MacBook Pro - DIR-655 connection problems (Revisited)

Not a solution, but I still would like to highlight how extreemely strange I find this behaviour!

I am getting more and more convinced that, at lest some of, the issues are software related. Eventhough the network is on top of my list of prefered networks, OS X does not recognize it and does not connect to it! Even though it is present in the airport pulldown menue with full strength it does not even try to connect, it only promts the "None of your prefered networks..." bla bla bla. If I choose to connect manually, my password is already there, if the connect fails and I turn airport off and on again, it no longer finds my password, although it is already stored in KeyChain, twise (System and login).

If I delete every trace of my network from my computer, restart and then try 3 or 4 times, I can usually get my computer to connect to the WiFi, what I have done now is install Caffeine and just manually dim the display. Because as long as I do not shut my computer of/let it go to sleep or manually disconnect, my WiFi is stable and everlasting. It hasn't lost connection or failed in 48 hours. Though I know that once I bring the computer to work next time, the process will have to start over...

I really believe that the issues are somehow software related

This morning, no WiFi again. I deleted everything, reset PRAM, restarted and still 'Connection Timeot'.

Though once I got to the office, my co-worker (running 10.5.X) on his MBP had problems accessing Spotify and e-mail accounts. Everything was moving extremely slow, so we checked his network settings and found that for some reason his WiFi had priority over his Ethernet and because of this was running over a poor AirPort WiFi conection onstead of through the 100/100 Mbits ethernet. I checked my own network settings and found that my order had been magically altered as well, so I put the AirPort on top of the preffered order of connections and when I got back home this evening, I got connected to my WiFi on the first try!

I know this is not a permanent fix since I've done this countless times before, but I still get extatic when it actually works as intended. So if you haven't already, see if the connection method order has changed for you as well since the last update, try putting AirPort on top of the list, apply and start airport.

I'm just curious to see of this will be a temporary fix for you as well? Then I atleast have something to go on, because right now I'm just stabbing at anything that works since the problems are so inconsistent!

Best regards

As expected, I close the lid on the MBP and opened it again once the sleep mode had been activated, and voila, no WiFi connection again.

I'm still baffled and still no closer to figuring this out, though I finnaly found something that might be an issue and this would seem logical.

I checked the Console Messages after the last fail to connect and this is what I found:

8/1/11 23:25:03 Apple80211Agent[3125] Error joining network: Connection timeout (-3905 timeout connecting)

Which lead me to this forum thread where someone observed issues with connectivity and this process: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1064753

So the Apple80211Agent is the 802.11 wireless network agent and this is supposed to be the process fetching the network password from the KeyChain. If this process is associated with the connection issue some things would appear atleast slightly logical.

Although I'm at a point where I no longer think this issue can be solved, this would explain a few things. For starters, this would explain why removing every trace of the network and re-applying some change would allow WiFi connection after reboot, this could also explain why AirPort/Network Utillity does not seem to remember the password for the WLAN eventhough it still is being stored in keychain and also why trying to connect from the network utility results in repeating prompts for password. There might be a conflict/issue with the pasword storage and supply function between the router and MBP, this would also explain why resetting the router with new network name and password temporarily fixes the problem.

I do not know for certen that this is related to the issue, though I remember these errors occurring earlier, if I run a Verify Disk Permissions after a failed WiFi connection I get multiple issues with:

Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/*

Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/AppleVNCServer.bundle/*

Permissions differ on "System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/RemoteDesktop.menu/*

All of the above seem to be related to language setting (Italian.lproj, French.lproj), and I do not know why this should effect/be a result of failing WiFi connections?

Permissions differ on "System/Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0.jdk/*

Permissions differ on "System/Library/Java/Support/Deploy.bundle/*

Permissions differ on "System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/*

As I wrote, I have no idea if these issues are related, though I know I've repaired these issues multiple times before.

My guess is that there is some communication problem between the router and the MBP during connection regarding the password information, this could also explain the multiple threads I've found where people report that changing the encryption from WPA2 to WPA/WEP temporarily solved the issues. The question is, how can this be resolved?

Any ideas frome someone who knows more about network solutions than me?

Best regards

Well, I do not expect this to be an permanent fix, though my WiFi has been up without disruption and reconected without problems for 5 days straight, after reboots and sleep-mode.

I went bananas and examined the console messages in detail, and it seems to me that there are actually multiple problems with the airport connection. But lets focus on what worked first, then what didn't work. After a lot of Googeling and trials I erased all my network settings and passwords regarding my home network from the "Automatic" location in network settings and keychain. After this I created a new location, removed every connection alternative but AirPort and turned airport on. I got connected on the first try and have not had any problems since then. Though I still remain sceptical and I'm still waiting for it to break again.

So, here are some problems emerging from the console messages:

kernel en1:802.11d country code set to 'X3'

kernel en1:Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140

My guess, searching for a real country code since X3 does not translate into a country.

kernel 00000000 00000020 NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - not Active

Don't know why there would be any problem with the Ethernet, except for it not being used?

configd[14] networkconfiguration changed.

This message keeps shoing up in the log in connection with failed attempts to connect and is giving me a real headache, I have not changed any network configurations and I cannot see why this would be triggered?

kernel en1:802.11d country code set to 'US'.

kernel en1:Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140 149 153 157 161 165

This is obviously a problem, since I'm living in Sweden and not the US of A. The country code I would expect is SE. This also explains the signal "drop" in a matter of speaking, when the network is up and running, my router is broadcasting on channel 13, a channel not present in the US settings. Hence, changing channels on the router to 11 would probably work. From what I have found online, this is an issue related to someone in the proximity running a wrongly configured router, or an imported router. This is all fine and I can accept these points, though I do not understand why this issue would be resolved by simply creating a new location? Wouldn't airport still pick up on the US configured router?

eapolclient[3198] en1STOP

kernel directedSSID scan fail

I do not really understand exactly what these errors refer to, though I understand that it is related to authenticating networks and scanning for broadcasted SSID:s. So obviously this would affect my ability to get connected.

Apple80211Associate() failed -3905 (Timeout)

Apple80211Associate() failed 6 (Device notconfigured)

SystemUIServer[122] Errorjoining virus_net: Connection timeout (-3905 timeout connecting)

Apple80211 framework[122] airportdMIG failed (Associate Event) = -3905 (Timeout) (port = 24855)

/System/Library/CoreServices/Apple80211Agent.app/Contents/MacOS/Apple80211Agent [5479] MDSError: unable to create user DBs in/var/folders/2t/2tzJPYIkGoCjGmSBp54ZrE+++TI/-Caches-//mds

Apple80211 framework[5442] ACInterfaceGetPowercalled with NULL interface

SCHelper[5448] nocommand

Even more errors/problems. Do not know exactly what these are or how hey are related to the failing connection, though my guess is that this does not have any possitive effects on my airport connection.

Apple80211 framework[5479] SecKeychainSearchCopyNext()returned error: -25300

Apple80211 framework[5479] _ACNetworkCopyKeychainItem()expected password for "XXXXX" not found: -25300 (The specifieditem could not be found in the keychain.)

This does on the other hand seem self explaining. Eventhough I have both the network and the password stored/saved, AirPort is unsuccessful in retrieving the network password from the keychain, and this would relate to my previous ideas of some large problem with the password handeling and presentation.

Apple80211 framework[122] Scan()error 16 (Resource busy)

Apple80211 framework[122] __performScan()EBUSY, sleep 1 sec, try again

Again, a problem showing up from time to time in the log, obviously related to some issue finding the network?

Obviously there seems to be more than one issue with the airport connection stemming from different causes, surprisingly they were all resolved by creating a new location with only AirPort as an option for connecting. Eventhough this might not be a lasting fix, it is surprising to me that this would resolve these numerous problems.

What I also find interresting is that when searching for these many problems found in the log, almost all of the returend results are from users with AirPort connection problems who own a macbook or a macbook pro. It also seems that in the most cases, the response from apple is that there is a hardware problem. Though I find this less likely since my WiFi is now running with good speed without any connection problems. I don't think a new location would solve a hardware issue, it feels more like a software based issue?

Any comments/feedback on this is more than welcome!

Best regards

I just updated the other forum where I was complaining about connectivity issues:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1352518?answerId=16635422022#16635422022

Its been several weeks now, and I have still not experienced a single connection issue. So this is not a fix to the problem, more of an inconvenient solution. But still, I have WiFi, and thats is good enough for me, at least for now!

Best regards

I left this thread unfinished. I solved my own problem.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1352518?answerId=20595757022#20595757022

I keept the work going in another thread. I changed my language setting to use "." instead of "," as a decimal sign. This changed my "region" from the correct country to "custom" region. Apparently, the "custom" region excludes some specific signs from being displayed correctly. Changing the language settings back to my country solved my connetivity issues. I've been solid for several months now!

// Gus

Well, your not supposed to just change the comma/point.

I don't remember the swedish menue entries but go to the following:

System Preferences -> Language & Text -> Formats

and change the drop-down menue "Region" from "Custom"/"English" or whatever it might be to "Swedish" and do not fiddle with any of the ettings.

Give this a try, if this doesn't help, the easiest way is to reset router and the network settings. Then, since you moved, try to change the channel on you router. But try this first and well se what happens.

// Gus