Q: Wifi Constantly Dropping in Lion

My MBP i7 17 inch from last summer worked "ok-ish" with 7.0 and was hoping that the dropping of the wi-fi would stop with 7.0.1, i even went and downloaded the "bigger" update directly from the downloads area, but instead of working now it is unbeareable! It drops every 3 or 4 minutes.

There is no point in using wi-fi on my portable machine! WHAT THE **** MAN!

The following words are a first for my in over twelve years of using macs:

Apple YOU have seriusly DISSAPOINTED me with this update, i have NEVER been hit with something SO crippling as this update!

Like most of you I had frequent wifi dropouts after the original Lion install.  I made it through with the help of a draped-down-the-hall Ethernet cable.  After some help from Apple techs and the latest upgrade all appears fine.   Makes me wonder with all this helter-skelter system tweaking could the continuing problems be something other than Apple's problem?

So are you going to share the miracle cure???

I installed the latest Lion patch with had some wireless improvments but my wireless connection keeps dropping after a couple of minutes of inactivity on the connection. Again I had no problems before the upgrade. I have a MBP 2010

I have to keep ping running to keep the connection alive. The logs I see are

11-08-18 9:15:16.000 AM kernel: wlEvent: en1 en1 Link DOWN

11-08-18 9:15:16.000 AM kernel: wl0: Beacon Loss Event

11-08-18 9:15:16.000 AM kernel: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 4 (Disassociated due to inactivity).

11-08-18 9:15:16.000 AM kernel: vmnet: bridge-en1: interface en is going DOWN

11-08-18 9:15:16.000 AM kernel: en1: BSSID changed to 00:00:00:00:00:00

11-08-18 9:15:17.132 AM UserEventAgent: CaptiveNetworkSupport:CaptivePublishState:1211 en1 - PreProbe

11-08-18 9:15:17.281 AM configd: network configuration changed.

11-08-18 9:15:17.284 AM vmnet-bridge: Dynamic store changed

11-08-18 9:15:17.288 AM vmnet-bridge: Failed to read SCproperties for key: State:/Network/Global/IPv4

11-08-18 9:15:17.288 AM vmnet-bridge: Stopping bridge for: en1

11-08-18 9:15:17.000 AM kernel: vmnet: VMNetDisconnect called for port 0xffffff80194a5500

11-08-18 9:15:17.000 AM kernel: vmnet: Invalidating peer info for hub: 0, port: 0

11-08-18 9:15:17.000 AM kernel: vmnet: bridge-en1: filter detached

11-08-18 9:15:17.000 AM kernel: vmnet: bridge-en1: down

11-08-18 9:15:17.000 AM kernel: vmnet: bridge-en1: detached

11-08-18 9:15:17.000 AM kernel: vmnet: Freeing hub at 0xffffff80cdc19000.

11-08-18 9:15:32.457 AM UserEventAgent: ServermgrdRegistration cannot load config data

11-08-18 9:15:32.457 AM UserEventAgent: ServermgrdRegistration oldConfig is nil during net changed notification

11-08-18 9:15:40.000 AM kernel: nstat_lookup_entry failed: 2

This seems to be working for me, 12 hrs so far. Change the channel on your wi-fi from auto to 3. Niot my idea but from this very same thread (sorry i am not mentioning you, but i can't find the post, just copied the text to text edit since my internet kept dropping!)

I didn't go through all the steps, i started with the less harmful to the machine, so i went 8.8.8.8 changed the wi-fi channel to 3 and bingo! then returned to the original DNS (i don't think this makes any difference at all) I believe this has got something to do with clerspace and receotion/transimssion issues, since 7.1 i i hardly see any of the different networks i use to be able to see all the time.

Cheers to the poster of the tips, i am back online thanks to you!

-Reset SMC. (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964)

-Backup and then delete the files in /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ directory. Reboot your machine after this. This will delete all network preference's.

-Check if you have the firewall enabled. Disable it. Delete this file: /Library/Preferences/com.apple.alf.plist Reboot your machine.

-Check if you have any kind of antivirus installed. eg. Avast etc. Uninstall it.

-Check your DNS settings. Use a known good DNS like 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

-If you have multiple Location's set up in Network, try deleting them and only picking Automatic.

-When your connectivity drop's, ping the router and see if that work's. The issue might be with the ISP.

-On your wireless router, pick a cleaner channel. If using 2.4 Ghz, use HT20 only.

-Pick WPA2-Personal and your preferred security. If that does not work test if Open/No Security works.

- If you are using a 5 Ghz channel, pick ch 36/40/44/48 and try if it works.

- Make sure the beacon interval on your Access Point is set to 100ms.

-Make sure the Mac see's the AP at a good signal strength. -35 to -70 is a good range. Hold down the Option key and click on the WiFI Menu Extra for this info.

Thanks for the tip, Doc. I'm trying it now, and will let you know how it works.

update your lion to 10.7.1 and do these:

1)reset smc

2)reset pram

it works for me.no more wifi anoyying issues.

6 hours so far, and still connected to the Internet. Fingers crossed that it will continue to be OK. Thanks, Doc.

Crossing mine here too, still with a stable connection here. The channel 3 trick did it.

My original problem was wifi dropping after computer was awaken from sleep, requiring me to turn wifi on, then off to restore the connection.  Update 10.7.1 did the trick, no drops since installing the update.  I would suggest that many of the posts be a bit more specific about their particular problem and what equipment they are using, hopefully there will be a fix soon that will help you.

MacBook Pro 17 Dual Core I7 Lion 10.7.1

Airport Extreme version 7.5.2

I am glad things are working out so well for so many of you.  I thought the .1 release had fixed my problem.  I was on for a night and much of a day before mine dropped again.  Today it has been awful.  I just spent the past 1.5 hours trying to get my 27" iMac back online.  I booted the older iMac into Windows to get onto the Internet, and I'm wondering if logging on wirelessly through Windows caused enough tumblers to fall into place in the world of the wireless  to allow me to log on using my new 27" iMac.  Whatever it is I do that finally manages to get me on feels like I'm trying to invoke the favorable attention of deities through ritual and dance.  I don't know how or why it happens, but eventually something I do gains their favor and I'm on again--at least for awhile.  Or perhaps I'm merely assuming that getting back in is a result of something I do.  Maybe it's inner workings of my computer and router that are unrelated to my activities that cause it. Who knows.

When I can get into my router--I tried awhile ago and was unable to--I will even switch my router to broadcast on Channel 3 and see if that stablizes things for me as it has with others. 

This is insane, folks.  I never thought I would experience these kinds of problems while using a Mac.

Just spent a good hour on the phone with Mac support trying to fix this ugly, ugly problem after trying most of the sensible suggestions in here.  Nothing.  

Apparently the only solution I have is to wait for 10.7.2 update, even though the nice guy on the phone could not give me a ball park date.  Alternatively, I was told to buy a 30-ft long ethernet cable, keep the receipt and return it when apple fix the glitch.

I never, ever thought I would experience this frustration with apple.

Days later and no wifi problems. Looks like I am all good. See my first post in this discussion to see what alleviated the problem for me. Worked like a charm.

I hate to say this, but don't bank on the Ethernet cable working for you either.  When my wireless doesn't work, my Ethernet doesn't work. Both are either working or not simultaneously, but only in Lion.  On the Mac with Windows on it (which connects only wirelessly) I can always get online wirelessly through Windows XP, as is true of an old PC laptop.  The problem is with Lion, and apparently the gurus that be don't have a clue how to solve the problem.  Apple's apparent disregard for the urgency of this matter for some folks and its dogmatic determination to address issues only through dot-digit releases rather through emergent patches is alarming to me as well.

When I'm freeling really brave I will go into my router and change it so that it broadcasts over Channel 3.  That seems to have worked for some folks.  For now, I'm burned out.  I have maintained a connection for two or three hours now, so I'm leaving well enough alone for the time being. 

P.S.  I just lost my connection again as I was trying to post the above.  Only spent 4 minutes trying to get back on.

Very frustrating!

I have tried a solution mentioned in the boards: Go to System Preferences > Network > Create a new location in the dropdown menu (any name will do) > restart computer.

It was at least very easy to do.

So far, it works.

Will report back on success.