Q: New Macbook Air - wifi connectivity problems

Update 2: Got the new-new machine migrated from my 13" MBP and the wifi issue is not resolved with replacement. I really didn't think it would.

Obviously, a software/firmware issue.

While at the Apple Store in GCS, I checked the type of wifi they were running and it was 802.11a/n NOT a/c and the unit I took in to replace worked fine.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my office WAP's are 802.11a/g with plain WPA and the MBA exhibits the dropped connection issue.

I don't travel that much with my laptop, and I have a 802.11a/n router at home so I don't anticipate any issues. If I do, I'll just keep returning them. So, it's not a huge issue for me, but I can empathise with those who are majorly affected.

My guess is Apple will release a fix within the next week or so.

wifiguru wrote:

 

Maliath, look at my last post. I have the Asus RT 16 working w.o issues. What dd-wrt firmware version are you using ? Try the one I have. And use WPA2 Personal with AES. Folks here seem to have success with it.

I don't remember what exact build I had of DD-WRT before I flashed it to Tomato, but I may try DD-WRT. Although, I'm probably just going to return the Macbook Air when I get a chance. Thanks wifiguru.

Update.  I was called by an Apple engineer, who did a great job of handholding me through the diagnostics and had me monitor the wi-fi connection.  I forwared the files the diagnostics created, including one when the connection was dropped.  He got the information about my router a Netgear Wireless N300, Model WNR2000v2.  He had me change it from WPA to WPA2 and asked to continue to monitor the connection, which I did all day yesterday and I did not have another disconnect.  So my use at home is solved, but I do have the concern that when I travel, which we do a lot, I will still have this problem when I am connecting to routers that I have no control over.  The engineer has assured me that Apple will solve the problem, but when and even if Apple  does come out with a solution he cannot tell me.  I am saddened that Apple has not publicly acknowledged that there is an issue and provide us new owners of MBA's with the assurance that this problem will get solved.  Thus while I can still return this new computer, I am going to do so as I do not wish to continue to have to deal with this problem.  If anyone has any better information about what Apple is doing to solve this problem, please post it.

yes Im in the apple store as I write this .. There was another person who was in just before with a simliar problem. They were unable to reproduce the problem as I suspected because I bet they tested it on the typical apple store routers.

I am considering returning this MBA as I will be needing a working notebook for traveling abroad and unless there is some sort of annoucement that this is a problem and they are working on a fix I will probably return the macbook air.

Its a shame as I really liked the idea of a 12 hour run time

Maliath wrote:

 

I paid $1800 for a computer that can't even transfer a 1GB file over a network without crashing. I'm returning this piece of junk. It's quite clear that no one even bothered to test the computer before they shipped it worldwide.

Interesting, I think that you're the first person I've seen in this thread mentioning an outright crash...

I got my new Air last week and have had 1–5 hard crashes a day. When I say hard crash, I mean that the screen freezes completely, not a kernel panic. Thus, no KP logs have been generated.

Last time I had hard crash problems, two computers ago, it was caused by bad memory. However, I've run memtest on the new Air from single user mode, overnight, twice, and it has passed each time. So I doubt that it's the memory.

While most of the hard crashes seem random, the one way cause that I've been able to reproduce (sometimes) has been large file transfers by WiFi, like Maliath mentions. Thus, I'm wondering if my issue is related to the same WiFi problems experienced by others. Perhaps my system is bombing instead of merely losing the connection. I haven't had a mere connection loss.

I have an appointment at the Apple Store tonight, so I'll be curious to hear what they say. In the meantime, I'm wondering if anyone other than Maliath and me has experienced repeated hard crashes, and whether it correlates to any particular WiFi activity.

Mine has neither crashed nor do I still have WiFi issues at the moment. At work, once I cchnaged to AES on our route all had been working find and stable so far. At home all is stable too. Till now I had not a single"crash" or freeze. All is working as it should and hopefully stays this way too. I have the 13' i7 1.7 with 8Gig and 256 gig ssd.

I have not had this problem ( as of yet ) but do have a look at this link. It sound like your problem.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/06/24/apples-os-x-mountain-lion-reportedly-h indering-macbook-air-80211ac-speeds

Pierre

You should all check this out:

http://9to5mac.com/2013/06/24/apple-investigating-new-macbook-air-wifi-issues-so me-customers-receiving-replacements/

Same here

My 13" Air just got delivered today
connection seemed to work fine when configuring osx but when opening safari it fails, says it's connected but it cannot access the internet, after a full reboot or wifi reset it works for like 10-30 seconds tops and then fails again, haven't tied most of the fixes they mention here so I'll come back when I do.

I have two ipads , an iphone 5, and also two windows laptops all working fine whith the network so no doubt it's something in the mac

After I thought about it, my roommate did in fact upgrade our router firmware (Linkysys WRT54G router), but he also swtiched the security to WPA2 from WPA.  I saw someone else mentioned they made this particular change as well, so I realized that might actually have been the fix for the issue.

I have a new 13" AIR, works fine at home under newly purchased Airport Extreme connection (also worked fine under older 5th gen Airport extreme too before replacing it last week),

BUT since the Air is meant to be a portable unit that you can and should pack anywhere at mom and pop stores wifi , starbucks etc etc wifi...Ive traveled around town ALL DAY today trying to get my AIR to fail

namely doing large file transfers and 1080P vid watching (as many report errors with).

So far Ive been connected to 12 wifi networks,... , what i call "low grade" wifi networks, and mall networks, JCpenny, 2 diff starbucks, and lexington tea and coffee shop, AE outfitters wifi..... etc etc.

Ive yet to (and trying to max it out by video and downloading PDFs) be able to cause ANY disconnect.

So, as to this being a "universal problem" with the new AIR, that doesnt seem to be the case at all, since im forcing it to fail at diff. wifi spots, but cannot.

Since im nearing my 14 day return period, i wanted to make sure my AIR would communicate at "junk" wifi hotspots around town.

PV !

No one has said that this is an "universal problem." You are one of a vast majority who doesn't have the problem. But still is was a good idea to give it a good trial.

That would be a joke if you would go back to the store and tell them ---" it does not fail, give me one with the problem please!"

Enjoy your new AIR! It is a fabulous machine.

Hi! My MBA arrived today (13", i7, 8Gb, 256Gb).

I have been running it for 5 hours running a variety of WiFi intensive tasks (downloading and uploading 1Gb file, streaming video, email, looking at websites with lots of tabs open, downloading the programmes I like  - cyberduck, textmate, chrome).

Speedtest.net gives me 101Mbs download and 4.7Mbs upload speeds to the internet. The download speed is DOUBLE what I usually get at this time of day in the UK on my 120Mb cable (Virgin Media).

Network Utility reports WiFi @ 1Gbit/s on 5Ghz and 144Mbit/s on 2.4Ghz connections to my home routers.

I don't have iPerf 3 set up - sorry.

My routers are both brand new 802.11 ac dual band.  That's:- 802.11n @ 2.4Ghz & 802.11ac @ 5Ghz. All on WPA2 personal. I have not changed the firmware from new on either router.

One router is a Lynksys EA6500, the other is a Netgear R6300. Both boast 450Mbps + 1300 Mbps on a good day with a following wind!

AND, in 5 hours, I have had no WiFi drops of any kind at all........

So, my shiny new MBA which starts from cold in 9 seconds after a software update (Sunday's latest) and instantly from sleep is delivering internet performance the like of which I have not experienced before at home. There is no doubt this hardware playes very nicely with the new (unratified) 802.11 ac WiFi standard.  This is in keeping with virtually all the posts heres, for example when tested at the Apple Genius bar or with the purchase of the latest Airport or TimeMachine with 802.11 ac connectivity.

That's the good news....

Before you get too irritated with my luck (and empty purse), the bad news is that it will be a different story for me tomorrow when I go out to work with my MBA, go to the Gym with my MBA and go to the coffee shop with it.....

Following that lot (during which my BMA will be a pain), I'll go on to my prebooked Genius appointment and ask how long I can keep this particular box before returning it for a refund to buy a Viao........

1: I have a 13' '  macbook air, 8gb, 256gb model and have had similar problems like the rest here.

2: It's not a USA only problem since i'm from Holland and encounter the same problem.

3: What works: Changing the router from WPA to WPA2 seems to solve the issue, at least at home... Fingers crossed. Hope they will come with a fix ASAP.

I had been running WPA2 and still had issues at one point, I wonder if he changed from tkip to aes encryption.

I heard that may be a possible 'solution', but that of course won't help when you are on a network you do not control.