AirPort Extreme 4th gen and MacBook Air 2012 causing network drops

Question

AirPort Extreme 4th gen and MacBook Air 2012 causing network drops

I recently got a MacBook Air 2012. I have an AirPort Extreme network. Since I have had the MacBook Air, the network has intermittently started dropping out. It seemed initially that it was only when the Air was online. But now, it seems to happen even if the Air isnt online, so it may be unrelated to the new MacBook. The network will drop however almost guaranteed when I turn the Air on.

Anyone experiencing this same issue?

MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion, 2.0Ghz i7, 8GB 1600Mhz

Posted on Aug 22, 2012 10:21 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 22, 2012 10:22 AM in response to Matt NewBones

just to add also, when it drops, the SSID is not visible in my available list of networks anymore, it takes a minute or two each time to come back which it does on it's own.

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Answer 2

worksafe

Level 2

180 points

Aug 22, 2012 11:12 AM in response to Matt NewBones

I have a MacBook Pro, Early 2010 and don't have that problem, but what I do have is Airport not loading either on a cold boot or a restart. I have found that when I turn Airport off when either shutting down or doing a restart it will load but not if I leave it on.

Weird.

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Answer 3

Oct 4, 2012 11:33 AM in response to worksafe

This is really annoying now. it almost always now happenes shortly after the MacBook Air connects to the Extreme...

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Answer 4

Oct 18, 2012 11:32 AM in response to Matt NewBones

Totally annoying, its happening pretty much every time I turn the MacBook Air on. The Wi Fi broadcast drops for a few minutes as if the Extreme is rebooting.

I've turned of disc sharing and its still the same. I have reported it to Apple via feedback.

Rubbish.

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Answer 5

Oct 31, 2012 10:19 AM in response to Matt NewBones

Thanks. I actually just made some progress...

I had previously added a syslog server on my network in an attempt to capture what might be happening when my network was dropping.

I hadnt had much luck pin-pointing anything of interest until today. I found this happening right when all my devices were losing connecting to my network -

2012-10-31	15:45:52	notice	airport-extreme	local0	80211	Switching to channel 60
2012-10-31	15:45:52	notice	airport-extreme	local0	80211	Radar detected on channel 132
2012-10-31	15:45:52	notice	-airport-extreme	local0	80211	Switching to channel 60
2012-10-31	15:45:52	notice	airport-extreme	local0	80211	Radar detected on channel 132

It appears that the required DFS controls for these upper channels (in UK at least) are controlling things on their own (as designed to).

I have turned my 5Ghz network to a fixed lower channel so I shouldn't get these network drops.

If you don't hear from me, all went well!

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Answer 6

Nov 30, 2012 4:30 AM in response to Matt NewBones

Here's what I did to fix the issue with MacBook Air 2012 and AirPort Extreme:

1. Reinstalled OS X (optional, not sure now it was really necessary)

2. Reset SMC and NVRAM

3. Reset AirPort Extreme with latest firmware available (7.6.1 as of now)

4. Name your network starting with some symbol like $ or # or whatever (don't ask why - tech details). Should lookd like $Airport_Network_Name or #John_Appleseed_Wifi or whatever.

5. Set the correct country (or the closest to you) in AirPort utility settings for AirPort Extreme (was Russia in my case since I'am in Ukraine)

6. MacBook didn't see the 5 GHz network at all even if I entered the name, security and password manually. I had to choose lowest of the available channels for the 5 GHz network (36 in my case)

7. Scanned surrounding WiFi networks via WiFi Scanner utility from Mac App Store (https://itunes.apple.com/ru/app/wifi-scanner/id411680127?mt=12) to see which channels neighbours are using and chose a free one for 2,4 GHz network. For example, surrounding networks use channels 3, 7 and 8. I chose 2 or 5 or 9 etc...(did not create separate 2,4 and 5 GHz networks!)

As a result MacBook Air 2012, MacBook Airs 2011, MacBook Pro 2011 and iPhone 4S are now all compatible and work the right way with AirPort Extreme, automatically connecting to 5 GHz (Mac) and 2,4 GHz (iPhone) without any issues.

Hope this helps.

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