AirPort connection gone haywire

[dolphin842]

Anyone else getting AirPort weirdness after the latest update?

My menu bar AirPort indicator is all over the map: it switches between grayed-out and connected (all bars) every few seconds. If I start downloading a big file (I'm using the MobileMe quicktime tour as a test file), the indicator stays connected, but when network activity dies down, it starts fluctuating again or stays grayed-out until I load a webpage or some such.

In the course of downloading the MobileMe movie, I'm seeing regular dramatic slowdowns in transfer rate: not to 0kbps, but to about 500kbps (as opposed to the consistent 7000kbps I get with this test download normally). I've attached a picture to show what I mean. The last time this happened, a rouge app was spamming the Console logs, but that isn't the case now.

I first noticed this problem today, after installing the AirPort update... coincidence? I just booted a 10.5.4 backup and the connection is solid and works fine, so it's not the router's fault. Any idea what could be the problem?

 

[dolphin842]

The stuff below turned out to be unrelated to the wireless problem... see next post.
I might have found another clue: I'm noticing that, since this afternoon, I'm getting the following console message:

installAutoFSMonitor: open failed

The first app to report this was BetterZip. This message happened around the time I was trying to extract files from a rar archive, but it hanged, so I force quit it. After this happened, some Finder weirdness ensued:

Finder would stop writing to my usb flash drive mid-copy. It would not relaunch when force quit using the cmd-option-esc method. The Finder would also randomly unmount the flash drive and show the "!" Device Removal warning dialog as if I pulled it out without unmounting (keep in mind the flash drive was still plugged in). Eventually I was able to make my copy to the flash drive and disconnect the flash drive.

So now the installAutoFSMonitor message shows up for the Finder whenever I boot up. The apps that have sent out this message are, in order of appearance: BetterZip, Finder, Crossover, TextEdit, and FireFox. Actually, I just messed around with Preview and found out that the console message comes up whenever an app calls a Save/Open type dialog box.

The only other piece of information I can think of is that, when I first plugged in the flash drive this afternoon, CrossOver popped up with a dialog box wanting to 'install' whatever was on it (I guess it thought it was an install CD for a windows app). This would pop up whenever I plugged it in, so I disabled this behavior in CrossOver's preferences. I also did that this afternoon, when the weirdness started. I just downloaded CrossOver for free the other day.

There's too many variables and symptoms going on... are they even related? Anyone willing to guess at what's going on?

 

[dolphin842]

Alright, so the "installAutoFSMonitor" stuff turned out not to be related. After testing with backups and a clean install, I can attest that the AirPort Extreme Update 2008-004 is indeed responsible for the wireless getting messed up. I've put a call in to AppleCare and submitted feedback via Apple's website. Hopefully they'll fix what they broke with a new update sooner rather than later.

 

[comictimes]

Alright, so the "installAutoFSMonitor" stuff turned out not to be related. After testing with backups and a clean install, I can attest that the AirPort Extreme Update 2008-004 is indeed responsible for the wireless getting messed up. I've put a call in to AppleCare and submitted feedback via Apple's website. Hopefully they'll fix what they broke with a new update sooner rather than later.

I'm definitely with you there... do you know if there is there any way to revert to the old version?

 

[dolphin842]

I've tried to revert manually, but it doesn't work. The relevant files are system kernel extensions and frameworks that have hidden files, and if you try to paste the old ones back in, OS X won't use them.

Best thing to do is go to apple.com/feedback, and file an OS X feedback message on it (this is what the AppleCare person told me to do). People who are affected need to speak up so Apple knows this needs fixing.

 

[Meep72]

I'm having the EXACT same problem you are having as well. I've already did the feedback thing. I hope they address the problem soon as it is getting really annoying.

 

[dolphin842]

It's been long while, but I thought I'd post an update in case anyone finds this thread useful in the future.

I ended up reinstalling 10.5, updating everything except the problematic AirPort 004 update, and transferred my files over. Everything's back to normal! I'm holding off on updating to 10.5.6 until I have time to restore everything should the AirPort start acting up again.

 

[BlueRevolution]

When in doubt...