Q: Dropping Wi FI Signal

I have been dealing with the same problem since upgrading to Snow Leopard in October. To be honest, I don't remember if it started right away. I have the same problem as described in some of the posts above. The Airport Icon stays at full black bars but I cannot connect through the browser, or any internet application at that and at the same time my AppleShares get dropped. The only solution is to turn off and on the airport on the MacBook. This normally only happens when I'm using the internet, be it while watching a stream or copying/downloading a file over the network, but never when the computer is idle.

At home, there are 4 computers, two with leopard, one linux server and, occasionally, my girlfriends Vista laptop. They all work without any problem. Even odder is the fact that my MacBook works just fine when I run Windows 7. I first thought that there was some incompatibility with the Router I'm using (FritzBox 7270, widely used in Germany and actually known for their adherence to standards...), but the problem persisted at other locations, worst of all, at University (don't they use more expensive and therefore probably even more standardized hardware..?).

So my next thought was that it must be something specifically wrong with my MacBook and Snow Leopard when used together. And I figured that there isn't much to do but wait and hope for an SL update to fix this incompatibility..

Then, last month a friend spilled tea over my MacBook Pro and lucky me, his insurance paid for a new one.

So off I go, clean install of SL and new hardware (and no TimeMachine Backup, just to be sure not to import any wrong settings from before), thinking that there's no way that I'll have the same problems again...

But yes way.. same crap as before and I'm slowly getting angry. No matter how I turn it, I always come to the same conclusion: the only constant in this mess is Snow Leopard, and no matter how much Apple conformed to some standards when implementing WiFi in SL, they sold me a computer with a operating system that just doesn't work in the real world.

My first Mac was a Mac Plus, I was something like 6 years old when i got it and apart from a 3 year stint with an XP laptop I constantly had a Mac. And most of the time, everything worked as expected. And if not, with a little research, there was workaround to be found. But this time, nothing, I have no idea what to do. I tried everything suggested in the posts above and trust me, I read through all the 40+ pages...

All I can do is wait and hope that somebody at Apple reads this and gets a fix going or accelerates its release.

samuelaebi wrote:
All I can do is wait and hope that somebody at Apple reads this and gets a fix going or accelerates its release.

Although a poor one, a possible solution is getting an external WiFi USB adapter:
http://www.planex.net/product/wireless/gw-usmini2n.htm

This has been reported as a workaround in this thread.

So far everything mentioned here is like the Toyota fix, +get a new floor mat+ when there is obviously a serious problem with some of the Macs being released from manufacturing. I've even offered to send them mine so they can have one of these machines in their hands to investigate but I just got laughed at. I'm seriously beginning to doubt anything will be done since it's hasn't received any media coverage like the bad displays.

sjrozas wrote:
So far everything mentioned here is like the Toyota fix, +get a new floor mat+ when there is obviously a serious problem with some of the Macs being released from manufacturing. I've even offered to send them mine so they can have one of these machines in their hands to investigate but I just got laughed at. I'm seriously beginning to doubt anything will be done since it's hasn't received any media coverage like the bad displays.

I don't think it's the hardware. I really think it's Snow Leopard. The implementation is buggy or at least buggy under real world conditions. I think Apple can do something about if they were already able to make it work under Tiger and Leopard...

Message was edited by: samuelaebi

Let me make this suggestion again.

If you have black bars on with your AME on your Mac but you cannot connect to the internet you need to try this very simple test:

1. Open two terminal windows
2. In terminal window #1 start a ping to www.apple.com (e.g. ping www.apple.com)
3. In terminal window #2 start a ping to your router (e.g. ping www 10.0.1.1 or what ever your router address is)
4. Go about your internet viewing

Once you get your drop in Internet connection, check your pings. If your ping in terminal 1 fails, BUT your ping in terminal window 2 stays successful, your home router or your ISP is dropping your Internet connection. Pretty simple. At this point you do not have a wireless issue.

If BOTH pings drop when your loose your Internet connection, then yes, you most likely have a link layer problem and you need to look at your wireless connection.

For those jumping on the bandwagon and blaming wireless connections for your Internet connection failures you really need to provide more information so people on this forum can help you. Info like:

#1 What kind of router brand/firmware/model do you have (if known)?

#2 Describe your network setup if known.

#3 Who is your ISP?

#4 What channel are you using?

#5 How many networks do you see in the AME scan list?

#6 What kind of wireless security are you using?

+For those jumping on the bandwagon and blaming wireless connections for your Internet connection failures you really need to provide more information so people on this forum can help you. Info like:+

+#1 What kind of router brand/firmware/model do you have (if known)?+

+#2 Describe your network setup if known.+

+#3 Who is your ISP?+

+#4 What channel are you using?+

+#5 How many networks do you see in the AME scan list?+

+#6 What kind of wireless security are you using?+

Let me address questions 1-6 and hopefully you will gain a better understanding of everyone's frustration. I'm at Starbucks (Just an example). There are 20 people here using their public Wi-Fi. They are using various portables including MacBooks. My Mac loses it's connection to the internet for whatever reason. Everyone else keeps doing business as usual because they are still connected to the internet. I don't have access to the router so I can't really answer any of the questions other than it's an open AT&T wi-fi hotspot.
I go to another hotspot I know of, start using my Mac and the same thing happens. Everyone else stays connected. No problems for them, just me and my Mac. I go to 3 more place and the same thing. I go to work, same thing, home same thing. At home I have access to my router so I can try some of the suggestions in this thread and manage to get back on the internet. Are you beginning to get the point?

pinging is NOT going to help.

The computer stops/losses its connection with the router, even though it shows full signal strength and router is only a few feet away.

Its random, it happens, its not one computer but can be either of our snow leopard computers.

other computers remain connected.

Same here bud. It's just the 2 SL MBPs here affected by this, nothing else.

Very frustrating still ....

James

Here is some of the stuff I pulled when my signal dropped,bars went grey?

2/25/10 6:32:21 PM kernel AirPort: Link Up on en1
2/25/10 6:32:21 PM configd[13] network configuration changed.
2/25/10 6:32:23 PM ntpd[20] bind() fd 25, family 30, port 123, scope 5, addr fe80::226:bbff:fe0f:b71e, in6is_addrmulticast=0 flags=0x11 fails: Can't assign requested address
2/25/10 6:32:23 PM ntpd[20] unable to create socket on en1 (60) for fe80::226:bbff:fe0f:b71e#123

Ranger -

Look just before that information, where you see kernel messages about Link Down on en1.
The ntpd messages in your log are due to lack of IPv6 connectivity (and you can get rid of them by turning off IPv6 under the Network Settings).

I see this message on my Macbook:
kernel AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).

DrVenture wrote:
Let me make this suggestion again.

If you have black bars on with your AME on your Mac but you cannot connect to the internet you need to try this very simple test:

1. Open two terminal windows
2. In terminal window #1 start a ping to www.apple.com (e.g. ping www.apple.com)

I get 100% timeout, once the connection freezes up

3. In terminal window #2 start a ping to your router (e.g. ping www 10.0.1.1 or what ever your router address is)

Again, 100% timeout

4. Go about your internet viewing

Once you get your drop in Internet connection, check your pings. If your ping in terminal 1 fails, BUT your ping in terminal window 2 stays successful, your home router or your ISP is dropping your Internet connection. Pretty simple. At this point you do not have a wireless issue.

If BOTH pings drop when your loose your Internet connection, then yes, you most likely have a link layer problem and you need to look at your wireless connection.

For those jumping on the bandwagon and blaming wireless connections for your Internet connection failures you really need to provide more information so people on this forum can help you. Info like:

#1 What kind of router brand/firmware/model do you have (if known)?

Many different ones, be it at my friends, the university library or an internet cafe, at home i use a FritzBox 7270 (see my post above)

#2 Describe your network setup if known.

How is that important (used different networks, always the same problem), or be more specific...

#3 Who is your ISP?

Again, how is that of importance, not only does the internet connectivity freeze, but any traffic over WiFi (Apple Shares, Printing etc..), so I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with the ISP.

#4 What channel are you using?

I used AutoChannel before, meaning the router would chose the channel with the least interference... but using a fixed Channel now (10). Either way I encountered the freezes...

#5 How many networks do you see in the AME scan list?

Depending on the time of day between 5 and 9.

#6 What kind of wireless security are you using?

WPA2

Maybe I'm wrong, but by basically excluding all other possibilities, I have come to the conclusion that it must be Snow Leopard and nothing else (Again, READ my post above).

Message was edited by: samuelaebi

Ok, sounds like more debugging in needed. Here is a suggestion.

Open a term an do:

sysctl hw.model (this tells the exact model of Mac you own)


sudo /usr/libexec/airportd debug +alluserland +alldriver +allvendor (this will turn on airportd debugging)

Go about your usual browsing. When you get an interruption in service look at the Kernel.log for airportd debug messages. Also, note the timestamp the event was happening.

It would help to paste the kernel messages for Airportd to the forum during the time you were having the problem. Please include a few minutes of kernel log messages just before you noticed the interruption.

To turn off the debug do:

sudo /usr/libexec/airportd debug -alluserland -alldriver -allvendor

I got the same message you got.

2/25/10 6:31:12 PM kernel AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).

DrVenture wrote:
Ok, sounds like more debugging in needed. Here is a suggestion.

Open a term an do:

sysctl hw.model (this tells the exact model of Mac you own)


sudo /usr/libexec/airportd debug +alluserland +alldriver +allvendor (this will turn on airportd debugging)

Go about your usual browsing. When you get an interruption in service look at the Kernel.log for airportd debug messages. Also, note the timestamp the event was happening.

It would help to paste the kernel messages for Airportd to the forum during the time you were having the problem. Please include a few minutes of kernel log messages just before you noticed the interruption.

To turn off the debug do:

sudo /usr/libexec/airportd debug -alluserland -alldriver -allvendor

Cool, will report back as soon as it happens again. I already went through all the logs and was wondering why I couldn't find any entries at the time the freeze occurred. I figured it had to do with the debugging level, but had no idea how to change it.
Thanks.
By the way, "sysctl hw.model" gave back "hw.model: MacBookPro5,3".

Message was edited by: samuelaebi

and it just happened again, this is the kernel log entry:

2/27/10 3:15:30 AM kernel en1: Received EAPOL packet (length = 145)
2/27/10 3:15:30 AM kernel inputEAPOLFrame: 0 extra bytes present in EAPOL frame.
2/27/10 3:15:30 AM kernel inputEAPOLFrame: decrypting key data
2/27/10 3:15:30 AM kernel inputEAPOLFrame: Received message 1 of 2
2/27/10 3:15:30 AM kernel installGTK: setting cipher key (flags = 0x0)
2/27/10 3:15:30 AM kernel RSC: 00 00 00 00 00 00
2/27/10 3:15:30 AM kernel GTK: f5 67 03 44 48 93 0f 9d 2c 11 42 c4 70 99 c4 62

Any ideas?

Message was edited by: samuelaebi