matteocaldari

Q: 10.6.5 and wifi issues

Since I upgraded to 10.6.5, my MacBook Pro (Early 2006) cannot connect to my USR9110 (802.11 g) access point. 
From 10.6 on, there's been always troubles when resuming after sleep, but now even at startup the connection goes timeout.

All other devices (an iPhone,an iPad and a MacBook Pro (Late 2006) with 10.5) work perfectly.

I tried rebooting, changing  the wifi channel, updating the access point firmware, turning on and off airport, resetting the SMC, switching to WEP, switching to WPA, switching to unencrypted. Nothing changes, connection timeout. 

MacBook Pro 1,1, Mac OS X (10.6.5), early 2006

Posted on Nov 11, 2010 5:53 AM

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Q: 10.6.5 and wifi issues

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  • by wifiguru,

    wifiguru wifiguru Nov 20, 2010 11:10 AM in response to Robert Albury
    Level 2 (240 points)
    Nov 20, 2010 11:10 AM in response to Robert Albury
    Robert,
    When you are connected to this network, press the Option key and click on the AirPort Menu Extra a few times and note the RSSI number.
    It it's lower than -78, then try moving closer to the AP so you can get the RSSI value between -50 and -72. And then leave the machine on and let it run some ping's/network activity for a while. Check if it still drops.
  • by Julez-Edward,

    Julez-Edward Julez-Edward Nov 20, 2010 11:33 AM in response to matteocaldari
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 20, 2010 11:33 AM in response to matteocaldari
    It appears to be a sending issue somehow and not a receiving issue. Once you get an HTTP request sent, you need to be lucky to get it through. But once that's done, you can download a huge chunk of data without a problem. This is very problematic for realitme back and forth transmissions like skype or torrenting. Just browsing sometimes lasts for 10 minutes. Idling can go on for hours. Skype usually drops within a few seconds.

    But of course all that doesn't bring us any closer to a real solution...

    //on rant
    Can we please stop pretending this is somehow NOT Apple's fault and wake up Al Gore to let him tell Jobs this is important? It's not (yet) forbidden to say that the once so perfectionist company is letting it slip a little. And it's cool as long Apple don't take weeks to admit their flaws and months before they fix them.

    Commenting on the people stating that Apple is enforcing certain standards, that weren't applied before: same thing with the whole Flash/HTML 5 issue: don't use your customer-base as political leverage.

    This is day 8 working on a wired laptop and it's starting to become annoying that The Beatles and a Safari 5.0.3 update are more important to Apple than this.

    I agree with the general tone that Apple is going backwards in terms of testing their own gear. Same WiFi issues seem to appear in Golden Master of iOS 4.2?

    //off rant
  • by imdcoop,

    imdcoop imdcoop Nov 20, 2010 11:52 AM in response to wifiguru
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 20, 2010 11:52 AM in response to wifiguru
    I just checked my other computer, but I don't have the old plist files for either. I can see how that might have been useful for someone who can read them. Sorry I cannot help with that. Meanwhile, both machines are back in order.
  • by DrVenture,

    DrVenture DrVenture Nov 20, 2010 11:54 AM in response to Julez-Edward
    Level 2 (180 points)
    Nov 20, 2010 11:54 AM in response to Julez-Edward
    What steps have you taken to actually try to diagnose the problem? If you are so passionate about this issue, why not call AppleCare? Or, why not join ADC (its free) and file a bug with your specific wireless issue?

    Thinking that Apple can test every piece of 3rd party wireless hardware, or in every environment is unrealistic.

    As for your thoughts on standards, comparing flash to IEEE standards are not even in the same ball park. IEEE standards exist for a reason. If everyone would follow the standards, there would be far fewer compatibility issues out there.

    If you are actually looking for help for your issue, then let's start by looking at your setup and go from there.

    1. Give us a detail description of the problem you are seeing. Just saying wireless is broken does not help. Are you losing your wireless connection (AME losing all of its bars)? Is your connection solid, but you cannot get out to the Internet? etc. There are ton of tools that come built into the Mac that can be used to diagnose various connection problems.
    2. What kind of access point are you using? Make, Model, Rev Number, Firmware.
    3. Does you access point have the latest firmware?
    4. What wireless security are you using?
    5. What Frequency are you on? Have you tried changing frequencies? Does your AP support 5GHz? If so, have you tried 5GHz?
    6. Have you looked at your scan list to make sure you are not using a channel that overlaps with neighbors? (Look in System Profiler, AirPort.)
  • by DrVenture,

    DrVenture DrVenture Nov 20, 2010 11:58 AM in response to imdcoop
    Level 2 (180 points)
    Nov 20, 2010 11:58 AM in response to imdcoop
    Darn that *****.

    For anyone else having issues, before you trash your PLIST files, back them up to your desktop. Then try the PLIST removal. If this solves the issue, then you can post the PLISTs (old and new) and we can do a diff on them.

    You could also take both sets of PLISTs (again if trashing them corrected your wifi issue) and file a bug via ADC. I would include your system profiler in the bug as well. If there is a problem with the 10.6.5 affecting AirPort PLISTs with the upgrade, then this is our best avenue of getting the problem corrected.
  • by SE30 v R2D2,

    SE30 v R2D2 SE30 v R2D2 Nov 20, 2010 9:12 PM in response to matteocaldari
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 20, 2010 9:12 PM in response to matteocaldari
    MacBook having exact same issues with wireless range after install of 10.6.5.

    Followed directions in this thread - reset SMC and redownloaded the combo updater with no improved results. Thinking it's time to reinstall 10.6 and upgrade to 10.4.

    The reduced wireless range is killing me! I have to be sitting right next to (or under) the WAP to get a signal...UGH!
  • by Michael Jones11,

    Michael Jones11 Michael Jones11 Nov 20, 2010 11:19 PM in response to matteocaldari
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 20, 2010 11:19 PM in response to matteocaldari
    The prevailing solution has been to restrict DMA accesses to the first 1GB of addresses, as the Broadcom440x driver has problems with DMA mapping after 1024 (as reported elsewhere).

    Add a Kernel Flag to your com.apple.Boot.plist in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration:
    <key>Kernel Flags</key>
    <string>maxvalid_dmaaddr=1024</string>

    P.S. I don't take credit for this fix.
    MAJ
  • by harry@hgac.com,

    harry@hgac.com harry@hgac.com Nov 20, 2010 11:46 PM in response to Michael Jones11
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 20, 2010 11:46 PM in response to Michael Jones11
    Does anyone know how to identify a Broadcom card? My system profile for WiFi shows an Airport Extreme (0x168c, 0x86)
    with firmware Atheros 5424 2.0.19.10
  • by G-Zig,

    G-Zig G-Zig Nov 21, 2010 2:22 AM in response to satcomer
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 21, 2010 2:22 AM in response to satcomer
    Thank you satcomer, this 'non-geek' 8 step method worked perfectly.
  • by DrVenture,

    DrVenture DrVenture Nov 21, 2010 8:26 AM in response to SE30 v R2D2
    Level 2 (180 points)
    Nov 21, 2010 8:26 AM in response to SE30 v R2D2
    Resetting the SMC and/or the PRAM of the Mac is kinda like slaughtering a chicken in hopes of a cure. Let's see if we can understand what is going on:

    1. About how far away can you get from your AP before you loose connection? When you are really close to the AP, use the option+click on the AME and see report what your signal strength is and your data rate.
    2. What kind of access point are you using? Make, Model, Rev Number, Firmware.
    3. Does you access point have the latest firmware?
    4. What wireless security are you using?
    5. What Frequency are you on? Have you tried changing frequencies? Does your AP support 5GHz? If so, have you tried 5GHz?
    6. Have you looked at your scan list to make sure you are not using a channel that overlaps with neighbors? (Look in System Profiler, AirPort.)
  • by DrVenture,

    DrVenture DrVenture Nov 21, 2010 8:30 AM in response to Michael Jones11
    Level 2 (180 points)
    Nov 21, 2010 8:30 AM in response to Michael Jones11
    Where did you find this type of solution? Why would restricting the Direct Memory Access of the BRCM driver to 0-1024 really help? If there are over runs, Mallocs, or something else to prove this, I would like to see the kernel log from the affected Mac.

    I would caution anyone from trying this, before we fully understand the theory and the empirical evidence to support it.
  • by DrVenture,

    DrVenture DrVenture Nov 21, 2010 8:31 AM in response to harry@hgac.com
    Level 2 (180 points)
    Nov 21, 2010 8:31 AM in response to harry@hgac.com
    You have a BRCM based card. All cards denoted as "Extreme" are BRCM based. If it was an Atheros card, it would say Atheros.
  • by Sly Raskal,

    Sly Raskal Sly Raskal Nov 21, 2010 10:50 AM in response to matteocaldari
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 21, 2010 10:50 AM in response to matteocaldari
    Checking in with a MBP and an iMac both upgraded to 10.6.5, both having WIFI problems where the WIFI signal is completely lost at random times and a reboot is necessary in order to connect to my WIFI network again.
  • by DrVenture,

    DrVenture DrVenture Nov 21, 2010 11:04 AM in response to Sly Raskal
    Level 2 (180 points)
    Nov 21, 2010 11:04 AM in response to Sly Raskal
    Checking in to say your "Me Too" post does not help anyone here in the discussion forum or Apple even attempt to help solve your wireless issue.

    1. What distance are you from your Access Point? If you option+click the AME, what is the Signal Strength and Data Rate shown?
    2. What kind of access point are you using? Make, Model, Rev Number, Firmware.
    3. Does you access point have the latest firmware?
    4. What wireless security are you using?
    5. What Frequency are you on? Have you tried changing frequencies? Does your AP support 5GHz? If so, have you tried 5GHz?
    6. Have you looked at your scan list to make sure you are not using a channel that overlaps with neighbors? (Look in System Profiler, AirPort.)
  • by Sly Raskal,

    Sly Raskal Sly Raskal Nov 21, 2010 11:46 AM in response to DrVenture
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Nov 21, 2010 11:46 AM in response to DrVenture
    1. I'm usually using my MBP while in my family room where my router is located, 13 ft away from where I sit. My iMac is approximately 20 ft away from the wirless router. Signal strength on both computers is 5 bars.
    2. I'm using a Netgear Wireless-N VPN Wireless Router Model# SRXN3205
    3. No, but I've been using this router for the last year and a half with zero problems up until I installed 10.6.5 on both machines. And upgrading the firmware could introduce other problems on the hardware side.
    4. WPA2 Personal
    5. I'm running dual band, both G and N 2.4Ghz Again, I've been using this router for a long time, no problems, no conflicts until I installed 10.6.5
    6. Refer to all my other statements about running the same hardware for an extended period of time. Both of our iPhones connect and have no problems staying connected to my WIFI signal from further distances. Only my MBP and iMac are having issues.
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