Q: Dropping Wi FI Signal

I purchased a new macbook 13"
it's also dropping wireless connection frequently
i also called apple care...
i tried each and every step
zapping pram,changing channel,ipv6 off,adding a new home entry in network,reinstalled leopard,
but nothing works
After applying each step it is stable for some time
but again start dropping,
i updated to 10.6.4
but it also doesn't resolved my issue
i have 2 other win laptops they are working 100% without any drop
i also used little snitch (someone referred when i searched google)
i m using istumbler for checking any interfaces in the the n/w....
does anyone has any other solution.....
Where are all apple engg....
this is such a big post....
if no one has solution i shd through this macbook pro......................
"A MACHINE IS ONLY CONSIDERED AS BEST ONE WHEN IT PERFORMS BEST"

Guyz, I had been freaking with the same problem for many days until yesterday. So, I have the very first MBP after 10.6.3 and then 4, update, the machine was dropping a connection every 10-20 seconds. I had tried everything: first disabled g speed on my router, then disabled DHCP, then changed a wifi channel, then deleted several playlists and also deleted all the locations and created a new one. All that was useless, but yesterday, I fixed it. So the idea is, my DSL router (ZTE) has in its BIOS something like "Enable Automatic Assigned DNS" check box. So after I UNchecked it and knocked all the DNSs manually in my machine's network preferences, the connection became sustained and constant. I don't know, whether everything described here must be done, or just DNS manual assignment, but it works now. And I cross my fingers. Try it fellas.

Sandy ~ Welcome to the discussions. This is just a tip on formatting posts...

It's not necessary to always press the Return key when you reach the apparent end of a line — instead, just continue typing. When a new line is really needed, of course press the Return key, or press it twice for a new paragraph.

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Okies i am new here, i will keep that in mind in future. Thanx for telling.Please solve my issue what shd i do with this macbook

Hi Sandy,

What 'solved' it for me (and for many other people) is buying a different router. I still have problems sometimes when I travel (because it is a problem with the computer) but at least I'm happy at home.

You might want to try your laptop with other wireless networks and see if the dropouts occur. Also try different encryption settings on your router.

Or, if your laptop is still in the 30 day exchange period, EXCHANGE IT! I wish I had done this.

Will they exchange it!! i purchased it around 15 days back...currently i am using a Beetel Modem .Which modem is preferable to be used with mackbook.I am going to purchase a Belkin N150 will that work good

Hi Skfir
Sorry but i am a real novice. Having big trouble with router re-booting regularly so thought i would try your suggestion. Dont know how to access router BIOS and change setting as you suggested. Can you please point me in the right direction. This is my first Mac and I'm not very impressed as my wife's PC runs perfectly!!

Thanks

Helman

Hi mate!
I am not really sure that my "salvation" will help your router not to reboot. It works to prevent or at least to reduce the number of wifi network losses by your mac. So in any way, first of all, you press wireless icon on the right top of your screen (looks like a cellular phone signal strength meter) , from there you press "open network preferences", then " advanced" and there "TCP/IP" look and remember your router address, go to your web-browser, knock this router address into the address line of your web-browser and press enter. Voila! You are there. So there sign in with your name and password (you should know it - it is what you set up when your router was being installed. And there, depending on the BIOS of your router (depends on a manufacturer) you go to the "wireless" menu to change the wifi channel and to "LAN" to change DNS.

Thanks mate. Will give it a go and see

I found this on a slashdot.com posting:

One of my machines, a Mac, had a habit of dropping its wireless connection whenever the Wii called up to the Nintendo mothership...about every 9 minutes.
---
The thread is a discussion about all the possible interference with WiFi in your home and experiences people have had. There is a recommendation for Wi-Spyi a consumer priced spectrum analyzer (plugs into USB port). It has software (the lite verison) that runs on a Mac to visualize your 2.4 GHZ spectrum.

http://www.metageek.net/products/wi-spy-24i

My MacBook Pro and Mac Mini are both having this problem. One thing they have in common is 10.6.4

We have two other Powerbooks running 10.4.11 with NO issues.

I have two wireless networks in my home - one coming from my 2Wire DSL wireless modem and the other from my Airport. I have connectivity issues on both with 10.6.4 but no problems with 10.4.11.

After you fiddle with it long enough it just seems to fix itself after a period of time.

Hi guys. 67 pages, that's quite an effort.

I too have the same dropout issue after upgrading to 10.6.4. My Macbook Pro 3.06ghz can't hold a wi-fi connection any longer, and when trying to reconnect I get timeout errors, incorrect password errors. Until now my network hasn't skipped a beat. All the other Macs, PCs and iphones in the house can access the wi-fi without issue, accept for two machines running 10.6.4

Having spent hours trouble-shooting it, I tried some advice from one of the very early posts, and so far it has worked. However this is not to say that it will continue working. Time will tell. For those of you who at least want to find what might be a short term solution, I'd encourage you to try it:

Go to Macintosh HD -> Library -> Preferences -> SystemConfiguration ->
Delete the following Plists:
com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
com.apple.nat.plist
come.apple.network.identification.plist
com.apple.PowerManagement.plist
Networkinterfaces.plist

No surprise, I am having the same problem with Snow Leopard on my MBP as the rest of you, and it's frustrating! I've tried the various solutions to no avail. Downloaded 10.6.4 tonight--same problem.

Has Apple even acknowledged that there is a problem with Airport? If so, have they made a commitment to fix it?

Not deluded that this is THE solution but I have found a hardware switch that has worked for me (so far).
My ISP is AT&T.
I was running a 2Wire 2701 wireless modem/router bridged to my Airport network.
I swapped the 2Wire out with and Actiontec GT701D Modem and set it to transparent bridging letting my AES do all of the distributing/routing.
So far my signal has not dropped, all computers have stayed connected or reconnect without issue.
Online gaming always had a bit of a lag - this seems to be gone as well.
I realize this can't be the solution to everyone's connectivity issues but it has been working for me. Does it make total sense? No. My problems may have been related to something else and presented themselves with the software upgrade. I figured I had nothing to lose in trying and so far I'm glad I did.

Unfortunately I have to report that deleting those preference files was indeed a short term fix. I'm back to square one with the same wi-fi issues as before, like everyone else. This is clearly an OS issue and I can only thing that any hardware/router fixes are ones that simply get around the OS bug.