Lion WiFi Connection Problem

After upgrading to Lion I had wifi problems (intermittent connection) on my iMac and MBP, iPad and AppleTV. It was only resolved when I reset my DSL wifi router, starting from factory settings. Since then everything has been working for 24 hours without a glitch.

Note that I just tried to eject my time machine backup drive, set my iMac to sleep, restarted it and this time my Wifi connection worked (no DNS error message). I wonder if it is related..?

This is so frustrating. I pretty much tried all possible workaround. Steve, we will need your help... 🙂

Same problem at my side!!!!

I am not an expert but I think the following excerpt from kernel.log shows what happens when wi-fi goes away (in my case):

Jul 24 09:49:24 localhost kernel[0]: en1: BSSID changed to bc:05:43:52:2f:b6

Jul 24 09:50:08 localhost kernel[0]: en1: BSSID changed to bc:05:43:52:2f:b6

Jul 24 09:51:18 localhost kernel[0]: en1: BSSID changed to bc:05:43:52:2f:b6

Then I start the network-diagnostics and wi-fi works again (for 5 to 10 minutes...):

Jul 24 09:52:54 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 8 (Disassociated because station leaving).

Jul 24 09:52:54 localhost kernel[0]: 2124.508637: setDISASSOCIATE ****STA SYNC DISASSOC SUCCESS

Jul 24 09:52:54 localhost kernel[0]: en1: BSSID changed to bc:05:43:52:2f:b6

Jul 24 09:52:54 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: Link Up on en1

Jul 24 09:52:54 localhost kernel[0]: en1: BSSID changed to bc:05:43:52:2f:b6

Jul 24 09:52:54 localhost kernel[0]: AirPort: RSN handshake complete on en1

This definitely must be BUG and as google and this community show me I`m not the only one having this problem! Hurry up APPLE!!!

Hmmm - could be that I found a solution: I just changed the name of the wi-fi-network via the router`s (FritzBox 7220) interface, restricted the access to the wi-fi-network on my iMac and iPhone and changed the visibility of the SSID to hidden. Then I connected my iMac with the renamed wi-fi-network and since then I have a stable an much quicker wi-fi-connection...

Well, like most people have said im glad im not the only one!.

Has anyone actualy heard back from apple saying its a bug that they are trying to fix?

As it is a 3 week old mac should i wait around or take it back to the shop?

paul246 wrote:

Welcome to my nightmare...Been going on for a year now. Nice to see the didn't bother addressing this issue with the new OS.

And welcome to my nightmare. So, with the release of Lion Apple still hasn't solved those Airport problems.

I bought a 15" MacBook Pro at the end of 2009. It came with Leopard pre-installed and in the box was included both the DVDs of Leopard and Snow Leopard, so I immediately wiped the hard disk and installed Snow Leopard.

It's more than a year and a half ago since I bought my MacBook Pro and installed Snow Leopard, but it's a year and a half full of dropping connections.

I keep on following the news and with the release of every developer release of Mac OS X 10.6.x I read the release notes and I see the release notes saying Airport is one of the focus areas for developers. With every release of Mac OS X 10.6.x I was hoping the Airdrop problems would finally be resolved, but untill today the problems still haven't been resolved.

I've also tried several things myself, like upgrading the firmware of my accesspoint, clearing the list of networks I've connected to in the past and several other things, but nothing has worked. My connection keeps on dropping.

So, I was hoping Lion would include updated Airport drivers or some other fixes which would fix my connection problems. I haven't upgraded to Lion yet, but it seems like the reliability of Airport hasn't been improved. People who didn't have any problems in Snow Leopard are now having problems in Lion, so it looks like it's even getting worse.

My access point is a Linksys WAP2000. I've read a lot of posts from Mac users who were complaining about dropping wireless connection in combination with Linksys devices. At my work I also experience dropping connections, not only on my own MacBook Pro, but also with other MacBook Pros and with white MacBooks. On my work we also use Linksys, so I was thinking about buying a wireless router / access point from Apple.

All of these connection troubles seem like compatibilty problems between Airport and Linksys, so I hoped the compatibility with Apples own wireless devices would be perfect. You may expect a MacBook Pro to be completely compatible with a wireless router / access point from Apple.

I've been thinking for months now about buying a wireless router / access point from Apple, but I've also found posts about people using those devices from Apple and they also have dropping connections.

So, I thought: "Let's just wait for Lion. Drivers will be updated, parts of the operating system will be rewritten, so I think Lion will solve my problems." Now I read about all of those problems, so it only to have become even worse.

Apple makes great products and everythings works perfect, but the only problem with Apples products is the dropping connections. Why is it so difficult for Apple to maintain a connection? The log files always say: "Disassociated due to inactivity".

Why? Why should inactivity be a reason to drop the connection? So, when I'm busy to write a long post (like now), so I'm not loading new web pages for a few minutes, why should it drop its connection? Inactivity shouldn't be a reason to drop my connection. When I'm on Microsoft Messenger and I go away for diner for a few minutes, I want to stay connected. Apple doesn't have to drop my connection. Just drop the connection when close my Mac or when I reboot or shut it down, but in all other cases, just keep that connection alive.

Hi everyone! There is finally a real solution to this. I have now had a stable internet connection for 24 hours and I had tried ALL the solutions to no avial. This one finally did the trick. Here are the step by steps:

1. Access your Library folder from Macintosh HD (If you haven't un-unhidden your Library Folder, open a terminal command and type the following: chflags nohidden ~/Library/)

2. Once in the Library folder, find the preferences folder. Open it and locate SystemConfiguration. Proceeed to trash just the SystemConfiguration folder.

3. Reboot your machine.

4. Go and reconfigure your wireless connection now (add your preffered network). Now you will be connected. Once connected again, reboot one more time and viola!

5. Repeat this process for every machine you hav upgraded to Lion.

This has been tested for 24 hours now. The first big test was steaming the Philadelphia Union vs. Real Madrid game on the ESPN app on my iPad for three hours while my mid 2007 iMac and 2010 MBP were asleep. After the game, when I brought the computers out of sleep, they reconnected to the proper network and actually worked. Then, I woke up this morning and still no problems. Hope this helps!

robbertvdd wrote:

Why? Why should inactivity be a reason to drop the connection? So, when I'm busy to write a long post (like now), so I'm not loading new web pages for a few minutes, why should it drop its connection? Inactivity shouldn't be a reason to drop my connection. When I'm on Microsoft Messenger and I go away for diner for a few minutes, I want to stay connected. Apple doesn't have to drop my connection. Just drop the connection when close my Mac or when I reboot or shut it down, but in all other cases, just keep that connection alive.

Just to add one more thing (why can't I edit my previous message?):

The connection also gets dropped when I'm not inactive. For example, I'm using Google Maps and after a few minutes the connection drops. I stay at the same website, but the content of that page is constantly being refreshed as I move the map and zoom in and out. With every move and with every zoom new content need to be downloaded, so there should be activity all of the time, but after a few minutes the connection just drops.

Why is it so difficult for Apple to maintain a wireless connection? Apple is able to do so many things other companies can't do, but wireless connections are a real problem for Apple. How is this possible? Windows never drops wireless connections and even those amateuristic Linux-distributions never drop wireless connections.

Tried this, but unfortunately no luck. I still have to turn Wifi On then Off, then On, then Off, then re-enter my WPA password, then have it tell me its wrong, then Wifi Off, then back On and it usually works.

Seems to help if Safari is not running in the background.

Very troublesome.

Many people leave their Macs powered, never disconnected from the mains, 24/7, day in, day out, for years. I'm one of them.

Sometimes when I get a tricky problem such as this I shut everything down, including external devices, and unplug the whole lot from the wall socket. I find this easy to do as all my kit is plugged into an extension cable with a built in surge protector - so I only have the one plug to deal with.

After counting to 30, I plug it all back in again, wait for the orange light on the Airport to turn green, then restart my iMac. You'd be amazed at the things that doing this fixes.

Another thing I like to do is to start up into Safe Mode until I get to the Accounts screen, then restart normally.

Both are worth a try, if you haven't already thought of them.

OK folks, just got it to work with good repeatable results. I basicly just did all of the steps already mentioned in this post, but in this order they worked for me.

1.) Removed all favorite (saved) wifi networks

2.) Move Library\Preferemces\SystemConfiguration Folder to trash (and empty trash)

3.) Restarted my Apple Extreme Base Station(s)

4.) Safari - Empty cache & Reset Safari (all options)

5.) Reboot the laptop with the "Reset SMC procedure" for your appropriate machine

6.) Select favorite network and save.

Good luck folks.

Greg

I find it odd that everybody seems to have a slightly different problem with their wifi, and every person finds a different solution. For me it doesn't matter if it's fully active or inactive. When it's bad it will connect for all of 3 seconds before dropping. Keychain never seems to "remember" the password. I'll receive a "connection timeout" message after it has spent literally 0.5seconds trying to connect. Other times I'll enter all the passowrd click "join" and it instantly reopens the enter password page like it never even tried.

When I do manage to connect for longer than 3 seconds, the signal will be strong and fast but then it begins to slow down more and more and more until it drops the connection altogether. I can actually sit and watch a download showing the d/l rate and pinpoint when it will drop the connection. Other times it will maintain it's connection (at least visiually) but won't open a webpage.

So far I have done the following...

- Rebooting the router

- Trashing the prefs

- Setting up dummy networks

- Putting Airport at the top of the network setting order

- Deleting all other possible connection types from the network setting orders

- Setting up a manual DCHP IP address (I've had the most success with this, but I still drop connection after an hour or so. Eventually that IP doesn't work anymore and I have to put in a different IP)

- Use proxy network

- Wiping the HD and reinstalling the OS (my iMac has not worked the same since I did this...)

- Replacing the Airport card with a brand new one

I'm sure I've tried other things too and just don't remember. Speaking with an AppleCare guy on the phone proved to be useless, he just told me to try a bunch of stuff I had already done. The "geniuses" at the Apple Store had no ideas at all. I was hoping maybe Lion would fix this, but apparently it's even worse now, so they're not getting my money for the new OS if it doesn't even solve the problems of the old one. The new one to try is Julians up there...I've trashed some prefs but never the entire System Config folder. Maybe that'll work....

Paul246

Could it be your ISP? Have you already tried that route?

There's a way to get the Mac to do a diagnostic of your network and connection. It happens on my machine sometimes when Safari goes down. I'm looking in the Help pages to see if I can find out how to make it start at will. Can't seem to find it for some reason. I'll amend this if I find it in the next 15 minutes.

I think it's called Connection Doctor.

Message was edited by: El Deanio

Found it. It's in Mail, not Safari.

Open Mail, go to Window. Connection Doctor is there. See what this says, especially when the problem is occurring.

Message was edited by: El Deanio

I just remembered that you are running Lion. Hopefully what I just said about Mail still applies. I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't though.

Message was edited by: El Deanio

After installing Lion, I experienced difficulties connecting to already known wifi nets.

I tried everything I could think of, but the problem remained.

Then I just deleted all wifi passwords from my keychain application and wifi just worked.

Hope that helps you guys...

Hello,

WiFi does not work now with Lion in the iMac27 (better, it works 5-6 seconds every minute), but it works well with MBP. I don't have antivirus.

I hope in a quick Apple release for fixing this bug!

Ciao a tutti,

Walter