Wifi hangs and crashes Airport

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Level 1

4 points

Wifi hangs and crashes Airport

Grateful for any help with this!

I'm using a 2011 Macbook Pro running Snow Leopard 10.6.8.

Over the last week or so, my wifi has developed a strange habit. I haven't managed to find anyone else's experience which quite matches it.

Two or three times a day, when I'm working on a wifi network (either at home or elsewhere), the connection will stop working. The wifi icon in the menu bar will still show that I'm connected (four bars of strength), but when I click on the icon to view the menu, it will list networks (including the one I was using) but not show that I'm connected to any. If I try using the menu to reconnect to the network I was on, it will act as if it's forgotten the password; if I enter the password, it will give me endless 'connection timeout' messages and never reconnect. So far, so not so strange, and usually at this stage I'd just toggle the Airport off and on again. When I do this (selecting 'Turn Airport Off') from the menu, the wifi turns off (icon turns to empty quadrant); BUT when I select 'Turn Airport On') afterwards, nothing happens. The icon stays empty, the menu doesn't change. Using Network Preferences to try and turn the wifi on makes no difference. At this point, the only way I can get it to work is to restart the computer.

Obviously it's irritating to have to restart the computer several times a day just to use the internet. I've tried doing the Control-Option-P-R reboot which has certainly speeded up my computer a bit (web pages load quicker!) but hasn't solved the original problem. I'd appreciate any ideas of what I might try next.

Thanks

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Mar 8, 2014 11:35 PM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

Level 10

684,015 points

Mar 9, 2014 7:47 AM in response to amgriffiths

Troubleshooting Wi-Fi issues in OS X

Wireless Connection Problems - Fix

Wireless Connection Problems - Fix (2)

Wireless Connection Problems - Fix (3)

Wireless Connection Problems - Fix (4)

Wireless Diagnostics - About

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Answer 2

amgriffiths Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 9, 2014 2:07 PM in response to Eric Root

Many thanks for your response. I've looked through these articles and tried the things which look like they might apply (short of reinstalling the OS, which scares me), but the problem persists.

The bit that I think is unusual, and which I've not been able to find information about despite googling for several hours, is this business about being unable to turn wifi back on again once I turn it off, without restarting the machine.

The wifi failings are becoming more frequent; I just suffered several within a fifteen minute period.

Grateful for any furthe help.

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Answer 3

amgriffiths Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 9, 2014 2:37 PM in response to amgriffiths

PS: my problem looks awfully like this:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2552491?answerId=12469342022#12469342022

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Answer 4

Eric Root

Level 10

684,015 points

Mar 10, 2014 8:55 AM in response to amgriffiths

Did you try setting up a new admin account and testing there?

If you live near an Apple Store, make a Genius Bar appointment to have the computer tested. Supposedly there is no charge for testing.

Genius Bar Reservation US

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Answer 5

amgriffiths Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 10, 2014 2:30 PM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric

Thanks for your continued help. I had tried running in Safe mode (as my normal user) and found the problem there too, but a new Admin account currently seems stable. I'll continue to use it over the next few days and see how it gets on.

Could you tell me how I would go about transferring all my data between user accounts, if this turns out to be the solution? Is it simply a question of moving everything into the 'Shared' folder, and then populating the new account from there? Am I likely to encounter permissions issues? Obviously I don't want to do anything that will replicate the problem in the new account.

Thanks

Andrew

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Answer 6

amgriffiths Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 10, 2014 2:54 PM in response to amgriffiths

One more thought: do you think it's worth upgrading to Mavericks as a possible fix?

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Answer 7

Eric Root

Level 10

684,015 points

Mar 11, 2014 6:52 AM in response to amgriffiths

Is it simply a question of moving everything into the 'Shared' folder, and then populating the new account from there? Am I likely to encounter permissions issues?

That is how it is normally done or you can put the items in the Public folder of the new account. You might encounter some permission errors.

Based on what most posters recommend, it is normally better to resolve the problem and then upgrade. Some problems get carried forward.

If you like to see if it would be better using Mavericks, one option is to create a new partition (~30- 50 GB), install Mavericks, and ‘test drive’ it.

Check to make sure your applications are compatible. PowerPC applications are no longer supported after 10.6.

Application Compatibility

Applications Compatibility (2)

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Answer 8

amgriffiths Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 26, 2014 8:57 AM in response to amgriffiths

Updating for the sake of any who have this problem in the future and find my thread:

I took the computer to the Genius bar. They ran diagnostics and determined that my Airport card was OK - but then when they rebooted, it wasn't found. After reseating the card, the computer worked for a couple of days, but it failed again.

The Apple Store then replaced the cable which serves the Airport card, which was apparently showing signs of wear. They weren't sure that it would solve the problem, and didn't charge labour since they thought I might well be back for a new Airport card shortly. But I've had no problems in the week-and-a-half since that repair was made, so I'm considering the matter solved.

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