 2011) it getting worse and worse. Could it be that MacOS 10.6.7 made the issue more worse than ever ??

Regards

Sebastian

Apr 20, 2011 1:54 PM in response to sebastian77

I think that Snow Leopard did not start the Airport Problems. It was 10.5.2. Please see this post.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1393962?answerId=6604199022#6604199022

Does anybody have a problem-notebook which he can downgrade to Tiger ? or Leopard 10.5.1 ?

Any help will be appreciated.

Apr 24, 2011 12:12 PM in response to Ryan83

there might be a problem with your router. does this happen anywhwere else?

Apr 25, 2011 4:16 AM in response to lauriefromnorthville

It happens with my MacBook Pro and my Mac Mini. It happens very often with the MacBook and the old AirPort Express. It happens also very often with my MacBook Pro and my Sinus 1024 DSL-Router... It happens sometimes with my MacBook Pro and my new AirPort Express.

And all that in different appartements...

Regards

Sebastian

Dropping Wi FI Signal