Q: Wifi Constantly Dropping in Lion

Hi Big Red, the next time you lose DNS on your Lion machines, can you run the following Terminal commands and post the results.  After the first command it will ask for your local machine password.  Just paste the commands right into Terminal and hit return.

sudo killall -INFO mDNSResponder

cat /var/log/system.log | grep SleepState

Interesting that all our Macs are updated to 10.7.3, but the MacBook pro and MacBook air are not suffering from the dropped wifi.  Only my iMac is affected.  This is clealy a discriminatory disease!  Call Eric Holder! 

justanothercallsign,

Can you post your /var/log/kernel.log here from around the time you get disconnected in 11n mode ? What router are you using ?

just wanted to update on my case. MBA13, 2011 shipped with Lion. struggled with wifi random disconnects from day 1, tried all the solutions on threads but nothing helped. in the end, I decided to try with a new router. I moved from a Billion 7401VGP-R3 - 802.11g Wireless (which was working fine with my Dell/Windows Xp) machines to a Billion 7800N - ADSL2+ Router  - 802.11n Wireless. With the new router the MBA has not disconnected once (though I have not updated to 10.7.3 yet). hopefully this might be of help to some of you. good luck!

Mario

Same problems (now fixed). You'll need a means to get OS X from the AppStore, though. I managed to hose the MacBook Pro networking completely by taking the scheduled update. After trying all of the arcane remedies, without success, I simple grabbed another coppy of Lion from the AppStore (10.7.3) and did a full install over OS X. No need to stuff about with the drive, just get it on there.

FWIW, I didn't lose any data, app support info or any of my licensed apps in the process, although I was initially worried I might. The reinstall process seems to deal with the fact that you have OS X installed in a fairly intelligent manner. Aside from having just a phone to move the OS from my other Mac to the stricken machine, the process was painless. Now everything is fine again.

GL, HTH

Greetings Wifiguru,

I have an Airport Extreme with with firmware 7.6.1 router. /var/log/kernel.log indicates that "AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving)." as reason for the disconnect.

I have got my MBA 13" (mid 2011) few weeks ago and I was not expecting such a problem. I had exactly the same thing hapening and my connection was dropping almost every second. I also upgraded my imac to ios x lion and it also started to have the same problem. I tried many solutions that I found on the net. Finally one of them worked for me. I still don't know what was the reason but after deleting my wifi connection and preferred network list as well as renaming locations (automatic --> xxx) and reconfiguring them solved the problem.  Strange enough, I am still using the same network name and password.

I managed to address this problem using an old recipe found on iLounge dot com. THis is the original source, and here is a report of what I've done.

Worked for me; essentially the trick is to downgrade manually the Atheros WiFi driver which seems to be broken on Lion.

Unbelievable how apple could let this problem slip through for so long!

Really amazing how many people are experiencing this issue !

Let's hope 10.7.4 update will solve all our problems !

I am so tired of this WiFi problem, I physically took my iMac into the local Apple store, hoping to just leave it there and move on.  They wouldn't take it because I bought it somewhere other than Apple.  Of course, the retailer (Adorama) won't take it either because they only take returns that are damaged -- all "repairs" must go through Apple.

Well, when I was in the Apple store they conceded that they cannot repair the problem, because it is a firmware issue that needs to be fixed by Apple's engineers.  Their answer:  take it home and wait until Apple releases a fix.

So, bottom line is that Apple is peddling iMacs that they know don't work.  And you can't take it back unless you bought it from Apple directly.

I have had some form of Apple/Mac/Starmax computer for the past 25 years.  This is my last Apple desktop.  I knew cognitively that it made no financial sense when I bought it.  But I overcame that dissonance by recalling all the quality products from Apple that I have owned.  Now I realize that those days are gone, and the self-vaunted AppleCare is worthless for issues like this.  Apple just is not putting out a reliable product any longer.  I literally almost left the **** thing in the store and walked out (but, unfortunately, I had not wiped the data). 

the_mbwd,

Contact AppleCare and maybe they can help you out.

Oh they better solve this problem.

As I wrote this reply my it lost my wifi connection twice (won't re-connect unless I do it manually). Frustrating to say the least, especially when you're working/studying from home. I have had to revert back to my 2008(?) Macbook, which actually works.

Oh they better solve this problem.

As I wrote this reply I lost my wifi connection FOUR TIMES (won't re-connect unless I do it manually). Frustrating to say the least, especially when you're working/studying from home. I have had to revert back to my 2008(?) Macbook, which actually works.

the_mbwd wrote:

 

I am so tired of this WiFi problem, I physically took my iMac into the local Apple store, hoping to just leave it there and move on.  They wouldn't take it because I bought it somewhere other than Apple.  Of course, the retailer (Adorama) won't take it either because they only take returns that are damaged -- all "repairs" must go through Apple.

 

Well, when I was in the Apple store they conceded that they cannot repair the problem, because it is a firmware issue that needs to be fixed by Apple's engineers.  Their answer:  take it home and wait until Apple releases a fix.

 

So, bottom line is that Apple is peddling iMacs that they know don't work.  And you can't take it back unless you bought it from Apple directly.

 

I have had some form of Apple/Mac/Starmax computer for the past 25 years.  This is my last Apple desktop.  I knew cognitively that it made no financial sense when I bought it.  But I overcame that dissonance by recalling all the quality products from Apple that I have owned.  Now I realize that those days are gone, and the self-vaunted AppleCare is worthless for issues like this.  Apple just is not putting out a reliable product any longer.  I literally almost left the **** thing in the store and walked out (but, unfortunately, I had not wiped the data). 

Can't you use an Ethernet cable for your connection to your iMac until Apple fixes the Wifi?  That's what I set up last night.  I figured the Wifi is nice on my mobile gear (MBA, iPad, etc.), but my iMac stays in one place, right next to the Airport Extreme.  Wifi is cool on the iMac, but not really necessary in my situation.  I turned off the Wifi on the iMac, turned on the Ethernet, and no more connection drops.  It might be my imagination, but it's a bit faster on Ethernet too.

all i have to say is i am about to reboot my imac to snow lepord and apple can refund me for its piece of sh** lion program that f-ing blows! wifi problems extend to my bluetooth too