Q: New Macbook Air - wifi connectivity problems

orchetect -

Hmm... I'd suggest reinstalling the entire .22 kext file, and test again.

Did that, no difference.

Ok - np.  So here a another "process of elimination" step I would suggest:  test against a clean 10.8.5 build on a spare USB drive, which I normally do.  This will also provide you an emergency boot drive that you can utilize, should the entire internal drive fail down the road.

Let me know if you want the steps to download a full 10.8.5 for your MBA from Apple servers, and I'll bullet them here.

How about the recovery partition? It should contain a fresh install of the system and the .22 driver, should not it? Just to try, could you do the ping test on this partition? Only because of curiosity.

pietrodelta7 - Booting from the partition drive only means you are back on the original .22 driver on 10.8.4. 

Wheras what orchetect is trying to do, is ensure that running 10.8.5 with a rolled back .22 driver results in no latency.  To replicate a clean build, always best to download and install the full 10.8.5 image onto a drive.  If orchetect does this, manually rolls back to the .22 driver, and gets a positive result (no latency bug), then its something else (an app, another xyz factor) that is causing the issue.

Can you list the steps to download a full 10.8.5 for your MBA from Apple to make a bootable USB?

Sure, SMT990 -  I'll even go one step further than the steps found on the web, and provide some advice to help optimize in building a bootable USB drive...

1) although you can install OS X on a traditional external hard drive, ideally get yourself a Flash USB 3.0 thumb drive... and the faster the better.  The current speed champ is the SanDisk Extreme (I would highly recommend the 32GB model to give yourself the extra space, which I'll explain why in the next step).  Btw, the SanDisk Extreme is a very inexpensive drive -- awesome value on Amazon and other online retailers.

2) If you ever want to use your USB drive for not just as an emergency drive but also for moving files between computers, I normally partition the USB drive into 2 partitions (or more if you want), using Disk Utility found in your Utilities folder.  Make the first partition your bootable emergency drive, formatted as Mac OS Extended Journaled with 6GB and name it something like "Emergency Disk".  Select the "Option" button below and click the option for a GUID Partition Table.  I usually format the other partition as MS-DOS FAT for sharing files between Macs and PCs.  Or if you never intend to use this USB drive to share files with a PC, then you can make the other partition(s) as Mac OS Extended Journaled.

3) Restart your Mac, and hold down the Command and R keys while powering up to boot into the Recovery partition of your MacBook Air.  Select the option to reinstall OS X.  When prompted, select the "Emergency Disk" you created on your USB drive, and let your Mac download the full 10.8.5 image from Apple servers -- depending on your Internet speed and server load, will likely take 20 to 40 minutes to pull down the 4.5GB of files.

4) Here's the important trick I recommend, to save the installer file:  upon your Mac completing the download, it will automatically restart.  As soon as your Mac reboots, quickly remove the USB drive from your MBA and let your Mac take an extra minute to search and then restart normally from your internal drive.

5) Now insert your USB drive back into your Mac, and look for the file named InstallESD.dmg -- that is the full virgin 10.8.5 disk image you want.  Ignore the rest.  Copy that onto your desktop and keep it handy for future use (e.g. I put it into a folder called "Installer 10.8.5").

6) Now double-click the InstallESD.dmg you just copied to your desktop, and proceed to install 10.8.5 on the USB partition named "Emergency Drive".

Done.  Obviously, I would also roll back to the .22 driver on this spare drive.

------------------------------------

Now that you have a clean 10.8.5 on a spare drive for emergency or even testing purposes, I normally tweak it by removing all things off the Dock except tools like Disk Utility and other essentials, and then I usually install good ole DiskWarrior, which in my opinion is still the best OS X commerical repair tool out there.

Hope this helps.

After the 10.8.5 wifi drops are instantly recovered, unlike previously.

You should not change the drivers.

Apple engineering contact me via email to send Wireless Diagnostics logs post 10.8.5 update; this means they know that the problem is not fixed with this update. But I hope this time they get more debug informations through Wireless Diagnostics tool (probably updated) to finally fix the problem in an upcoming update.

andQlimax -

I too have been contacted by Apple engineering. 

To be clear:  many of us here who understand networking know that the driver contained in the 1.0 Software Update and in 10.8.5 generally prevents the disconnects that some MBA owners were having... that is not the issue that many of us are now complaining about.  Rather, that the fix which Apple released is causing a severe and persistent latency issue between our MBA and the local router. 

So folks know, I have submitted a detailed report and diagnostics to Apple engineering about the latency bug, while running a virgin 10.8.5 install (no rolled back driver). 

Hopefully this will be resolved shortly.

Today I enrolled at university. I'm seriously running out of time as to whether I will get an Air. The alternative is an 21" iMac but obviously they cost a lot more. I just don't know what to do? I really do not want to go back to Using a PC.

Just did a CCC of MBA 10.8.4 with Apple Patch 1.0

Here WERE the ping results then , MBA Haswell 1.3, 8 GB , 256 SSD with patch 1.0. Getting ping test min 1.476, avg 2.269, max 5.082 and stdev 0.097. BCM 43xx 1.0 (6.30.223.35)

AND NOW

min 2.397, avg 39.696, max 88.653 and stddev 29.714 BCM 43xx 1.0 (6.30.225.29.1)

Same MBA but 10.8.5 to same router running 2.4 Ghz N only. really big difference

Pierre

@headcase

What you probably didn't get is that the wifi drop still exist!

That my main problem, together with every one here.. Fir the pingdelay open an oth er thread.

I don't care a f**k about delay until my wifi randomly disconnect! This is the top issue.

When my wifi will be stable after, hopefully a fix, then we can talk about ping..

We all waiting a fix for wifi still randomly disconnect!!!

Andqlimax. (Sorry to all for being so insistent about this). Please, could you post the machine's build wrek?

Thank you

andQlimax -

I didn't state that the disconnect issue is solved for everyone.  Rather, to that very point of the posts on the last 10-15 pages and my summary recommendations I made on page 99, it appears (albeit speculative) that those MBAs suffering WiFi disconnects is primarily based on connecting to some older generation routers and APs with specific radio chipsets.  Which is why I made some recommendations for those users of older networking equipment on the benefits of upgrading their router if they were experiencing the disconnects.  And to that very point, Apple engineering is looking into what router models and the firmware used for those experiencing the disconnects. 

Lastly, even though the fix that Apple provided in the 1.0 Software Update has resolved the disconnect issue for some users (reflected on this thread and elsewhere), it is clear that the updated drivers contain a persistent latency bug that impacts most users when connected, irrespective of radio type (AC, N, G) or frequency band.

pietrodelta7 -

I'd suggest letting Apple engineering gather the data from individual users on their device build and network configs, as they appear to be doing that now.