Upgraded to 10.6.7 and wifi problem is back

FYI: Problem is back. Resetting my router (Airport Express, purchased 1.5 yrs ago) gives me the longest reprieve - sometimes for 5 days, sometimes for 2 - but that's obviously not a real solution. I'm definitely not a networking expert, but it seems like a communications issue between my upgraded computer and the router, but the router shows that is has the latest firmware.

Many times when my internet drops, my computer will say that my wifi connection is great and even my access to the internet appears in settings to be going strong, but when I go to load the Airport utility to see specifics on my Airport Express router, the utility can't find it, at least until I change something within my Airport network preferences.

It's so weird how the problem manifests: I will have working internet, browsing great and quickly, then I get the grey Connecting in my browser tab. Sometimes it will happen over and over with the same link (for example: I try to complete a Google search in the search bar and it stalls, but I can access other bookmarks or links immediately. Not always those specifics, but you get the idea.) Most times it "builds" until I can't access anything and need to reset some setting. It feels like it's some weird cache getting filled up until it gets overloaded then shuts down.

Forgot the mention in my first post that I zapped pram and fixed disk permissions to no avail, and I use a cable modem through Comcast. Also, I upgraded from 10.4.11. Maybe skipping 10.5 completely left me without something I need or a setting that isn't properly updated?

Well I've had my new Macbook Pro 15 for a month now. I've had Apple techs taking me through all sorts of resets to no avail.

In my home office my WIfi drops out after a few minutes requiring an Aiport Off / On toggle which always resolve the issue.

WiFi signal strength is strong and constant acording to iStumbler. I do have a number of other wifi SSIDs visible and I am using a WIFI repeater which has a diffent SSID to avoid any confusion. As I don't seem to experience this problem when staying away on business in a hotel where I can only see 1 SSID (orange) my surmise is that this is due to my MBP getting confused in some way between the various signals. The SSID I am connecting to is the only one on its channel though.

Various resets / deletions / dancing round the church widdershins have resolved the issue for a few hours but it always comes back. Like the rest of you I have numerous other pieces of kit that work fine with my router (BT Home Hub) in the same multi SSID environment with no issues.

I can't believe I spent nearly £2,000 on a pretty piece of aluminium that doesn't connect properly to Wifi. The only solution seems to be to connect my MBP using an ethernet cable. Hello??? I have bought a £2k laptop and I'm reduced to THAT?

I am also terribly disppointed that as the problem is evidently so widespread Apple appear to be unaware of it / are ignoring it.

Poor.

Interestingly I left Istumbler on all day and I have only experienced 2 drop outs in 8 hours. I would normally have had about 50. I assume Istumbler is therefore doing something that is maintaining the connection. Anyone got any idea why this might be so?

And 2 days later Istumbler seems to be the answer. No drop outs today. Wahey! a free ap that sort out an Apple mess up that they won't fix can't be bad can it?

Pity I had to spend so much time trying to work out how to us my £2k laptop as a laptop Apple eh? If I wanted to buy a desktop ethernet connected PC I could have save a fair whack. I am really disappoinrtd by the lack of a solution from Apple here (but I get the impression that that's normal)

Second update from me: I finally just downgraded my OS to 10.6.3 and I downgraded my Airport Express router firmware to 7.4.1. I got a more reliable connection almost immediately. After operating without a dropout for a couple days, I updated the Airport Express router firmware back to 7.5.2 (the latest) to narrow things down. My internet's still working. It has been 1 week now without a dropout, longer than ever before, with daily frequent use.

I might try to update to 10.6.5 and see how things go, but 10.6.3 has been working for me. For my particular setup, for whatever reason, 10.6.7 seems to have been the culprit, but I will absolutely update here if that status changes.

WELL guess what....upgraded to 10.6.7 yesterday and cannot get airport to find my wireless network...had to plug in the ethernet cable to get online.

***** tried things suggested to no avail ARRRRRRH, how long does this have to go on until apple address??

What did Apple Support say when you called them?

When I had this problem, I called them, and they said 10.6.7 updated my MacBook's firmware and the way it uses WiFi. As I stated above, I "fixed" it by simply turning on WPA2 on the Motorola router that Verizon FiOS gives you here in the Boston area.

Anyhow I'm curious what Apple says to you when you call.

gregg

I am having similar connectivity issues with new Samsung 4G MiFi. When I connect for the first time, I stay connected for an hour or so before the connection drops. Then I have to reconnect and the connection will drop again. Repeat, repeat. We travel full time in an RV so the MiFi is our primary access to the internet. I have no connectivity issues with campground wifi. In the meantime we have retrograded back to the Verizon 2200, which we have no connectivity problems.

My wife's new(ish) MacBook Air had the same problem. As soon as she upgraded to 10.6.7, she lost internet connection - though wifi signal was still strong. We were hoping the new upgrade to 10.6.8 would fix the problem. It didn't. I tried everything - PRAM, disk permission repairs, etc etc. Finally, this evening, on a whim, I decided to input my old DNS settings (from when I was using the Witopia VPN) into her network settings. I have no idea why, but her connection returned immediately. I tried deleting them again to make sure it really was that, and the connection was lost. Put them back, and the internet came back. Bizarre. We are not even using Witopia anymore (we are in China, and use Asterill). Can anyone explain what's happening?

Thanks!

Third update from me - After downgrading to 10.6.3, I've been operating for 1.5 months without any problems. I tried to upgrade to 10.6.5 to see if/when the breaking would occur again, and the internet dropped within the first 30 minutes. Downgraded again to 10.6.3 and internet's been solid the past few days. Looks like 10.6.5 is the breaking point for me, not 10.6.7.