Airport Problems : All Intel Models Affected.

[iflipper]

I wonder how many of the people without issues are connecting to b rather than g wireless points?

 

[MRU]

I wonder how many of the people without issues are connecting to b rather than g wireless points?

True. B seem a little more stable and the may be unable to know they have a problem.

 

[generik]

No way am I going to be buying a new wireless card just to make it work.

Come on Apple, you've already lost to Windows here

 

[snak-pak]

response from AppleCare Support

I got off the phone with Apple today, after a lengthy discussion about my Airport wireless problems. I explained that many people are having this issue... but when the support rep looked into the outstanding issues, he said there were no outstanding issues related to WiFi on Intel Macs or even the MacBook Pro in particular. Yet we have this thread, and my MacBook Pro keeps dropping off the wireless network, and I have a friend with an Intel iMac who is having the same problem.

The solution, as told to me by Apple: send the machine in for repair, and they will diagnose the problem and most likely replace the Airport card and/or antenna inside the machine.

The problem is, I don't know if this is going to solve the problem. Plus I will be without my machine for *at least* a week during the repair.

Has anyone else actually called Apple about this problem? It seems strange that there are no open tickets about this issue. I would encourage everyone to call Apple and open a ticket, otherwise we will not get any resolution on this issue.

Apple Support told me there are no known issues with wireless on Intel Macs. And that it must be a hardware failure on my machine alone.

 

[generik]

They always say "no known issues"

 

[generik]

Hey, I noticed that if I run my mini with the top case off the reception is significantly better and improves Airport performance by A LOT!

 

[Lancetx]

Intersting. Your ping to your router/bs is very fast (unbelievably fast in fact) and yet your google ping does the 22-280ms fluctuation?

There is somthing wrong there but not sure what. I think your encryption is covering it up, providing more reliable connection to your router, but not on the internet? STRANGE

I didn't mention it this morning, but the only setting I've really changed from default (that I can think of anyway) is that I have IPv6 set to OFF in the TCP/IP settings tab of my AirPort network preferences. I'm not sure if that would have any impact, but again, I've had absolutely no problems with AirPort drop-offs, with the reconnection failing after a reboot, nor any issues with signal strength either (the iMac and router are approximately 25 feet apart with 2 walls between them). While the network response time/bandwidth does seem a bit more sluggish on this iMac compared to the others on my home network, it's not really that noticeable and not nearly as bad as some I've seen listed on here on this thread.

 

[wpwj40e]

I got off the phone with Apple today, after a lengthy discussion about my Airport wireless problems. I explained that many people are having this issue... but when the support rep looked into the outstanding issues, he said there were no outstanding issues related to WiFi on Intel Macs or even the MacBook Pro in particular. Yet we have this thread, and my MacBook Pro keeps dropping off the wireless network, and I have a friend with an Intel iMac who is having the same problem.

The solution, as told to me by Apple: send the machine in for repair, and they will diagnose the problem and most likely replace the Airport card and/or antenna inside the machine.

The problem is, I don't know if this is going to solve the problem. Plus I will be without my machine for *at least* a week during the repair.

Has anyone else actually called Apple about this problem? It seems strange that there are no open tickets about this issue. I would encourage everyone to call Apple and open a ticket, otherwise we will not get any resolution on this issue.

Apple Support told me there are no known issues with wireless on Intel Macs. And that it must be a hardware failure on my machine alone.

I find these kinds of responses frustrating. I do have a cae as I did for the prior Intel imacs that ended up being returned. I am being told to also send this in for repair - my insistance is what are they gonna repair? Since they do not know the problem. They also want me to bring it to a genius bar - been there done that and I am not gonna repeat the incident. I have now made 5 calls (I call every couple of days - and ask if they have identified the issue. I am ALWAYS told I am the only one and there have NO reports of any issues.

This is really frustrating. Because the odds of them "fixing" anything are quite small. If it "works" as in connects at all to any network they have(as in Apple) it will be returned with "no problem".

Well, gonna stop now - as it really is making me angry.

 

[clayj]

Well, mark me down as another person who's apparently run into this problem... my new Core duo mini is abysmally slow at copying files across the network via AirPort Extreme.

Apple better get this crap fixed QUICKLY via a software update, because if I have to take my not-even-a-day-old machine in, it won't be for a repair... it'll be for an exchange or a refund (with no restocking fee).

 

[munkees]

For those of you who think it is every intel mac here is my results from my iMac, my G4 and my friend POC XP sony

PING http://www.l.google.com (66.249.93.99): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=0 ttl=240 time=83.013 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=1 ttl=240 time=81.669 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=2 ttl=240 time=83.491 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=3 ttl=240 time=82.137 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=4 ttl=240 time=84.005 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=5 ttl=240 time=82.461 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=6 ttl=240 time=81.882 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=7 ttl=240 time=82.494 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=8 ttl=240 time=82.435 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=9 ttl=240 time=83.492 ms

--- 66.249.93.99 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 81.669/82.808/84.005/0.758 ms

powerbook 1.5 Ghz G4

PING 66.249.93.99 (66.249.93.99): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=0 ttl=240 time=83.985 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=1 ttl=240 time=82.624 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=2 ttl=240 time=83.937 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=3 ttl=240 time=83.014 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=4 ttl=240 time=84.278 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=5 ttl=240 time=82.868 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=6 ttl=240 time=81.738 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=7 ttl=240 time=83.271 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=8 ttl=240 time=82.047 ms
64 bytes from 66.249.93.99: icmp_seq=9 ttl=240 time=81.808 ms

--- 66.249.93.99 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 81.738/82.957/84.278/0.873 ms

The PC average time was 99ms



Not all intel Macs have this problem, clealy I do not my iMac rocks. I hope the second iMac that I will purchase in 3 months will also rock

 

[MRU]

OK!!! but tell us the Firmware verison? We know not all intel macs are affected. Copy paste details from system profiler/about this mac..

For those of you who think it is every intel mac here is my results from my iMac, my G4 and my friend POC XP sony
Not all intel Macs have this problem, clealy I do not my iMac rocks. I hope the second iMac that I will purchase in 3 months will also rock

 

[munkees]

OK!!! but tell us the Firmware verison? We know not all intel macs are affected. Copy paste details from system profiler/about this mac..

I already did a few posts back but here it is again

iMac intel DC 20"

Wireless Card Type: Airport Extreme (0x14E4, 089)
Wireless Card Locale: Worldwide
Wireless Card firmware Version: 101.3(3.120.28.3)
Wireless Channel: 1

 

[bigfib]

I think your encryption is covering it up, providing more reliable connection to your router, but not on the internet? STRANGE

This is the worst kind of science people... Imagining any scenario rather than questioning one's original proposition. His encryption "can't cover up" a wifi problem to the router and then not cover it up to the internet... If you do a traceroute all the packets WILL go via the router ip address first... doh!
What this test shows is that this user is having NO wifi problem, and that the original hypotheses of this forum, that ALL intel macs are affected is wrong.
For what it's worth I just setup wifi on my own router (just for you) and checked my own intel imac's connection with it.

Here's the wifi results.
Ping has started ...

PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=2.708 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=3.035 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=2.843 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=3.027 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=2.884 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=2.738 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=3.786 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=2.848 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=4.379 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=2.981 ms

--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss


And here's the ethernet results.

Ping has started ...

PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=1.289 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1.326 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=1.379 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=1.377 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=1.325 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=1.368 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=1.303 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=1.363 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=1.328 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=1.371 ms

--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss


Nothing abnormal there at all (well, except that my routers a bit slow).

So perlease... In the interests of good science, and in the interest of finding a solution to your admittedly awful problem, please change the hypothesis to "affects some intel macs".

------
Intel Imac core duo 1.83 Ghz - 1.3 MB AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x89) - Version: 101.3 (3.120.28.3)

 

[munkees]

Evan though this problem does not effect my iMac (guess i am lucky), but i will be purchasing 2 more intel macs soon. An DC intel mini and a maxed out iMac 20" DC (that right I going to have 2 all to myself). So I am hoping that this problem does get resolved.

Apple I know about this problem, guess they have to resolve it. I spent a few years doing router software, and some hardware bugs are difficult to pin down. It could just be that a batch of airport devices have a chip bug, and that make it really difficult to pin down.

story
Reminds me of a 10/100 driver i wrote, that would end up with it data being shifted, every body blamed my driver, I spend 6 week tearing my driver apart (after 6 week is was so damm optimized). It turn out the the Motorola 855P powerpc chip we were using based of an prior motorola chip that had a bug and this new chip used an old core. the 855T work perfect. So it came down to reprograming the clock and buses. fixed the problem.

the Airport problem could be along those lines. some who a different chip being used or a manufacturing fault causes this. If that is the case it hardware, then people we have to turn in there mac for the part to be replaced.

this is all pure Bull poo, i mean, spectulation so don't read to much into it, and wig out

 

[MRU]

and that the original hypotheses of this forum, that ALL intel macs are affected is wrong

What I meant by ALL intel macs are affected, is that some people (well a chuffing lot of people) are experiencing problems on all the intel models.

I did not mean that EVERYONE with an intel machine is suffering. I think all my posts so far have made that clear.

Just because you are not suffering doesn't negate the fact that a very large proportion of those with 101.3 are..

I just credited most people with an above average intelligence to understand the thread, especially if they were to read a lot of the posts within.

 

[XIII]

Loads of accusing BS

I remember you!

 

[plinden]

My ping response times looked ok, but I noticed that every 8 or 9 packets, there was a noticeable delay of up to 3 seconds. But I only just noticed the packet loss now.

If you glance at my ping results below, you'll probably just see the response time. It looks fine, with 1-2ms response times. But look at the icmp_seq. Packets 2-5 are missing.
plindens-iMac:~ plinden$ ping 192.168.0.1
PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=1.712 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1.942 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=1.670 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=3.291 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=1.705 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=1.699 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=1.802 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=1.691 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=1.774 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.0.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=1.687 ms
^C
--- 192.168.0.1 ping statistics ---
14 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 28% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 1.670/1.897/3.291/0.471 ms

I don't why I didn't notice the packet loss before. I was too hung up on the response time, I guess. Does anyone else with this problem see such a large packet loss?

Edit:
Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x89)
Wireless Card Locale: Worldwide
Wireless Card Firmware Version: 101.3 (3.120.28.3)
Current Wireless Network: XXXXX_AP
Wireless Channel: 11

Edit2:
Odder and odder. I pinged http://www.google.com and get all responses in the range of 15-20 ms, but again with 20% packet loss. Looking back, I see no one else with this. Cr@p, I hope this doesn't mean I have a different problem.

Edit3:
Although the packet loss would normally make me think that it's the router that's at fault, I have a Dell laptop connected wirelessly right now, that's showing none of this.

 

[iflipper]

Well after being ok (mini duo, 0.1.16) initially I'm now getting very wierd problems with my wireless connection. It seems to periodically disconnect then reconnect, behave beautifully for a while and then work in fits and starts:

Ping has started ...

PING http://www.l.google.com (66.102.9.147): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 66.102.9.147: icmp_seq=0 ttl=240 time=42.155 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.147: icmp_seq=1 ttl=239 time=178.662 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.147: icmp_seq=2 ttl=240 time=180.490 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.147: icmp_seq=3 ttl=239 time=40.642 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.147: icmp_seq=4 ttl=239 time=41.915 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.147: icmp_seq=5 ttl=239 time=42.519 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.147: icmp_seq=6 ttl=240 time=169.217 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.147: icmp_seq=7 ttl=240 time=42.389 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.147: icmp_seq=8 ttl=240 time=42.107 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.147: icmp_seq=9 ttl=239 time=41.587 ms

--- http://www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 40.642/82.168/180.490/61.569 ms

Ping has started ...

PING http://www.l.google.com (66.102.9.104): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 66.102.9.104: icmp_seq=0 ttl=240 time=62.012 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.104: icmp_seq=1 ttl=239 time=44.122 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.104: icmp_seq=2 ttl=240 time=43.175 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.104: icmp_seq=3 ttl=239 time=41.723 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.104: icmp_seq=4 ttl=239 time=43.384 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.104: icmp_seq=5 ttl=239 time=43.815 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.104: icmp_seq=6 ttl=240 time=62.266 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.104: icmp_seq=7 ttl=240 time=57.587 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.104: icmp_seq=8 ttl=240 time=44.257 ms
64 bytes from 66.102.9.104: icmp_seq=9 ttl=239 time=51.062 ms

--- http://www.l.google.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 41.723/49.340/62.266/7.834 ms


No pattern that I can see to what I'm doing at the time. I am two floors up from my wireless point so it could be just a dodgy signal, but my ibook has no problems.

 

[miniConvert]

Hello

My new Intel mac mini is struggling with Airport. In it's default configuration it will not automatically connect - from sleep or from startup - until I actually click on the icon and select my network.

If I take the settings off the Automatic one and instead create a location, ie Home, for the Airport, my mini will no longer boot and just dies with a kernel panic until I use Safe Boot to stop Airport loading.

Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x86)
Wireless Card Locale: Worldwide
Wireless Card Firmware Version: 0.1.16
Current Wireless Network: (removed by me)
Wireless Channel: 11

Any ideas? Or is this the same problem as the rest of you are having? Mine seems slightly more severe, I mean, what kind of impression do new-to-mac users like me get of OS X if it crumbles into a kernel panic next reboot, leaving no logs even though it's supposed to, just because I added a location to my Airport card?

 

[iflipper]

Hello

My new Intel mac mini is struggling with Airport. In it's default configuration it will not automatically connect - from sleep or from startup - until I actually click on the icon and select my network.

If I take the settings off the Automatic one and instead create a location, ie Home, for the Airport, my mini will no longer boot and just dies with a kernel panic until I use Safe Boot to stop Airport loading.

Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x86)
Wireless Card Locale: Worldwide
Wireless Card Firmware Version: 0.1.16
Current Wireless Network: (removed by me)
Wireless Channel: 11

Any ideas? Or is this the same problem as the rest of you are having? Mine seems slightly more severe, I mean, what kind of impression do new-to-mac users like me get of OS X if it crumbles into a kernel panic next reboot, leaving no logs even though it's supposed to, just because I added a location to my Airport card?

I have locations on my mac mini and don't have a kernel panic. It won't connect to the wireless access point automatically though, and usually takes several attempts to connect manually.

One other random thought - how many people did an autosync with their old mac with their new intel mac on first boot? I certainly did (which I think was a mistake and I may wipe and start from scratch).

 

[miniConvert]

One other random thought - how many people did an autosync with their old mac with their new intel mac on first boot? I certainly did (which I think was a mistake and I may wipe and start from scratch).

I wouldn't worry about it - mine was a completely clean system (first Mac), followed by a completely clean reinstall whilst on the phone to Applecare after they failed to diagnose what was causing the Kernel panic. Only after it started happening on the freshly cleaned system did I troubleshoot until I found it was the Airport. I could have ripped out the Airport card and ran it through the shredder by that point

 

[coot]

Hi all,

One of my minis was playing up, and that was the .16 firmware revision.
I worked around the problem for a while using a usb adapter.

Taking the machine to a friends house it ran fine ( or at least better... )

Only difference bar the house layouts is the router, i was using a netgear 834G and he a Draytek Vigor 2600G.

Looks like the Draytek gives a much better signal so I ordered a 2800G model ( supercedes the 2600 ) and set this up at home.

Normally the router is installed upstairs, and the mini downstairs diagonally opposite so the furthest way for the wifi signal to travel.

With the new route this improved the signal to the mini whereby I could get a 1 or 2ms ping to the router, with the odd jump to 100/200 but that was maybe 1 in 10 or 20.

Download speed test was still very poor though - on a 2meg line i got a download speed of 10k/sec.

Running with the idea that the iMac G5 upstairs has a better antenna i moved the router downstairs.

Mini now has full signal and gets 225 ish K/sec and upstairs the iMac gets the same, but with a slightly lower signal strength than before ( exact details not to hand )

As a by product I now have 1 or 2 ms pings from the imac to the router and 0.8-1.5 ish from the mini to router.

I can now vnc to both machines at a very usable speed and leaving it overnight things are still working.

Will check again tonight as it will have run for 24 hours by then.

Not using any security but have MAC address access list limit on the router.

Hopefully this has fixed my problems - possibly points to a faulty/poor/not connected antenna on the mini?
Will open up soon when I get some more memory for it.

Cheers,

Pete.

 

[MacSA]

I wonder if Apple will ever admit there is a problem, people who phone Apple Care don't seem to get very far... and there are so many reports of people having Airport issues, particularly with the Mini that it seems obvious something is up. How long did it take them to accept there were issues with the iBook logic boards on the G3 model? Didnt that take legal action to be resoved?

 

[Shaddow825]

I wonder if Apple will ever admit there is a problem, people who phone Apple Care don't seem to get very far... and there are so many reports of people having Airport issues, particularly with the Mini that it seems obvious something is up. How long did it take them to accept there were issues with the iBook logic boards on the G3 model? Didnt that take legal action to be resoved?

Admit it, who knows, maybe never. On the other hand it may get fixed in an Airport update with a cryptic message along wth all the other cryptic messages for fixes describing the actual problem like 'intermittent issues with interval beacon' and all we'll know is it is fixed but not know what the problem ever was.

 

[dr_lha]

Hopefully this has fixed my problems - possibly points to a faulty/poor/not connected antenna on the mini?

Looking at the forums on the Apple support page there are a lot of reports of new Mac Mini's not having their antenna's connected to the airport card. The evidence is anecdotal, but there are quite a few people reporting this, suggesting that there may be a issue with the Mac Mini manufacturing process which is causing this antenna to become disconnected.