10.6.5 and wifi issues

So what else airport related have they updated from 10.6.4 to 10.6.5? Maybe something with the dhcp-client? I mean I am now running the old working firmware for the broadcom wireless adapter, but still these connection problems ...

Hi Thorsten,
unfortunately, it is impossible to tell exactly what changed since the code is not available, and Apple are somewhat notorious for being highly vague in their update descriptions (usually along the lines of "fixed some bugs"). However, I would not expect DHCP to be involved. So long as driver maintains a connection, the DHCP client should be idle. I'd hesitate to suggest coincidence, but is it possible that something has changed in your environment to affect signal strength (RSSI). It wasn't clear to me if you had also tried going back fully to 10.6.4 since. If 10.6.4 still works better for you, I don't really know what else might be causing this.

On my wife's machine, the signal strength in the bonus room in our house isn't great (-75 dBi or worse), but the reverted driver is able to fully maintain a connection.

Tim

This fixed my problems, Thanks.

Hi Tim,

I finally went completely back to 10.6.4 (full new installation of 10.6.0 and afterwards upgrade to 10.6.4). This works nearly perfect. Once or twice per day I have disconnects, which are def. caused by the mac (android mobile and win7 laptop are not affected.)
The whole thing has also nothing to do with the signal strength, because it appears even if I am sitting next to the router ... But nevertheless I will check the signal quality. The way this company is treating people is really annoying. What is more essential than a working network. You can read about these wifi problems all ever the inet forums and we get simply ignored.

Thanks for your help!

Note your signal strengths in 10.6.4, then update to 10.6.5 and see if they drop off dramatically. That is what mine was doing.

changing the wifi channel on my router fixed this problem for me...after trying everything else.

Here are my experiences with wifi wonkiness ... from yesterday evening just when I was about to go to bed ...

I do a bit of internet TV watching. http://www.m6replay.fr never worked on my MBP (though it does in a VirtualBox WinXP32 VM...), but tf1.fr/live never really gave any issues. Of late though, it provokes hangs of the browser, and yesterday evening I noticed that when that happens, ping round trip times to a remote server grow to something like 4 seconds, with lots of dropped packets. They always got back to normal a few moments after killing the hung browser.

Occasionally I'd already notice dropping packets, restart my modem (a Hitach AH4222) and all would be well. Same thing happened when I still had my Powerbook, so I wrote it down to a modem glitch which sometimes seems to mix up the laptop and my iPod Touch.

Yesterday evening there was a broadcast on tf1 that I wanted to watch, so I tried over a wired connection: plugged in the cable, waited for en0 to have an address, launched a browser ... and the Flash video stream worked flawlessly. I'd left the Airport connection active, presuming the OS would use en0. Whether or not it did with all the other open internet apps, after unhooking the cable, my Airport connectivity had gone.

All packets to the outside world were dropped, and I couldn't even ping the router itself. Airport Off/On cycles, modem Off/On cycles had no effect: Airport connected to the router, but then I couldn't ping it. A reboot didn't solve anything, but I did see a considerable list of "stray application" messages during the shutdown (I have verbose booting on). By now it was almost 2am and I was getting on my nerves... I'd seen a couple of subnetroute_ifindex: can't get interface name messages when I switched Airport back on, which suggested a potential hardware issue with the Airport card (haven't found an explanation if the message actually indicates a problem!).

Meanwhile my iPod Touch connected fine to the modem and got online, though it did lose the connection a few times when I wasn't using it. Sadly I can no longer log in to the modem admin pages, but MAC address filtering is off anyway.

I booted off an external clone of a few weeks old ... and that just didn't solve anything either. In fact, at some point I couldn't even connect to the router - as if my password was rejected.

Here's a bit of log from that time:

Jan 20 01:46:47 portia com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[245] (com.apple.ReportCrash): Falling back to default Mach exception handler. Could not find: com.apple.ReportCrash.Self Jan 20 01:46:48 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.scan - success - active_broadcast_scan (0.778433) Jan 20 01:46:48 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.lookup - failure (0.000009) Jan 20 01:46:49 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.scan - success - active_broadcast_scan (0.763912) Jan 20 01:46:49 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.lookup - success - hidden (0.000018) Jan 20 01:46:50 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.keychain - success - No error. (0.597353) Jan 20 01:46:50 portia /sbin/nfsd[69]: mount list changed: 0x8 Jan 20 01:46:54: --- last message repeated 2 times --- Jan 20 01:46:54 portia com.apple.launchd.peruser.505[245] (com.apple.Kerberos.renew.plist[278]): Exited with exit code: 1 Jan 20 01:46:55 portia airportd[27]: Apple80211Associate() failed -3905 (Timeout) Jan 20 01:46:55 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.association - failure - WPA2 Personal - Timeout (5.117306) Jan 20 01:46:56 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.scan - success - active_directed (0.764515) Jan 20 01:46:56 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.lookup - failure (0.000001) Jan 20 01:46:57 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.lookup - failure (0.000000) Jan 20 01:46:59 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.scan - success - passive_broadcast_scan (1.720595) Jan 20 01:46:59 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.lookup - failure (0.000000) Jan 20 01:47:01 portia _mdnsresponder[293]: /usr/libexec/ntpd-wrapper: scutil key State:/Network/Global/DNS not present after 30 seconds Jan 20 01:47:02 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.scan - success - active_passive_broadcast_scan (2.457581) Jan 20 01:47:02 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.lookup - failure (0.000002) Jan 20 01:47:04: --- last message repeated 5 times --- Jan 20 01:47:02 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.lookup - failure (0.000005) Jan 20 01:47:02 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.lookup - failure (0.000002) Jan 20 01:47:02 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.lookup - failure (0.000001) Jan 20 01:47:02 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.lookup - success - hidden (0.000015) Jan 20 01:47:02 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.keychain - success - No error. (0.066168) Jan 20 01:47:02 portia _mdnsresponder[297]: sntp options: a=2 v=1 e=0.100 E=5.000 P=2147483647.000 Jan 20 01:47:02 portia _mdnsresponder[297]:     d=15 c=5 x=0 op=1 l=/var/run/sntp.pid f= time.euro.apple.com Jan 20 01:47:02 portia _mdnsresponder[297]: sntp: getaddrinfo(hostname, ntp)  failed with nodename nor servname provided, or not known Jan 20 01:47:03 portia ntpd[57]: signal_no_reset: signal 10 had flags 40 Jan 20 01:47:03 portia ntpd[57]: precision = 1.000 usec Jan 20 01:47:03 portia ntpd[57]: ntp_io: estimated max descriptors: 256, initial socket boundary: 20 Jan 20 01:47:03 portia ntpd[57]: Listening on interface #0 wildcard, 0.0.0.0#123 Disabled Jan 20 01:47:03 portia ntpd[57]: Listening on interface #1 wildcard, ::#123 Disabled Jan 20 01:47:03 portia ntpd[57]: Listening on interface #2 lo0, ::1#123 Enabled Jan 20 01:47:03 portia ntpd[57]: Listening on interface #3 lo0, fe80::1#123 Enabled Jan 20 01:47:03 portia ntpd[57]: Listening on interface #4 lo0, 127.0.0.1#123 Enabled Jan 20 01:47:03 portia ntpd[57]: Listening on routing socket on fd #25 for interface updates Jan 20 01:47:04 portia ntpd[57]: frequency initialized -28.236 PPM from /var/db/ntp.drift Jan 20 01:47:07 portia airportd[27]: Apple80211Associate() failed -3905 (Timeout) Jan 20 01:47:07 portia airportd[27]: com.apple.airport.autojoin.association - failure - WPA2 Personal - Timeout (5.043991) Jan 20 01:47:07 portia airportd[27]: [most time: (5.117306) _association] trace: <CFArray 0x100154730 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{type = mutable-small, count = 31, values = (\n     0 : <CFString 0x10003acb0 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "pref_netwk_AJ"}\n     1 : <CFString 0x10003ab70 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "scan non-DFS channels"}\n     2 : <CFString 0x1005617e0 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.778433) _scan"}\n     3 : <CFString 0x100500040 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000009) _lookup"}\n     4 : <CFString 0x10003ab90 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "scan non-DFS channels again"}\n     5 : <CFString 0x100153cd0 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.763912) _scan"}\n     6 : <CFString 0x100102a80 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000018) _lookup"}\n     7 : <CFString 0x100188bc0 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.597353) _keychain"}\n     8 : <CFString 0x1005004b0 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(5.117306) _association"}\n     9 : <CFString 0x10003abb0 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "hidden_search_rem"}\n     10 : <CFString 0x100550200 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.764515) _scan"}\n     11 : <CFString 0x10054f990 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000001) _lookup"}\n     12 : <CFString 0x100500630 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000000) _lookup"}\n     13 : <CFString 0x10003abd0 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "scan DFS channels"}\n     14 : <CFString 0x100103910 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(1.720595) _scan"}\n     15 : <CFString 0x100154610 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000000) _lookup"}\n     16 : <CFString 0x10003abf0 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "scan all channels"}\n     17 : <CFString 0x100507700 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(2.457581) _scan"}\n     18 : <CFString 0x10050f890 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000002) _lookup"}\n     19 : <CFString 0x100514360 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000002) _lookup"}\n     20 : <CFString 0x100515ec0 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000002) _lookup"}\n     21 : <CFString 0x1005132c0 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000002) _lookup"}\n     22 : <CFString 0x100513020 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000002) _lookup"}\n     23 : <CFString 0x100512990 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000002) _lookup"}\n     24 : <CFString 0x100512040 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000005) _lookup"}\n     25 : <CFString 0x100511740 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000002) _lookup"}\n     26 : <CFString 0x100510a80 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000001) _lookup"}\n     27 : <CFString 0x10050fe40 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.000015) _lookup"}\n     28 : <CFString 0x100181060 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(0.066168) _keychain"}\n     29 : <CFString 0x100510610 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "(5.043991) _association"}\n     30 : <CFString 0x10003ad10 [0x7fff70ab6ee0]>{contents = "fallback"}\n)} Jan 20 01:47:07 portia ntpd_initres[299]: getaddrinfo('time.euro.apple.com','(null)') returned EAI_NONAME, mapping to EAI_AGAIN

I thought to run the Apple Hardware Test ... but couldn't locate it on any of the disks that came with the machine (it no longer exists?). The TechTool app included with AppleCare found 0 issues ... but I doubt it even checks the Airport card. It was only when I had booted into the OS X Installer and ran the network utility from there that I managed to connect to the modem again, and to ping it ... and the remote server. There were still dropped packets, but at this point I was happy with any packet going through. I rebooted from my internal disk, and got a connection going from there too ... all by itself. That calmed me down enough to go to sleep (3 am by now).

I'm now at work, researching the issue and not getting a lot of answers. I connect over an ethernet university network here, but after configuring Internet Sharing over Airport, my iPod Touch ran streaming video without any issues. Pingning my iPod from the MBP gives me round trip times between about 10ms and 300ms, without dropping packets (as long as the iPod doesn't sleep). Seems acceptable, no?

In short, I've found no promising explanations/solutions in the various threads on similar issues. Does anyone here have any suggestions? I'm toying with the idea of getting a TimeCapsule as I understand it contains its own wifi access point to an ethernet connection that would come from my modem. I'm just a tiny bit concerned about interference with the modem's wifi base station (remember I can no longer switch it off)...

thanks for any feedback!

PS: to add to the weirdness ... after my final reboot yesterday evening, I found a recovered item in the Trash called FlashTmp0 . That's a Flash video stream cache file (flv format) that came from $TMPDIR/../TemporaryItems ... the weird thing was that the Finder thought it was still in use... after countless reboots. Guess I really have a ghost in my machine! ^^

I don't have Atheros, but I have the same problem. I fixed it at home by changing the Wi-Fi Channel in the modem settings, but when I try to connect elsewhere (at work for example), I doesn't work.

This is what I have:
*Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x93)*
*Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0*

What could be the problem?

I'm not able to change the Wi-Fi channel at work so I can't really test that.

I don't think there is a problem with Atheros.

I'm having the same problems as everyone else where my wifi connection just drops after a couple of minutes use. The fix detailed by tenortim seems to be the one I need but, being nothing like as knowledgeable, I don't understand how to restore the old driver. Is there anyone who can help me with a simple set of instructions to do it?

Is there anything against putting the 10.6.4 version of the kext online?
(One could include a copy of the 'Dont Steal Mac OS X.kext' I see a few lines higher in the combo updater ^^)

Found this thread: http://www.tonymacx86.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=10697&sid=d66f82374c5ea454dc83800 907b48f6c&start=10

I tested it in safe mode as it worked for some of the users. At first if didn't work in safe mode, but after a while (maybe after renewing the DHCP lease) it started to work, but a little slow. Then I restarted and now it seems to work fine in "regular mode" if I could call it that. But it's slow..

I have no idea why this happened, because before trying in safe mode, it didn't work at all.

After a reboot it stopped working again..

Hard to say given how I've had issues only a single time, but downgrading to the 10.6.4 kext took my Broadcom firmware from 5.10.131.36.1 to 5.10.131.16.1 and indeed seems to have improved performance somewhat and has almost completely eliminated packet dropping.

Hint: keep a copy of the kext to side so that it's at hand after the next update! I have a complete directory structure somewhere on my disk in which I document everything I build/install and any changes I make to the OS, usually with copies of the original and always with a copy of the modified file(s). It's annoyingly amazing how quick one can forget that magic recipe that resolved this or that issue...

Steve,

If you want to get on a chat sometime I can walk you through it. Send me an email at phil1995@att.net if you would like me to help you revert to the 10.6.4 driver.

I've read an update is underway (OSX 10.6.7 beta is released).

http://www.9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/this3.png