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Airport Express connection problems

A

acevergreen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 6, 2008
19
0
I use Airport Express as the wireless network which is connected to the ADSL modem D-Link (DSL-302G). There are 2 clients connected to the wireless network. iMAC OSX Tiger 10.4.11 desktop and HP laptop with Windows Vista.

The problem here is the iMAC is getting connection dropouts all the time while the Windows laptop is connected to the wireless network without any problem. My iMAC is 3 months old and HP laptop is 1 week old. Is there anything I am not setting up correctly?

Btw, the wireless network security is WPA/WPA2. Could anyone provide any assistance?

I can't believe Windows is more reliable than an Apple in this case.
 
try resetting your wpa password (you can reset it back to the same thing) in your router. Or go back to wep. both of these worked for me.
 
Tried them as suggested and still no luck.
It is intermittent, sometime it works fine but most of the time connection keeps dropping out in iMAC.
 
acevergreen said:
Tried them as suggested and still no luck.
It is intermittent, sometime it works fine but most of the time connection keeps dropping out in iMAC.
Click to expand...

Check for any electrical devices that might be causing interference between your mac and your wireless router. Also how much distance is there between the two and how many walls?
 
Airport Express is plugged in right under the desk where the iMAC is placed. I have also ticked "use interface robustness' to ensure no interference from other devices. I use the windows laptop pretty much anywhere in the house including the desk and it connects perfectly without any drop outs.

May be the wireless card in iMAC is defective. I don't know. It is the intermittent connection that i find frustrating.

I am thinking of buying an Airport Extreme and use direct ethernet connection from Airport Ext to the iMAC and the Windows Laptop can be connected using wireless. That would be a waste of money though. Airport Express would become pretty much useless except for using it as AirTune.
 
Have you done the software update to 10.5.2? It has created or cured wifi problems for some users. The only thing that knocks my signal out is the microwave oven.
 
May be worth trying to switch over to WEP instead of WPA/WPA2 or even try it unsecured temporarily just to see if that makes any difference although I don't suggest you leave it wide open.
 
i have changed the security setting to WEP instead of WPA/WPA2. From the mac it was working ok but then when trying to get connection from the Windows laptop it wasn't happy with the password.

It was saying "password is invalid" can't remember the rest of the message but basically it was saying that the password for WEP needs to meet some requirement. My password is longer than 8 characters and has alpha numeric in them. So I don't know what it is complaining about.
 
acevergreen said:
i have changed the security setting to WEP instead of WPA/WPA2. From the mac it was working ok but then when trying to get connection from the Windows laptop it wasn't happy with the password.

It was saying "password is invalid" can't remember the rest of the message but basically it was saying that the password for WEP needs to meet some requirement. My password is longer than 8 characters and has alpha numeric in them. So I don't know what it is complaining about.
Click to expand...

Just read somewhere that when using WEP and 128 bit encryption Windows really insists on a 13 character password so try that or bump it back to 40-bit.

BTW have you been using the iMac with WEP long enough to conclude that the iMac dropping issue is "fixed"?
 
TJones said:
Just read somewhere that when using WEP and 128 bit encryption Windows really insists on a 13 character password so try that or bump it back to 40-bit.

BTW have you been using the iMac with WEP long enough to conclude that the iMac dropping issue is "fixed"?
Click to expand...

No, I haven't had to test it to make that conclusion. I need to ensure that both clients (mac & windows laptop) are connected to AE concurrently. I am also suspecting that the 'drop out' on Mac could be caused by having 2 clients with different OS. I don't know I need to test it.

Now, I need to create a password that is according to 128bit WEP standard.
 
Nope, nothing worked. I have even eliminated the security on the network. Changed the config to 'Closed Network' and 'hide SSID', nothing worked. Still getting really slow performance or connection drop outs.

I give up. Apple product is disappointing. It is nice to look at and that's all. Thanks for those who tried to help out. Cheers.
 
Fix!

Here's wat worked for me with 2 MBA's and one MBP:
do the following

- first harde reset Airport Extreme

- follow the instructions on the following page http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7886849 for all machines connected to the Airport.

- Change the password to connect to the Airport with a very strong password

- select bridgemode under 'connection sharing'

- under 'radiomode', select "just 802.11n (2,4 Ghz)"

Maybe DHCP doesn't work that well on an AE (time for firmware update 7.3.3?).
 
the imac has a defective wifi card. that is the problem. i have a similar setup, with a macbook that sits close to the AE, and a very old and junky dell box sitting upstairs using a netgear usb adapter to connect. signal is fine on both computers. the imac has a defected airport card that is the problem, most likely a loose connection.
 
No defective wifi-card for me

I don't even have an iMac, but yes maybe in a different situation other defects contribute to a dropped connection, in my case there was no defective Airport card.

All hardware that doesn't work the way it should is defective, but the answer, for me, lies in a very simple solution wich I described above.

SnowLeopard2008 said:
the imac has a defective wifi card. that is the problem. i have a similar setup, with a macbook that sits close to the AE, and a very old and junky dell box sitting upstairs using a netgear usb adapter to connect. signal is fine on both computers. the imac has a defected airport card that is the problem, most likely a loose connection.
Click to expand...
 
I've had similar problems. What solved them for me was changing the Airport channel(s). There's a nice little free app called istumbler which reads all available wifi and tells you, among other things, what channel(s) are used. In my case a strong nearby network was on the same channel. Changed channel, no more problems.
 
Defective wi-fi card in a 55 day old iMac....

I have recently (on Sep 9th) bought an iMac computer (3.06 GHz, 4 MB RAM, 24" screen, etc) and already been having problems with an extremely slow wi-fi connection (due to probably a defective wi-fi card) on the iMac where in wi-fi mode, since the last one week, I only get speeds not exceeding 1 Mbps. download speeds and about 600 kbps upload speeds . Before that I was getting download speeds of upto 8 Mbps and upload speeds of upto 3 Mbps. I tried to call the apple support and they conveniently blamed it on the sudden interference with the home cordless phones that run at 2.4 GHz. They also tried to tell me that if I had an apple router then they might have been able to solve the problem but apple doesn't train them to solve problems that could arise due to other routers (like I have a D-link N band router DIR-655). My router is barely 6 months old and is working perfectly fine with the three other PCs in the house. The sad part is that my old Dell laptop (4 years old) also still runs on the same wireless router and still has 6 Mbps. download speeds and about 3 Mbps upload speeds. In fact, when I tried to connect a wired connection to the iMac the download speeds are about 10 Mbps and upload speeds are always above 4 Mbps. While the apple rep told me that I have to take the machine to the apple store now, I find it really sad that within barely 2 months I have to be taking the machine back and forth as the wi-fi card has already become defective. This is my first iMac machine and I was in the process of buying a 15" Mac book pro but seeing the rudeness, discourteousness and incompetence of the apple technical staff, I am surely wary of buying another apple product.
 
SS61 said:
I have recently (on Sep 9th) bought an iMac computer (3.06 GHz, 4 MB RAM, 24" screen, etc) and already been having problems with an extremely slow wi-fi connection (due to probably a defective wi-fi card) on the iMac where in wi-fi mode, since the last one week, I only get speeds not exceeding 1 Mbps. download speeds and about 600 kbps upload speeds . Before that I was getting download speeds of upto 8 Mbps and upload speeds of upto 3 Mbps. I tried to call the apple support and they conveniently blamed it on the sudden interference with the home cordless phones that run at 2.4 GHz. They also tried to tell me that if I had an apple router then they might have been able to solve the problem but apple doesn't train them to solve problems that could arise due to other routers (like I have a D-link N band router DIR-655). My router is barely 6 months old and is working perfectly fine with the three other PCs in the house. The sad part is that my old Dell laptop (4 years old) also still runs on the same wireless router and still has 6 Mbps. download speeds and about 3 Mbps upload speeds. In fact, when I tried to connect a wired connection to the iMac the download speeds are about 10 Mbps and upload speeds are always above 4 Mbps. While the apple rep told me that I have to take the machine to the apple store now, I find it really sad that within barely 2 months I have to be taking the machine back and forth as the wi-fi card has already become defective. This is my first iMac machine and I was in the process of buying a 15" Mac book pro but seeing the rudeness, discourteousness and incompetence of the apple technical staff, I am surely wary of buying another apple product.
Click to expand...


Could you check one thing? Double check to see if the connection to your wifi network from the iMAC is set to "automatic". Hence the iMAC will try getting connection to your wireless network automatically everytime you switch it on. If the sympton persists then most likely would be the hardware issue (ie your airport card). Yes, Apple products are pretty but the quality is questionable.
 
Defective wi-fi card in a 55 day old iMac....

acevergreen said:
Could you check one thing? Double check to see if the connection to your wifi network from the iMAC is set to "automatic". Hence the iMAC will try getting connection to your wireless network automatically everytime you switch it on. If the sympton persists then most likely would be the hardware issue (ie your airport card). Yes, Apple products are pretty but the quality is questionable.
Click to expand...

I have checked it and it is on "Automatic". Although the helpline guy told me to add a "home network" and then it would work better but NOTHING IMPROVED. You are totally right about the fact that it is the Airport card that has gone defective and the worst part is that even though the machine is barely 60 days old, one still has to go through the inconvenience of carrying it back to the Apple Store for them to check and replace the defective parts. Thanks.
 
Do you have any other wifi clients connecting to your base station? I know with my airport extreme, I have it running at fast 802.11n, but when my iphone or windows clients connect to it, it knocks the network down to 802.11b speeds...

I bought another airport extreme, time capsule, to make a primary network for macs only @802.11n, but it has been in the corner gathering dust since February. I can't remember what problems I had with it, but thought if I let it sit for a while, newer firmware would come out.. LOL
 
Also, try changing your network's SSID. Sometimes, when you switch security settings (i.e. move from WPA to WEP, etc.) and still use the same SSID, the Mac/PC can get confused. I recently went through this and found that it was easier to start all over than it was to try and fix what was already done. I changed my SSID, setup a WPA key, and changed wi-fi settings on my laptop, Xbox 360, and iPod Touch. It only took me about 15 minutes and I have not had any dropouts since.
 
acevergreen,

Did you get this sorted out? I have a similar issue (iMac drops wireless connection randomly but my Dell PC has no issue with the wireless). What was your "fix" if you got it working?
 
jsgreen

2 things i did that fixed the problem for me.
    1. Set the Airport connection to "By default, Join" to Automatic.
    2. Under the Airport Utility setting under "Access" tab, select "MAC Address Access Control" to Local. Then manually entered Wireless MAC Address for each of my client.
    My clients are HP laptop (windows), Lenovo laptop (windows), Nintendo Wii and iMAC.

    If you have an Airport Express or Extreme, this option may work. Otherwise it could be the hardware problem on your Mac (Airport card).
 
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