Level 1

0 points

new macbook pro 2011 weak and dropping wireless connection

Just looked throught this part of the forum and found out there are a lot of people out there which seem to have the same problem as me.

I purchased a new modell 2011 MBP on the very first day from our apple store.
At home, sitting directly beside the wireless router I didn´t noticed anything wrong.
I have got beside of the Mac OS a bootcamp Prt. with Windows 7 on it and everythign works fine so far.

Five days after purchased I started traveling on business and at present we are for some weeks in Melbourne. Were having a wireless connection in our appartement and here I have got massiv problems with my connection.

We are having altogether four windows mashines with us, my IPad, my Iphone, another HTC smartphone, and my new Macbook.

All the other devices connecting to our room wireless without problems. The net strengh is not fantastic but the other devices bringing it up to four bars on the windows wireless symbol in the task bar. None of the other computers where ever loosing the connection.

Only my macbook can not make it over three bars and its going on and off. Donwloads fail freuquently because the conection is interrupted more than one times..
In my opinion this problem is even worse on the Windows OS and a bit better but far away from beeing good and acpetable on the Mac Os.
I hope its only a driver issue and there is no hardware problem with the new mashine. Other than this I love the new notebook and I am very satisfied with its performance.

Iphone 4, Ipad 1 ,Macbook pro 13, I 5, 8GB, early 2011, Windows 7, Mac OS

Posted on Mar 8, 2011 9:00 PM

968 replies

May 1, 2011 11:08 AM in response to Starnzy

In the latest 10.7 update that just came out this week, it looks like they addressed the ping issue.

Now pinging the router varies between 3-5ms with no odd pings showing up.

sudo -i .2 to the router still gives ~1ms pings. I'm guessing they fixed the "wake up" time for the adapter.

Maybe you guys could benefit from digging through the new kexts.

yozhbk

Level 1

8 points

May 1, 2011 11:18 AM in response to seanfromcolumbus

Can you try the ping while transferring test ?

May 1, 2011 11:31 AM in response to yozhbk

While transferring i get ~1ms pings to the router, just like when pinging at .2 seconds or faster.

I'm not sure if the new drivers help those with the dropouts, I didn't have that issue.

I would seek out the io80211 kext for the latest 10.7 update if I was a 10.6 user experiencing these issues...

Tuskaa

Level 1

0 points

May 1, 2011 11:38 AM in response to seanfromcolumbus

Edit: double checking something

LaraJones Author

Level 1

0 points

May 1, 2011 11:35 AM in response to seanfromcolumbus

Can anybody confirm what seanfromcolubus was writing???

Would be great.

Unluckily I can't test it myself, as my Mashine is still with Apple, today it's day 14 that they have it!!!!!!!

One of the Technical Service guys called me on Friday and did not know anything about this problems, as usual, and of course nothing about a fix from Apples side...

So it would be very interesting from anybody else here to get to know if there are any changes on the ping results and streaming abilities?????

I was Today for the very first time looking at different models of notebooks...I have to face the possibility to give my MacBook back. When I get it back in the same condition than it was since the 27 of February, means no streaming, breaking up networks, no connection to weaker nets at all etc, I will definitive not keep it.I just can't.

Would regret it very juch but I am frightened in the meantime that apple just does not do anything about it and denies that there is a problem. Maybe the next range of production gets a change in hardware, we will never notice that and our first builds getting left behind....

Don't want this happen to me....

May 1, 2011 12:17 PM in response to seanfromcolumbus

I added the updated file to kexts.com http://www.kexts.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1152

Sadly, you have to take a minute to register to download (sorry).

Obviously this is for those who know what they are doing. But should look something like

sudo mkdir /Backup/

sudo cp -R /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext /Backup/

sudo rm -R /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext

sudo cp -R ~/Downloads/IO80211Family.kext /System/Library/Extensions/

sudo chmod -R 755 /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Familly.kext

sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/IO80211Family.kext

sudo rm -R /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches

sudo reboot now

Good luck.

Remember this is a 10.7 kext so YMMV with 10.6 but it's worth a shot.

LaraJones Author

Level 1

0 points

May 1, 2011 10:21 PM in response to seanfromcolumbus

@Seanfromcolumbus.

to your Theorie, that there are two Different issues in this case. One of droop outs and one of bad and slow connections.

I don't agree to it as both problems are caused by the same thing.

The problems just gets worse the weaker the net is. If you sit directly by your router on a strong wireless link and in a fast net you very rarly have drop outs or can't connect at all. BUT you still can't stream, the stream breaks of because of the instable quality as you can see on the ping results.

BUT if you are trying to connect to a weak net, or going further away from your good net it comes to drop outs or you can't connect at all. And I am not talking from nets were nobody could connect to...but normal weaker nets as you find them in Starbucks, on airports or in your garden, when the router is just ten mergers away from you...paces where any other computer connects wihtout any trouble...

As nobody else confirmed so far, that the update to 10.7 did the trick I take it at there is no change?????

Sad, sad, sad......

LaraJones Author

Level 1

0 points

May 1, 2011 10:36 PM in response to Starnzy

@starnzy

Exactly the same I experienced in so many shops now all over the world...

Gets to a bad habit of mine...heading to the MacBook pros on display, pinging them and make photos of the results...and of those from the MacBook airs on display...which are in 100 percent of the cases absolutely alright....

And of course I talked to all of the guys in these shops and NOBODY knew about a problem ;-)

we are having up to today 43553 views of this single thread...

If you google wireless problems with MacBook pro 2011, there are six full sides coming up...and NO word from apple about this...

So sad.....I just feel left compltley alone by Apple... You call the hotline and everybody tells you there is no known problem...

My MacBook has got a new network card already...no change...now it's getting a new logic board and I am rather sure that this will not help either... My MacBook has been nearly as long in repair as I had it...

BUT THERE IS NO known PROBLEM, says Apple....

widemos

Level 1

4 points

May 2, 2011 12:54 AM in response to seanfromcolumbus

Just tested, and doesn't work on 10.6.7. Airpot dissapears, so the library doesn't get loaded at all.

Ideas on how to force it to load?

May 2, 2011 1:18 AM in response to seanfromcolumbus

wow, more info on how to do this kexts?

May 2, 2011 4:07 AM in response to LaraJones

Thanks,

Any information or track !?, yet there is a tsunami of discontent in Europe, in USA and Other Country.

It's crazy to have this type of problem on a machine so recent, and a readily identifiable problem, I do not understand the new quality policy from apple !. Where is the engineer in charge of quality?
Is someone from Apple could make a timid appearance on this subject?.

EUROPE in any magazine dedicated to Mac world is talking about this subject, the worse is that the magazine tested the new MacBook Pro!;-( did not detect anything. IN US is it the same ?

It is time that a newspaper talk about That topic, nobody has relations in the press ?

FYI :I made an appointment at the Apple Store in the Louvre on 19/04, they had to order a new airport card, the guy had told me that it would take 2 to 3 days, 10 days have passed, still no new to Apple.

Tuskaa

Level 1

0 points

May 2, 2011 5:42 AM in response to Nico From France

Ok, I think I can shed some more light on what seanfromcolumbus said about the latest 10.7 release. Under snow leopard (10.6) these were my ping results (as previously posted). Obviously very erratic and comparable to everyone elses results.

PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=116.953 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=37.431 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=266.030 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=187.215 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=108.647 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=30.441 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=258.845 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=180.366 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=5.391 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=22.983 ms

--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---

10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0.0% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 5.391/121.430/266.030/92.881 ms

Under 10.7 preview 3 there was a massive improvement (see below), but still not as consistent as you'd expect sitting 2 meters away from an airport extreme. Under windows 7 it is consistenty 1ms on the same machine.

ping -c 20 192.168.1.1

PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=6.589 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=5.270 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=6.718 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=9.371 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=5.189 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=6.055 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=6.430 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=5.859 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=5.531 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=6.551 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=5.731 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=2.786 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=5.769 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=6.226 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=1.569 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=6.765 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=16 ttl=64 time=10.522 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=4.800 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=18 ttl=64 time=10.316 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=19 ttl=64 time=5.474 ms

--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---

20 packets transmitted, 20 packets received, 0.0% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.569/6.176/10.522/2.062 ms

As I and others had previously had better results while streaming a video or some other content I tried that as well, streaming a video while pinging under 10.7 and found this. Not quite 100% consistent but pretty good. So it seems that there have been some improvements made the wireless is still not functioning to it's capacity in general as the difference between the 3 sets of results shows. Hope that sheds some light on it...

ping -c 20 192.168.1.1

PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1): 56 data bytes

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=1.397 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1.427 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=1.457 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=6.264 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=1.400 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=1.849 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=9.598 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=1.483 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=1.596 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=1.470 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=1.383 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=1.634 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=5.675 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=1.485 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=1.469 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=5.080 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=16 ttl=64 time=1.459 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=4.829 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=18 ttl=64 time=10.402 ms

64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=19 ttl=64 time=6.182 ms

--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---

20 packets transmitted, 20 packets received, 0.0% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.383/3.377/10.402/2.833 ms

anguish

Level 1

9 points

May 2, 2011 6:12 AM in response to Tuskaa

reading between the lines then 10.7 will improve things a huge amount compared to where we are no on 10.6.7

surely that tells us that this is down to the OS and not the hardware, on the basis that the same machine is giving poor ping times on 10.6.7 and much improved ping times on 10.7

hopefully Apple can see what they have done with 10.7 that improves the situation and give us an update soon.....

May 2, 2011 6:16 AM in response to LaraJones

Laurajones, sorry you don't agree with me, but I still contend there are 2 separate issues. I have NEVER dropped a wireless connection or had any trouble streaming to the 8 networks I connect to (some strong, some weak)....yet I still have the erratic pings. This tells me there are 2 different issues at play here. I am not even 100% certain I'd call the ping issue an "issue".

Anyhow, I believe the 10.7 kexts I linked to should work. For the user who tried and couldn't get the extension loaded, are you certain you updated the ownership and permissions on the kext? You need to chown and chmod the kext properly, or use a program like kexthelper.

Tuskaa

Level 1

0 points

May 2, 2011 6:21 AM in response to anguish

Yes, I think that pretty much sums it up anguish, everything points to it being software related and hopefully it means a fix for snow leopard isn't too far away.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

new macbook pro 2011 weak and dropping wireless connection