WiFi Issues With MacBook Air

Sure.

Computer: Macbook Air 13" 2010 w/4gb Ram & 128 GB HD.

OS: 10.7.1

Problem Solved with AppleJack: Seemingly random inability to hold onto some, but not all, and not all the time, wifi signals. And also random inability to maintain Wifi N 5ghz connection, forcing it to drop down to the next lower level.

Hardware: Both at home and at work I was dealing with Airport Extremes: UFO, pre-dual band, and dual band. All with WPA encryption.

Hope this helps.

I have a MacBook Air 2 Gigs and had this wireless issue. It was looking like the wireless would slow down or disconnect and I had a time typing anying.

I removed the apple swap files that has a delay for the ectronic drives and everything changed for the better.

sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.dynamic_pager.plist

Darrell

Like a new machine.

I have had the MBA 11" for a while now and had the same wifi issue. I played around with the settings and ended up turning off bluetooth and viola, the wifi issues went away. I have tested this ocer and over and everytime bluetooth is on, the wifi messes up. I have not had the time to take this to the apple store. Wondering if any of you guys/gals have tried this.

You are right!

I have the 13" MBA (2011), and I can confirm: If I turn bluetooth off, the wifi issue is solved.

But I think: This cannot be THE solution to turn bluetooth off, it's only an interim solution.

M L wrote:

Applejack did nothing for my WiFi issues.

I'm not surprised. I'm quite dubious at claims that it would do anything to help the issues documented on this thread. This is what Applejack can do:

--

[1] repair disks
[2] repair permissions
[3] cleanup cache files
[4] validate preferences files
[5] remove swap files

--

These are things that anyone who has spent serious time troubleshooting this problem has already tried - likely multiple times. This is not the solution to the problem that this thread actually documents.

Furthermore, while some users report having had success (usually using creative spellings of the word "voilà," I might add) turning off Bluetooth, this is almost never a solution that lasts for long. Even if it were, users tend to want to use Bluetooth functionality. It therefore is not a solution, either.

R.I.P., Steve.

#mbawififail on Twitter.

I came across this thread a few weeks ago while doing pre-purchase research on the MacBook Air. My wife bought a 13" 128 gb air last November, so I knew that I definitely wanted to purchase one, just wasn't sure if I'd get 128 or 256 gb. I was very distressed to read about the wifi connectivity issues that you all have experienced. It seemed incredible that such a major problem wasn't being acknowledged and fixed by Apple. The idea that users would have to dig deeply into their system to fix a basic problem seemed outrageous. This was almost enough to make me decide to not purchase at this time--despite the sweet improvements to the latest version of the MBAir. In the end though, since I've been pretty lucky with tech, I crossed all my fingers and ordered the 13", 1.7 GHz, 4 GB, 128 GB Air. It arrived 9 days ago and I spent a few hours setting it up, but with a plan in place based on some of the solutions suggested in this thread. I've had no problems so far, so this post isn't offering anything new to those of you who already have the wifi problems (again, my sympathies and best wishes for fixes), but is aimed at people who may be considering whether or not to buy a new MBA, Here's how I did the setup:

I ran Software update on my iMac (it has Snow Leopard as the OS)

I synced my iMac Mail, Calendar, Keychain, Contacts, Bookmarks with my MobileMe account

Before turning on the Air, I used an ethernet adapter and plugged into my AirPort Extreme base station

I turned on the Air and ran setup without migrating anything from my iMac

I did NOT turn on bluetooth or wireless, but rather left the ethernet plugged in the entire time

I ran Sofware update several times until it didn't find anything else to update

I synced Mail accounts, calendar, keychain, contacts and bookmarks with MobileMe

I copied my iTunes music library to the Air and imported all songs

I tested all applications and set up my personal preferences like dock size, wallpaper, etc

I turned on WiFi, located my home network and logged in

I then unplugged the ethernet cable for the first time--the wifi signal held

I tested it by walking all around the house (2 story, horizontal, base station on lower level in far corner room)--no dropoff in signal strength

I turned off the Air and when starting up it found the network immediately and connected, same for coming out of sleep mode.

After a week with absolutely no problems I tested it by taking it to my office in a large hospital. I connected it to "GuestNet" the local network for patient's/visitor's computers and cell phones, and it worked perfectly all day with no lost connections.

So, I haven't uncrossed all of my fingers yet, but I'm encouraged.

Also, I have never turned on Bluetooth

I hope this might help someone who is thinking of buying an Air. Sorry that I can't offer any solutions to those of you already plagued by this problem. Best of luck...

So, I purchased my MacBook Air as soon as they went up for sale this year. The first couple of weeks were fine, but then the issues started. I thought it was my router before finally figuring out it was the device. I just installed a software update a couple of days ago which purported to have a fix for wireless connectivity. Unfortunately, it hasn't helped and I'm still experiencing the same random wireless issues.

I'll be surfing the Web and downloading content, when all of a sudden, pages will fail to load and downloads will stop in their tracks. Sometimes, it all picks back up after 20-30 seconds. Other times, I have to turn off/on wireless functionality. To note, I have bluetooth disabled.

What the heck, man? I've never understood this approach from corporations; to be silent in the face of such overwhelming complaints. I love this device, but the wireless deal is really, really killing the experience. You've put a beautiful piece of hardware in my hands, Apple. Now, why not put a beautiful and seamless wireless Internet experience in them as well?

-Stephen

Hey,

I have the same problem, and I did everything above too, but it's still not work.

I have realized that the longer my macbook is in shutdown, the longer this issue occurs again. This makes me infer that whether this problem is related to electric, maybe too much power drawed in wireless card (!?). Because I always don't shutdown my mac in a month (just sleep) before, as the problem occurs frequently. Any idea about it?

Sorry for my English.

Reply to M L:

The more I've been reading about these issues, the more it does sound like a software issue rather than hardware. Lion in general seems to be a bit buggier than the average new OS X release unfortunately.

I have an idea that is worth trying if you have access to the software. Do you have access to a Snow Leopard install disc and a USB cd drive (or a usb stick that you can create from a snow leopard disk image)? Or even just a snow leopard system on a USB hard drive that you can boot from? If this really is a software thing with Leopard, then a simple downgrade to Snow Leopard should fix it. If it does, you can just sit tight in Snow Leopard (a very good and usable OS) and wait out the Lion bugs until they're fixed in one of the point releases (assuming 1.7.2 doesn't fix it).

I actually just received my new Air today (13" 128GB 2011 model). I synced about 20 GB of data over the Wifi connection when setting up Dropbox. I was surfing and dropbox syncing fine for an hour or so. Then I set the Air down on the left side of my computer desk. After a few minutes I started getting the dreaded Wifi dropouts. I tried turning off bluetooth, restarting the computer, restarting my router, and reconnecting to Wifi. I would get connection again for a few minutes or less and it would drop out again.

So I sat there with a terminal window open pinging my router. One of the times I got it working again, I had it in my lap. I went to set it down on that spot on my desk and literally as I was placing it down I saw the ping time go from between 1-10ms up to 250, then 500, then 1000, then it started dropping packets. I picked the Air back up and instantly the ping time dropped back to 1-10ms and packets were flowing fine. I set it down on my chair and it worked fine after that.

So at looks like that spot on my desk is a dead zone for Wifi. It's only about 8 ft away from my router, but that spot is partially obscured by my printer that's next to the router, and is next to a bunch of wires and electronics on my desk.

I need to do some more testing by placing other Wifi devices in that spot and testing the connection to see if it's the Air itself or just the spot.

But anyway, to others having trouble in their house, try moving your router to a clearer line of site position, or more simply just try moving your Air to a different place.

I'll post back after I do some more testing with the Air and other laptops/phones.

Good theory, but I've confirmed that isn't the case for me, personally. In addition to my Air, I have two laptops with Windows on them that I use in the same physical spots. They have never experienced these issues without it being a fault of the router.

I don't say that to discredit your theory, either. We're all playing the guessing game at the moment, it seems, so your particular solution theory may well pertain to you. Personally, I'm trying to figure out if there's some sort of correlation between my Air getting hot and dropped packets. I think that's a bunk theory of mine, though, since the times the connection drops/reconnects are completely random -- heat or no heat.

I write for ZDNet, so I'm thinking of writing a post about this particular issue to find out who else out there is experiencing this. It would be nice if Apple could figure this thing out -- or at least address it. We've certainly paid enough for these beautiful devices, so I think we deserve some sort of acknowledgment at the very least...

StephenChapman wrote:

[...]

I write for ZDNet, so I'm thinking of writing a post about this particular issue to find out who else out there is experiencing this. It would be nice if Apple could figure this thing out -- or at least address it. We've certainly paid enough for these beautiful devices, so I think we deserve some sort of acknowledgment at the very least...

Hi, Stephen -

I've been writing about this issue now on this thread, one that I started to trace every single test and reconfiguration I did throughout my process, as well as starting the Twitter hashtag #mbawififail . I am of the mindset that the only thing that will truly help this issue be resolved for users in an equitable way is when tech journalists begin to cover it. Please, please do this. I'd be happy to talk with you about my experiences and background, as well as what people have been doing to rectify it.

I agree with your analysis that the previous poster's location-based theory is, unfortunately, not the real issue, too. We all wish it were something that simple.

Thank you.

I could probably get 10.6.3 on a USB drive and boot from that. Although I would be surprised that someone on this thread would not have already given 10.6.3 a go. I certainly agree that 10.6.3 is pretty darn rock solid. If 10.7.2 does not solve the issue I may test the downgrade. 10.7.2 should be here today or very soon!

I certainly understand and relate to folks desire for some acknowledgement of this problem by Apple. I guess realistically though, I would not hold your breath. It is generally not in a companies best interest in admit major faults in their software. Often times their disclosures are controlled or at least guided by their legal folks. Certainly such admissions would give ammuntion to folks for various claims, formal or informal, under warranty or not. More so than any admission, after all we KNOW there is a problem, I'm simply hoping it is fixed soon. If I was not outside my measly 2 week return period I would be swapping this computer for a regular Macbook.

Updating to 10.7.2 fixed this issue on this 2011 11" MacBook Air.

Previously on "G" networks I would get the dreaded "!" wifi symbol even though there was full wifi strength. Curiously, my 13" MacBook Air was able to connect without any problem, even on 10.7.0 and 10.7.1. The wifi on the 11" is working well now after updating to 10.7.2.