Q: Dropping Wi FI Signal

Dropping wireless on the iMac QuadCore i5 27" continued, and then my screen started messing up so I returned the iMac to the store and got a BrandNew Replacement for my 4 day old (NEW?) iMac.
Got it home. Turned it on, registered, no problem. Now I'm doing AutoUpdates, and the built-in AirPort Wireless drops the WiFi Signal again and again.


[Obviously, I'm typing in these comments as the iMac i5 10.2.6 drops continue to occur.....but I'm using the built-in AirPort in my PowerBookG4 which remains connected to the SAME router.]

Applications/ Utilities/ Console/ DataBase Searches/ All Messages/ (filter: "AirPort" Search
1/9/10 4:48:45 PM kernel AirPort_AthrFusion21: Ethernet address d4:9a:20:5e:4a:16
1/9/10 4:48:45 PM kernel AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
1/9/10 4:49:54 PM kernel AirPort: Link Up on en1
1/9/10 5:32:41 PM kernel AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
1/9/10 5:32:43 PM kernel AirPort: Link Up on en1
1/9/10 5:45:34 PM kernel AirPort_AthrFusion21: Ethernet address d4:9a:20:5e:4a:16
1/9/10 5:45:34 PM kernel AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
1/9/10 5:45:37 PM kernel AirPort: Link Up on en1
1/9/10 5:52:51 PM kernel AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
1/9/10 5:52:54 PM kernel AirPort: Link Up on en1
1/9/10 8:00:12 PM /System/Library/CoreServices/Software Update.app/Contents/MacOS/Software Update[614] Installed "AirPort Client Update 2009-002" (1.0)
1/9/10 8:01:07 PM kernel AirPort_AthrFusion21: Ethernet address d4:9a:20:5e:4a:16
1/9/10 8:01:08 PM kernel AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
1/9/10 8:01:09 PM airportd[62] Apple80211Associate() failed -3905 (Timeout)
1/9/10 8:01:17 PM airportd[62] Apple80211Associate() failed -3905 (Timeout)
1/9/10 8:01:20 PM kernel AirPort: Link Up on en1
1/9/10 8:01:20 PM kernel AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).
1/9/10 8:01:23 PM kernel AirPort: Link Up on en1
1/9/10 8:11:08 PM kernel AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).
1/9/10 8:11:08 PM kernel AirPort: Link Up on en1

This is the log since I plugged the computer in.

Brand new macbook pro and the wifi constantly drops and reconnects. My PC and PS3 have no problems. Ideas mentioned in this thread that haven't worked for me:
- Manual network settings
- Setting router to "g" only instead of "mixed"

What gives apple? Very annoyed.

1/9/10 5:52:51 PM kernel AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 1 (Unspecified).

It appears your AirPort card may be receiving disassociation packets that do not specify a reason, or that (as you already know) AirPort is forcing itself to disassociate from your router for an unknown reason.

Is this your home network and is it encrypted?

This is my first Mac and I am having problems with the wireless networking since updating the software earlier today. I tried filing a trouble ticket with online support and only got a message that 'we're sorry but we are unable to complete your request at this time. Please try again later'

I use a WPA2/AES network and the MBP worked fine right out of the box up until this morning's update. I gather that this problem is fairy widespread and has been around for a long while with no fix in sight. How do I go back to the original software?

I assume your MB came with a software DVD, and you could re-install the OS that came with your MB from that DVD. You can't install an OS older than that which came with your computer (that older software would not have the files required for your model). So you can only go back as far as what came with your computer. To downgrade I think you would have to boot from the DVD, but you can look the details up on the internet.

The downgrade of the OS has helped some but not all users. You do get a free Applecare call and help because you just upgraded your OS. I would suggest you do give them a call. For one thing it helps Apple know that this issue continues and might prompt them to solve. And they might find some of the simple things outlined in this long thread work as well (like discarding plist files). And then you can report back to the thread.

As i posted prior, my SMC reset didn't last very long and i was back to dropped wi-fi connections to my router.

So i decided to the only other thing i have not tried, which is reset the router, and setup the access point on my router all over from scratch.

About two days now and no dropped connections.

very strange.

Hi,
I experienced the same thing a while ago. Reset modem/router...problem seems to disappear for a time (other times it remained)...then returns. I've tried changing (and removing) all security from my home network, creating new network locations, etc. etc. etc. Nothing seems to work for me for very long. If anything, the problem has, ultimately, gotten worse.

I have 3 macs on our Network, 2 Imacs and 1 powermac G5 (IBM processor). The Imacs are both less then 1 year old and both worked fine on the wireless network under leopard. I Upgraded the Imacs to Snow leopard a couple of months ago and have had problems with aiport network ever since, dropping off, low connection, timing out etc The olde G5 running leopard (as snow leopard will not operate on the IBM chip) is still working fine. I have tried 2 different routers both different makes and this has no-effect on the problem. The only thing I can do to give the Imacs a reliable connection is to disable all wireless security on the router (previously using WPA2-PSK). So in my opinion this is defiantly a problem with wireless security in snow leopard, it seems they have had several attempts to fix this issue with a couple of updates, but it seems the issue persist with some of us.

Message was edited by: Mr Flirkins

Message was edited by: Mr Flirkins

Like everyone else on this thread I was having the same problems since upgrading to Snow Leopard. I have the Apple care protection program so after finding no answers here I finally gave them a call. After the basic question and answers the service rep had me go into System Preferences. Under the accounts setting he had me delete everything in the "Login Items" tab and restart. It's now been an hour of surfing around the web with no drops. I'll keep my fingers crossed and I'll come back here again if the problem returns.

Just for your information I use Safari as my browser.

Wow, this topic sure has gone on for a long time without any real consensus of what the root of this problem is. However, whatever the root cause, it would seem it certainly has a relation top Snow Leopard in one way or the other and I would hope that Apple would at least look into how to help out on this.

Good luck steve-tv. That is one of the Applecare folks standard suggestions, and it may work for you, but my guess is you'll find the problem returns pretty soon. I think all the evidence is that there is something pretty subtle going on here. Snow Leopard does handle network requests a bit differently from from earlier systems (It's amazing how much Apple-insider knowledge one picks up over time living with this ongoing issue), and this seems to cause a problem with some wireless router configurations, including Apple Airport. To misquote from "The Princess Bride", the Apple engineers know something the Applecare reps do not.

grdh20: I am working with an Apple engineer to try to identify the actual cause of this, and I expect others who have posted on this board are doing the same.

I hope you will reply to us even if things work well - it would be nice to hear a success story. Do you happen to recall what you deleted from your Log-in Items list? Now on my system there is the iTunesHelper for example that really does help you sync with ipods - did you get rid of that? And then I have a network drive and nothing else.

Let us know how things work out for you.

I would suggest to anyone having this problem, just try *disabling all wireless security on their router*.
Remember once you have disabled security you will have to re-establish your wireless router connection with security as None. If this helps you then it may help the engineers come up with a reliable update.