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Wifi Constantly Dropping in Lion

Since upgrading my Fall 2009 21.5" iMac to Lion my wifi connection will drop out about every minute and the I have to turn Wifi off and then back on to get it to connect again. Is there any known way to fix this? Any suggestions will be appreciated


Thanks

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 20, 2011 1:26 PM

Reply
2,259 replies

May 4, 2012 10:32 PM in response to Billjacobson

Billjacobson wrote:


Thanks for the insult gphoei.


FYI, the verizon MIFI, a Samsung device, lets one know how many devices are connecting. Right now it's one.


Any other suggestions SA.

My comment was not intended to be an insult, only a comment on what you said. You mentioned multiple devices without saying how many were connected at any particular time. Here's something you can try which may give you more information on what is actually happening. Enter the following in a terminal window to turn on a lot more logging.


sudo /usr/libexec/airportd debug +alluserland +alldriver +allvendor +LogFile
sudo killall configd


Next, wait for the problem to occur, and then wait a about 10 seconds and do the following to turn all the logging off.




sudo /usr/libexec/airportd debug -alluserland -alldriver -allvendor -LogFile
sudo killall configd


Finally, open /var/log/wifi.log in an editor and read through it to see if there is any information reported there about why the WiFi disconnect occured. Post your findings back here.


If you are not familar with how to get to /var/log and open that file in an editor, post back here and I can give you more direct instructions.

May 9, 2012 7:47 PM in response to lhale

I installed Rys Sommefeldt fix while I had 10.7.3 on my iMac (Atheros chipset) and while it fixed wifi stability (no dropouts) anytime I would log in or change users you would have to manually select the wifi network.


I have now installed 10.7.4 and the problem persists - would the COmbo update have replaced the Rys Sommefeldt fix or would I need to somehow manually uninstall it.


The wifi update fix released in February did nothing.


Meanwhile my Macbook Air has zero wifi problems so I'm certain it is to do with Atheros chipset.

May 11, 2012 5:57 AM in response to Mark Webber

Hi Mark,


When you are connected to your WiFi, can you run the following commands, copy and paste one at a time in a terminal:


/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Resources/airport -I


/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Resources/airport -s


Then paste the output here.


Also, what kind of router do you have? The Make and the model would help so I could look it up.


Also, I high suggest against the "fix: of loading the SL driver ontop of Lion. It can cause problems when you do future SU updates because the driver and family will not match up.

May 11, 2012 6:05 AM in response to DrVenture

thanks DrVenture


the router is a BE branded Thomson TG585v7.


the terminal reports as follows -


iMac:~ mark$ /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Resources/airport -I

agrCtlRSSI: -40

agrExtRSSI: 0

agrCtlNoise: -96

agrExtNoise: 0

state: running

op mode: station

lastTxRate: 54

maxRate: 54

lastAssocStatus: 0

802.11 auth: open

link auth: wpa2-psk

BSSID: 0:26:44:c7:66:d5

SSID: Bebox841542

MCS: -1

channel: 3


iMac:~ mark$ /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Resources/airport -s

SSID BSSID RSSI CHANNEL HT CC SECURITY (auth/unicast/group)

Bebox841542 00:26:44:c7:66:d5 -41 3 N -- WPA(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP) WPA2(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP)

BTHub3-TS3P 04:c0:6f:e2:c2:8b -72 1 Y -- WPA(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP) WPA2(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP)

BTOpenzone-H 3a:c0:6f:e2:c2:8c -66 1 Y -- NONE

BTFON 3a:c0:6f:e2:c2:8d -65 1 Y -- NONE

SKY46171 00:1b:bf:bb:b4:5c -82 6 N -- WPA(PSK/TKIP/TKIP)

BTHub3-6WMW 00:fe:f4:23:4f:18 -82 11 N -- WPA(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP) WPA2(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP)

virginmedia0303150 a0:21:b7:ce:81:92 -71 11 Y -- WPA(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP) WPA2(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP)

virginmedia6831990 a0:21:b7:db:f6:29 -72 6 Y -- WPA(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP) WPA2(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP)

Livebox-56B8 00:16:cf:54:c6:ae -68 1 N -- WPA(PSK/TKIP/TKIP)

Nihongi 30:46:9a:80:51:39 -84 6 Y -- WPA2(PSK/AES/AES)

WLAN_D12341 00:12:bf:d1:23:43 -64 6 N -- WPA(PSK/TKIP,AES/TKIP) WPA2(PSK/AES/TKIP)

BrightBox 74:31:70:f2:89:37 -87 1 Y -- WPA(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP) WPA2(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP)

May 11, 2012 6:42 AM in response to Mark Webber

Mark,


Let's try moving your router to channel 11. There are too many people using channels 1 and 6 and the channel you are using (3) overlaps with both channels 1 and 6.


Do you have a lot of other devices connecting to your WiFi (like mobile phones and other PC/Macs)?


Do you notice if the connection loss happens at random intervals, or is it pretty consistant (e.g. every 20 minutes)?

May 11, 2012 6:50 AM in response to DrVenture

Okay, so my iMac (the original culprit) will maintain a stable connection over a 20 MHz Channel Width, but not when it is 20/40 MHz, which is cool. It was not able to connect like this before the latest update. But!!!! Now my iPhone 4 is unable to join the Network (WPA2-PSK, AES Encryption). When I have it set to 20/40 MHz it connects fine. All other devices (iPad, Laptop, PC) connect fine in either Channel Width.


Any thoughts?

Wifi Constantly Dropping in Lion

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