Alum MacBook Wifi/Wireless Problems?

[zlooop]

As a recent Mac convert, I've been pretty happy with the whole experience, except for this awful airport problem I've been experiencing.

I got the new MacBook on release day and the airport was working great. Two weeks into use, I started having dead spots that didn't otherwise exist. I increasingly had connection issues and I figured my WRT54G router was dying. I am not entirely sure, but I feel like problems started happening after this update:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportextremeupdate2008004.html

Yesterday, I picked up a Time Capsule, setup everything and I still experienced the same problems. This even happens when I sit 2 feet away from the Time Capsule. Here are the recurring symptoms:

- restart seems to temporarily fix the problem
- wifi internet is noticeably slower than on other machines
- sometimes airport sees no wireless networks, sometimes it doesn't see mine and sees others
- i can initiate a webpage load sometimes, but there can be a huge (30 second) delay before it actually loads
- putting the macbook to sleep almost always induces the problem after returning from sleep mode
- random disconnects

Another thread that seems similar to these problems (only I had problems on a linksys and now a Time Capsule):
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1782493&tstart=0

 

[mynamesreallong]

Having somewhat same problems, as my macbook doesnt "see" any available networks. but i have to manually type in networks? whats up with this? 2nd replacement btw.

 

[zlooop]

Having somewhat same problems, as my macbook doesnt "see" any available networks. but i have to manually type in networks? whats up with this? 2nd replacement btw.

maybe this is a software problem.. either way I'm getting really pissed that no one can fix this.

i just go this error message: “Operation could not be completed. (kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork error 302.)” (kCFErrorDomainCFNetwork:302) in safari

 

[Vulcan]

Take it to the Genius Bar, you may have a defective card.

 

[vincenz]

I had the exact same problem with my alu macbook about a week ago. I also got it the first week and used it fine for about two weeks before it started up. There would be intermittent dropping of the wireless or it would just be extremely slow to the point of not being able to use it. I had just about all the problems that you posted on here, zlooop.

I did some research and tried every single solution I could think of, even thought it was a DNS issue and tried changing DNS servers to no avail (it would only work for a while and then stop). I called Verizon about their router and even got it changed, but that didn't work either. They couldn't offer a fix and thought the airport card was running on power-saving mode, which of course it wasn't. A call to AppleCare didn't solve anything either, the guy told me to bring it into a store.

SO. Out of sheer boredom/anger/randomness, I log into my WRT54G router for one last time to see if I could fool around with some more. I changed the wireless channel from 11 to 2 and bam. Lightning fast wireless is back 100%. I was hitting myself over the head for about a week trying to fix it. Maybe this will work for you too. I'm guessing you know how to log into your router. Also, try using WPA2 encryption instead of the old WEP, it might be more stable and secure.

In the "Advanced Security Settings" page, go down to Level 3 and change the broadcast mode to 802.11g only. After that, go down to "Other Advanced Wireless Options" and make sure the MTU and the Transmission Rate is set to "Auto."

Those things SHOULD fix it, given you have the same problem as I had. It's probably not a faulty airport card if it was working fine before. I almost sent it back to Apple but I got it fixed finally. 20 Mbps downloads again

Let me know if this worked.

 

[zlooop]

I had the exact same problem with my alu macbook about a week ago. I also got it the first week and used it fine for about two weeks before it started up. There would be intermittent dropping of the wireless or it would just be extremely slow to the point of not being able to use it. I had just about all the problems that you posted on here, zlooop.

I did some research and tried every single solution I could think of, even thought it was a DNS issue and tried changing DNS servers to no avail (it would only work for a while and then stop). I called Verizon about their router and even got it changed, but that didn't work either. They couldn't offer a fix and thought the airport card was running on power-saving mode, which of course it wasn't. A call to AppleCare didn't solve anything either, the guy told me to bring it into a store.

SO. Out of sheer boredom/anger/randomness, I log into my WRT54G router for one last time to see if I could fool around with some more. I changed the wireless channel from 11 to 2 and bam. Lightning fast wireless is back 100%. I was hitting myself over the head for about a week trying to fix it. Maybe this will work for you too. I'm guessing you know how to log into your router. Also, try using WPA2 encryption instead of the old WEP, it might be more stable and secure.

In the "Advanced Security Settings" page, go down to Level 3 and change the broadcast mode to 802.11g only. After that, go down to "Other Advanced Wireless Options" and make sure the MTU and the Transmission Rate is set to "Auto."

Those things SHOULD fix it, given you have the same problem as I had. It's probably not a faulty airport card if it was working fine before. I almost sent it back to Apple but I got it fixed finally. 20 Mbps downloads again

Let me know if this worked.

I'll play with the channels tonight, but I had tried 3 different channels on my old linksys. I will play with the channels on the Time Machine tonight.

 

[hocR]

I had the exact same problem with my alu macbook about a week ago. I also got it the first week and used it fine for about two weeks before it started up. There would be intermittent dropping of the wireless or it would just be extremely slow to the point of not being able to use it. I had just about all the problems that you posted on here, zlooop.

I did some research and tried every single solution I could think of, even thought it was a DNS issue and tried changing DNS servers to no avail (it would only work for a while and then stop). I called Verizon about their router and even got it changed, but that didn't work either. They couldn't offer a fix and thought the airport card was running on power-saving mode, which of course it wasn't. A call to AppleCare didn't solve anything either, the guy told me to bring it into a store.

SO. Out of sheer boredom/anger/randomness, I log into my WRT54G router for one last time to see if I could fool around with some more. I changed the wireless channel from 11 to 2 and bam. Lightning fast wireless is back 100%. I was hitting myself over the head for about a week trying to fix it. Maybe this will work for you too. I'm guessing you know how to log into your router. Also, try using WPA2 encryption instead of the old WEP, it might be more stable and secure.

In the "Advanced Security Settings" page, go down to Level 3 and change the broadcast mode to 802.11g only. After that, go down to "Other Advanced Wireless Options" and make sure the MTU and the Transmission Rate is set to "Auto."

Those things SHOULD fix it, given you have the same problem as I had. It's probably not a faulty airport card if it was working fine before. I almost sent it back to Apple but I got it fixed finally. 20 Mbps downloads again

Let me know if this worked.

Thanks for posting this.. wow I was just browsing around looking for a solution to my slow wireless speeds and I saw your post. I am assuming channel 2 gave the best performance? My dl speeds went from 28 KB/s to 200-300 KB/s right after the change on my router. Amazing..and stupid at the same time...