iMac drops Wifi connection after 10.7.4 update

How could this be an issue that could be "fixed" by changing settings on my router? When my wifi is working, my iMac recognizes not only my own router, but several of the neighbor's as well. When my wifi is not working, I don't see any routers when I click on the wifi icon. As a matter of fact, as stated in my earlier post, when I "upgraded" to 10.7.5, my wifi went away entirely ("no hardware installed"). If the problem is in my router or its settings, then shouldn't I still be able to see my neighbor's systems even if mine is not working?

Puzzled!

I'm having the same problem with 10.8.1. Imac remains connected but macbook pro doesn't. Called Internet provider tech support and they seemed to think problem was with strength of router signal. What is the life of an Airport Extreme?

Well, so far it has been 5 days witht the new apple airport and no wifi issues with the imac or any other devices.

It does seem bizarre, but my iMac was dropping the connection every few minutes and then not seeing any networks at all until a reboot. Since changing the router settings to use the 5GHz band on a fixed channel, I've not had a single dropout, and it's been a few months now!

I think it could be to do with the number of networks nearby - I live in an apartment block and there are many. I think the signals are swamping each other.

It won't do any harm to try, at any rate.

Good luck! I know how much of a pain this can be.

I looked at all the channels my neighbors routers were using and I adjusted my Netgear N600 router to a different channel but it did not help. When I saw that Apple's new software upgrade was said to have addressed the signal dropping issue I went ahead and upgraded. So far this seems to have fixed the problem. I have allowed my iMac to go into sleep mode numerous times to see if it would drop signal but so far it has not. Since this is a free patch I suggest people having the problem at least give it a shot to see if it helps. One person on these forums reported that the patch made things worse but I suspect his computer problems could be more severe. Good luck everyone and I will post if I start dropping signal again after the patch.

well, now that I am back to 10.7.4, I unplugged my cable to the modem and tried wifi again. I tried all the "fixes" on my router and now I am back to dropping wifi everytime the computer is dormant for 15 minutes or so. My router is about 4 years old, so maybe I'll try buying a new one and see if that changes anything. I hate to be a "parts hanger" like some shadetree mechanic who tries to fix your car by replacing every part he can find, but I don't know what else to do. Or, maybe I'll just plug my cable back in.

more to come

Instead of shelling out $100 or so for a new router, I suggest spending $20 and upgrading to Mountain Lion. I and many others have upgraded and the problem has disappeared.

Nope...I have Mountain Lion and still have had the problem twice.

Sorry but I have 10.7.4 and still get dropouts. Changing the sleep time has helped the most (at least for today) Apple get on the ball and solve this probem,

I have upgraded; I have down graded; now I have 10.8.2 and it took me 20 minutes to get a signal to answer this post........what can I say; this is really horrible, is success getting to apple? is mac the new pc?

i'm willing to try to eliminate the other networks my imac picks up; does anyone know how to eliminate other found networks?

I had been having a problem with my iMac dropping wifi before and after upgrading to Mountain Lion. About 4 weeks ago I purchased an Airport Extreme and after setting it up and putting the iMac on the 5 gH signal I haven't had any problems with the iMac dropping wifi. I will add that I made sure that the 5gH signal is a channel that no one else in my area has. Maybe this has helped, maybe it hasn't. But, I do know that I still haven't been dropping my wifi signal since I have added this device.

I did read somewhere about the sensitivity of the iMac to the wireless signals. I'm not sure if it was here or somewhere else, if I find it I'll post it for everyone to read.

This is obviously a compllex issue. Some of us have had success with "upgrading" (I have "upgraded" twice and the problem has not gone away). Some of us have had success with tweeking the router settings, although there doesn't seem to be a pat group of settings that works for everyone. And, some of us have replaced our routers and have "fixed" the problem.

If anyone who wokrs for Apple reads this post, the truly sad part of my experience is that after years of singing the praises of apple (I am a PC convert of about 5 years now) and how much more reliable and intuitive they are compared to a PC, during the past few months that I have been struggling with this wifi issue, my wife's PC with windows 7 has been faithfully connected to our "defective" router without the need for a cable.

SHAME

Steve Jobs must be rolling over in his grave.

I'm in your choir

Your location is Colorado and you're in my choir? LOL Hm.....