Q: iMac 12,2 (mid 2011) airport (wireless) problem

I have a 12.1 21.5" i7 2011 iMac with no issues whatsoever, in fact I had three first two had problems not related to wifi but hardware, my mother has a base model 12.1 2011 imac and has no issues either, she is using a Netgear DGN2200 on the 2.4Ghz spectrum I am using a DGND3300 on the 5Ghz spectrum, so its not all iMacs or maybe its just certain routers as has been suggested. I use full 256 bit WPA2 AES Encryption as does my mother.

Having the same problem here. Connection drops after few seconds of browsing. I have a 2010 iMac with Snow Leopard 10.6.7- 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. I've tried EVERYTHING without solving it. Hope Apple solves this as soon as possible. Waiting for an Update. Thank You.

Sorry for my English. I wrote in previous post that I changed in my router wpa 2 password to wpa- no dropping connections after that. But 2 days ago I`ve wired my mac by cable to my router and when imac was still wired I`ve reset my router,go back to wpa 2 security, reset all airport connection in mac ( using minus in left side under ethernet), restart imac ,create new connection via airport (imac STILL wired to the router). after that  I unwired imac- no dropping connection ,everything works great after that.

Folks,

here are the proposed results of getting my 12,2 iMac back from repair from an Apple store today:

It is obviously NOT a hardware failure as they have checked and tested everything for several days without any reproduction of the problem. Connectivity has permanently been perfect and stable, therefor they did not exchange antennas and/or airport card.

I had a long chat with a technician and he thinks that it's a driver issue. He else said that reseting the machine or cleaning up preferences might have a short term implication but that the problem will come back after a few days - an estimation that already has been prooven by experiances that many of us made and posted here.

However - his sole remaining advice was to wait for a software update as the problem seems to be known at Apple.

My choices now are:

1. Try out an external WLAN adapter to be plugged into the iMac.

2. Exchange my Fritz!Box 3270v3 (I am located in Germany) against an Airport Extreme.

3. Wait for an update eventually coming as part of Lion.

It's really disappointing that so many of us face such difficulties wiuth such a premium product. But when I look at it from Apple's perspective we might be too few to appear on their radar screen.

The only remaining result is: if some of you should have considered to carry their iMac to Apple for repair you can forget about that and save your time...

Don't bother with the Airport Extreme...

I have both the latest N version and an older A/G time capsule...

The N version does not work either alone or Bridged with the TC. No reason for me to try the TC alone as all my other Macs have no issues with roaming between both.

This really *****!

I was waiting for your answer before regsitering my issue with Apple. To add insult to injury, this 27" iMac is a replacement for my original (bought right after the 2011 release) because of a horribly yellow-tinted screen!

Need better quality control.

One other option, which has worked for a few of us.

Go wired.

Just for a few days anyway. For whatever reason it clears things up for while.

Now when the problem comes back all I have to do is restart the Mac and it's back to normal.

Worth a shot anyway.

Hi Zenobius,

going wired is not an option for me as the iMac is placed two rooms away from from the router.

I gues I'll try the external USB WLAN adapter as the cheapest workaround with relatively high success probability. And maybe the July release of Lion solves it all.

Btw: it would be great if one of the really experienced users among us with the WLAN connectivity issue would try out Lion beta. Maybe the solution is already around the corner...

I'll keep you posted regarding the USB WLAN adapter story...

Hi,

I have found two solutions for this Problem:

- Turn off WPA2 (AES) and switch to WPA (TKIP) on your router. The bad thing about this is, that my router (Fritz Box 7320 by AVM) went into 802.11g mode, which ist significantly slower than 802.11n. AFAIK 802.11n requires WPA2...

- Turn off the option named "Use channels optimized for 300 Mbit/s" (or in German "Für 300 Mbit/s optimierte Funkkanäle nutzen"). Other routers than the AVM Fritz Box may have this option, too.

I have now full n-Wifi speed, WPA2 security and a stable connection on my iMac 27' Model Mid 2011 :-)

Tell me, if it helps. Greetings from Germany,

Flo

Folks,

after I got my iMac back from maintenance at Apple last Wednesday - as already posted here allegedly without any changes as they couldn't reproduce the failure - I reconnected the iMac to my WLAN at home again. To my surprise since then the failure has dissapeared completely and never shown up again.

I don't have the faintest idea about an explanation and I still wonder whether this strange healing is sustainable, however the Mac runs without problems since then and is useable for the very first times in connection with web applications like emailing, surfing and down- or uploads.

I'll keep you posted if the problem has really disappeared or if it shows up again.

@ Flo:

I won't touch my running system right now, but I'm located in Germany as well and use a Fritz!Box 3270. Do I understand you correctly that the two methods you've described are alternative methods to solve the problem and that you did the trick via option 2 (disable 300 MBit/s optimization mode)?

Best regards

Christian

@ Christian:

Yes, option 2 (alone) works ;-) I just wanted to sum up both alternatives, because I wasn't sure if many other routers do have this option.

So, once again: Turning off the option named "Use channels optimized for 300 Mbit/s" (or in German "Für 300 Mbit/s optimierte Funkkanäle nutzen") solved the problem for me.

Greetings, Flo

Hi Flo,

I guess it's time to inform AVM (the router manufacturer) about the incompatibility issue with the new Macs (as I assume that AVM might have more pressure to adjust their firmware than our Cupertino friends).

The strange thing is that I as well run a new MacBook Pro (early 2011), and various other Apple devices (computers, iPads & iPhones) all performing without the faintest problem with the Fritz!Box.

And I still do not know why the Mac is performing right now...

Best regards

Christian

Thank you FloGo,

that actually works like a charm on my FritzBox (turning of "use channels optimized for 300mbit/s").

I've now had functioning Wi-Fi for 2 days without any complications.

Hi Flo, hi Christian,

I am also from Germany and I have a 27" Imac mid 2011 connected to a AVM Fritz 6360. I have or better had the same issues as most of us here. A connection via the 5 GHz band always works fine, the 2.4 GHz-band was horrible and not possible to use.

If you turn off the "optimized for 300MHz" in the Fritz, everything works perfect. Thank you Flo for this great info. You made my day. I tried different channels but not this...

I also had the problem from day 1, that the machine freezes while using the 2.4 Ghz band and high download data-rates. I found a post in another thread, where a guy from Germany also has this problem with his Fritz 6360 but no solution to that.

If someone else is out here with this bug: Reinstall the OS X and everything (except the connection) works fine.

For fixing the connection bug do it like Flo: Uncheck the 300 Mhz option in the router and the rest (connection) ist also smooth as silk ...

The only thing I am wondering about: Why are those problems also with Apples AirPorts? I can understand that there might be some bugs with 3rd party routers ... but with in-house-products??

Best regards,

Stefan

I'd like to add my voice to this - brand new iMac 21.5 base model (UK). Having exactly the same issue - Airport recycle/diagnostics test seems to resolve. All other wifi gubbins in the house (several ipads, iphone, PS3) all working correctly.

Has there been any acknowledgment of the problem yet? I'd hate to think I've dropped £1000 on something that basically doesn't work as advertised.

This isn't just brand new Macs. I have an iMac from 2010, nearly two years old, and it's having the exact same problem; i'm more or less back to having 56k dial-up speeds.

The lack of any word at all from Apple on this is shocking. I have a top of the line computer which takes over five minutes to check your damned email, it's beyond a joke.

Seeing as there's clearly no fix forthcoming, can anyone recommend a decent wireless receiver which is Mac compatible? So few are seeing as Macs come with the built in airport, most companies don't bother supporting them. Too bad Airport is borderline useless.

I'll never buy an Apple product again, that's for sure.