Internet connection lost after sleep - Ethernet

I always put my computer to sleep and I have the problem with the lost connectivity.

Steve

I believe there is a problem with snow leopard and had hoped the the various updates might help but none did. I tried everything apple suggested and nothing worked except a replacement iMac. I don't think there is any single cause to this symptom. It's a common problem but the cause is different for different people, this is just the most noticeable symptom. Apple blamed my cordless phone, lots of people blamed my use of NAV, I guess I'll never know the real cause, only solution in my case.

I honestly don't think Lion will solve this. Apple would have fixed this by now if hey could. I'm speculating it s a hardware issue, therefore I'm getting ready to send this Mac back as soon as I get my first failed Ethernet wake up.

edit: as soon as I get my first failed wake up while using Lion.

Everyone out there with this 27" iMac no-internet-after-sleep-problem - can you try something please? Reboot, but don't start itunes after login. If you have iTunes auto-starting on log in make sure you turn that off. After rebooting (and NOT starting itunes) send the mac to sleep, wait for 10 mins or so, wake up and see if you can now connect to the internet.

It seems to be working for me - so now thinking iTunes may have something to do with this?

Please let me know how it goes.

Thanks all!

I never had iTunes auto-starting and have the problem and I rarely use iTunes. I have had limited success (lasting about a week or two) by: 1. resetting the PRAM (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379) 2. Repairing Snow Leopard and 3. erasing my hard drive and starting from scratch (this worked for about 3 weeksa) but the problem started again - would not recommend this because it took too much time with very short term success. Bottom line is anything I tried has not worked - for long.

A little update, I haven't had this issue for 16 days and I have done nothing differently ...

I wonder if Apple fixed in an update, or am I speaking too soon ... ? 😐

Ashley,

I hope your problem doesn't come back, but Apple hasn't fixed this problem. I just upgraded to Lion, hoping and praying that a new OS would stop the constant internet problems, but alas, my 27" iMac does the same ol' stuff; "ethernet cable is unplugged" after awakening from sleep. I dread it every time I'm in a hurry and just need a quick email check or quick info from the web. I then have to fiddle with the computer for a few minutes to get it to connect. Usually switching users, applying, two or three time will do it. Occasionally, such as just now, I finally give up and unplug and replug the ethernet cable a few times until it finally recognizes it. My wife won't even use this computer any more (a good thing/bad thing) since she doesn't like to mess with the dropped connection. Our iPad, an old Mac Pro, our iPhones all connect without a hitch. I didn't want to buy an iMac when I purchased this one, and now I feel my feelings were justified.

Couchcowboy wrote:

Ashley,

I hope your problem doesn't come back, but Apple hasn't fixed this problem. I just upgraded to Lion, hoping and praying that a new OS would stop the constant internet problems, but alas, my 27" iMac does the same ol' stuff; "ethernet cable is unplugged" after awakening from sleep. I dread it every time I'm in a hurry and just need a quick email check or quick info from the web. I then have to fiddle with the computer for a few minutes to get it to connect. Usually switching users, applying, two or three time will do it. Occasionally, such as just now, I finally give up and unplug and replug the ethernet cable a few times until it finally recognizes it. My wife won't even use this computer any more (a good thing/bad thing) since she doesn't like to mess with the dropped connection. Our iPad, an old Mac Pro, our iPhones all connect without a hitch. I didn't want to buy an iMac when I purchased this one, and now I feel my feelings were justified.

Sadly, my issue is still there, and since upgrading to Lion it happens much more frequently now, which is driving me mad.

There are absolutely loads of threads about the issue now. One of them, the most informative so far has suggested a link between Time Machine and the wifi disconnects. I have no idea how they would clash but apparently turning off Time Machine can stop it. I do have Time Machine running and the backups are stored on my 2nd internal HDD. The very next time I get a failed wifi wakeup from sleep, I will try turning off Time Machine.

I would love to hear if you or anyone else use this solution to fix the wifi problems.

Well, I do have the problem and I do have a time machine.

However,I turned off the automatic backup feature months ago, since the TM knocked me off internet radio whenever it chose to back up. I like to listen to and record, so that was quite annoying. I backup manually (That is, I tell the TM to back up) once a week or so. So I am skeptical, but would be happy to hear more about the possible connection.

I don't see why, by the way, the problem should drive anyone crazy. It's irritating, for sure, but just set your iMac never to go to sleep. Then it might be a small problem once a day, if you put your machine to sleep overnight. Some people completely shut down overnight, and I've not experienced (yet) a problem connecting on start up.

I guess you've convinced me not rush to upgrade to Lion. Pogue in the NY Times said there were a number of little bugs to work out.

I have the same problem on my Mac Book Pro, but not on my Mac Pro. My Mac Book Pro loses the Internet connection every time it sleeps, but the Mac Pro can go for a month without an Internet dropout.

The only difference between the two is that the Macbook Pro is only a few feet away, but the Mac Pro with the rock-solid connection is in the basement of the house. Weird!

I do not have a Time Machine backup system, so that doesn't really explain it for me. 😟

Running the latest Macbook Pro with Snow Leopard and now Lion and also having the same problem. A partial solution (happens less) was to hardwire the DNS addresses - I use Open DNS' settings (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220) but it still happens occasionally. Going into terminal and doing an nslookup when the internet is not responsive in the browsers also always work and sometimes gets everything else to work, which to me indicates this is a software issue - not a hardware issue (for those of you who got a new Mac and that solved the problem: most likely you also got a fresh install of OS X).

Turning WiFi off and then on again always solves the problem for me.

1nt,

My WiFi is always off on my computer. It's the ethernet connection that constantly loses internet connection. Did you mean turn it off on the computer, or turn off your WiFi router?

Couchcowboy,

The thread unfortunately carries both Ethernet and WiFi connectivity problems (another indication that the source is unlikely to be hardware but rather some buggy IP stack implementation common to both). I meant turn WiFi off on your computer.

Also, while reading this thread, someone suggested turning off "wake for network access" (it's in the Energy Saver part of the System Preferences). I've done that yesterday and so far I have had no reconnection problems. Maybe that also helps.

When your internet connection goes away, can you ping the router? If you don't know the IP address of your router, when your Internet connection is on open a terminal window and type in traceroute www.yahoo.com - the first IP address that comes up is your router). Record also yahoo's IP address and try pinging that when you have no connection - that should tell us if it's a real connectivity issue or a DNS problem.

Why isn't Apple debugging this...?

I'm afraid that I am one of the sinners that barged into the wrong thread somehhow.

My connection is wireless, and I still do sometimes find the computer wakes up with apparently no (wireless) internet connection.

But in my case (and others have reported the same), even though I can't get mail or use Safari when I am told that I have no connection, I can listen to internet radio with iTunes. That's an easy way to establish that it's not really a connectivity issue.

And, though I've not mentioned this, the problem is easy to fix each time. The message that tells me that i'm not connected to the internet invits me to open the little connection repair program. Part of the way through the process of "reconnecting" I am always told that my connection has reconfigured itself, and off I go.

So there's no need (at least in my sort of case) to reboot, as some people do. And since I have the computer go to sleep no more than once a day, the problem is no more than a minor annoyance. But I agree that there is absoliutely no need for even minor annoyance, and it's been going on for so long that one would think it should have been fixed by now.