new iMac 24" keeps dropping AirPort connection

[PCtoiMac]

hi all, this is my first post, i tried searching but theres so much there

I just purchased a new iMac 24" its beautiful. I hooked it up and it connected to my router without any real issues but it keeps dropping the connection at random, and its really getting irritating. Do i have a defective model? should i take it back? Any help is appreciated.

So to sum it up, brand new iMac with Leopard installed, AirPort initially connects to my home network, and everything seems fine, but the connection drops at random, then comes back, VERY UNSTABLE. im ready to return the damn thing.


oh, both my pc's connect without any issues, also it seems like the network connection stays, just the internet goes away and in safari it says your computer isnt connected to the internet, but its connected to the network. strange

[darkshine]

Thats strange...

I don't know much about this, but have you gone to software updates and updated everything, I remember when I got my first imac ages ago, the airport kept dropping untill I updated it. I don't know if it works with the new ones tho.

[PCtoiMac]

updated everything, still nuthing, when i reboot, it tells me that none of my prefered networks are available even though it shows my network name in the list, then i try to connect to it and it says security incompatible, then i click it again and it connects, but no internet, then after some time, like 15 minutes, everything works. IRRITATING

[WhiteNoiseMaker]

Hi,

I had this same problem when I got my iMac in March. The way I fixed it was to switch the Wi-Fi channel on my router from automatic to channel 11. Not had anymore problems since then, so give that a try.

[shadowmoses]

I'm getting similar problems with my 20" I think its down to 10.5.4 from what I'm reading on forums.....I am getting connection drops and very poor signal. Anyone who has experienced this problem please let us know what you did....I have tried everything from changing my router's wireless channel, upgrading to latest firmware and reseting to no avail.....

Many Thanks,

ShadoW

[Meave]

I was having the same problem on my new Mac as well, what fixed it for me was to change my WEP from key to the more secure setting, I forget what it's called and I'm at work so I'll check when I get home.

[PCtoiMac]

if you could, that would be appreciated, i guess from looking online, its affecting alot of poeple

[rfruth]

Does the OP use a wireless keyboard & or mouse - 802.11G ?

[PCtoiMac]

nope, wired everything

[nando2323]

What type of router are you using?

How far away is the router from the iMac?

Have you tried using a different router to see if maybe the problem is the router?

I had a cheapo D-Link and it had the exact same issues with my mini. Now with my AEBS I have no issues at all. The cheaper routers have issues connecting multiple computers specially at further distance's. I never had any good luck with a cheapo $30-$60 netgear, dlink, linksys futher than a couple rooms or 3 walls, they are very unreliable at those distances. Now if it's it's a higher end one $150+ then it should be just fine. My AEBS has a signal on the first floor of my 3 story building like 2 bars too.

[PCtoiMac]

got a Linksys WRT54G my pc's are flawless, and never drop

[PCtoiMac]

changed to wireless channel 11 and seems to be working well so far, lets hope this keeps up, i'll keep everyone posted, incase they care

[TheIntruder]

I concur with nando.

My machine has similar issues, but the problems didn't start until I updated the firmware and enabled WPA security on the crappy D-link router I connect to.

Prior to that, there were no drops when the network was unsecured and running older firmware. Drops are almost certain to occur when another computer with a similarly crappy Hawking wireless adapter joins the network.

To cope with it for the time being, just turn Airport off, then back on from the menu.

However, I wouldn't doubt that 10.5.4 may play a role; 10.5.5 supposedly addresses Airport issues among its many fixes.

[PCtoiMac]

k, so after a few days all seems to be ok. So if anyone is having this issue, change the channel on your router, cause thats what worked for me. I was using channel 6, with many issues, changed to channel 11, with no issues whatsoever.

Oh and this is the best computer i've ever owned, its really amazing how many things they did right on this thing, after being on pc's for so long.

[WhiteNoiseMaker]

changed to channel 11, with no issues whatsoever.

Told you so! Not had a single problem with mine switched to channel 11 since March so you should never see that problem again. :D :apple:

[deorg]

Told you so! Not had a single problem with mine switched to channel 11 since March so you should never see that problem again. :D :apple:

I have the same problem, how do I switch to channel 11?
thx

[PCtoiMac]

just log into your router, and under wireless settings there should be an option, i think default on most routers in channel 6

[ramadaam]

My imac 24" Tiger was working beautifully connecting via airport to Linksys DSL router until i applied Airport Express Update 2008-002. It kept dropping the connection even thought the airport wireless icon shows full signal strength.

I scoured the net and for over 2 weeks applied every possible solution from deleting widgets to changing router channels and even removing all items sourrounding the DSL router... nothing worked. I even dug up the 2008-001 airport update and reapplied that but no good

I finally got so fed up that i re-installed the OS 10.4.7 with the "archive previous system option" and everything worked great. I then updated the OS to 10.4.11 and still everthing working consistently. I applied Airport Express Update 2008-001 and things went south.

I reapplied the 10.4.11 update again and things are back to working consistently.

Reinstalling the OS took a couple of hours but it really is a lot less painful than having an unreliable connection, while the Windows machines had no issues. Hope this helps.

[deorg]

kinda the same problem,
1st my macbook, the name of the router, apear on my mac, Ive select it and only the IP and one more field was sign in in my mac. And it had the same IP every time. (suspicius). No internet

2nd my iphone SAME ISSUE, only ip and one adress apear on the phone, (exactly the same numbers) NO Internet.

3rd my second iphone, same issue.

So the suspect is my router DLINK. no fix there.

[Cameron2008]

Just bought a new Imac 24" as well. I was having this EXACT issue with 4 PCs in the house and never having any problems with the network.

I just switched the channel to 11 and I hope it works!

Thanks for creating this topic, and thanks to google for helping me find it (:

EDIT:
Still having the issue with the connect drop.

[cjslator]

My first post on here, and I'm glad that it is a good one :)

I have also been having problems with my 24" iMac purchased in Dec 2008.

I just changed from 11 down to 9 and all is well.

Many thanks to the above for the top advice.

[marky-mark]

I'm having the same problem with my new 24" 2.6ghz iMac...I've Been using macs for 4 days now & I'm struggling!
I think my wifi is already set to channel 11.

[QCassidy352]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8320/4.5.0.81 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I have this problem with my imac and AEBS(n). It was so annoying I went to using ethernet, but I'll try channel 11 and report back.

[Testify]

We had similiar issue with Jun 08 17'' MBP that the connection of the wifi would drop then come back up.

We've tried everything, from switching the channel to 11 and what not.

The router we had was a WRT54G. In our house, we had iPhones, PS3, Wii all hooked up on one network

But we finally fixed it but the solution wasn't pretty.

We went out, bought an AEBS, bridged it with the other network...

So now, we have a network on 5ghz N-only for the MBP and a B/G for everything else.. works wonder!

[cjslator]

The channel you change to might not affect the problem, it all depends what channels other networks are using. On my network I have three windows pc's, one iMac and my iPhone. The iMac is the only one which picks up more than one available connection, leading me to think that they are much more sensitive.

My advise would be to try a couple of channels until you find one which works.

[marky-mark]

can someone just confirm the process for me on how to switch channels!
is this something that needs to be changed on the router, mac or both?

thanks

[cjslator]

can someone just confirm the process for me on how to switch channels!
is this something that needs to be changed on the router, mac or both?

thanks

just on the router, the MAC and other users will change automatically :)

[Zmmin3]

Yes mine is having trouble seeing my router(dir-655) as well. It sees other routers though. Also the windows laptop next to it has no problem seeing it and connects right away. Does it matter that my router is not broadcasting its name?

I did add the router network to the Imac so its there. Its just not seeing it. Also added the Imac to router's list of allowed computers.

I can sometimes get it to work if I do the "join a network" option and manually type it in. Although if I already have it in there, I dont think I should have to do that right?

When I get home from work I will go through changing the channel and see what that does.

[marky-mark]

just on the router, the MAC and other users will change automatically :)

fantastic, what a difference a channel makes! a few clicks later & i'm fulled wifi'd up on channel 8!

cheers!

[futurase]

I have a brand new 3.06ghz flagship iMac and it was doing the same exact thing as described here. I tried rolling back the firmware on my AEBS and thought it fixed the problem and after two days, same thing again.

I changed channel to channel 11 and now surfing the net is bullet fast. Almost every page loads instant!!!! it is like I have a dedicated line or something. No more drop and blazing speed for anything online. Me likey!!!!

Odd why changing a channel would do so much, but it DOES. Mine was set to the default Automatic channel selection.

Norman Ross Jr.

[QCassidy352]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)

Just wanted to say thx for this thread. I had started a similar one a while back but never got a good answer. It's great that this ended up being so easy to fix.