Q: Lion WiFi Connection Problem

OS 10.7.5 wifi "connection failed" and it's connected - happen to me and this fixed as below

http://osxdaily.com/2012/11/30/resolving-stubborn-wi-fi-connection-problems-in-m ac-os-x/

I put this explanation and demonstration together to try to explain where the ping latencies are coming from:

"Keeping the MacBook's wireless adapter busy with traffic seems to prevent it from entering a micro-sleep state; This micro-sleep can result in highly variable ping latencies which are often improperly interpreted as a "bad" WiFi connection."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW9pYkIHq4A

This would also explain why rolling back to a previous driver (as some have suggested) would be a solution - the "Ultra" Power Saving code is relatively new. 

I mean this as an interesting demonstration, not as a fix.  Maybe it'll get someone thinking.  :-)

Finding duplicate passwords in my keychain worked for me as well.  Thanks for the advice!

I don't believe ths is a solution.  About 1/2 of my Apple devices were already set to ask to join a network.  This happens to me several times a day now.  This never happened in the past.  I posted an extensive discussion about this here:

https://discussions.apple.com/message/25154349#25154349

This DOES smack of a Microsoft type of problem.  Since my wife's iPhone 5 and my iPhone 5 as well as my Macbook pro are over a year old and never had the problem before about a month or 2 ago, I can only conclude that it has something to do with upgrading to OSX Mavericks, my getting an iPad, my upgrade to iOS7 or  ??????!? 

I think this issue is a sotfware problem .

as I choose internet Perfence ->display wifi status in tool bar ->disable -> enable 

this issue will not appear until I reboot my PC

so it is a software problem ,a surface display problem .

I have an iMac12,2.

I also have the Wifi connection problem.

It appeared on this Mac under Snow Leopard, Lion and on Mavericks

from the beginning when I bought this machine. Once I thought I had

immigrated some bad data from my old MacBook. I tried upgrading

from SnowLeopard to Lion. No change. Meanwhile the connection was

stable for a while. The it becam disrupting again.

Two weeks ago I did the Mavericks upgrade with an clean install.

The wifi disconnection problem was not solved by this upgrade.

One week later I downgraded back to Lion and I have wifi disruptions

after 5 minutes.

I dont believe this is a hardware problem. If I read something on a website

it will disrupt after 5 minutes. If download a big file like 10GB the connection

is stable for hours.

I tried everything you can read in any forum, .plists, user-accounts, MTU,

other settings, wifi-channels, keychain deleted.

My network diagnosis window is always open for reconnecting to the internet.

Before reconnecting I see ISP, Internet, Server with red light not green.

While reconnecting I see wifi-preferences flashing red for a second.

It sometimes asks me for my router key. Mostly I have to coose my network

and proceed. Then it takes around 20 seconds to take me online again.

I guess its definately a software problem. Maybe the keychains or read-write rights

or the directory services.

This thread is too long to read. Any solutions found yet?

ElJefeGrande wrote:

 

I guess its definately a software problem. Maybe the keychains or read-write rights

or the directory services.

 

This thread is too long to read. Any solutions found yet?

The problem is almost always your router.  Take your iMac to a friends home where there is a different brand of wifi equipment and try that.  See if you can find a brand that works with your iMac and replace your router.  WiFI protocol standards are not easy, and many vendors are just writing crud implementations to get a router out the door with the new standards.  There is nothing about keychains or hardware that is going to cause this problem except when the software is wrong. 

What part of the world are you in, and what brand and model of router are you using?

I've had several tough issues lately with Apple routers.  I've found TWO fixes to two different issues.  Fix one worked on my daughters shared network.  That was the tip to allow double NAT. I kept going away from that setting thinking it was not proper to leave it with double NAT.... but nothing else worked reliably.  I finally ignored the warning and left it with double NAT and it worked fine after that.  It was a dorm network and I didn't have access to the upstream router.

The other issue I've had is when I add a NEW router to a network (either extending range or replacing a device).  This happened twice to me.  I add a new router to a network that has ONE router set to "access control" turned on and set to default = NO ACCESS.  That network has about 7 routers and some were just set to serve airplay and not meant to have wi-fi turned on. So, I add the new router wirelessly and it somehow nabs those NO ACCESS settings and I can no longer access the router and have no indication why.  The fix is to then connect a computer by Ethernet cable directly to the new router and remove that NO ACCESS setting.

-Tom

farrago wrote:

 

I've had several tough issues lately with Apple routers.  I've found TWO fixes to two different issues.  Fix one worked on my daughters shared network.  That was the tip to allow double NAT. I kept going away from that setting thinking it was not proper to leave it with double NAT.... but nothing else worked reliably.  I finally ignored the warning and left it with double NAT and it worked fine after that.  It was a dorm network and I didn't have access to the upstream router.

If you are adding an airport to an existing wired network to provide wireless access, then sometimes, you can "bridge" to that network and the airport will then just be an access point and not a "router".  In some cases, this does not work because of certain characteristics of the wired network routing and authentication for private wifi networks using commercial grade authentication solutions via in-browser identification.

If you turn on NAT on the airport, then all of the wifi traffic becomes visible as coming from the airport as if it were a "desktop", wired computer.  This can solve these problems sometimes. 

In other cases, just the opposite is true and you instead need to make sure NAT is off.

This is not an airport "problem".  This is a "problem" related to how the network is administered and in most cases, every router or access point will encounter the same limitations/porblems.

The other issue I've had is when I add a NEW router to a network (either extending range or replacing a device).  This happened twice to me.  I add a new router to a network that has ONE router set to "access control" turned on and set to default = NO ACCESS.  That network has about 7 routers and some were just set to serve airplay and not meant to have wi-fi turned on. So, I add the new router wirelessly and it somehow nabs those NO ACCESS settings and I can no longer access the router and have no indication why.  The fix is to then connect a computer by Ethernet cable directly to the new router and remove that NO ACCESS setting.

 

-Tom

If you click through the wizards that the airport utility provides for setting up a new (or reset) airport, the default settings from the network you "extend" or "join" will propagate into your airport.  Just use the manual setup by selecting "show me other choices" or whatever the phrase is and then you can select the specific options you need.

If you click through the wizards that the airport utility provides for setting up a new (or reset) airport...

Thanks gphonei, but I wasn't asking questions.  Note the lack of question marks in my post.  I was just adding to the knowledge base on Apple router issues that other users might encounter and possible fixes for them to try.  I've added airports to a network and just clicked "extend a network" or "join a network" when setting them up wirelessly.  It doesn't matter.  It could copy setting from any of the 6 or 7 routers in the network.  It chooses to copy the default = NO ACCESS wirless settings from the only router that uses that setting.  I just find that unusual.  Again.. just a statement... not a question.  But thanks.

farrago wrote:

 

If you click through the wizards that the airport utility provides for setting up a new (or reset) airport...

 

Thanks gphonei, but I wasn't asking questions.  Note the lack of question marks in my post.  I was just adding to the knowledge base on Apple router issues that other users might encounter and possible fixes for them to try.  I've added airports to a network and just clicked "extend a network" or "join a network" when setting them up wirelessly.  It doesn't matter.  It could copy setting from any of the 6 or 7 routers in the network.  It chooses to copy the default = NO ACCESS wirless settings from the only router that uses that setting.  I just find that unusual.  Again.. just a statement... not a question.  But thanks.

Note that I was also not asking questions but stating my experiences as well.  Glad we can all work together here...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3191630

farrago wrote:

 

If you click through the wizards that the airport utility provides for setting up a new (or reset) airport...

 

Thanks gphonei, but I wasn't asking questions.  Note the lack of question marks in my post.  I was just adding to the knowledge base on Apple router issues that other users might encounter and possible fixes for them to try.  I've added airports to a network and just clicked "extend a network" or "join a network" when setting them up wirelessly.  It doesn't matter.  It could copy setting from any of the 6 or 7 routers in the network.  It chooses to copy the default = NO ACCESS wirless settings from the only router that uses that setting.  I just find that unusual.  Again.. just a statement... not a question.  But thanks.

An additional bit of information is that this choice is the "safest".  Chosing the most restrictive configuration visible allows the user to be satisfied that their network has not become suddenly "open" to access unexpectedly.  While you found it inconvenient, when it happened to me, I found it relieving that they had actually considered security as an important aspect of the functionality as opposed to making convenience being the only factor.

I changed routers (different models and brand) but it did not solve the problem.

No solution yet. As many people have this problem of WIFI connection after upgrading it must be a software problem. ITs taking too long for a fix.

I fixed this . look my previous post on Nov 13, 2013