Dropping Wifi and continually asked to run Network Diagnostics

[icollectglass]

I unboxed my new MBP (15" 2.53GHZ) yesterday and ran all the Software Updates. Within two hours, my wifi connection dropped, and I was asked to run Network Diagnostics.

This has happened several times since then, and I keep getting prompted to rerun the Network Diagnostics. The process is painful! I keep getting dropped now every couple of hours, and need to reinput my wifi password again.

I'm getting sick over this now, because my 4 year old iMac has never had problems connecting to the Wifi or dropped connections! We have a Dell laptop, Windows XP PC, Wii, and PS3 that are connected without problems.

I also deleted and reinput the Wifi keychain in the Keychain Access Utility. My airport settings is
"remember networks this computer has joined".

Is this a hardware issue? I refuse to tweek my router at this point. Is there something else I should be doing with Airport?

This was a Mothers Day gift and really worried now that there's a hardware issue with this MBP.

 

[DaFlake]

Just curious, but what security are you using, WEP or WPA2?

If WEP, you may want to try upgrading to WPA2 as there have been issues with connections to WEP.

The other thing I would try is to reload the system and see if that resolves the problem. If after all of that, you may very well have a hardware problem.

 

[icollectglass]

I'm using WEP.

I spent two hours on the phone with Apple and it seems my Airport was using a self asigned IP address (169).

We powered down my router (disconnected everything too), and reinstalled the network settings from the bootable CD.

Apple did suggest changing the router channel if this continues, but didn't think WEP was the problem.

The Macbook Pro has been happy since I did this, so just waiting to see how long I can go before it drops the connection again!

My question then -- what caused Airport to assign it's own IP address in the 169 range?

 

[DaFlake]

This is a trait of TCPIP and DHCP. When a DHCP request is sent out and nothing is returned it will self assign a 169 IP address so that the computer can continue to function.

I would get off of WEP and see if that resolves your problem. It should work with WEP but there are a few posts around here that suggest issues. Not sure how much I believe them but it is worth a shot. Besides, WEP is really not secure and takes seconds to crack.

The last ditch effort would be a system reload. It could simply be that something is corrupt and not playing well with others. It would be the first time that I have seen something like this and chasing a ghost is hard to do. Just be sure to backup your data before going this route.