Airport connection woes... do I need to reinstall?

[klaid]

I got a new Macbook Pro two weeks ago, my first Mac. So please bear with me; I have no idea how to troubleshoot these things.

I have a Netopia home DSL wireless base station. From the first day my MBP connected to it perfectly. Two weeks later (yesterday), after I downloaded my OSX Tiger updates, I stopped being able to connect to my base station. I can connect to all other wireless networks, and all my other computers can connect to my base station (my linux box and my win2000 notebook). But my MBP cannot connect to the base station.

The error is "There was an error joining the AirPort network (my network)"

Here are the things I have tried to get this solved:
- rebooting the AP multiple times
- removing ALL security from the AP
- rebooting my MBP many times
- holding down Ctrl when selecting my network
- Tried running "Network Diagnostics" (it just says i can't connect)
- Created a new location in the network pane of system preferences (many times)
- Removed all my preferred networks from the network pane of system preferences
- Went into Keychain Access and deleted all my Airport keys.
- Removed files in /Users/<me>/Library/Preferences/com.apple.internetcon*
- watching console.log, system.log, for debug output while joining (none)
- using tcpdump to capture traffic on en1 while connecting (no packets)
- used darwin ports utility "airport" to join the wireless network, got:
McKoolaid:~/configs root# airport -J DEADBEEF
airport: Error: -2013261818
(which in hex is the 64 bit value 0xFFFFFFFF88001006 ... developers??)
-error is repeatable. Error code 0x88001006 is apparently some
WirelessAssosciate error.

At the end of it all, I still can't connect to my network, but I can connect
to everything else, and any computer on the planet can connect to my AP but
me. And it all worked until last night's update.

The funny thing is I bought a Mac because my friends told me it was easy
to use, and this is easily the most time I've ever spent debugging a
wireless connection in my life. So far everyone I've asked has told me
to wipe my hard drive and reinstall Tiger. Any ideas before I do it?

any help would be really appreciated!

 

[klaid]

Oh, I found something

from google code search:

http://www.google.com/codesearch?hl...upplicant/src/wireless/macosx/Apple80211.h#a0

airpInternal2Err = -2013261818, /* 0x88001006 */

wow that really clears it up. yay! what's wrong with my MBP?

 

[dtravis7]

on my ibook just a while ago after the 10.4.9 update went in, it would not join my Netgear AP. Tried it a 2nd time and it was fine. Not sure what is going on with your setup but will do some searching and get back to you if I find anything! Strange problem.

So far I have tried WEP, WPA and WPA2 on Linksys and Dlink and Netgear routers on 4 Macs both Intel and PPC all with the latest update and all connect. Searching the net.

 

[dtravis7]

Only thing I found was with some system Airport would get messed up if a certain update was already installed before running the 10.4.9 update. I am not sure if that is your issue but I can not duplicate it on this end. That would mean a reinstall if that was the case. If it does come to that, do an Archive and Install from the install DVD and it will keep all your settings and wall paper and whatever. Still looking. Nothing else so far.

 

[klaid]

Thanks for the heads up

I didn't know that about the data retention reinstall, thank you.

When you mentioned the 10.4.9 update I went to updates and found I hadn't installed it yet! So I just downloaded, installed, and rebooted. I still get the same issue with the same symptoms unfortunately. I also tried changing the channel on my wireless access point - no dice.

I'm really curious as to what has gone wrong. The engineer in me wants to know.

 

[traded]

I also have inexplicable wireless connectivity problems with my MBP C2D. I have all but given up on getting it to work right. I use my neighbors connection since my laptop has so much trouble with my netgear wireless router.
I feel you pain klaid.
-d

 

[KNEE]

air port

I had the same problem after the update, just go and check your router, see if there is a new firmware for it. I got my router updated to the new firmware and now my wifi works great.