Airport Nightmare!

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Can anybody help out there please!!
I have an Imac (model 8,1) I absolutely love it although there is one problem...
I am on a wireless home network and I connect to the net via a router. I connect to the net fine during the day with no problems and a very strong signal, after about 6 o'clock the signal keeps dropping off and I have to Turn off airport then turn it back on in order to regain my internet. this is really annoying and happens every few mins. My MacBook Pro is sitting next to it with no problem what so ever.
Does anyone have any ideas... or know of anything that may cause this before I rip my hair out!! :Shouting:
Thank you!!!!
 
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Has it been stormy because my airport didn't work for awhile but turns out it was because my house got hit by lightning.

Or make sure there is no updates for airport.
 
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The Airport card in the iMac may be going bad. Almost sounds like a heat issue the longer the machine runs.

Test this: Turn the machine off for the day and then turn it on in the evening when the signal starts to degrade. That way the machine will be cool and won't have had time to degrade. Alternately, you could just turn Airport off during the day and then back on in the evening but that might not show any change.
 
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Agree about heat possibility.

WiFi is subject to local interference from appliances, etc. Is the equipment close to anything else that gets turned on at night? A friend of mine with a problem similar to yours discovered that his AM/FM radio was the cause. Even a desk lamp might be the culprit.
 
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Wait is it bad if I leave my airport on all day?
 
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Hi everyone, thanks for the suggestions!
Its been happening now for.. at least 5 months, so i dont think that the weather is anything to do with it (although with the rubbish English weather who knows ;D)
As far as i know nothing is giving off any electromagnetic or RF interference as there is nothing on during the evening that is not on during the day.
I think the most possible explanation is heat... I shall check it tonight as Iv not been using it today and see.
If it is.. is there anything I can do to prevent the overheating??
Again thank your for all the replies!
 

dtravis7


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Do keep us posted on what you find out.
 
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Can it really overheat my airport is on all day. Mind you it is in the coldest room in my house and its almost December in Canada.
 
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Can it really overheat my airport is on all day. Mind you it is in the coldest room in my house and its almost December in Canada.
Iv been looking around and apparently yes it can overheat :( think Apple may have... well made a slip up with that. Im going to do a good old testing session later on so I'll let you know.
Think you should be ok leaving it on though, are you having problems then?
 
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No I have only ever had a problem once but my house was hit with lightning.
 
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Do keep us posted on what you find out.
Well here is the update...
Its the first time I have booted up today and.. well its evening (early morning) and the there doesn't seem to be a problem... Im think im going to do some proper controlled tests and see what happens, I'll post again and let (anyone who is interested) know what happens... this is really frustrating!
 
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Well after not that long on its happening again!!! keeps dropping off then after an airport restart its fine again for about 10 mins..
 
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OK, so I have tested it at night from a fresh start up, signal drops off. I have tested it in the morning and the signal stays on. As dusk approaches the signal dropped off so I moved my Mac and everything was fine, so it has to be interference from something. The only thing i can put my finger on is a street light... its pretty close. does anyone know if this may have an effect?
 
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Well considering the time it goes out the street light may be the problem. Im not sure if they can interfere with it but it does seem logical to me.

Glad to hear you got it working again.

I have had problems with my PS3 finding wireless in my house in certain rooms where my mac finds it easy anyone know why that would be?
 
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Well at a guess I recon its the problem I have, My PC and MBP sits next to my IMac they are both fine where as the Mac (as we know) has a problem.
I recon its just different wireless adapters suffer from different interference, out of interest do you have dimmer switches in the rooms that the PS3 has problems in.
And may I just say i think Canada is a beautiful country :)
 
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I don't have any dimmer switching in that room no. My PS3 is next to my satellite receiver come to think of it. that might be the problem.

Thank you I love living in Canada. I have never been to the UK but I have always wanted to.
 
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That might be the problem then... The reason I mention dimmer switches is that I know that they give off a lot of interference on my musical equipment, thought it might apply to Wireless.
 

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I had the same issue at home. I thought it was a heat issue. Then I reconfigured the wireless with network utility (an application, not in preferences). After that it worked fine ever since. Hope that helps. (it is hard though to configure your wireless correctly with network assistant)

- Lex
 
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My satellite remote does make an annoying noise come out of my radio when pressing buttons on the remote.
 
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Microwave ovens are notorious for causing interference. Are you near one?

Also, will your Airport Extreme allow you to select Dual/Single band operation, and or change the frequency? Check that and try whatever options you have.
 

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