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27" imac wifi problems (intermittant)

I really wish Apple had email or online support...

I have a 27" i5 imac that I bought just before Christmas, I had lots of problems with the wifi on it, it would not connect and when it did it was very slow, all while my macbook and iphone in the same room showed full signal and a fast rock solid connection. I rang Apple support, it took ages but they were very helpful and eventually we solved it and in the end it seemed to be WPA that was the problem and whilst I was not happy switching to WEP it seemed to work so I went with it.

Fast forward a month or so and I have started having problems again, it is fine when I boot but as the day goes on it gets slower and slower before finally refuses to connect at all. I am wondering if this could be something over-heating but in truth I am puzzled.

Anybody else having issues?

imac i5 27" and macbook, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Feb 21, 2010 3:11 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 21, 2010 5:31 PM

I am having the same exact problem. Bought a 27 inch iMac about a month ago, the wireless connection was a little slow off the bat, but then I was able to fix it. Recently after turning it on the signal is picked up fine for about 15 minutes and then all of a sudden the airport can no longer pick up any wireless network. Meanwhile my iPhone and MacBook have no issues. I called apple support and they had me complete a litany of useless diagnostic tasks - emptied my cache, did a hard reboot, repaired disk permissions , etc. None of it helped. Seems it's a hardware issue. Anyone know if this is a known issue with this model? I'm afraid the airport card itself may be defective in some way.
443 replies

May 2, 2012 3:44 PM in response to neil74

I was able to get around this issue by purchasing a simple USB 2.0 Wifi adapter. My iMac has been connected non-stop with it for the last two weeks straight, which is more than I can say for the built-in Wifi device, which I had Apple replace once already to no avail.


This seems like the best solution to me, even if it's the antithesis of the Apple mentality.

May 6, 2012 4:25 AM in response to neil74

There are now many hundreds of posts on this issue and that is only on this forum. There must be thousands of Apple customers who are suffering from this same problem and like me have been very frustrated that Apple appear not to be interested. I believe that the only way to get Apple to give us some customer service is to publicise the problem. I would therefore propose that as many as possible email the BBC click programme and seek there help. The link is click@bbc.co.uk. I just do not understand why Apple has not fixed this issue, it must know that hundreds of there customers are totally fed up with this and deserve better. 😠

May 9, 2012 10:43 PM in response to Helpstonharv

My router is a Cisco - it was installed a few months ago with our Broadband 50 on shaw.ca. This problem was happening before that and I was using Airport Extreme. It was about 5 or so years old and never had any problems until my June 2011 iMac 21". And I don't know that it was having problems right away.


The old iMac (2007) never had this problem and still doesn't. So it's specific to my "new" iMac.


grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr............. And here it is another 9 days later and still the same issue. ⚠

May 10, 2012 6:06 AM in response to JudieR

I too suffered from this intermitttant WiFi problem with the mid 2011 27 Imac Quad Core with 1TB Seagate harddrive.


Apparently there is a replacement program for the 1TB hard drives: http://www.apple.com/support/imac-harddrive/


Since my iMac was under warranty still, I brought it to the Apple Store yesterday. The tech there told me that he is 80% sure that the WiFi problems are do to the faulty hard drive. Apparently the drive has problems waking from sleep. Anyways, they are replacing the hard-drive and installing a fresh version of Lion. Coincidentally, 10.7.4 was released yesterday as well.


I will update you guys on whether the problem goes away. Good luck!

May 10, 2012 7:33 AM in response to DamenS

I remember the old anti-establishment Apple ads, about how they were different than the PC giants. Well, my iMac is my first Applw computer, and they are different: IBM or Dell or Compaq or HP actually have custiomer service that one can reach without going through a maze and they all would have admitted this problem and fixed it or otherwise satisfied their customers. Folks, these recent vintage iMacs are plainly defective, and Apple knows it. Unless they simply dispensed with product testing and quality control for their iMacs (perhaps a possibility in light of the resources devoted to iPads and iPhones), they surely knew this as they sold and shipped them. The complaints are all over blogs and message boards and noted in on-line publications. Every fix Apple suggests is temporary at best, and involves inconvenience and costs that we should not have to incur in order to enjoy the warranted use of these very expensive products. Plus we have been damaged further because we all have pay high prices for broadband internet which we cannot enjoy. My suggestion is make sure you have complained clearly and often to Apple, and then start contacting lawyers who have brought defective product lawsuits against them in the past. While I admit that these lawyers might not get us satsifaction with the product, at least we will have the satisfaction of knowing Apple's shoddy products and customer service will not be cost-free.

May 10, 2012 7:45 AM in response to neil74

i have already replied on here, but wanted to reitterate about a month after I solved the exact same problem so many of you are having. I can confirm, for me, it was 100% my router. as soon as I replaced my router, my wireless was fixed, and has remained up and running flawlessly since the day I installed the new router.


Get a Blekin N600 Dual band router. It saved me from throwing my computer out the window. It instantly solved a couple months of ongoing issues....before the Belkin, my wireless connection was dropping every minute or so, it was driving me insane.


This was my last ditch effort to solve the problem, I had previously tried every fix I read about here on these boards and NOTHING worked, so i fuigured I'd try the last possible thing that might fix the problem... get a new router. and it worked.


I had thought it was an apple issue, but I no longer think that. its definitely a router issue.

May 10, 2012 8:13 AM in response to purveyor27

I am convinced this is an Apple issue, not a router issue. While I am happy to hear someone had good results(for the time being) with a new router, others have taken that plunge only to experience the same problem. Wifi on a PC runs like gangbusters off of my wifi router. Other devices pick up the wifi and run fine as well. The problem is the iMac, and the iMac, and the iMac. Perhaps Apple could step up and do some testing and tell consumers if some routers work better or if there is some range limitation or whatever. Instead, they have offered a dizzying variety of explanations and fixes which, on balance, are little better than voodoo spells. Consumers should not be forced to engage in quackery and trial and error.

May 10, 2012 8:19 AM in response to purveyor27

Don't be a fool. If it is a router issue for EVERYONE as you claim, then why does the iMac work fine for so many people when merely used with Windows on a Bootcamp partition ?? Same router, same computer, different result. Read back over OTHER people's posts before you claim to have the definitive answer to this issue for everybody and that you have magically found it is not Apple's problem. It is NOT "definitely" a router issue - do you work for Belkin perhaps ?


PLEASE don't trivialise this issue and the distress it is causing other people by suggesting you have the solution and we are all fools for still having problems ...

May 10, 2012 8:32 AM in response to neil74

I am back for a second comment. So I did change my router to a new modem router Rogers has provided me. The connection doesn't drop anymore. But I still get low speeds of 3mbps where as my iPad and windows machine goes upto 11mbps. I also noticed that the connection drop is not only a iMac 27 inch issue. My friend has an Mac mini and MacBook air both bought last year 2011 and are running lion. They have the same connection drop and low speed issue. Now I am wondering if this is a lion issue.

27" imac wifi problems (intermittant)

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