MacBook's Wireless range diminished

It is associated with the temperature of the computer. Leave it off for a while, it's fine. As the heat of the cpu goes up it starts to die.

I do agree with that, but at the same time, I don't.

I tried intentionally overheating my Mac (put a shirt on top of it, on a really hot day, graphic intense programs running), and whilst this was happening, the computer was reporting full bars and wireless was working flawlessly. Which I would say, almost points to faulty soldering, but I can't say for certain.

Don't wish to throw a spanner in the works, but I have the same problem and I've got a 2009 MBP! I've got through three modem/routers in the last 4 months and today bit the bullet and splashed out on an Airport Extreme (the Extreme bit being the price I think!)

Exactly the same problems as everybody else. I'm now sat 2m away from the AE and it's all working fine, but I too have been getting the connection timeout, request for password (even though I've already put it in a number of times etc).

Haven't yet found any consistent pattern, but I thought, or rather hoped, that the AE would fix this issue. It must be a hardware issue isn't it? Should I book a session at the Genius Bar?

Funny that these are all happening around the same time. I really hope Apple gets on this somehow.

Booked a Genius Bar appt next Fri, so let's see what they say. Working absolutely fine this morning - strong signal, zippy internet, good range! Driving me mad to be honest! Someone suggested temperature. Could be?

Hi I have the same problem but it isn't a new or sudden happening. I bought my 2006 MacBook (Original Intel) used and the wireless range has always been less than what I thought it should be. I have parked each of an Asus Aspire one NetBook and a HP Mini Netbook beside my MacBook in several locations where the netbooks showed full wireless signal and connected easily and with great speeds. The MacBook shows connection timeouts when trying to connect to the same routers from right beside the netbook (I've even traded them places).
It has happened to me on public and private networks with a variety of different types of router (Last week it was a hotel in Winnipeg who actually use Airport Extreme routers.) The signal strength is not solid -- either in the top bar or in iStumbler. iStumbler identified the routers as being Apple although I had pretty much figured that out from the IP address ranges they use.
It takes two or three tries to log in , and if I try to do a big download like a software update, it dies half way through the download -- yet a netbook sitting right beside it never misses a beat.
It isn't my OS because the MacBook triple boots to OXS 10.6, Linux Mint, and Windows 7 and the results are all the same -- so it is hardware related. In fact the results were sinilar with XP on the BootCamp partition before I installed Windows 7.

I used to have similar problems,Mine is a macbook core 2 duo,the penryn series.Macbook connects with wifi but slows down after about 15-20 min.When it goes into standby ,i need to restart the wireless to get the card to connect.The wifi signal may show full bars but no internet connectivity.Changed by router 2 times.Finally brough a apple express,still no improvement.Funny enough my old powerbook g4 17 inch connects well.Took the macbook to several service centres,they all said probably software issue.Reinstalled system,no improvement,upgraded to snow leopard,no use.

Finally after this epic struggle,sparsing through various forums brought a new wifi card
http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170516137325

Now the macbook works well !!
Sheesh 2 years and various crappy opinions later:the card cost me just 22 dollars.Wish i had done it earlier......

I was going to start a new thread, but then I found this thread. The only difference with my problem is that it happened right after an upgrade and installing Snow Leopard.

I brought my MacBook in to my local Apple Reseller store to have a much needed hard drive and RAM upgrade. I didn't even have enough memory to install Snow Leopard. So, after getting my laptop back, it was much faster but....I can't connect to the internet. I had no problem before Snow Leopard was installed. The guys at the shop took my MacBook apart twice to make sure everything was alright internally, and they're stumped.

Googling the problem brought up a ton of links to people who have had the same problem, although I never really saw any resolution. We have a 2Wire modem/router combo from Bell, which they thought might be the problem, so I bought an Airport Extreme, and that didn't fix the problem. My connection will work, although sporadically, if I'm near the router, but where I used to normally use my laptop without any problem, I'll have a connection for about 7 minutes and then I get a message that none of my preferred networks are available. When I try to connect with my password I get a connection time out message.

All other devices work from this location: I'm on my old iBook G4, which is fine, iPod touch, iPad, all connect flawlessly.

I have tried all of the following, and then some.

*reset the router/modem
*changed security protocol from WEP to WPA
*switched wireless channels
*Zapped the PRAM
*Changed the DHCP auto settings to manual
*deleted all other networks from "Preferred Networks"

My next move would be to downgrade back to Leopard, but the guys at the shop aren't too thrilled about that. And why is it we try the same things over and over again hoping it will magically work? sigh lol

Has anyone else tried replacing the airport card? If anyone has any thoughts, I'd greatly appreciate it!

I just tried a clean Erase and Install of 10.5 (previously I was running 10.6), and the wireless issue persists. Makes me think its a hardware issue - not software.

Now I don't know much about this, but is there firmware specific to the Airport cards or wireless functionality? If so, would a reinstallation of the OS revert to the prior firmware, or would it leave it as is?

I don't believe an OS downgrade would revert the firmware for the Airport card. As far as I know, the two are independent of each other.

I bought a new MacBook Pro i7, and am having the same problem, both with a LinkSys and with the Airport Extreme. I constantly show full bar strength throughout my home, but when connected to the internet, have extremely weak download speeds. Upload speed is consistent (around 2.70). Download around 1.00 - 4.00 Mbps. I have to be in the same room with the router to have a decent connection. Strength decreases dramatically elsewhere. Router is on the 3rd floor of our 3-floor home, but even directly below, on the first floor, I should not be getting 1.20 download speeds with my Comcast Cable. Went to Genius Bar, all they did was give me a new Airport Xtreme (but my LinkSys and Airport were exhibiting same problem-do problem not w/ Airport) and they reinstalled Snow Leopard. I wish this would be fixed. This is my first laptop. Have had a MacPro tower for years. Gonna have my husband bring his Windows PC home from work and I'll bet his connection will be just fine.

Ditto... I'm having the exact same problems. MacBook worked in my bedroom with 5 bars until recently. Now it will work for a few minutes, then nothing.

I am currently typing a Feedback report to Apple via:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

I urge all of you to do the same. I'm doing one for Mac mini and one for MacBook, as they both use the same Airport cards.

If you have the time, please file a report for BOTH models, as it will increase our chances of getting Apples attention on this problem and perhaps working out a fix of some kind.

I imagine this will happen to more people as their 2006 Mac's age a little bit more.

I'm bringing my MacBook back to the shop to have them "downgrade" back to Leopard, with no guarantee that it will fix the problem. I'll let you all know what happens. Fingers crossed!

Unless you really want to, I would advise against that.

It's not a software problem. I'm certain it's the Airport card failing. Whether it's the card itself, or just the antenna, I'm not sure yet. It's likely that it's some solder failing or cracking somewhere, this seems to be plaguing the electronics/computing industry lately (PS3 yellow light of death, and I believe the Xbox 360 Red ring of death was also related to solder failing, but I'm not 100% on that).

If downgrading to Leopard is going to be an inconvenience for you, I'd suggest just avoiding it altogether, because I'm sure it won't solve the problem. But if you want to tinker with it, please go ahead, you may stumble on something that we've missed here. 🙂 Good luck either way!