Mac mini Airport issues 'a problem with 10.4.8'

[miniConvert]

I've made a few phonecalls to Apple about my Mac mini's Airport which, though it finds my WLAN and connects correctly on startup, disconnects from my network after some random period (up to about 12 hours...) and fails to reconnect by itself.

Today after a lot of waiting while the operator spoke to different people I was told that my issue was introduced by 10.4.8 (go figure, that's when it got broken) and that no fix was available. I was told to reinstall OS X in order to update back to 10.4.7 via the Apple website.

Does it not strike you as bizarre that it's not possible to just roll back the Airport update in some sort of automated way? I mean come on, I'm not totally thick, it's not necessary to reinstall and entire OS just to resolve an intermittent WLAN problem.

Anyway, I guess I'll just wait for them to release 10.4.9... or Leopard...

For anyone interested it's one of the very first Intel Mac mini's, Intel Core Duo 1.66GHz, fully spec'd. I'd also like to strongly urge anyone experiencing similar Airport problems since 10.4.8 to report them to Apple.

[Silver-Fox]

Thats odd, i havent yet had that trouble. ill bear it in mind before updating

[mad jew]

Did they show you this support page? I know it doesn't relate specifically to your problem but it may still help

[Lancetx]

Originally Posted by miniConvert

I've made a few phonecalls to Apple about my Mac mini's Airport which, though it finds my WLAN and connects correctly on startup, disconnects from my network after some random period (up to about 12 hours...) and fails to reconnect by itself.

I've had the same problem intermittently with my iMac (Intel Core Duo). There is a discussion up on the Apple support forums about it, but nothing has been resolved so far. Looks like I'm just going to have to wait it out until 10.4.9 as well.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....49945&tstart=0

[stagecustom]

i have the same problem, BUT my dad has no problems with his and its an emac, is your mac mini an INTEL, cause mine is and ever since then, its been terrible, always getting 2-3 bars. Used to get 4 all the time with my PPC mac mini... this sucks. I'm glad im not the only one.

[theBB]

Originally Posted by miniConvert

For anyone interested it's one of the very first Intel Mac mini's, Intel Core Duo 1.66GHz, fully spec'd. I'd also like to strongly urge anyone experiencing similar Airport problems since 10.4.8 to report them to Apple.

Ah, that explains my recent intel iMac (CD) WiFi troubles. It keeps dropping the connection intermittently for about a month now, even though it was working fine for about 10 months before that.

[JAT]

I've had 10.4.8 loaded for months. My Mini never sleeps since it is the server, I never have this kind of problem. My reception is not great and is up and down, which is a Mini issue that has been discussed forever. I am trying to figure out a better antenna. But it doesn't drop signal totally. Ever.

Mine is also a fully-specced 1.66 original. Bought as refurb in May or so.

[miniConvert]

Thanks for those links to the Apple website - we have, of course, covered those.

There is currently no resolution to the problems plaguing Airport on Intel Mac's under 10.4.8. Airport does generally seem to be an issue on the Intel Mac's.

[theBB]

My wireless network with my iMac used to work fine until about a month ago. Now it is a mess. At that time, one of my neighbors might have installed a new base station that causes interference, but my 4 year old Windows laptop right next to it does not complain. Sometimes I get a good connection on iMac for an hour, but sometimes I keep losing the connection all the time until I just lose it completely. After 10-20 minutes of no change, I reboot and my connection is back to normal for a little while. All the while Windows laptop has good wireless connection.

I have even gone out and bought an airport express, but that did not help, either. Then, I called up AppleCare and got duly charged $169 for the privilege. After spending an hour on the phone, I've got no improvements. Setting up preferred networks did not help. Enabling or disabling Bluetooth or interference robustness of iMac did not make any difference.

I have decided to try every option listed on the Airport Express to see if any one of them makes an improvement. I'll keep posting the results until I find a combination that works. That's what AppleCare person seemed to be doing anyways.

I have just enabled "interference robustness" on my Airport Express to see if I get any improvements. (It is disabled on iMac and I turned off Bluetooth.) I'll see if it gets better.

[theBB]

Well, I tried the interference robustness on the Airport Express. For a while, it seemed better, but right now I have connection from my Windows laptop, but not iMac. Again. This sucks.

I guess next step is to change the multicast rate. I gotta wait until the connection from iMac comes back.

[r-sparks]

Originally Posted by Lancetx

I've had the same problem intermittently with my iMac (Intel Core Duo). There is a discussion up on the Apple support forums about it, but nothing has been resolved so far. Looks like I'm just going to have to wait it out until 10.4.9 as well.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread....49945&tstart=0

I'm having this problem too, on my iMac core-duo. My iBook G4 is fine with the same router.

I posted a message here about it, in fact.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=273176

[miniConvert]

Well, lets just hope 10.4.9 rectifies the situation. The Apple staff I spoke to certainly gave no hints that resolution was planned, only that no fix is available to the issue other than 'rolling back' to 10.4.7 which, quite insanely, involves reinstalling OS X (!!!!) and then manually applying the update to 10.4.7.

I adore OS X, but when it starts to go wrong everything seems to point to reinstalling the operating system... I'm not sure whether Time Machine will help with this, I certainly hope so, I guess it depends whether it's just for rolling back user files or system files also.

Again, I'd urge anyone experiencing Airport issues to ensure Apple know in detail about your case. A lot of users who don't have their Airport connected constantly (ie they sleep or shut down quite often) may well be oblivious to the problem, but that doesn't mean we should put up with it.

[roland.g]

I have the same problem. It only drops the signal on occassion, every two, three maybe five days or so. I have the HDD set not to sleep but the display does. Sometimes when I wake it up I can't get mail or a web page and I look and see the fan bars grayed out. I tried the steps in the preferred networks link. It is related to 10.4.8. I have a 1.66 Core Duo (SD) that I bought as a refurb in Oct. I maxed out the RAM to 2GB myself.

Also, when I got it my, MacMice Mouse BT (Bluetooth) had erratic issues. I never had any issues with it with my wife's 12" PB or my Dell laptop. I ended up having to get a Wireless Mighty Mouse which works just fine. Bummer I liked the other one just fine and the Apple Mouse is good, but you really have to lift your left finger before your right click, which is a bit of a pain.

[theBB]

Well, so much for the airport update. (Not the N enabler.) I lost my wireless connection again, while the laptop right next to it is fine. It works fine for a few days with very few drops that last no more than 30 seconds, which I guess is normal. After a while, connection just drops and does not come back for more than 10-20 minutes. I cannot get it back until I reboot. This sucks!...

[stagecustom]

Originally Posted by theBB

Well, so much for the airport update. (Not the N enabler.) I lost my wireless connection again, while the laptop right next to it is fine. It works fine for a few days with very few drops that last no more than 30 seconds, which I guess is normal. After a while, connection just drops and does not come back for more than 10-20 minutes. I cannot get it back until I reboot. This sucks!...

I am still having the same problem! and my airport is never full bars, but a emac/non intel mac mini in the same or next room gets full bars. WHY DOES THE INTEL AIRPORT SUCK BALLS? This is extremely annoying especially for xbox live. and it goes off for a few hours at a time.

[mattzilla]

I'm glad i'm not the only one.

My Mini connects to my network fine when it starts up, but within 5-15 minutes I can no longer access the web (even though the Airport indicator shows that i'm still connected)

I renew the DHCP lease and it gives me a self assigned IP address.

Only way to get back on to the web after that is a reboot

[JAT]

I am now having this precise problem ever since updating the firmware. 10.4.8 worked just fine for many moons, til I did the firmware.

I have taken some advice from the Apple forums and reverted a certain kext back a bit. We'll see what happens.

[JAT]

Well, I'm still connected a day later. And between putting my preferred DNS servers back into prefs and this "downgrade", I am surfing faster than I have in awhile with no problems. I would recommend this to anyone with a Mini at this point.

I downloaded Pacifist to get into installer packages and took out the appropriate kext (below) from my original OSX install discs. Replaced the active one, restarted and voila, Airport works again. It belongs in System:Library:Extensions

IO80211Family.kext

[theBB]

Strange, my network behaves much better after the upgrade, even though I get disconnected for very short periods of time every now and then, but I guess it is in the "acceptable" level, as I can see about seven other networks causing interference.

[JAT]

I've remembered that I have a second OSX install to test new Apple upgrades on before commiting on my main install. [insert intelligence joke here] I tried the latest update, Airport Extreme 2007-002. Seems to be working ok so far.

Anyone else think this latest one fixes or breaks the Mini's Airport issues?