Airport in laptop issues.

I have a 2.26ghz, 2 gb MB Pro running OSX 10.6.6. Whenever I start, restart, wake my laptop, or change from one type of connection to another I get a network error stating:

Network connection
Your connection failed because the cummunication device is unavailable. Make sure it's connected to your computer and try reconnecting.

I get this several times after clicking OK. This happens whether or not Airport is turned on, whether or not a direct Ethernet cable is attached, and whether or not I have my USB air card attached. I get this error even while downloading mail or viewing the internet, so sometimes I do have a connection even when it says I don't.

It is annoying to the extreme and I am having difficulty connection reliable you wireless networks or with my air card. I don't know if this is a hardware or software issue. I have not knowingly made any changes and everything has worked fine for 18 months up until now. Any suggestions?

I have a 2.26ghz, 2 gb MB Pro running OSX 10.6.6. Whenever I start, restart, wake my laptop, or change from one type of connection to another I get a network error stating:

Network connection
Your connection failed because the cummunication device is unavailable. Make sure it's connected to your computer and try reconnecting.

I get this several times after clicking OK. This happens whether or not Airport is turned on, whether or not a direct Ethernet cable is attached, and whether or not I have my USB air card attached. I get this error even while downloading mail or viewing the internet, so sometimes I do have a connection even when it says I don't.

It is annoying to the extreme and I am having difficulty connection reliable you wireless networks or with my air card. I don't know if this is a hardware or software issue. I have not knowingly made any changes and everything has worked fine for 18 months up until now. Any suggestions?

Try repairing your disk and permissions, it could be a permission issue.
To do this boot into your SL DVD,
At the top go to Utilities > Disk Utility,
Click your HDD from the list on the left,
Click the First Aid tab,
Click Repair Disk,
Once done click Repair Disk Permissions.

This could take a while so be patient with it.
Once complete reboot your MBP and see if the problem persists.

Post back with the results.

Hope this helps

- Simon

I realise that you have posted in two different forums, for future reference please try not to cross-post

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/apple-notebooks/229164-airport-laptop-issues.html

- Simon

I'm trying as we speak. I'll try the computer for a while and report when I'm satisfied that this has or has not helped. I should have thought to try repairing disk permissions. Thanks for the suggestion and I'll give you feedback.

No problem, keep us updated

- Simon

OK, sorry. Which would you suggest I use first if I'm not sure whether it's HW or SW?

Please do not cross post! It only causes confusion and clutters the forums with needless posts. Always post to the appropriate forum and always back to the same thread. Your posts have been merged together.

One of the default settings Apple has is the priority order of network devices. For some reason, they always list Bluetooth above Airport and Ethernet. Since it has highest priority, your network requests will sometimes try to route via Bluetooth, hit a brick wall, report an error, and then fall back to Airport or Ethernet. The solution here is to open your Network preference, click the gear icon at the bottom of the window, and select Set Service Order. Drag Bluetooth to the bottom of the list, and typically I make Ethernet first, Airport second and everything else falls in line after that. This will ensure your Mac always selects the fastest available network connection first. It could be something like your time server trying to check in throwing that error when you wake from sleep or reboot.