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

I got exactly the same problem with my brand new 27inch imac.  Drops out and a simple airport cycle seems to clear it.  Just really annoying.  The drivers in windows seem to work  OK.

Can only assume it is an apple driver problem.

Hi there.

Same problem around here, 21.5" brand new Imac. Internet drops every 5-10 minutes while I'm downloading or navigating. Change DNS, reset PRAM, manually channel change and keeps disconnecting. Airport shows signal but no internet connection, the only way to make it works is to turn off/on Airport.

I hope Apple fix it soon!

My 27" (mid 2011) iMac has had a similar problem - first 2 days airport was seeing the 7 or 8 routers in my neighbourhood, including mine.  Woke it up on Saturday and wouldn't see anything - occasionally saw my next door neighbour's router, but only for a second.

Spent an hour on the phone with Applecare going through all of the fixes listed above, but in the end have had to take it into mt local Apple store for a repair (looks like airport card replacement).

Now my iMac will have been in repair longer than I've actually had it for!!! 

Mid 2011 12,2 27" 3.4GHz iMac - same problem

Connecting to a dual band Airport Extreme. We have 3 other Macs, 3 iPads, 1 iPod Touch, 3 Windows laptops, Wii, XBox and Apple TV2  in the house. Every other WiFi capable device in the house is performing fine without issue. I'm using a static IP and DNS server (Linux) on my LAN with my own Domain name.

I called AppleCare on Sunday, they wanted me to delete the .prefs files under:

/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

I had already done that, having found the suggestion with a Google search.  This morning when my AirPort connect hung up, it stilled showed green/connected in Sys Prefs > Network.  Looked ok on the command line:

en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

        ether 10:9a:dd:9e:3a:97

        inet 192.168.1.24 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255

        media: autoselect

        status: active

There were about 20 lines of the following in the logs at the time of the hang.

5/17/11 5:50:04 AM      kernel  159327.850329: [3] TXQ MAX DEPTH!!!

I know this was the time because I have a shell script on a Linux machine that pings the iMac once every minute. If the ping fails it send me an email. Nothing else in the logs at this time period.

Turning Airport on/off corrected it immediately.

Turning Airport on/off corrected it immediately.

Unfortunately for me, nothing worked!  Not a sausage.  Went through all 13 wireless channels.

Hopefully whilst it gets repaired they'll do some root cause analysis and identify the issue.

I just called AppleCare again on my previous case number. I'm now scheduled to take it into a local Apple Store on Saturday so one of them can look at it. I suspect this is a dead end, unless it leads to replacing the iMac with a new one.

p.s. I just performed the PRAM, NVRAM reset. Shot in the dark, but nothing to lose by doing it.

They wanted to replace mine, but as it was BTO (upgraded processor and GPU) they weren't able to do it from stock.

Repair estimate was 3 - 5 days, which basically = at least until the weekend. 

Mine was a custom configuration order from the online Apple Store. A 2TB HDD and the 3.4 GHz Intel i7 CPU. I even went to the Apple Store before ordering this and they said it would have to be custom ordered.

So I have no expectations for a replacement swap on Saturday. My only expectation is to be disappointed with waiting days/weeks while the Apple Store keeps my machine.

I wish i could tell everyone what i did to cure mine...

all i did was have it have it connected directly to my airport for a few days, when i unplugged it and went back to the airport card it has worked perfectly since. I couldn't stream at all.. now it works great.

It has to be a software problem, either the airport card or airport extreme.

if it ends up being a hardware issue i would be really surprised.

I also was worried about having to take it in, 3.4 CPU and 2gb GPU ram custum build.

is there some log file or something that you could compare to mine and see if that sheds any light on the subject?

ok i changed it just now, i will report back if i have any more issues.

gareth.. is it working more reliably with WPA-TKIP?  I am assuming you probably saw that it also backed down to 802.11a / 802.11g also.

Hi guys, I'm having the same problem.

I have a Macbook Pro (early 2008) with Snow Leopard 10.6.7 which is having the same problem. No kernel panics on OS X until I turn on AirPort and connect to my WiFi network. BOOTCAMP is fine, no problems connecting to the internet there.

What I have done:

1. Run Apple Hardware Extensive Test (No problems found)

2. Clean install of Snow Leopard

3. Manual installation of updates (downloaded from BOOTCAMP, saved to flash drive, installed in OS X)

I have tried it at the home network and at the school network. Same problem. Bootcamp works, OS X doesn't.

Strangely, no "DiagnosticReports" or "PanicReporter" files found, preventing anyone here from helping me.

It seems to me that everyone here is having this problem at the same time. Could it be a faulty update? Does anyone have any solutions yet?

Update: I ran the Apple Hardware Test. No trouble found.

I have not ran any tests or reconfigured my hardware.  I think that it is pretty plain to see from this thread that there is a problem either with the new iMacs wifi or there is a problem with a driver.  I am monitoring this close at the moment and I'll have to decide if I am going to return my 27inch iMac, because I have only had it for a week. 

Can someone from apple please tell us if this problem is being investigated.  Because if it is I'll keep hold of mine for now and wait for a fix.

I must reiterate that I have still not experienced any problems with the wifi under windows in bootcamp.

martinimac -

Can you switch to WPA-TKIP and see if the problems are still occuring? I am looking to confirm if your issues are the same as mine. I know it will drop to 802.11a/g, but at least it has made my connection solid at home.