Having permanent interruptions with WiFi MBP M3 Max

[Lomaxxx]

Hello Community,

i switched for about 3 weeks from my 14" MBP M1 Max to a 14" MBP M3 Max. Everything good so far

But since i booted the M3 Max for the first time i am getting several times a day massiv interruptions on WiFi. Out of nowhere i cant load a single website and speedtests are around 1-5 kb/s then. I am on a Gigabit connection with max 1000 MBit/s down- and 50 MBit/s upload. When the system is running without interruptions i am getting very good down-/upload speed like shown in the screenshot

I cant reproduce this behavior, but it happens several times a day. Sometimes several times per hour, sometimes 2 times a day. All my devices have static IP, so no DHCP at any device. I am using this config since years without any trouble.

Here is my setup
Basement: FritzBox 7590
1st floor: Fritz Repeater 3000 (which is connected via Ethernet cable to the 7590 in the basement)
MBP M3 Max is located on the 1st floor, around 4 meters far from the Fritz Repeater 3000 (connected through WiFi)
2nd Floor: Mac Studio M1 Max (no issues or interruptions on my Mac Studio - never)
Lots of apple devices like 2 iphones, 2 ipad Pros and other apple devices inside the house. No interruption on any of these devices)

The only way to fix it is to turn off the WiFi in the menubar for some seconds and turn it back on. Then everything is working again

Contacted Apple Support via Chat and told them my exact setup. They asked me if i am using a VPN and i explained them, that i am programming onlineshops and from time to time i have to use a VPN to check shipping costs to other countrys, so i have to change my location. That VPN is only a browser extension (in fact it is NordVPN) and nothing entered in the system settings. So i turn the VPN on for some mins to checkout if everything works correct and after that i immediately turn it off. From this point the support was always mention that it could be the VPN and they cant help me without re-installing a fresh macOS to see if it happening again.

I closed the chat after 15 mins because it was only a back and forth and they didnt accept the fact that i have exact the same setup on my Mac Studio and no problems there at all.

Anyway... i've read this problem many times when i searched via google, especially with the M3 chip. Apples Community Forum has dozend of topics with the same behavior and there is not a single solution in.

Does anyone know whats the problem or someone has maybe the same problem? I could life with it, but on the other side i payed more than 4000 bucks for this machine and i am sick of the fact that i own a lot of apple products and bought also a lot in the last 12 years. Most of the time i have to get an appointment on the genius bar like with my last iphone, my wife ipad pro etc. I am absolutely OK with the fact that i pay more money on a notebook like buying a windows one and get high quality and well designed and chosen hardware elements. But whats the point paying x amount of money and need to send it in or need to contact the support for every single device? I don't get it.

If someone has the same behavior and knows a workaround to fix this permantly, i would really appreciate any help

thank you

 

[Alpha Centauri]

You may have already tried the basics?

1. log in with another user account.

2. safe mode.

3. run Wireless Diagnostics

Sorry if they're obvious but needed to ask.

 

[genexx]

Wi-Fi connection drops frequently | FRITZ!Box 7490

You're having problems with your Wi-Fi? The Wi-Fi connection keeps dropping? ✔ Here's how to solve your connection problems.

en.avm.de

I heard some Roumors of Vodafone DNS Problems being solved if you use a different DNS entered in the FritzBox and also update your System Router Firmware.
(some Provider Router Firmware does not allow to change DNS, then you can try edit your MBP WLAN DNS)

Your Ping is slow.
I have on the MBA with WLAN 3-5ms and 21-23ms with activated VPN.

I would also suggest that answers form a German Forum could lead to more exact Tips, because you seem to have DS-Lite and this is only existant in Germany and Japan.

An absolut PIA Protokoll.

• Cloudflare: IPv4: 1.1.1.1, IPv6: 2606:4700:4700::1111

Fritzbox: DNS-Server ändern

Der durch Ihren Provider vergebene Standard-DNS-Server kann in den Fritzbox-Einstellungen durch andere DNS-Server ersetzt werden.

www.heise.de

WLAN Katastrophe

Moin zusammen, es geht um mein Internet zu Hause und ich bin langsam echt am verzweifeln. Haben Glasfaser mit einer FRITZ!Box 5590 und letztem Update. Mindestens einmal am Tag stoppen alle unsere Geräte ihre Internetaktivitäten. WLAN crashed dabei nicht. Manchmal halten einzelne Geräte...

www.macuser.de

It could also be some intefrence in the WLAN Band so you can allways lookup the Quality with holding option key and clicking the WLAN Icon:

 

[Lomaxxx]

I should have mention that

I am using google publich DNS 8.8.8.8
Firmware is on all devices up2date. Ping is absolute usually for germany. We have one of the badest internet in the world, so we have to deal with it 😂
I am on cable internet, so no dsl lite.

I ran multiple wireless diagnostics exactly when i have these interuptions on wifi. the problem is, macOS doesnt tell me anything. When i use the diagnostic output protocol the file is around 350 mb (i think everyone knows that you cant read anything as a "normal user" out of the protocol)

i should have mention this too, that i am using completely different SSIDs for all my networks. so i am running the 2 GHz only on the 7590, because i need this for some of my smart home devices like light switches. for the repeater 3000 i am having a 5 GHz-I and a 5 GHz-II. The II is way more faster than the I and i am connecting only to this one with my MBP M3

What i dont understand is the fact, that the studio doesnt have any issues, with the exact same settings. macOS is up2date on all devices, firmware is everywhere up2date too.

this must have something to do with the m3 mbp because i read this behavior on many other sites like

Why is my MacBook Pro M3 Max experiencing… - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255358715?sortBy=best (<-- this user is having nearly the same problem like me)
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255476883?sortBy=best (ive posted my issue there too)

I am out of ideas

 

[Lomaxxx]

As mentioned from @genexx i read through the topic and so i decided to give AVM a call. I was explaining my setup and the support interupted me while i was talking and he told me that i dont need to explain further, because he will send me the solution, because the problem is well known.

I have the explanation only in german, so i will run it through the google translator to let you guys know

You describe that the WLAN connection to the FRITZ!Box or a mesh repeater is permanently interrupted on your Apple devices (e.g. iPhone, Macbook or iPad).

We are aware of this issue related to a bug in Apple's iCloud Passwords & iCloud Keychain service. Until a solution is available from Apple, you can fix the problem by doing the following:

Open iCloud Settings and go to the "iCloud Passwords & iCloud Keychain" section.
Disable synchronization on your Apple device.

I am confused right now, because i cant believe this should work. I would try this for sure, but i need the sync with my other devices. Do you guys think this could resolve the problem?

 

[Alpha Centauri]

Ping is absolute usually for germany. We have one of the badest internet in the world, so we have to deal with it 😂

For what you get in DE, in increments of €5 upselling, it's shocking really. I've only got a 100 Mbps V-DSL line but luckily a ping of circa 9ms, but do attribute this to the mere fact that my master mesh node to be in line of sight. Luckily it's at least rock solid with consistency 105/42 Mbps all the time (except when the ridiculous Linksys routers drop).

Edit: having said that, my upload has once again halved. So, another restart of the FritzBox

 

[Lomaxxx]

Ping is not THAT important for me, because i do not playing games. So when everything is working fine, i am absolutely ok with vodafone. had lots of issues in the past, but thats several years ago and since then i cannot say a bad word. as said... ping is not primary focus

 

[genexx]

My 2 Daughters would grill me or try to advance it if ping would be that bad.
But you have to check LAN Ping vs WLAN Ping to see where it lags.
My ASUS WLAN Mesh is also with ETH Backbone and very fast.

But changing in Germany to DNS 1.1.1.1 Cloudflare does allmost allways advance your Ping.

Not only for Gaming but i have also a Proxmox with several VM´s and they have some Private BBB/Minecraft/Chat Server on the Proxmox up and running.

I am with netcologne FTTH and have changed to Dual Stack without the Lite so i have an ip v4.
250/50Mbit

 

[Lomaxxx]

Still having that issue, after several updates. Both for my M3 Max and also the router and the repeater. Had a dozen calls with apple but these guys actually seem to suck these days. Reading down their protocols without any working output.

They told me i had to deinstall Little Snitch, which i am actually using for ages. I told them i spent thousands of dollars to buy a notebook which is completely mine after i drop the euros on the desk and i can install whatever i want on the machine. On the other site i have so many apple devices at home like a Mac Studio (with the exact same configuration and programs like my MBP), 2 iPhone Pro, 2 iPad Pro, Apple TV and not a single device has the same issue. I am completely out of ideas, because i checked everything.

Had several calls with AMV (the manufacturer of my FritzBox 7590) and before i could explain my problem to the end the first guy interrupted and told me that this problem is well know, because "here at AVM we handle things totall different than apple. You disable your icloud keychain sync and you're fine..."

Huh?

Next guy at AVM told me why i give them a call when other devices are running fine. I said i am calling you, because i have WIFI issues and this could be a possible issue with the router too. Anyway...wasted lifetime

Had a chat with the developer of little snitch and they got upset too that apple is saying their program is maybe responsible for the issue. He said LS is installed on hundreds of thousand machines and he hears this issue for the first time. This guy got really upset on apple... to be honest i had a good laugh when he was raging 😂

So i had several more calls with apple support without any solution. The last guy i had contact with told me that they have to stick to the rules before they can escalate the problem to a supervisor. So i have to run the system in safe mode, using a second guest account, try another Wifi network (mentioned a dozen times before that this is not my only apple device and none of them having this issue), doing a fresh clean install of macOS sonoma and install a time machine backup (i mentioned that i will get the error back when the issue is somewhere in my system after doing a clean install and overwrite it with a time machine backup), starting to de-install software and installing them back one after one to see which one is the problem...

I completely lost control at this point and i told him i can escalate it myself when i need to drive to a genius bar, which i regret today, because this is not my natural, losing control over myself.

My problem is, that i cant reproduce the error and it happens out of nowhere. sometimes i have this issue 3-4 times a day and on another day it happens 20+ times.

They sent my a program "Capture Data" and they guy told me i should run this in the background and as soon as the issue pops up i should write down the exact time (include the seconds) and upload them the protocol. The app wasnt running longer than 5 minutes and i got it again. Did all the want, uploaded them everything but never heard anything back.

More and more i believe it is a hardware failure and an issue of the WiFi module. But these mf wont take a look at the genius bar, because they have to stick to their ass protocols

Check these google results only at their own community
Apple Community M3 WiFi issues

Does anyone of you guys have any other idea how i can get rid of this? i am close to losing my mind, because i am earning money as a grafic designer and VFX artist. So you can imagine that i am handling large files to customer or other freelancer and it drives me mental when you sometimes need several approaches to upload a 10 GB file, because connection gets interrupted all the time

I am completely out od ideas

thank you

Edit: Not a minute after i wrote this i got it again (today more than 30-40 times). I hit option on the WiFi symbol in the menubar and maybe someone can tell me something out of the screen, because i have no clue how to get something out of this

This is what it looks like when WiFi is not working anymore

This is what it looks like when everything is fine. I cant see any difference besides the TX-Rate, which is jumping between 866 and 700 something

 

[genexx]

I have heard of many problems related to LittleSnitch after MacOS System Updates so the advice is not bad.
You could also test if it works with LuLu (free Firewall)

Objective-See: LuLu

objective-see.org

There are 2 issues related to Mac, Network related, i know off:

• There was an issue mostly with the 10gb ETH Interface Mac´s where you got massive Packet Drops was mostly solved with setting an Fixed IP on the Mac itself.
• There was an Issue with Airdrop where the checking for Devices somehow halted / broke normal Network Traffic.

And Several WLAN Issues which i did not have.

I had an Issue only on my MBA M2 but could fix it with setting UTM VM to isolate from Host in Network Settings.

So to look for Network related Software that can brake your connections is never a bad idea.

You can also just create a new User to check if the Problem is gone then and then you know it is just Software.

Es kann auch nur ein USB Kabel sein das eine Störung verursacht.

Fix WiFi Keeps Disconnecting on MacBook Pro/Air

Explaing why your Mac keeps disconnecting from WiFi and how to fix WiFi keeps disconnecting on MacBook Pro/MacBook Air and other models.

iboysoft.com

• If your MacBook Pro keeps disconnecting from WiFi, there are likely issues with your operating system, the router, the internet service provider, or interferences from other devices. Here are some of the common causes: The DHCP lease is expired. Your WiFi location is incorrect.

Manchmal hilft es auch die Kanalbreite auf 80Mhz zu reduzieren und Kanal 36 zu wählen.

 

[Lomaxxx]

Did 100% everything of this

• tried adding a new network
• having always a fixed IP for any of my apple devices
• tried in safe mode (and that should clearly shown if its a software problem. got the issue around 30 seconds after the system was loaded
• tried with a new user account
• and numerous other things

what i dont get is the following

• i do not get disconnected from my wifi and the MBP is not searching. the system holds the connection, but i cant open a simple 3 kb website. while this issue is going on i can browse through the web with absolutely any of my other apple devices, connected to the exact same wifi and as told before and i got some other apple devices, mentioned in the first post. so i can isolate the problem to the MBP M3 Max, because no other device has this problem. on top of the apple devices i got multiple other devices connected to the wifi like smart-tv, lots of philips HUE lights, lots of SONOS audio speaker through the whole house... none...absolutely no other device has any interrupion
• second ive checked the log files from my router and my repeater and there is not a single disconnect. ive updated the fritzbox to the labor 7.90 (i was hoping it got fixed) and i check the log first and i was online for over 3 month without a single disconnect
• had several more phone calls with the apple support. they are still riding on that ive been using a VPN, while i nearly freaked out and told them that i installed my Sonoma fresh and clean since a week or so and there is nothing, nothing and nothing installed besides the onboard programs. and NO vpn. they wont believe me and i got 2 supporters on my MBP with screensharing and showed them that there is nothing. They still telling me i have to uninstall it 😂
• the hardest one was on friday last week. i had an complete a**hole on the phone telling me i have to uninstall the vpn while i got already fired up from the call an hour ago. so i started playing the other a**hole and told him my right in germany what it means to have warranty. I also told him that i dont need to proof apple anythung, because the machine is 5 month old and so i can take it to any apple store i want and that they have to proof me it is not hardware related. i asked him why tf they dont want to take a look at the machine or replace the wifi antenna? the supporter told me that this is not possible, because they need to change the whole logicboard for that. I told him that this is not true, because the wifi antenna is a separate part and can be removed in around 3 mins. he said NO, its welded with the logic board and not a separate part. i told him you have to remove 8 screws to remove the backplate and another 9 screws to remove the wifi antenna. and to get his mouth shut i send him the link from ifixit. after that he told me they is nothing he can do for me and was right about the end the call, but i asked for his last name. He said "michael" and i said i need your last name and he repeated "just only michael" 😂 I am not done with this guy yet
• i called apple again and finally i got something on the phone who was not interrupting me all the time and it took me around 10 mins to explain everything. he asked me to stay on the phone, he is talking to a supervisor. i waited 3-4 mins, he came back and told me that it is the best the make an appointment at the genius bar to replace the wifi antenna

i will keep you guys updated if this is going to solve the issue. to be honest i hate it to bring the MBP there, because i wanna know what the issue is and why this happens all the time. i found so so many thread of other user complaining the about the exact same issue. no one got a solution for this until today

 

[Lomaxxx]

Oh sorry i forgot to tell...
Had the third phone call with AVM (manufacturer of my router) and told them absolutely detailed whats going on here. They seemed to be interested in it and asked me to upload them the support logs. I waited until the next issue and right at that point i extracted the "Support data"

And this is showing the folowing

...
2024-05-22 21:22:18.001 - interface ath1 setup.
2024-05-22 21:22:18.005 - reset nsent & start sending RS on ath1
2024-05-22 21:22:18.125 - interface ath1 setup.
2024-05-22 21:22:18.132 - reset nsent & start sending RS on ath1
2024-05-22 22:22:17.974 - interface ath1 setup.
2024-05-22 22:22:17.982 - reset nsent & start sending RS on ath1
2024-05-22 23:22:18.196 - interface ath1 setup.
2024-05-22 23:22:18.205 - reset nsent & start sending RS on ath1
2024-05-23 00:22:18.218 - interface ath1 setup.
2024-05-23 00:22:18.224 - reset nsent & start sending RS on ath1
2024-05-23 01:22:17.929 - interface ath1 setup.
2024-05-23 01:22:18.229 - reset nsent & start sending RS on ath1
2024-05-23 01:22:18.234 - interface ath1 setup.
2024-05-23 01:22:18.239 - reset nsent & start sending RS on ath1
2024-05-23 01:22:18.341 - interface ath1 setup.
2024-05-23 01:22:18.346 - reset nsent & start sending RS on ath1
##### END SECTION rextd
##### END SECTION krextd_srv.sh

##### BEGIN SECTION USERLOG /proc/avm/log_sd
==========

##### BEGIN SECTION '/proc/avm/log_sd/user'
----------
cat: can't open '/proc/avm/log_sd/user': No data available
/proc/avm/log_sd/user no data
----------
##### END SECTION '/proc/avm/log_sd/user'

##### BEGIN SECTION '/proc/avm/log_sd/user2'
----------
cat: can't open '/proc/avm/log_sd/user2': No data available
/proc/avm/log_sd/user2 no data
----------
##### END SECTION '/proc/avm/log_sd/user2'
==========
##### END SECTION USERLOG

##### BEGIN SECTION CRASHLOG /proc/avm/log_sd
==========

##### BEGIN SECTION '/proc/avm/log_sd/crash'
----------
cat: can't open '/proc/avm/log_sd/crash': No data available
/proc/avm/log_sd/crash no data
----------
##### END SECTION '/proc/avm/log_sd/crash'

##### BEGIN SECTION '/proc/avm/log_sd/crash2'
----------
cat: can't open '/proc/avm/log_sd/crash2': No data available
/proc/avm/log_sd/crash2 no data
----------
##### END SECTION '/proc/avm/log_sd/crash2'
==========
##### END SECTION CRASHLOG

##### BEGIN SECTION PANICLOG /proc/avm/log_sd
==========

##### BEGIN SECTION '/proc/avm/log_sd/panic'
----------
cat: can't open '/proc/avm/log_sd/panic': No data available
/proc/avm/log_sd/panic no data
----------
##### END SECTION '/proc/avm/log_sd/panic'

##### BEGIN SECTION '/proc/avm/log_sd/panic2'
----------
cat: can't open '/proc/avm/log_sd/panic2': No data available
/proc/avm/log_sd/panic2 no data
----------
##### END SECTION '/proc/avm/log_sd/panic2'

 

[Lomaxxx]

Update:
Bought a new Fritz!Repeater 6000 and every problem is gone 🤔

Connected the old Repeater 3000 untouched to my Mac Studio only and works like a charme.

I literally absolutely don't get it