Constant Wi-Fi dropouts with Lion

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Level 1

78 points

Constant Wi-Fi dropouts with Lion

Hi everyone,

I upgraded to OS X Lion on day one and have had no problems with it since. I recently decided to update my NAS as well to allow for OTA Time Machine backups: problem was they were too slow. Investigating, I found that the Wireless-N aspect of my NetGear router has been dormant since day one. I turned it on, activated WPA/WPA-2 PSK/TKIP mode and set it to a wide-band frequency which says "of speeds up to 270Mbps."

Now, after a week or so of using it, there is a constant dropout on my MacBook (Late 2009) Model. Each time I try to connect it fails and requires me turning off bluetooth or sleeping and waking my mac for it to work. Once successfully connected, it will periodically grind to halt - stay connected - but nothing will load. It also connected at 2.4GHz (not 5GHz) for some reason.

If anyone could post any insights it would be really appreciated. Below are the system log entries when I try to connect and it fails. (modified to remove timestamps and mask MAC addresses 😀 )

kernel: wlEvent: en1 en1 Link UP

kernel: AirPort: Link Up on en1

kernel: en1: BSSID changed to 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8

kernel: wlEvent: en1 en1 Link DOWN

kernel: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 2 (Previous authentication no longer valid).

kernel: directed SSID scan fail

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 MAC AUTH succeeded

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: wlEvent: en1 en1 Link UP

kernel: AirPort: Link Up on en1

kernel: en1: BSSID changed to 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8

kernel: AirPort: RSN handshake complete on en1

airportd: _doAutoJoin: Already associated to “Private_6”. Bailing on auto-join.

mDNSResponder: mDNS_RegisterInterface: Frequent transitions for interface en1 (FE80:0000:0000:0000:D69A:20FF:FE76:6BCA)

--

PM kernel: wlEvent: en1 en1 Link DOWN

PM kernel: wl0: Beacon Loss Event

PM kernel: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 15 (4-Way Handshake timeout).

PM kernel: en1: BSSID changed to 00:00:00:00:00:00

mDNSResponder: DeregisterInterface: Frequent transitions for interface en1 (FE80:0000:0000:0000:D69A:20FF:FE76:6BCA)

kernel: wlEvent: en1 en1 Link DOWN

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 MAC AUTH succeeded

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

librariand: changing log level to 5

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 MAC AUTH succeeded

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: wlEvent: en1 en1 Link UP

kernel: AirPort: Link Up on en1

kernel: en1: BSSID changed to 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8

kernel: wlEvent: en1 en1 Link DOWN

kernel: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 2 (Previous authentication no longer valid).

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 No Ack

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

airport: Error: Scan failed (16)

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 MAC AUTH succeeded

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8 Unsolicited Auth

kernel: wlEvent: en1 en1 Link UP

kernel: AirPort: Link Up on en1

kernel: en1: BSSID changed to 00:26:f2:XX:XX:b8

kernel: wlEvent: en1 en1 Link DOWN

kernel: AirPort: Link Down on en1. Reason 2 (Previous authentication no longer valid).

-AllSeeingMac

Posted on Oct 18, 2011 4:09 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

wifiguru

Level 2

240 points

Oct 18, 2011 7:47 AM in response to AllSeeingMac

Try switching the security to WPA2-PSK only ( AES) mode and see if the drops go away. Also make sure you pick a relateively good channel for your wireless network.

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Answer 2

AllSeeingMac Author

Level 1

78 points

Oct 27, 2011 8:18 PM in response to wifiguru

Hi wifiguru,

thanks for that. Didn't do the trick but allowed WiFi to stay a little longer.

-AllSeeingMac

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Answer 3

Nov 1, 2011 2:03 PM in response to AllSeeingMac

I seem to be having same problem.

works on ethernet to router but not wifi.

Am using 2Ghz Al MacBook. 10.7.2

Have toggled PSK/TKIK but no effect.

My console log constantly gets filled with this.

2/11/11 6:48:32.000 AM kernel: wlEvent: en1 en1 Link UP

2/11/11 6:48:32.000 AM kernel: en1: BSSID changed to 00:04:ed:d1:xx:xx

2/11/11 6:48:42.000 AM kernel: MacAuthEvent en1 Auth result for: 00:04:ed:d1:xx:xx MAC AUTH succeeded

2/11/11 6:48:42.000 AM kernel: wlEvent: en1 en1 Link UP

2/11/11 6:48:42.000 AM kernel: en1: BSSID changed to 00:04:ed:d1:xx:xx

I have modified MAC address above. I corresponds to my wireless hardware (see below).

This is airport -s report from terminal.

LoLove to know what 'HT' and +1/-1 things are.

SSID BSSID RSSI CHANNEL HT CC SECURITY (auth/unicast/group)

OPTUSDN6CBE04 e0:46:9a:6c:be:04 -89 3,+1 Y -- WPA(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP) WPA2(PSK/AES,TKIP/TKIP)

OPTIMUS PRIME 90:e6:ba:be:2d:12 -84 1,+1 Y US WPA2(PSK/AES/AES)

RTA1025W-436D4C 00:24:d2:43:6d:4c -86 11 N -- WEP

MyDodgyWIFI 00:04:ed:d1:xx:xx -27 9,-1 Y -- WPA2(PSK/TKIP/TKIP)

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Answer 4

wifiguru

Level 2

240 points

Nov 1, 2011 3:22 PM in response to Chris Donnelly

Chris,

youe 2.4 ghz band is really bad. The +1 means it's using the next adjacent 20 Mhz channel and the -1 means the previous 20 Mhz channel is being used. So 3,+1 means 3 and 7 are being used. UNless you can use channel 13, the 2.4 Ghz is really bad around where you are. You would be better off getting a 5 Ghz router.

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