10.6.5 and wifi issues

I've also been having wifi connectivity problems since the 10.6.5 update. The ultimate solution was not an inexpensive one. By way of background, I have a 2006 Macbook and 2009 imac, linking through vintage 2005 apple extreme and express routers. We have an extended network with the relay router serving as a bridge to stereo equipment. After the update, the MB would not stay connected to wifi. Random drops, followed by error messages when trying to reconnect. Putting the MB to sleep for a while usually resolved the issue.

I tried most of the suggestions in this Discussion -- reset SMC, deleted and reinstalled wifi settings, lots of rebooting, repaired permissions on MB disk, switched from b/g to g only network -- nothing solved the problem. Interestingly, each attempt seemed to slightly increase wifi reliability.

So, I then tried to change wifi channel to 6, as recommended by several in this Discussion. That's when the real problems started. My routers failed to update and then would not work. I reset them to factory settings and tried to reinstall. I could get basic wifi working, but no network extension, which is essential for my stereo equip. After calls to ATT (thinking that maybe it was a modem problem) and Apple, I figured it was time to upgrade the routers. I purchased two new Expresses ($250 total with tax!!) and had everything up and running again. And 24 hrs later, the network is completely stable.

Two thoughts/lessons from this. First, I think 10.6.5 does not fully support older wifi routers. Tons of conflicts and error messages when trying to use the latest Airport Utility to adjust settings. Second, ATT could have done a lot better to help. All I wanted was the modem password (I had forgotten) and they wanted to charge me $100 for a service phone call. I had to demand a supervisor who finally relented and reset my modem, at no charge. Although this deals with a different side of their company (dsl vs cell phone) if they don't get more consumer friendly, they will be hurting when the Verizon iphone becomes available (although I had Verizon in the past and they were no better).

So, for those of you still battling the wifi issues, I was never able to solve the problems and instead set up a new network compatible with 10.6.5. Painful and expensive.

I think you are correct. Aside from the WEP/WPA problems, it may be that MacOS 10.6.5 (and Safari?) is simply overloading our poor home wireless routers. Especially the older ones. In my case it is the router's DNS relay service that is overloading and causing the router to reset. This certainly doesn't appear to be an issue with DNS service from the client's point of view, but changing the DNS server on my 10.6.5 client solved the problem. And this isn't unique to 10.6.5 or my router; someone else has already discovered this problem with several home routers and a windows notebook. see here: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r22549583-

So I suggest those of you who haven't found a solution, try setting your DNS server to something other than your router, such as OpenDNS 208.67.222.222 or google public dns 8.8.8.8. You should be aware though that this setting can cause problems with managed networks such as some workplace and internet cafe nets that use redirection to authenticate you.

Apple cannot be expected to support every known router and each one's peculiar set of bugs, but they should support their own hardware. I would encourage everyone who has a problem with 10.6.5 using apple's old airport hardware to let apple know about it.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
Maybe if they get 10.6 working with their own older routers, it will help the rest of us, too.

Here is a very simple test to see if the problem is with your ISP or your wireless connection.

1. Connect your Mac via wireless
2. Open two terminal windows (A and B)
3. In terminal A, ping your router/AP. E.g. ping 10.0.1.1 Just replace the 10.0.1.1 with the IP address of your router. You can find your router's IP address by going to System Preferences - Network - AirPort - Advanced - TCP/IP and look for the IP address next to "router".
4. Leave the ping going in terminal A.
5. In terminal window B, start another ping to an Internet address. E.g. ping www.apple.com
6. Leave the ping in terminal window B going as well
7. Go about your Internet activities, leave the pings going in the background. Once you feel your Mac is experiencing network issues, go back and look at the two terminal windows.

If both terminal window's pings are getting a large amount of latency and/or no ping replies, then it could very well be there is a wireless issue. If the ping in terminal window A is pretty steady, but the ping in terminal window B is having issues (latency/missed pings), then you will have to look towards your router and/or ISP.

Marcia,

Can you try the same test I asked nursenicole to try (the ping test)?

Did. Both windows slowed, timed out, then returned, then timed out again.
I opened the network pref. window, all green lights, hit diagnosis, all green, hit continue, some went out, then went back on, then I got my web page to load.

It does this all the time now. Painful at best.

Since I cleaned my macbook, and reloaded the software, I am running 10.6.3

Message was edited by: Marcia Milanowski

What kind of router/AP do you have?
Make; Model; Hardware Revision Number; FCC ID; and firmware version.

The reason I am asking for the above info is I can look up chipset information based on the above.

What MacBook version do you have?

Hi there, thanks for this. so far both terminal windows are pinging smoothly... and strangely enough i just got back home and unplugged my ethernet cable and turned airport back ON to do this ping exercise you recommended, and everything seems to be working normally, no slowed connection or anything.

i have only been home and on my computer for...15 minutes maybe? and only 5 or so have been using a wireless connection, but at least for the moment everything seems functional. going to try the ping/terminal thing with my boyfriend's computer too and we'll see what happens. i'll post again if things slow down again. FWIW, the only slowing that happened at all was in terminal B to www.apple.com when i tried to login and respond to your message; got two diff timeouts and then everything continued properly after a brief pause.

thanks again-

Okay, scratch that. just tried the terminal thing on my boyfriend's MBP (2010) and he is timing out on terminal B pretty steadily, with burps of actual response (i used www.apple.com again like i did with mine.)

i noticed also that the ping to apple.com on my own computer which is still running also started having some increased timeouts, although his seems 'worse' for lack of a better word. my internet seems to be hanging pretty badly now.

((actually....after playing around a little...my wireless connection is only having trouble when HIS airport is on. ***?))

my router is a verizon fios all-in-one sort of thing..possible that this IS a firmware issue after all?
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edit: we have determined that if HIS airport is OFF, my wifi connection is fine. as soon as he turns his airport ON, he has no or minimal connectivity and my connection slows to a crawl. we got his MBP about...2 months ago, maybe? we never had problems until this update, but it seems to be stemming from his airport....

i am a new mac user so i am sort of at a loss here, and i dont know what to do to fix. gonna look into updating router firmware as well.

Message was edited by: nursenicole

Message was edited by: nursenicole

Humm. Verizon uses Actiontec for their routers (unless you are supplying your own) and unfortunately I do not believe you can update the Actiontec router's firmware because it is carrier controlled. Here is a link to the Actiontec site: http://www.actiontec.com/index.php

Have you tried calling Verizon yet? With the ping tests you ran, it is fairly clear the problem is either with the router or the WAN connection. If Verizon tries to give you some BS that the problem lies with your host (your Mac or other devices connected wirelessly) just tell them the results of your ping tests. Make sure you highlight the fact that the ping directly to the router never falters. Just the pings to the Internet are having problems.

I remember helping a customer is a similar situation. The customer had a 2Wire router with a not to be mentioned ISP. The customer called the ISP and proved the 2Wire router was failing (the actually problem was the 2 Wire router would fail at bridging the wireless packets to the WAN interface). The ISP did little except to offer another 2Wire router. The customer's final solution was to turn off the wireless chipset in the 2Wire router and plug in a 3rd party AP in bridge mode.

Can you try plugging directly into the Actiontec router (sorry if you already mentioned doing this) with Ethernet? After plugging in run the same ping tests and try to browse the Internet. If the problem goes away, then I willing to bet dollars to Homer's Donut that the Actiontec router suffers from a similar bridging issue. If the problem persists using Ethernet to the Actiontec router, then that would definitely point to the ISP's WAN side of things.

Hope this helps and good luck with Verizon.

Message was edited by: DrVenture

i figured out the firmware updating thing - we have a westell, not an actiontec, but either way our firmware is up to date although i reinstalled the most current version anyway.

i have not called verizon yet but i guess that will be the next step...ugh

thank you again, you have been a great help 🙂

nursenicole wrote:
Okay, scratch that. just tried the terminal thing on my boyfriend's MBP (2010) and he is timing out on terminal B pretty steadily, with burps of actual response (i used www.apple.com again like i did with mine.)

i noticed also that the ping to apple.com on my own computer which is still running also started having some increased timeouts, although his seems 'worse' for lack of a better word. my internet seems to be hanging pretty badly now.

((actually....after playing around a little...my wireless connection is only having trouble when HIS airport is on. ***?))

my router is a verizon fios all-in-one sort of thing..possible that this IS a firmware issue after all?
----------------------
edit: we have determined that if HIS airport is OFF, my wifi connection is fine. as soon as he turns his airport ON, he has no or minimal connectivity and my connection slows to a crawl. we got his MBP about...2 months ago, maybe? we never had problems until this update, but it seems to be stemming from his airport....

i am a new mac user so i am sort of at a loss here, and i dont know what to do to fix. gonna look into updating router firmware as well.

Message was edited by: nursenicole

Message was edited by: nursenicole

Sorry to hear you will have to get a new boyfriend....; - )

DrVenture might get some clues from this added information about the problem being related to the boyfriends Mac. Did you also say you had a Wii on this same network?

Marcia Milanowski wrote:
I set my security to none, just to see what would happen. It worked fine for just a day, then back to the fade in, fade out thing.

I opened my network preferences and diagnosis, and watched as my connection went from green, to yellow, red and back to green when I clicked on the preference window. Seems I can maintain a connection as long as I keep that window open, and click continue and start over once or twice. What a pain. I have all apple products. Imac is working fine on wifi. Only problems are on the laptop which has been reformatted in an attempt to fix the problem. Did not migrate setting back, starting from scratch.

There is still a concern about some outside factor coming and going - some interference. Try DrVenture's ping tests to examine the wifi separately from the router to ISP.

Also there is a way to set up ping to ping your router continously to keep the connection alive. This is a temporary set up until we find out what is the real problem:

As soon as you connect to your wireless network, Open Terminal and start a ping going. Use your router IP address; but any local address will do:
If your router has an IP address of 10.10.10.1, then open Terminal (in your Applications ---> Utilities folder) and type;
ping 10.10.10.1 <return>
You'll see a string that looks like:
64 bytes from 10.10.10.1: icmp_seq=728 ttl=64 time=1.527 ms
64 bytes from 10.10.10.1: icmp_seq=729 ttl=64 time=1.513 ms
64 bytes from 10.10.10.1: icmp_seq=730 ttl=64 time=1.203 ms
64 bytes from 10.10.10.1: icmp_seq=731 ttl=64 time=1.684 ms
64 bytes from 10.10.10.1: icmp_seq=732 ttl=64 time=1.063 ms

Your routers adress can be found under:
system preferences > network > airport > advanced... > TCP/IP

HAHA 😀

yes, we also have a Wii on this network, connected to network via wifi. since i changed from WEP to WPA today at the suggestion of some in this thread, i also had to change settings on the Wii, and it all works fine, been watching streaming movies on netflix thru the Wii with no trouble at all.

nursenicole wrote:
HAHA 😀

yes, we also have a Wii on this network, connected to network via wifi. since i changed from WEP to WPA today at the suggestion of some in this thread, i also had to change settings on the Wii, and it all works fine, been watching streaming movies on netflix thru the Wii with no trouble at all.

Great to hear. Several people have found WEP change to solve the problem. It is horribly insecure anyway.

I have trouble with a westell versalink 327w and a new MBP, and found a workaround. It appears I need a new router; the westell just cannot keep up. See my other posts in this thread about setting a DNS server on the troublesome client. Let us know if you need help setting this.