I'm getting a bit annoyed with Leopard (and AirPort too..)

I've had my MBP for about almost a month now. It's a great machine and a good OS, definitely 10x better than my pc.
But.. I've had to shut it down by holding the power button six times by now and just now it even refused to start up. It eventually did, after two tries... and I waited long enough before I tried again.
Second, Airport works pretty bad tbh. I often have no connection or very slow speed when I'm at home and on our wireless network. And it's not the fault of the network because my friend, who also owns a MBP (previous gen), has a perfect connection in our house... It also takes pretty long (about 20-40s) before it connects.

So.. Should I take it back to the store or should I just wait for an update?
Is this normal in any way? I really hope it's not.

p.s. Apart from the few crashes and the connection problems I really like my MBP and Leopard. But I just want it to work without any flaws...

Is your version of Leopard up to date?

Yes it is.

Not properly shutting down and wireless not working...seems like it could be one of two issues. Either the OS has somehow gotten corrupt, or you have a hardware issue.

I would first start with the issue you can fix. Backup everything and do an Erase and Install of Leopard. If you're still having these issues with a fresh install, then it looks like you might have a hardware problem on your hands.

Do you quit all running applications before shutting down? I know you shouldn't have to but on a couple of ocassions I've had Mail.app running and it seems to get stuck - Quit on the Mail menu is greyed out and all the time it's running, the Mac refuses to shut down. Only option is then to do a Force Quit from the system menu to kill it off, at which point the system shuts down ok - so check you haven't got some rogue application running that's causing the shutdown problem.

Wonder also if it's worth downloading Onyx (freeware) and letting it do it's S.M.A.R.T status check and it's Startup Volume check, just to make sure things are ok?


The WiFi problem is a bit more tricky as it can be erratic for apparently no reason. Could be that you're getting interference and that your friends (older) MacBook is better at handling it. Wonder if it's worth trying to change channels on your wireless router to see if it helps?

Might save you a trip back to the store - good luck ;D

What security do you have on your router? Is the router's firmware up to date?

Sometimes it's best to do a full reset back to factory settings on the router.

I think an erase and reinstall of Leopard should be the last thing to try.

Sennec, I agree with Kash. OS problem or Airport problem.

Once in awhile the original install does go bad from any PC manufacturer and would think that Apple would be no different in this regard.

I have a MBP that has had Airport issues that have all been resolved by Software Updates. My issues were known and documented by Apple, so I didn't return it. I wish I had, even though it's working great now. Would have saved a lot of frustration.

Have not seen the same #'s of this issue being reported with your model.
Personally recommend taking it back. However, it could be worth the effort of a re-install. It'll take less than an hour. And then experiment with it before you do a bunch of other stuff on it. The first KP you have after a fresh install, back to the store with it.

FWIW, establishing the wireless connection from sleep or startup does take a few seconds. One thing I had to do was update the firmware on my wireless modem.

I've had some issues too with wireless and Leopard, although nothing too major, a reboot always reconnects the connection without issue. I've always attributed it to the fact my AP doesn't broadcast the SSID.