Airport Problems : All Intel Models Affected.

[Kingsly]

Is this a hardware issue? If so, I guess people were right about Rev A machines always having some sort of problem . . .

Sounds like a software issue, as Intel has released a Windows patch that corrects the same problems (for the same wireless card). C'mon Apple!
Kinda on topic: The iBook I'm typing on gets awful reception. It is a G3 500Mhz. The only way to get reception (short of being in the same room as the Airport) is to lift the body of the mac so the keyboard is vertical. Its extremely uncomfortable. I tried re-seating the card to no avail. The mac Genius suggested that I try another card when my other iBook (which gets great reception, but sadly suffered a logic board failure) gets back from repairs. Otherwise I guess its an antenna issue (could it be severed? Pinched?). If it is a faulty Airport card, do you think Apple will replace it?

 

[Aramis]

Is this a hardware issue? If so, I guess people were right about Rev A machines always having some sort of problem . . .

I have used PCs all my life (until now) and normally issues such as this can be resolved via a driver update.

On the Rev A point, my personal take is that Rev A machines have issues, Rev B machines will have a different set of issues, and Rev Z machines will have their own unique set of issues. You have to buy sometime . If the machines have a true hardware issue, Apple will be required to repair them.

 

[coot]

Hi,

I've tried everything to get my connection to stay up and have a healthy ping and download speed to no avail ( swapping routers, various access points ).

I had a Belkin 7050 usb 2 wifi dongle lying about from one of the PC's here and tried that ( after finding some drivers that work... ) and that has now solved my wireless problems, and doesnt spoil the minimalist design in the living room by having cables/bridges hanging out the back of the machine.

Hope a proper fix comes along soon though as I object in having to pay for inbuilt wifi and not being able to use the bloody thing

Right, off to enjoy the mini doing what it was bought to do...

Cheers,

Pete.

 

[ChrisFromCanada]

Confirmed here too.

Intel mini 1.66 Core Duo 1GB CTO. Worked great for the first few hours i had it, now gets horrible reception. It really feels like a software thing.

 

[jsw]

I took my 17" Intellimac off ethernet and got 4.0 Mbps down/1.6 Mbps up.

The mini duo - always wireless - got 3.9 Mbps down/1.7 Mbps up.

The 12" PB gets - from roughly the same position as the mini - 4.9 Mbps down/ 1.8 Mbps up.

So, yes, the tests prove that, for me at least, today, the Intel Macs are slower for downloads (note, though, as the Intelimac is in a different area of the house, and that might account for the difference). However, for me, it also clearly shows that they're not "crippled" by any means. At least not mine.

 

[registered]

Just to clarify, my problem isn't in terms of reception. I mean, I get full bars. The only problem is on some wireless routers, the connection drops every few minutes, thus creating the illusion that network traffic is operating at 56kb like speeds.

So like I and others said, Intel patched this for PC, and I know we all hope it gets patched for Mac SOOOOOOOOOOON.

 

[MRU]

I had a Belkin 7050 usb 2 wifi dongle lying about from one of the PC's here and tried that ( after finding some drivers that work... ) and that has now solved my wireless problems, and doesnt spoil the minimalist design in the living room by having cables/bridges hanging out the back of the machine.


Pete.

Hi Pete, exact same solution i'm using too Ralink drivers I assume

Come on Apple, i'm getting really impatient, especially since windows users already have a fix..

 

[coot]

Hi Pete, exact same solution i'm using too Ralink drivers I assume

Hi,

Yes, found those drivers from another link somewhere and they seem to work well - a good signal and solid transfer rates.

One question though, can you reboot and everything connects automagically?

I seem to have to unplug the usb dongle and re insert for it to be found again?

Trying to make the machine as autonomous as possible as its sat under the TV and if the power goes or it needs to be restarts it would be handy if it would pop back on the network so I can VNC to it and do whatever.

Thanks,

Pete.

 

[wpwj40e]

Hi,

Yes, found those drivers from another link somewhere and they seem to work well - a good signal and solid transfer rates.

One question though, can you reboot and everything connects automagically?

Using a similar solution(same drivers) and have not been able to reboot and have it found automajically. Also have issues if the dang thing sleeps - will not rediscover and reconnect. Must plug in again etc.

There is rather a long thread on this over on Apple discussion - posted one of the topics earlier. But the sum of it seems to be that if using the "dongle" solution - it will not automatically connect. At least no yet has reported they have found a way for that to work.

 

[coot]

Cheers,

Roll on the "official" fix then...

Pete.

 

[coot]

Hi,

Just received another unit ( ordered the day after they came out.... ) and the wifi works straight out of the box ( this is going to a WEP network, previously tried the other one on WEP/WPA/none )

Getting a full signal and 225 K/sec download speeds on our 2 meg link.

Pinging the router for 10 mins didnt see anything over 2.5 ms seemed to go between 1.5 and 2.5

Speed test on speakeasy.net is constant.

Will now try any software updates and a reboot...

Security Update applied - wireless still works
Did have an issue not reconnecting after reboot or sleep - I deleted the keychain entry for the WEP password - all works OK now.

Installing the rest of the iPhoto/Garageband/FrontRow updates now...

Airport card says Driver 0.1.16 - cant remember what the other machine at home is

Also, this WEP network is on Channel 6 and I'm using this machine with a USB keyboard and mouse, not BT as the previous one.

Doesnt seem to like autoconnecting to a preferred network after sleep/restart
Seems to connect OK if you leave the setting on Automatic
Works OK from a full shutdown and then pressing the power button again.

Pete.

 

[Edge100]

On the Rev A point, my personal take is that Rev A machines have issues, Rev B machines will have a different set of issues, and Rev Z machines will have their own unique set of issues. You have to buy sometime . If the machines have a true hardware issue, Apple will be required to repair them.

AMEN!

 

[Arcus]

At least it doesnt have horizontal lines!!

 

[white89gt]

When I first started hearing about this problem, I became a little worried since I was going to use the airport card to connect wirelessly to the internet. After getting my 17" iMac out of the box, it automatically found the Linksys router at my parent's house and ran like a champ for the couple of weeks it was there. I've since moved in with my fiancee and she has an airport express base station. I was once again afraid that the problem might rear its ugly head, but so far I haven't seen any slow down in upload or download speeds. If anything it should run faster now since the airport express base station is 802.11g capable. I've done speed tests with several different computers from both my parent's house and my house and the upload and download speeds are are comparable.

I realize that I must be in the minority here, have an Intel iMac that doesn't have airport issues, but that's my experience so far.

 

[y0zza]

Haven't noticed any significant issues with Wireless connections on my iMac Core Duo either, except occasionally not reconnecting automatically after sleep.

 

[MRU]

Airport card says Driver 0.1.16 - cant remember what the other machine at home is.

How did you find that out? In system profiler my airport card says


AirPort Card Information:

Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x89)
Wireless Card Locale: Worldwide
Wireless Card Firmware Version: 101.3 (3.120.28.3)
Current Wireless Network: Apple Network 6b6ec5
Wireless Channel: 1


Changing channel to 6 does nothing for me

 

[coot]

My error, it says:

AirPort Card Information:

Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x86)
Wireless Card Locale: Worldwide
Wireless Card Firmware Version: 0.1.16
Current Wireless Network: ****
Wireless Channel: 6

 

[registered]

My Airport card Info says:
Wireless Card Firmware Version: 0.1.12

 

[BornAgainMac]

I am seeing about 3 times more neighbors (9 to 10) with my MBP compared to my Powerbook. Signal is strong for my network. I don't let my Mac sleep so I can try that.

 

[coot]

I'll check in a couple of hours what the value is on the machine at home that been giving me some jip, may shed some light onto things.

Knew there was a good reason for me to get 2 of the things

Pete.

 

[MRU]

My error, it says:

AirPort Card Information:

Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x86)
Wireless Card Locale: Worldwide
Wireless Card Firmware Version: 0.1.16
Current Wireless Network: ****
Wireless Channel: 6

mmmm interesting.

My Airport card Info says:
Wireless Card Firmware Version: 0.1.12

and do you suffer registered?


So that's three different firmware versions on the cards, and why is my card type slightly different to yours as in (0x14E4, 0x89) Does that mean that my card is different and if so could this be HARDWARE problem as well as software? Notice how my firmware version is also identified slighly differently too? This must mean somthing. Peope post similar and state whether you are having problems or not, and what make - model. We may be on to somthing here....

 

[Bunsen Burner]

MBP 2.0. No problems whatsoever with wireless uploads and downloads or signal strength. All updates applied.

AirPort Card Information:

Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x86)
Wireless Card Locale: USA
Wireless Card Firmware Version: 0.1.12
Current Wireless Network: e=mc2
Wireless Channel: 11

BB

 

[MRU]

MBP 2.0. No problems whatsoever with wireless uploads and downloads or signal strength. All updates applied.

AirPort Card Information:

Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x86)
Wireless Card Locale: USA
Wireless Card Firmware Version: 0.1.12
Current Wireless Network: e=mc2
Wireless Channel: 11

BB

Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x86) Confirmed working!
x2

Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x89) Not working !
x1

There obviously is somthing in this.

Keep posting in folks. Apple support it watching this newsgroup THREAD and the more info we can provide, the sooner identification of the problem and solution to those with it can be resolved.....

 

[tivoboy]

so, two problems really

So, there are really two problems that people are reporting.

One, is THROUGHPUT meaning maximum up and downstream bandwidth.

I think the THROUGHPUT issue is less common. Some people just have a bad airport card, or software install. Some could be standard configuration issues, either direct, WEP or WPA enabled and depending on the router used, that could be where the problem is.

The OTHER issue, is the ping times, latency and dropped packets. I think again, the dropped packets issue is less common, but the latency and long ping times is much more common.

If one does an online bandwidth test, it will get you to a PEAK of both up and downstream capacity and report that. this is a high and low watermark and nothing more.

Try running a PING though. you could still have HIGH up and down stream capacity and access, but the PING times could suffer.

I have the MAX throughput on my intelimac, matching all my laptops and PC's on the same network, but the IMAC has ping times from 6ms, to 290ms, just pingining even a local computer or the domain server.

I THINK that even the people who have posted here, if you run a ping test, you will see more of this issue revealed.

 

[coot]

Hmmm

Machine at home that was plpaying up has the same settings as the one that works ( 0x168C, 0x86 version.. )

Only difference is this one uses channel 11 and has a BT keyboard and mouse ( and a fresh install of OSX from the supplied disks )

Will remove the BT and change channels..

Pete