Wifi Constantly Dropping in Lion

I've yet to be able to reproduce it on any system I have access to or in any Apple Store, which shows that either it's not occurring with Apple routers or there's some other factor involved I cannot reproduce.

Regardless, my point still stands - "It works on all these other systems" is a data point, not a conclusion in itself.

Well I'm using an Airport Extreme basestation and the only change made was updating to Lion on my iMac before I started to have my Wi-Fi drop out. I wonder if its an old hardware conflict issue.

This different DOES mean wrong though. Apple obviously isn't following the standard.

Have you even read the troubleshooting most of us have done?

This happens on netgear, linksys, d-link, Cisco, Aruba, and get this EVEN APPLE (airport extreme, time capsule) wifi devices.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that most of those are following standards (which is why they work with every wireless 802.11a/b/g/n device and OS out there.

So, yes I'd love for a router firmware update to fix this issue, but 1000 firmware updates from 100 different vendors to support the broken way Lion does it is NOT going to happen. If Apple would release updated firmware for it's own wireless devices to play nice with Lion, you would have at least something to stand on. But you've got nothing.

Apple SHOULD update their code with a fix and they will. Especially if they want to continue making more money than the rest of the world. Think about it. Who would buy their operating system or devices if you can't use them

Wirelessly? No one.

FWIW, I have the most recent version of the AEBS with

the most recent firmware installed. I have a 2011 13" i7

MacbookPro and an early 2009 24" iMac(which I am typing

this with at the moment) and have had no WiFi issues at all.

Connections have been continuous and uninteruppted and

connect at speeds identical to that with SL. On both computers

I have firewall enabled and all sharing turned off, except when I

want to dump files between computers.

AEBS is set up pretty much at default settings and is connected

to a cable modem.

Will do Jack, in the interim be sure to check for software updates from Apple.

Okay, I'd kinda solved my problem by going into security -> firewall -> advanced and turn of the stealth mode.

Give it a try and let me know if that works =)

Just because you dont have the problem does not mean its not an apple issue. I called tech support and got to level 2 networking , after explaining to them the things I have tried to trouble shoot this they said , best bet is to do a clean install. Which I would be fine with except the big to do with apple is the new app store and how easy it is to just download Lion and update. He also did say they will most likely come out with a patch or fix.

BTW my firmware is current on my dir-655 router.

And Your math does not add up, all the router manufacturers do not need to fix their routers and add a fix to deal with the Lion OS? Really??

If anyone has done a clean install after having this type of issue could chime in to see if it was fixed please post.

I am just tring to help the large group that have the same issue after the upgrade. Remember DNS has nothing to do with the wirless disconnecting.

I did a clean install, experiencing same issues with connectivity as others. Am now working of my clone drive I had made before upgrade to Lion until I can make a fix work.

I'm betting my technical knowledge here is way below that of many others posting... but it seems plainly simple (to me). IF no problem before Lion install and IF problem after, it's a Lion problem. I'm confused (but not looking for explanations, thanks ; ) on why everyone is talking about their routers and firmware.

Slyclops, thanks for the clarification of DNS and relevance. Good to know. I'll only add that when I first started getting the dropouts, I would often have four full bars and even an indication that I was connected in the Diagnostics Assistant part of the Network preferences (all green lights)... but still couldn't connect (i.e. spinning wheels in Safari, no Mail connection to server, etc). And that only started with the Lion install too, but went away with the addition of "8.8.8.8" to the DNS settings. Not sure why, but there you go. I present it as possible useful info to whoever might be working on the fix from Apple.

Just an extra note... there are a lot of people steamed up over this, and justifiably so. You pay for something, especially something from the company that advertises "it just works," and you don't expect this kind of hassle.

But it made me chuckle to remember how it was when Jaguar first came out or whatever big cat the first edition of OS X was named after. Wow, was that bug-ridden. It was leagues cooler than OS 9, which I left behind with great reluctance.

Remember rebooting to run OS 9 programs? The outcry then was huge from those who felt OS 9 was still superior. And I couldn't tell you how many times I had to re-install and/or run Disk Warrior on both the computers in our house because the directories needed rebuilding in that early iteration of OS X.

Yet these days, I'm more of a Mac zealot than ever.

Go figure.

Thanks JTF. +1

Just thought i would add my wifi keeps droping out also. i have a late 2008 unibody macbook. Hopefully apple can patch the bug soon, its annoying!

Same problem here on a 2011 21.5 iMac. I have a TP-link router with dd-wrt firmware and my macbook, ipad and iphone have a solid connection. I hope this gets fixed soon, because it seems that the connection drops occur more frequent now.

One other possible solution that Apple Support suggested and that I haven't seen recommended other places: delete the files com.apple.airport.preferences.plist, com.apple.network.identification.plist, com.apple.PowerManagement.plist, com.apple.smb.server.plist, and com.apple.internetconfiguration.plist from their locations in Library>Preferences and Library>Preferences>System Configuration. Then re-start, re-connect to the WiFi network, and see how things look. (Note that I've seen on some forums a recommendation to delete some of these plist files, but I haven't seen a recommendation to delete the Power Management and Internet Configuration ones before.)

For me, this has cured the no-WiFi-on-wake-from-sleep problem, and so far I haven't had any of the frequent unexplained WiFi dropouts that were previously occurring. Time will tell if that problem has been fixed (I sometimes was able to go a day or two between dropouts previously, as long as the computer and display didn't go to sleep). But this is a big improvement.

And sorry, but I am adding myself as a "me too".

iMac 27" Late 2009

Apple Airport Extreme 802.11n (4th Generation)

All software/drivers are up to date.

No network dropping problems on any of my other Apple wifi-connected items: iPad 1, iPad 2, iPhone 4, Apple TV2 all working fine - all connected to the Airport Extreme.

Only problem is with iMac with LIon installed; there were NO previous issues before the install.

I am not going to waste hours of time fiddling around with settings, deleting networks, etc - thought I left that all behind with Windows machines.

C'mon, Apple. Obviously there is a problem.

I don't think "me too" is a problem. Unless people put their hand up, it all looks peachy. It isn't.

My 27" iMac (late 2010) found my (Netgear) wi-fi network automatically and ran flawlessly until I changed my wireless LAN from WEP to WPA-2. iPad, iPhone, HP printer and PC all got on with the job. Not the iMac; and I wasn't the only person to experience the problem.

"Here comes Lion - that ought to fix it!" Instead of wifi dropping out (layers 1 & 2) I'm losing connectivity at layer 3. And far more often.

A wi-fi reset may wake it up, and pinging the router in the background might stop it nodding off, but that isn't even close to being the point.

Tinsel like the upside-down mouse and iPad effects are no compensation. Fix the problem, Apple; a lot of us have work to do.

iOS 5? You must be joking.