Q: Lion WiFi Connection Problem

Tony850 wrote:

 

Alright folks I know we are all extremely frustrated with the WIFI problems Lion is giving us.

 

This is the cheapest monetary solution(less than $10) I am using myself that I posted earlier. It works just fine and your wireless problems are handled. It's better than nothing at this point. My time is precious to me rather than spending coutless hours scouring the web for solutions and trying them all out.

 

my solution till an actual fix from apple comes.

 

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=105&cp_id=10501&cs_id=1050108 &p_id=8072&seq=1&format=4#feedback

 

read the support page look for Tony for link for mac osx and download the proper files. Now the device works through 3rd party app which works wonderfully. Its a bit inconveniant after spending $1200+ dollars on a macbook but still better than going back to windows.

Most peope solving this problem, are changing something about their network configuration, which results in a new network configuration in their settings/preferences.  Some, are reloading Lion, some are installing new routers, others are using new network "cards" on their computers.  In the end, I think this points at one kind of issue that people are encountering.  Practically, your router configuration, and Lion's configuration are not compatible.  Whether this is a software issue on Lion, or not, is debatable.  Practically, so many people point at specific types of wifi adapters on their new Macs.  The reality, is that millions of Mac users are not having the problem.   It is frustrating as can be, we all know this, based on the continued posts here.

This is not a problem you can just poke at, and hope you can change "something" and make it work.  If you've got the problem and want to try and work on it, I'd like to try work through some steps with someone who has the problem.

Ok guys,,,, something have worked for me,,,, i made some changes yesterday night, and today whaen i open my MBA again the network was there.... amazing...!,,, also have shutted off and on again and the network is there... ( well, doesn't connects automatically, but just have to click on it and thats all, instead of waisting 20 minutes like before to try to find the network )...

How did i fixed?

1. After 20 minutes of trying to find the wireless network, found it and connect to it,

2. Open Network preferences and inside locations - > edit locations

3. with the plus sign add a new location, name it and click Done

4. because you are laready connected, your Network Name will appear in the list

5. Apply and done....

Really hope this can help somebody out there...

It's hard to pinpoint the exact problem everyone is having because from what I've read so far is a little different, except for the fact that WIFI is the problem. The reallity is that how many people actually go to a company's customer help forum and seek help, yet alone take time to make a complain? I would guess on a couple thousand people with less actually posting. I know they know about it because the applecare agent i spoke to, said it is one of the most complained issue but the solution is not 100%. The problems seem to be with 2010 and newer macs.

My problem started with no internet connectivity while the aiport icon showed i was connected. following that after trying to turn it off and on, i rebooted and had a WIFI: NO HARDWARE INSTALLED pop up under the Icon. At that point it was not a network configuration with my routers. I did every recommended solution posted in this thread, and various other sites to get rid of the NO HARDWARE because through diagnostics it was showing the card was fine. I did a teardown of my macbook to get to the airport card. I cleaned the connectors and let sit disconnected for a couple minutes. I put everything back together just fine and when I booted, Lion recognized that I had "installed new hardware" and my airport was recognized again and worked fantastically. Then when i just the lid the airport stopped working again, can't turn it on from the settings. Every reboot gets it going again and again. Once again I tried every recommended solution i've read.

If you want to try to put something else out there for me to try, I would be most gracious for your help. But I have pretty much tried everything and trying the most difficult one and that is being patient with Apple to recognize the problem publicly.

Hi Tony

That is interesting what Applecare told you, when I mentioned that there where numerous posting on the forum with people have the same or similar problems with Lion and wifi he said he had not heard of it and it was not a common problem!  I am happy to log a complaint but where do you do that?  with my local store, I would not want it to fall on deaf ears so to speak.

It really depends on the rep you get. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you he was great, cause he seemed like he was having a bad day, but was pretty open about expressing what he thought.

anyway go through pages 100 to 108, someone posted where to do it. I am bout to leave for awhile and won't be able to respond for a few days. So good luck everyone in solving your WIFI woes.

Apple love you, just please come up with something. Still better than dealing with windows.

Tony850 wrote:

...

My problem started with no internet connectivity while the aiport icon showed i was connected.

This is one of the symptoms that others have reported.  It indicates that the DNS name resolution was not working, or the network path over wifi was not being routed correctly to cause the lookup to work. 

If you get in the state, please, open a terminal window up, and run these commands:

     netstat -rn

     ifconfig -a

and post the output here so that I can see what low level network configuration is in place.  What we want to see is that routing is broken (the first command will show routing information) or that the DHCP functionality is not assigning your computer an address (the second command will show what interfaces are up and how they are configured).

Routing tables

Internet:

Destination        Gateway            Flags        Refs      Use   Netif Expire

default            192.168.1.254      UGSc           21        0     en2

127                127.0.0.1          UCS             0        0     lo0

127.0.0.1          127.0.0.1          UH              4     5236     lo0

169.254            link#6             UCS             0        0     en2

192.168.1          link#6             UCS             2        0     en2

192.168.1.73       127.0.0.1          UHS             0        9     lo0

192.168.1.254      98:2c:be:31:eb:71  UHLWIi         32      242     en2   1200

192.168.1.255      ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff  UHLWbI          0       27     en2

Internet6:

Destination                             Gateway                         Flags         Netif Expire

::1                                     link#1                          UHL             lo0

fe80::%lo0/64                           fe80::1%lo0                     UcI             lo0

fe80::1%lo0                             link#1                          UHLI            lo0

fe80::%en1/64                           link#5                          UCI             en1

fe80::%en2/64                           link#6                          UCI             en2

fe80::29c:85ff:fe99:b3bb%en2            0:9c:85:99:b3:bb                UHLI            lo0

ff01::%lo0/32                           fe80::1%lo0                     UmCI            lo0

ff01::%en1/32                           link#5                          UmCI            en1

ff01::%en2/32                           link#6                          UmCI            en2

ff02::%lo0/32                           fe80::1%lo0                     UmCI            lo0

ff02::%en1/32                           link#5                          UmCI            en1

ff02::%en2/32                           link#6                          UmCI            en2

lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384

          options=3<RXCSUM,TXCSUM>

          inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1

          inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000

          inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128

gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1280

stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280

en0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

          options=2b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_HWTAGGING,TSO4>

          ether c4:2c:03:0c:85:80

          media: autoselect (none)

          status: inactive

en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

          ether d8:a2:5e:8e:24:2a

          media: autoselect (<unknown type>)

          status: inactive

p2p0: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 2304

          ether 0a:a2:5e:8e:24:2a

          media: autoselect

          status: inactive

fw0: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 4078

          lladdr e8:06:88:ff:fe:da:9b:5c

          media: autoselect <full-duplex>

          status: inactive

en2: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

          ether 00:9c:85:99:b3:bb

          inet6 fe80::29c:85ff:fe99:b3bb%en2 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x6

          inet 192.168.1.73 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255

          media: autoselect

          status: active

This is a bit disheartening.  This is my first MAC computer.  I waited 6 months before I finally convinced myself to pay the premium for a beautiful 27" iMac.  100+ pages and Apple hasn't come out with a fix?

I have no less than 15 wireless devices in my house and the iMac is the only one that has a problem.

Family doesn't like using the iMac because the wireless constantly drops. 

I guess I'll be buying a USB wireless adapter.  What a shame.

I posted this under a different post. But figured I would repost here as well.

I spent about an hour and half on the phone with apple tech. Seems that Lion does not like WEP. Being on a WPA2 should be ok for you. HOWEVER, he also said that there are routers that the macs dont like to play with. There was no list mentioned. Also you might want to check the other wi-fi connections in your general area. I had 8 other wi-fi that had where on the same channel which can interfer with the signal. Check others around you. Click the apple logo>about this mac>system report>wi-fi.  It will list the other wi-fi connections in your area and the channels that they are on. The top list your channel and other info.

So far I am good. No problems, as of yet lol. There is also a "wi-fi diagnostics" application on your mac. It will tell you what your signal is and how bad its being interrupted. I find it to be a handy tool.

Tony

Along with the others I appreciate your attempts to help people with this problem but most of us buy a Mac because of its legendary RELIABILITY. We do not understand routing tables, WAPS and WEPS and the like. We just want machines that work.

And for those who claim that 6 million users can't be wrong - oh yes they can! This is a serious issue that I (and many others) have put up with for months now and it is preventing me anyhow from purchasing any further Mac products until it is sorted out. While I udnerstand the vew of the Applecare tech I spoke with 'that you can't expect Apple to cover every router' I think that is a cop out. Bottom line for me is that I had a system that worked fine under Snow Leopard but which still drops out regularly (4-5 times a day) with Lion and when I go to diagnostics I get told 'network change detected'.

I strongly suggest any Apple people reading this get themselves a copy of  Merril Chapman's book In Search of Stupidy - over 20 years of high-tech marketing disasters  which documents how seemingly indestructible market leaders such as MicroPro, Ashton-Tate, Borland, Novell - not to mention Netscape - went the way of the dodo because they were so busy coming up with new ideas that they forgot their customers.

I am sure Apple is a great company but it is not indestructible. Please Apple, look after your customers.

You don't need to understand routing tables, they're a tool to help diagnose your unique problem.

That's the core problem you need to understand; each person's problem is a little bit different, as there doesn't seem to be one universal or even large issue causing each person's problem but rather it's a variety of different things. It may be interference for one person,  a deprecated encryption mechanism like WEP for others (especially things like WEP keys other than zero, which is something Apple has never supported), firmware issues in routers, interference sensitivity among certain components and a variety of other things.

That's why Apple added the diagnostic utility in Lion - to try to better aid users in figuring out what is going on in each unique circumstance.

In Apple's defense, no manufacturer is going to be able to test every configuration; certainly Microsoft doesn't, and all Apple can do is test using the largest matrix they can, and take bug reports from individuals to try and determine any patterns they can.

I know from personal experience how frustrating it can be when you're the one whose system isn't working properly, but Apple's far from sitting on their laurels about this or any other issue.

Tony850 wrote:

 

My problem started with no internet connectivity while the aiport icon showed i was connected. following that after trying to turn it off and on, i rebooted and had a WIFI: NO HARDWARE INSTALLED pop up under the Icon. At that point it was not a network configuration with my routers. I did every recommended solution posted in this thread, and various other sites to get rid of the NO HARDWARE because through diagnostics it was showing the card was fine. I did a teardown of my macbook to get to the airport card. I cleaned the connectors and let sit disconnected for a couple minutes. I put everything back together just fine and when I booted, Lion recognized that I had "installed new hardware" and my airport was recognized again and worked fantastically. Then when i just the lid the airport stopped working again, can't turn it on from the settings. Every reboot gets it going again and again. Once again I tried every recommended solution i've read.

That sounds like a hardware issue that may be best addressed by the Genius Bar at your local Apple Store, as there are no circumstances under which your hardware should just go invisitble to the OS.

Precisely my point of view.

When a product doesn't do what it's supposed even after a considerable amount of intervention, and that product comes from Apple whose products we buy ONLY because we're not computer technicians and because 'they just work' as the tag-line goes, then alarm bells should be ringing...

The bottom line for me is three half days spent by Apple's own people trying to make the latest computer with the latest  software hold on to a wifi connection -and failing- is completely unacceptable at the prices we consumers pay.

My current lot of Apple stuff cost almost €5000 (iMac, iPhone, iPad, 2 iPods &amp; accessories). This is not the first time I've had problems with a new OS.

Last time was when I put Leopard on an iBook G4. It refused to shut down.

I left it at the Genuis bar at the Apple store in Houston for a couple of hours and they fixed it.

The difference this time is that no fix is yet on offer and the bugs have been there since last summer.

This is my personal experience.

It is not up for debate or criticism; merely here as a story told as impartially as possible in order to share with others who might be in a similar position.

I am over the moon for all those for whom letting Lion into their computers was like being born again. Even for those who've simply had a glitch-free transition. That's what I've come to expect from Apple over the years. But then I wouldn't expect those people to be ending up here ...

Thanks Microbe Gal.  It helped me.

Last week, I was able to solve the problem by getting a new modem from Comcast (one that works with n wireless).  I hadn't had a problem since I got the new modem, until last night when I started again.  You can imagine how I felt.  Anyway, I tried to figure out if I had done something different to cause it and then I read your post.  My bluetooth trackpad had been out of juice and I had changed the battery.  The problem began sometime after that. I restarted my computer and it didn't solve it, but it was late and so instead of leaving my computer on over night as I usually do, I shut it down.  When I restarted this morning, the issue went away. Of course this is conjecture, but I think something with the bluetooth set it off. So maybe it will help someone else. 

Note that Bluetooth devices use the 2.4 GHz band, the same as Wi-Fi except for 5 GHz networks.

That means interference is not only likely but probable.

Bluetooth devices try to change frequencies to avoid interference, but depending on your environment, that may not be possible.