Macbook problems connecting to wireless

Hey, my name is Steve and I have to admit that althought I love my macbook, I know nothing about it or any opther coputers for that matter.

So, hopefully someone will be able to help me out with a problem I am having, using normal not-too-technical english. ;D

So here's my problem...

I got a macbook about a year ago...maybe a bit longer. It has worked great for most of that time EXCEPT that about 2 months agop it started acting weird.

When I turn it on, it automatically connects to my wireless network, which I like. But lately, I get disconnected withing 2-5 minutes of turning on the computer. When I look at my airport, it says "lynksis connected" and it shows a strong signal.

To get the internet to work again, I have to turn the airport off and then turn it back on. It then does the same thing. Works for a couple of minutes, then the connection drops, yet it says I am connected and that the signal is good to excelent.

I have a second laptop that I rarely use, but when I DO use it, the connection works just perfect. Never drops.

So, keeping that in mind, I am assuming that the problem is my computer, NOT the router. Right?

If anyone could tell me what to do about this problem, I'd be very happy!

Thanks in advance!

Steve

i have a similar problem...

it will lose and gain a connection within like 5 second intervals, so i will sign on and off, on, off, on, off, (zero bars, full signal) etc. not all the time, though.

no solutions, though. i will pay attention to this thread

steve2,

Sounds like your Airport card may be giving up. Give Apple a call and ask them about this. If you're not covered you could still call and ask and see what they say, then go to http://www.ifixit.com/ Their Airport cards for Macbook seem to run from $80 (used) to $109 (new) and they include instructions on how to change them.

Perhaps someone else on here has a better solution, so don't take your machine apart yet

Noel

I get the same problem

It is so good to see that I am not alone!

I have been pulling my hair out trying to solve the same problem. Basically the wireless network has 5 bars but gets dropping the connection or going very slow. If I turn it off and the back on again it works fine for 5 mins.

I will go to the Mac store and see if they can replace it.

Thanks

n

Mine never gets back on by itself. I HAVE to turn the airport off and then turn it on again. And withing 2 minutes I get disconnected again.

I have purchased a 3-year warranty from Future Shop. Hopefully they will be able to help me out. From passed experience, their customer service sucks and they always try to find a reason why they should not have to fix a product under warranty.

I assume that 3 year warranty is not Apple Care? Cause if it is, you don't need to go back to them, go directly to Apple.

Yeah, HAD I KNOWN, I would have pruchassed directly from Apple and bought THEIR warranty. But I bought it from Future shop and I got their warranty.

I think I paid $350-$400 for this warranty and last time something broke on my computer(the plug wire thing to charge the battery), they found a way not to honour the warranty!

Luckily for me, I called apple and after a 3 hour convo on the phone, they sent me a free replacement plug.

Anyway, I'm gonna try FS first and then we'll see.

Until then, if anyone knows a quick fix for this problem, let me know!

steve_2 said:

Yeah, HAD I KNOWN, I would have pruchassed directly from Apple and bought THEIR warranty. But I bought it from Future shop and I got their warranty.

I think I paid $350-$400 for this warranty and last time something broke on my computer(the plug wire thing to charge the battery), they found a way not to honour the warranty!

Luckily for me, I called apple and after a 3 hour convo on the phone, they sent me a free replacement plug.

Anyway, I'm gonna try FS first and then we'll see.

Until then, if anyone knows a quick fix for this problem, let me know!

Click to expand...

There are tons of people who are having this same problem. TONS!!! I went to Apple's official website and checked out their discussion board and there are tons of threads describing this same problem. No one seems to have an answer for it. I posted a similar thread. This is the gist of my thread I posted over there.

Originally, all I had was a Linksys Wireless-B Broadband Router (model BEFW11S4) that was connected to my cable modem. Well, I recently I made a few new purchases. I purchased a brand new Macbook black and I also purchased a new router, a Linksys Wireless-N Broadband Router (model WRT160N). I decided to experiment with networking since I had two routers now. First let me tell you how it's hooked up.

The cable modem is in my bedroom. I have the new router hooked up to the cable modem. I took my old router and put it in the living room. I have the old router connected to my new router via an Ethernet cable. I also have DHCP disabled on the old router because I'm using my new router as the primary router. I have the new Macbook black in my bedroom and my old Macbook, which is also a Macbook black that I purchased last May, in the living room.

Here is where the problem lies. When I connect to my primary router, the N router, it connects. However, while surfing the Internet, all of a sudden I lose Internet connectivity, although the Airport indication at the top still shows 5 bars. When I disconnect from that router and connect to my secondary router, the B router, I have no problems whatsoever. I don’t lose Internet connectivity. When I connect my new Macbook to the N router via an Ethernet cable, I have no problems. Funny thing is, on my other Macbook, it has no problems when connected to either router. Even when connected to the N router wirelessly, it doesn’t lose Internet connectivity.

So the question is, is there something wrong with my brand new Macbook that’s causing this problem or is it the router? All I know is that something is wrong when both are able to connect to the B router wirelessly with no problem, but my new one has problems when connected to the N router wirelessly while the old one doesn’t have this problem.

When I turn off Airport and turn it back on, I have my internet connectivity again. But then later it ends up dropping again. But all I have to do is turn it off and on to regain it.

----later post-----
I just noticed something. My old Macbook has Leopard 10.5.3 while my new one has 10.5.4 I'm thinking it may have something to do with 10.5.4. Something in this update is cause this computer to lose wireless internet connectivity intermittently with my N router but has no wireless internet connectivity problems with my B router.

For those of you who who have two routers that are different standards, i.e N and G or N and B, and that also have 10.5.4, are you guys also having internet connection problems only with your N router and not your other router?
-------------------

Well anyways, later I found out in one of the old threads that this has been happening with previous updates as well. So now I'm beginning to wonder is something wrong with my airport card.

jwashington,

You may be right about the latest OS X update. I had NO connectivity problems with 10.5.3 at all. Then along came 10.5.4 and I am losing my Airport from time to time... so maybe it is 10.5.4. It reconnects when I re-open it, but it is a pain to have to do that.

As for your problem, you can't tell when you have 2 new components in a system. You just have to eliminate one to check the other...

Like you suggest, it could be the airport card, but usually those devices are pretty reliable.

If you find the answer, please let us know.

Noel

HI all,
Had this same problem with my iMac a while ago. Sometimes there are different 802.11 devices interferring with the signal. first of all, routers do not last forever. Because most of us leave them on 24/7, they do not always last as long. i just replaced my Linksys after less then a year. Now that I have the new router, I was able to get back on. However, every once in a while I was getting knocked off. turns out, cordless phones also operate on 802.11. Everytime the phone rang or someone got on, it was knocking me off of the internet. I chatted on line with linksys (plugging directly into my cable modem) and they walked me through how to change a few settings in the router that would change my router to a different channel. Once I did this, I have not had the same problem since.

dean

I had the same problem about 12 months ago..

I was using a D-link ADSL 4 port wireless router (DSL-604T I believe) I had my macbook and my brothers dell laptop running off it. Mine would always loose the conenction it would say that it's connected with 5 bars but I couldn't access anything..

I reset everything and re installed everything stacks of time until I got the ***** with it and went and bought an adsl modem ($100AUD) and apple express for ($120AUD) to send out my wireless signal. From that day on I have never had a problem. (Currently I am using the same modem I bought for $100AUD but have upgraded to an Airport Extreme. No problems at all).

Must have been something wrong with the way that the macbook would talk to the d-link router.

The router is still fine I sold it to a mate and he uses his windows based laptop off it everyday without a problem..

Do yo have a firend with a wireless setup that you could go and test your macbook on?

I guess that would be a good thing to try. Thanks.

Steve

Well guys, last week, I had taken my MacBook in to have the air port card replaced and now the problem has gotten even worse.

MacBook pro wireless quandary

My MacBook pro is about two years old. Connecting to wireless at home is like dial up. It began about six months ago. Before that, everything was fine.

My son has a brand new MacBook pro that is lightning fast. Likewise, my daughter's MacBook and my wife's three-year old Dell, plus our Tivo and my iPhone, all connect just fine.

It's only MY MacBook that does not work well. It's fine on other wireless networks. HELP! Anyone!

Same issue - Router Ok

Hi All, I keep suffering from the same, AirPort will only occasionally join my network successfully and dump it for no reason. Other PC and iPhone at home work great, I suspect some problem with AirPort or a keychain issue.

Any thoughts?

My issue is very similar. I bought my Macbook Pro back in April and the internet worked fine for about 2 months and then I think maybe one of two things happened; I bought 2 wireless adaptors for my two Xbox 360's and move my router from in my room upstairs to downstairs near the phone and door. The second thing that might have happened was an Apple update for my hardware. Either way, I believe one of these two effected my wireless connection. It seems to break when I am asking a lot from the connection (streaming video, loading a page with lots of images, or playing an online game on my macbook) and I think some along the route loses the data that is being sent, blocking my signal.

I used to be able to fix this by first just reselecting my router from the list. Then I had to restart airport. Now I have to restart my macbook.

So maybe it could be a hardware issue. Not sure.

UPDATE: Just upgraded my router for the first and so far so good on no disconnects. Obviously it needed upgrading, but time will tell whether that was the cause.

BTW: it feels more 'snappy' now, loading pages up quicker... so maybe that is a sign?

Hey everyone, I am experiencing all of the same issues that everyone has posted about with my MacBook. My internet is deathly slow and my roomate, who has a Dell, his internet is just fine. I was wondering what action any of you have taken that worked? I went to the apple store to have them look at it, and of course it worked fine there.

Thanks!

Have you tried changing the channel that your wireless transmits on? I know that if 2 networks on the same channel (say 8 for the sake of it) they will interfear with each other.

Try getting hold of net stumbler (I think nstumbler is the mac version) and it will tell you what networks are around and what channels they transmit on. Try changing to a clear channel and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks! my only issue is that its not just on my wireless internet, its every wireless internet, except for at the apple store.

Thank you so much!

Sort of solution

I've had this situation and after many many changes i've found a solution... sort of. If possible, changing your password security to WPA2 only has kept my connection constantly secure and if you use an N router (I'm use an airport extreme router) set it to N only. It's pretty annoying but if you're a constant user of the internet like me it's one of the only ways to keep a consistent connection.
Having a xbox too I decided to use a wired connection, it seems that would be the only way for a good internet connection for both wireless on my laptop and constant gaming from my xbox.
Hope this helps, and if it doesn't, sorry ^^;