Wifi Constantly Dropping in Lion

Well, installing the kext.app seems to have done the trick with my MacBook but my iMac still refuses to connect. I've had the wifi dropping issue ever since I upgraded to lion but at least with the MacBook i've been able to successfully use my wifi after a safe boot followed by another reboot. The iMac however responds to nothing, any ideas?

I can't believe this issue has still not been resolved!! I gave up trying to fix it months ago and content myself with turning wi-fi off and on every time I start/wake up my imac. It's an inconvenience but clearly Apple are clueless as to the cause else they'd have fixed it long ago.

What gets me is that Apple pretends everything just fine in the land of proprietary operating systems.

Bill

I've had a similar problem in a way in that running Lion 10.7.4 on a mid-2011 Mac Mini I could access WiFi OK, albeit with a weakish signal (RSSI -73), but any connection via ethernet was impossible although all the values in the Network pane appeared fine. I could not even access the Netgear modem/router itself with the usual 192.168.0.1.

I finally came upon a suggestion on OSXDaily <http://osxdaily.com/2011/11/06/lion-wi-fi-problems-solution-mac/> and, that was it, both ethernet and Wifi connecting normally. Swapping back and forth between the two - fine! And so simple, create a new location with the same values as the Auto location, refresh DHCP, and that was it.

Not to be able to access via ethernet but via WiFi seemed crazy. YMMV but for me it was the answer!

July 2, 2012

I have bought a new iPad and new Macbook Air within the last three months. Both drop the wifi (and misspell my correctly spelled words for me such as wifi, 'not wife' thank you) at the same time and pick it up again. My Acer cheapo computer does just fine thank you. I've tried all the fixes that have been posted here and elsewhere and even bought a new modem/router and changed channels, etc etc. etc. Nothing has changed. Guess how many of my patients a day (i have 25) I tell not to buy Apple proucts. I will never ever buy another Apple product.

Troubleshooting Wi-Fi issues in OS X Lion

dpmptpac wrote:

July 2, 2012

I have bought a new iPad and new Macbook Air within the last three months. Both drop the wifi (and misspell my correctly spelled words for me such as wifi, 'not wife' thank you) at the same time and pick it up again. My Acer cheapo computer does just fine thank you. I've tried all the fixes that have been posted here and elsewhere and even bought a new modem/router and changed channels, etc etc. etc. Nothing has changed. Guess how many of my patients a day (i have 25) I tell not to buy Apple proucts. I will never ever buy another Apple product.

Make sure you are using Apple's proper support channels. You need to be calling the 1-800 number and using AppleCare to make sure you document an problems you have. Apple will try and support things that they understand to be issues. This particular problem has gone on for a while, primarily because there was not enough noise made for Apple to take note, on their usual support paths. They don't use this forum for support, they let the users support each other on these forums.

In the PC world, people are used to Microsoft providing no support, and think that forums are the place to go, because the problem is almost always a driver problem, or something where another vendor is supporting the hardware in question.

Microsoft relies on the hardware vendors to tell them about big issues that need addressing, and there is a much more formalized channel between the vendors and MS, than between users and MS.

Apple depends on Apple Care and the Genius bar to bring the user problems to the attention of the developers. I understand that a recent call for support by a couple of universities has got the attention of Apple, based on reports in the forums. Hopefully a fix is comming directly.

This does not help. I've seen man many others report this to Apple. It does not help. A couple thousand bucks out the window. Back to my $300 Acer! Slow, but at least that works all the time. Back to talking to my patients and save them money too.

dpmptpac wrote:

This does not help. I've seen man many others report this to Apple. It does not help. A couple thousand bucks out the window. Back to my $300 Acer! Slow, but at least that works all the time. Back to talking to my patients and save them money too.

It does work, but only when everyone having the problem doesn't give up. I've read of many people giving up here and saying it doesn't work, and that they stopped talking to Apple about it. You can't do that. You have to just keep going. Does it take time, yes. Did you ask to speak to someone higher up? Did you talk to people at an Apple Store, or did you call Apple Care? Without real tracking and counts of problems, there's really no way for Apple to discover how big the problem is.

It is directly related to how the driver reports and recovers from "noisy" WiFi environments, based on what can be gleaned from the reports here. If Apple is missing testing in an environment that specifically demonstrates the problem, they can see it, or know to fix it. RF is very complicated and RF signals interact in sometimes very odd ways (3rd order intermodulation for example, as well as multipath creating multiple copies of the same signal).

In the end, I know this is painful and no fun at all. But, doing the same thing, and expecting different results is exactly the definition of idiocy, and I don't think you are actually an idiot, but laziness or lack of action can create the same problems.

From the read of it all, Apple knows quite well what is what already. What motivates them to fix the problem is beyond me. I've spent dozens and dozens of hours on this: returning to the stores, talking to "support help", visiting official Mac repair shops, spending more gas, time and money to buy yet another excellent expensive router and varying the settings with that one too, calling Comcast (and their wait times and transfers) , getting off work to see their rep out here twice trying to figure this out, cable changes, electrical connections, replace parts, talking with other Applse users and try their suggestions and of course, the hours on-line, attempting the changes suggested, etc and now this with you is not at all worth the price anymore. Chatting with yet another support specialist will not give me any new insight. Thank you for your suggestions and civility. Go in peace.

My Acer and my Android phone can do the trick and be more consistent with wifi and for under 400 hundred dollars. They seemed to have figured out all this RF and wifi stuff already. Call Acer up and ask them how it works. Just a suggestion. Good day.

dpmptpac wrote:

My Acer and my Android phone can do the trick and be more consistent with wifi and for under 400 hundred dollars. They seemed to have figured out all this RF and wifi stuff already. Call Acer up and ask them how it works. Just a suggestion. Good day.

I'm sure you've had enough trouble. It's clear you're frustrated and done dealing with it. If you just surf the web and play games, then you'll probably be better off with a cheap PC. If you spend time on advanced media production and consumption, the Apple hardware is difficult to beat. Competition is good, and I like to see people making decisions in the market based on the performance of the vendor.

I made the decision to never touch Microsoft or PC products again after having three different PCs go ape with Vista. I'm glad to see that Microsoft is fluttering in the Market and scrambing to try and get Windows 8 and new devices out this summer. We'll see how the market works with that.

Wow!. Basic Republican 101. When you lose a point, then just change the subject! And why again can Acer and Android phone can consistently connect with the internet during my patient visits and not my iPad or macbook Air?

dpmptpac wrote:

Wow!. Basic Republican 101. When you lose a point, then just change the subject! And why again can Acer and Android phone can consistently connect with the internet during my patient visits and not my iPad or macbook Air?

I didn't change the subject, I told you what I did in a similar case.

There is a friggen software bug, no one is disputing that. The question is whether there is a legitimate reason for Apple taking this long to fix the problem. Based on what I said to you, and have noted in 10's if not 100's of other posts, Apple has only now got the information they needed to take action. Like it or not, we all have responsibilities to help manufactures do a good job. We vote with our money on good business. We can help each other get better products, by reporting on problems, and supporting companies that are trying to "fix crap" by creating better systems.

If something isn't working for you, you can either waste your money by setting it aside and giving up, or you can get engaged in getting it fixed. It is tremendously hard to understand why people are so caught up in the "they just need to fix it for me" camp, when clearly, Apple has to know what to fix before they can do that.

If I walked in the door to your office, and said I hurt, would you be able to fix the problem without asking more questions? Should I guess that if I hurt and my friend hurts, that I can just take his medicine since it fixed his pain?

Software bugs are the same way. They can manifest in all kinds of ways with spectacularly difficult to trace cause-effect chains. Engineers need to know as much about causes as they can in order to track down the effects and devise a treatment.

I get that you don't like where things are at. But I don't get why you think that you somehow have the right to just dismiss your responsibility for your actions of buying the product in the first place.

Perhaps you are a fan of frivilous malpractice suits? Maybe I can just come to your office and say I hurt, and if you can't fix it from just that statement, I can walk out the door and get a lawyer to come at you for the pain that I have because your treatment of me, or lack there of is now the reason why I hurt?

I talked to Microsoft support for 24+ hours on the phone trying to get them to help me fix my computer. I offered to send them my disk so that they could diagnose what was wrong with the corrupted filesystem and fix it. They did not want to assist me in any way. So, I voted with my feet and wallet.

It sounds like you've done the same. Good for you, make the market work!

I did not dismiss my personal resposnibility for buying crap. Now , as an Apple agent, you are making stuff up to discredit me. Not even coy. If Apple has a problem with their software then why do they not let consumers know before buying? Stupid question!

By he way, in your discussion, your "we" is you and Apple , not me. As an Apple employee or paid whatever, you must think I'm a Microsoft employee out to get you. I get it now. And since you claim not to change subjects, how does " malpractice suits' have to enter in this discussion? Am I the only one who saw this as again another change in subject?. Malpractice suits vs Apple issues ? " No, I didn't change the topic!"

I only had to to respond to your unnecessary criticism that I was just "surfing" but rather had other legitimate uses such as patient care. I dislike Appple even more because of you.

Answer me this I ask for the third time again : Android phones and Acer computers can do this wifi, why can't Apple?

eI know it is your job to be the last one responding at least to the end of your shift, so I give up. You won! No on has changed their mind and now I'm going to spread the word to even more people about Apple and their "support groups" and help.

Go in peace, pleae, eave me alone now. You won. Apple is great!

Good to see something never change. About 25 more pages added to this thread since last time I was here. More new users with the problem. And gphonei standing by vigilantly as ever to tell them all it's all their fault as usual. Fantastic.