AirPort Slows/Drops Out. Anyone still having this problem?

Question

AirPort Slows/Drops Out. Anyone still having this problem?

I am creating a new topic in hopes of seeing if there is anyone else out there having some of the problems originally documented in the "Airport slows/quits, CPU usage high, restart necessary" thread. I do not have the power plugged/unplugged symptoms described here, but here are the symptoms I do have and what I have tried to do to resolve them:

- After ~4 hours of uptime, my airport connection will start slowing down, usually to around half a megabit of throughput, which slows not only the internet but also my local area network. Mounting a server over at around 70kb/sec downstream is unbearable!

- After ~24 hours of uptime, my airport connection will begin to drop in and out

- This happens on multiple AirPort Base Station networks, with graphite, snow, extreme, and express models of the base station

- This happens on both 802.11b, b/g, and g-only networks

- This problem is not RAM related in my case. I CTO'd my powerbook with a 1GB chip from Apple, and have added an additional 1GB chip from TechWorks. Pulling out either that chip or the Apple chip does not resolve the problem. Installing 2GB of Apple RAM or TechWorks RAM has not solved the issue.

- Turning AirPort on and off does not fix the problem, the only thing I have found that fixes it is a restart

- It is not related to Bluetooth being on or off

- The AirPort 2005-001 update does not help or hurt this issue

- OS X v10.4.3. I have tried reapplying the 10.4.3 combo updater to no avail. Ditto on the AirPort 2005-001 update.

I'm pretty desperate for some help here! Is anyone having similar symptoms and/or know of a solution to this problem?

PowerBook G4 (15-inch Double-Layer SD) Mac OS X (10.4.3) 1.67GHz / 2GB / 100GB

Posted on Nov 26, 2005 6:11 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 26, 2005 11:08 AM in response to Adam Karneboge

Adam, It almost sounds like after extended use of your machine there is excessive Cache build up.
Surfing in many cases, depending on where and what is on the sites you visit will store many different items on your computer, So after extended use it sounds like the build-up is causing your problem.
REASON:
You say that the only thing that fixes it is restart.
Have you by chance seen this link.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=607293
I have found the use of the Utilitys listed at the bottom of this link are a definate help. Macjanitor..CacheOut X and Onyx.

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Answer 2

Nov 26, 2005 3:52 PM in response to Donald Morgan

Donald,
Thanks for your message. It is definitely not system caches, as I have cleaned them out multiple times during this troubleshooting process. /System/Library/Caches, /Library/Caches, and ~/Library/Caches. Also, this doesn't just happen on the internet, it happens with traffic on my LAN as well, connecting to servers via various protocols (AFP & SMB).

I may, however, have had a breakthrough. I'm over 9 hours in uptime right now and the connection is still strong and fast over my LAN. This is after removing the /System/Library/Extensions/AppleAirPort.kext and leaving the AppleAirPort2.kext kernel extension there. I have, however, been connected to a VPN for the entire time, and that keeps traffic active at all times. That is one of the solutions I have found on MacFixIt. I have also not put my machine to sleep in that period of time. I will, however, keep this post updated as I continue on with this issue.

Thanks again!
-Adam

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Answer 3

Nov 28, 2005 7:24 AM in response to Adam Karneboge

Just FYI for anyone reading this, the kernel extension did not fix the issue. What did, however, was resetting the Power Manager, which resets PRAM and NVRAM as well. My speeds over AirPort have been fine now for a few days without constant background activity.

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Answer 4

Nov 30, 2005 4:11 AM in response to Adam Karneboge

HI,

I have noticed similar problems. i've only had a my computer one week. I did the 10.4.3 update and all relevant updates due to the >1GB RAM issue.

After a while the airport connection becomes weaker. It fluctuates between 2 and 3 bars, staying mostly at 2. Even with this reception some pages won't load properly. I have to refresh. I cannot even connect to mail servers. I am only about 10 feet away from the wireless router (Netgear).

I should say that i have upgraded from a 1 Ghz Titanium pbook where i never saw less than 4 bars in the same exact working space.

Would you recommend the Power Manger reset? Has this helped anybody else still having this issue?

It seems that the thread "new 15" airport signal" is more populated with people having this problem.

thanks is advance,

dan

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Answer 5

Nov 30, 2005 1:39 PM in response to daniel santucci

Daniel,
You can try the PMU reset. It didn't end up fixing my problem, though. I'm already past Level 2 support at AppleCare. I'll let everyone know if I'm able to fix the problem, though.
-Adam

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Answer 6

Dec 1, 2005 3:28 AM in response to Adam Karneboge

I had this problem last week after installing for a client the new 15" Powerbook.

Connected it to a Netgear DG834GT ADSL router. All fine.

Left the client and the next day she calls saying that putting the PB to sleep the wireless does not work. She has to shut down to get the wirless activity back. Also the wireless antenna in the menu would randomly disappear.

Nothing unusual with my configuration of her machine, she only runs Office 2004.

I am now back at her machine looking at it and have done the following.

Reset PMU
Install the new security update that came online last night.

Changed the channel of the Netgear to 5.

Now,fingers crossed, I can now put her machine to sleep and wake it up and the wireless is still working. I obviously can't test this over prelonged periods of time, but at the moment its a **** site better than it was first thing this morning.

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Answer 7

Dec 1, 2005 2:58 PM in response to Mark Burr

Mark,
Thanks for posting. I downloaded and followed the same procedure. My uptime is now 6 hours and 37 minutes and I'm still downloading fine over AirPort, with no slowdowns on either my LAN or the internet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this actually may have fixed it. I'll let everyone know tomorrow or the next day!
-Adam

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Answer 8

Dec 3, 2005 8:09 PM in response to Adam Karneboge

I am having the same issues.... very annoying, since a restart used to help, but I'm now realizing that even that only gives me another 30 minutes before it dies. In my case, I can actually see the signal drop slowly from 4 bars (full strength) to zero... I have a Windows machine sitting next to me associated with the same wireless network, and I'm not seeing any interference or degredation of signal. (Windows machine reports 95% signal. About 35 feet from AP.)

I have noticed that it dies MUCH faster running on battery. On AC power, it takes much longer than 30 mins.. (about 3 hours).

Anyway, I've had my PB about 1 week. This is very disheartening. I'll try the PMU reset as well. Let us all know how you make out with Applecare.

If the PMU doesn't help, I'll be calling them as well.

thanks

PowerMac G5 Dual 1.8/2.5G RAM/ 80G&250G Maxtor/Lacie 500Gb FW drive Mac OS X (10.4.3) 15" PowerBook 1.67 w/SD-DL; 2G iPod nano; Mac Mini 1.67G w/80GB

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Answer 9

Dec 3, 2005 8:30 PM in response to Darren Crane

Well, I just reset my PMU, and already, WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!

The networking is pegged at full strength, but most importantly, the PB booted lightning fast. (Since I've had this, the grey boot screen took about 60-90 seconds, and then on to the blue OSX screen, login, etc.). This time, the total boot from power on to login box was about 20 seconds.

I may be crazy, but the whole machine seems faster. Well, we will see what happens with the airport over time. I'll let everyone know.

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Answer 10

Dec 5, 2005 3:52 AM in response to Adam Karneboge

Daniel,
You can try the PMU reset. It didn't end up fixing my
problem, though. I'm already past Level 2 support at
AppleCare. I'll let everyone know if I'm able to fix
the problem, though.
-Adam

Hi,

I didn't reset the PMU because a day after posting things kinda worked themselves out and there hasn't been a problem since. I will post back if things change (post PMU reset)..

thanks for info,

-dan

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Answer 11

Dec 5, 2005 4:33 PM in response to Darren Crane

Well, the PMU reset didn't help the Airport challenge.

I read on another site to try downloading and re-applying the 10.4.3 Update from Apple. I did a repair permissions, loaded the update again, then repaired once more. Did another reboot.

My PB has now been up for about 24 hours (I put it to sleep twice to put it in and out of closed lid mode) now with NO ISSUES with the Airport card!

I don't want to jinx myself, but I think it is stable now.
Has anyone else tried reapplying the Update?
Thanks.

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Answer 12

Dec 5, 2005 4:42 PM in response to Darren Crane

Darren,
Yeah, I have tried re-applying the 10.4.3 update, along with repair permissions and all the other obvious fixes. I have also tried unloading and reloading the kernel extension, but after using kextunload (running as root) to unload /System/Library/Extensions/AppleAirPort2.kext, it simply will not reload it no matter what. Only a reboot will correctly reload the kernel extension.

I'm currently working with Level 2 and engineering at Apple, and they have no idea what is causing the issue. I insist that others are having the same issue but there is no acknowledgement to that end. I have also given them the thread ID's but they don't care. They think it is isolated to my machine, but I think otherwise. Regardless, I just want this fixed one way or another. I'll keep everyone updated...
-Adam

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Answer 13

Dec 14, 2005 11:31 PM in response to Adam Karneboge

I currently have the same Issue. See my signature below for my specs. I thought I resolved the issue by using firefox, and it went fine for the last week (in and out of starbucks hotspots, apple store) Airport was working fine.

Until tonight at the Aperture workshop, my computer suddenly froze again. I had full bars when I was starting, then it suddenly dropped to 3 bars. (Keep in mind I am at the apple store).

I had to reset becuase my computer would refuse to come out of the coma. (froze, so I rebooted) Same thing happen upon reboot. I rebooted once more and immediately turned off Airport. I was able to control my PB again!

I have update to the latest airport update and security patch, and ran permission fixes everytime I did an update.

Adam and Daniel, You guys are not alone in this! I have been fighting this error since 10.4 and I would hate to revert back to 10.3.9 just to get Airport funcationality to work. 🙂

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Answer 14

Dec 15, 2005 5:05 AM in response to Darren Crane

Update: No fix... still not working right.

Although, I have noticed a strange behavior. If I'm in my office (a 12X15 room, with the AP) I have full bars, and occasionally drop to 3 --- so when the slowdowns occur, I have slowed network response (pings to a local router drop from 2ms to 20ms response time) but the connection is maintained.

If I go into another room (serviced by the same AP, but about 30 feet away) I have 3 bars of signal, but the "dropouts" bring me to zero connectivity and require a restart of the Airport card or the PB.

Temporarily (until Apple fixes this thing) I've installed a 7db high-gain antenna on the AP in my office. This has boosted the signal just enough so I can use the PB in the room 30 feet away, and have drops to 2 bars, but no loss of connectivity...... at least I can get my work done.

I wish the airport had better software - it doesn't tell you your connection speed, actual db/signal strength, etc. It really needs a "site survey mode" I tried KisMac, MacStumbler, etc. but didn't really get great results since the driver is active mode. Anyone know of site survey software using airport? Or should I just drop in a Cisco card and take it from there?

Thanks

PowerMac G5 Dual 1.8/2.5G RAM/ 80G&250G Maxtor. Mac Mini 1.42/80G/1G/Lacie 160G&500Gb FW/USB drive Mac OS X (10.4.3) 15" PowerBook 1.67 w/SD-DL; 2G iPod nano

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Answer 15

Dec 16, 2005 1:58 PM in response to daniel santucci

Here is a little tid-bit for you.

I was having trouble with Safari last weekend at a Starbucks, (kept on crashing and freezing everytime I would get connected to HotSpot) so I went ahead and downloaded the new Firefox 1.5 since it just came out.

I was online and working for hte next 8 hours straight using Firefox ONLY.

This incident definately has something to do with cache-ing. Right now I am experiencing the same problem of Firefox 1.5 as I did on Safari.

Maybe someone can try this out and test my theory?

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