Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Macbook Airport Wifi Issue

D

dL.

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 5, 2007
297
33
Hi,

I have a late 2007 Macbook and the Airport WIFI seems to be dropping a lot, ONLY for my school network. It's weird. But my girlfriend with the new Macbook or any of my friends have no connection drops at all with the school network.

I really don't know what is the problem. Where can I start to diagnose this problem? I wanna show it to them at the Genius Bar but I really can't proof it if it's only my school WIFI.

I don't seem to see how I can reinstall Airport drivers or firmwares.

For some reason, I have a feeling Adium may contribute to this problem. I don't know. I am really lost.

Please please help! Thanks!

dL
 
dL. said:
Hi,

I have a late 2007 Macbook and the Airport WIFI seems to be dropping a lot, ONLY for my school network. It's weird. But my girlfriend with the new Macbook or any of my friends have no connection drops at all with the school network.

I really don't know what is the problem. Where can I start to diagnose this problem? I wanna show it to them at the Genius Bar but I really can't proof it if it's only my school WIFI.

I don't seem to see how I can reinstall Airport drivers or firmwares.

For some reason, I have a feeling Adium may contribute to this problem. I don't know. I am really lost.

Please please help! Thanks!

dL
Click to expand...

I have similar problems at times, but i put it down to some form of local RF interfearance blocking the signal out......
 
you can find much helpful advice on the forums by searching "macbook wifi reception" etc. i have noticed similar things with the airport on my macbook but have always been able to resolve them by restarting airport, or restarting the connection. If in your case airport is still showing a signal and the internet will not work, you might want to try network diagnostics.
 
Alright an update to this. My wifi is fine everywhere else. It seems to only happen during this specific lecture hall, which the technical guys agree that there are a lack of access points for that room. I understand that.

But I don't get why other people's wifi are still strong (both Macbook and PC), and only mine is weak. My girlfriend's aluminum Macbook is perfectly fine. Is there something wrong with my Airport card? If possible, how can I boost the signal?

It's very hard to describe to Apple if it only happens in my school campus and specifically in a particular lecture hall. Everywhere else - home, friend's house - is fine.

Thanks!

dL
 
Anyone? I really don't get it. I have exactly the same Broadcom card as my girlfriend's new aluminum Macbook. We both have 10.5.6 with Airport Utility 5.3.2. How come mine slows down at times and hers doesn't?

dL
 
Try moving your screen around when you lose connection. Or have apple open it open and check the antenna cable to make sure it still connected.
 
I happen to have a similar problem, where I can't even get close to the hotspot's logon screen. I realised that the temporary solution for this is to clean out the user cache, and it's been working for me.

I hope Apple can find a solution for this...:(
 
I would suggest moving your MacBook around campus, and see if the issue is everywhere, or just where you usually sit.
 
Unfortunately I've had this problem too. I've tried everything, and honestly it seems that proximity to the router is the biggest thing with the macbooks However I do agree that macbooks definitely do not have the best wifi reception.
 
I had the same issue with my home router, I found an application called iStumbler, it detects all the wifi signals that your laptop picks up and determines the channels they are broadcasting on and the strength of each signal

If the wireless network you are one is broadcasting on the same channel as another network you are gonna have interference problems (dropping of internet)

Luckily since my problem was with my home router I could change the channel my router is broadcasting on, if the problem is in a public place there isnt much you can do about that

But I guess you could then use it to determine if the problem is in your macbook or not, if there is no conflicting channels then either Airport isnt working as it should be or the wifi router is bad
 
I brought this to the Genius's attention and he deleted my Airport setting in Network and re-added it. He says that should fix it since he checked my signal strength and finds no problem with my Airport.

I will be at the campus next Monday to test it again. Let you guys know soon!

dL
 
My brother-in-law's iMac was having a similar problem on his home network, it either wouldn't connect wirelessly to the router or would intermittently drop connection ... whereas my mid-2007 blackbook and my sister's windows laptop never missed a beat ... when we took it to a genius we were advised that it would be RF interference so tried changing the broadcast channel on the router and it didn't really help things too much

long story short, he bought a time capsule and now it acts as the wireless AP for his network and it works like a dream ... so it was hard to pinpoint whether it was a problem with the airport card or the router ... one of the things the genius' did was to delete the network settings and re-connect to the network to see if it made a difference ... it didn't, but i really hope it works for you!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back