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Mac OS X Lion WiFi issues

Ever since I have upgraded my late 2009-iMac to Mac OS X Lion 10.7 I have been experiencing issues regarding my WiFi. I'm actually loosing connectivity, as in AirPort seems to keep "refreshing itself" for no apparent reason, and disconnecting my WiFi intermittently each time. It's almost like my WiFi card can't keep a stable connection to my router anymore. This problem is not occuring on my iPhone, which is also connected to the same home network on the N Router. It's constantly halting downloads halfway through, or near to the end, and they have to be restarted and this is infuriating when the download has taken ages!


Even reaching this page now took several refreshes, as Safari keeps coming up with blank pages every now and then telling me I am not connected to the internet.


Has anybody else had problems with Lion dropping WiFi connection constantly?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Aug 3, 2011 2:12 AM

Reply
263 replies

Oct 26, 2011 2:24 AM in response to VVesa

VVesa wrote:


Resetting PRAM isn't a permanent solution. It helped untill I visited a new APN in the office net. Now I have lost Wi-Fi again.


Problem still persist on WLAN networks with multiple base stations.

That's ONE reason why it is possible to set up multiple locations (profiles) in the wireless section of the system settings.


Eventually you should set up a second location for the office and also disable "Ask to join new networks" to prevent the unwillingly switch to a second BSSID in the network.



Lupunus

Oct 26, 2011 2:27 AM in response to liam257

liam257 wrote:


Hi Guys

Yeah your right i went to my college and started using the wifi there, it was fine but when i got home it started doing it again.

If the wireless is working fine at college but not at home you should troubleshoot your home router settings and wireless conditions.

Eventually also set up a second location (profile) for holding different wifi settings in the wireless section of your system settings.



Lupunus

Oct 26, 2011 2:45 AM in response to lupunus

lupunus wrote:


VVesa wrote:


Resetting PRAM isn't a permanent solution. It helped untill I visited a new APN in the office net. Now I have lost Wi-Fi again.


Problem still persist on WLAN networks with multiple base stations.

That's ONE reason why it is possible to set up multiple locations (profiles) in the wireless section of the system settings.


Eventually you should set up a second location for the office and also disable "Ask to join new networks" to prevent the unwillingly switch to a second BSSID in the network.



Lupunus

The problem is that 'Automatic' worked prefectly on SL, but after upgrading to Lion I need manual intervetion when changing location. I don't want to change any settings when changing location, as the OS should do that automatically.


I don't want to be asked to join new networks, never have and never will. Thus I have always had "Ask to join new networks" disabled. I'm manually selecting networks I want to connect to, and I'm assuming that the computer selects the network when available. Once configured, OS should (as it used to do) select the available Wi-Fi network automatically. If the network consists of multiple basestations (with same SSID), OS should select the base station, which has the strongest signal, automatically.


This is clearly a OS bug, which I have already filed for Apple.

Nov 7, 2011 8:00 AM in response to Cattus Thraex

Just got a brand new iMac, 2.8 GHz i7 processor, 4GB of RAM, and running 10.7.2 with all updates.


My internet connection speed via WiFi is PAINFULLY slow. (via wired Ethernet everything is normal)


I'm pretty technical when it comes to Macs, so I've tried everything:


- PRAM reset.

- Totally different wireless networks, using a different channel and frequency. (802.11 b, g, n, etc)

- Multiple reboots.

- Turning AirPort off, removing all previous networks.

- Trashing network preferences.

- etc.....


This iMac is factory new right out of the box with no additional software, so I'm really hoping there's a fix here soon from Apple.

Nov 7, 2011 11:22 AM in response to joe619

I saw those OS X Daily posts, and just tried the fix where they suggest creating a new location, and renewing the DHCP address. Sadly, it didn't fix the issue.


I ALSO tried booting from my restore partition, and sufing the web via Safari, and still experienced the issue, so it doesn't seem to be something specific to the OS on my main drive. Bad Air Port card perhaps?

Nov 7, 2011 1:44 PM in response to Tim Hassett

If possible, try to connect to another router and check whether speed is normal. If normal, then something is going wrong in your home / office. As far as I know, a good solution would be to manually allocate a channel, i.e. do not let router auto-allocate channels. this workaround often solves issues.

Even if new, you may simply have a hardware issue, but you must take step by step.

Nov 7, 2011 11:34 PM in response to Ethanace

The only permanent solutions I found for my setup (iMac mid 2010 Core i3 3,2 GHz / FritzBox 7270 v3) within the last three month were:


  1. going back to Snow Leopard
  2. replacing Lion`s wi-fi-drivers with Snow Leopard´s old wi-fi-drivers (http://rys.pixeltards.com/2011/09/04/osx-lion-wifi.html) > only works with the atheros-chipset and you can`t use Airdrop any more...
  3. doing a permanent ping to google.com or whatever via a terminal-window > not realy comfortable...
  4. switching to the 5 GHz-band (802.11 n+a) in my router`s configuration > iPhones can`t join the wi-fi any more as they only support 2,4 GHz in 802.11 n...


My choice is No. 2.


ALL the other tips/tricks/recommendations (from this community, different websites and Apple`s support-hotline) worked for some hours or days only in my case...

Nov 14, 2011 10:12 AM in response to Ethanace

since i upgrade to lion, i lost my wifi conection...first when i used to click on the wifi icon the messege was that there was no wifi hardware installed. Reboot and it apears again but no internet...now i even don´t the wifi icon in the preferences menu. when i try to create new connection from the menu, i have just 3 options and no wifi listed...can you help me with this? tanx

Mac OS X Lion WiFi issues

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