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Intermittent wifi issues - MBA2013

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boycecodd

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 4, 2013
9
0
I've got a 2013 MacBook Air, fully up to date and running Mavericks. I've been getting intermittent wifi dropouts which I think coincide with the upgrade.

The machine still thinks it's connected, but I can't browse to sites and I can't ping sites (if I already have a ping session running, it will lose connection). If I wait long enough (several minutes) the connection usually comes back, but if I turn wifi off and immediately back on then it comes back straight away.

Other machines (two Windows PCs and my iPhone and iPad) aren't affected and can continue to browse while this happens, so this definitely appears to be my machine.

Now here's the odd part - during the drop-outs I can access network resources within the home network (my NAS, the router's admin page). I just can't get out onto the internet as a whole. Despite this I still believe that this is specific to the MacBook as none of the other machines were affected.

Any ideas? I'm at a loss right now...
 
Did you get the same situation since day one with the MBA?
Might have something to do with your router setting. Try to assign a fixed IP address just for testing purpose.
 
I do desktop support for a small company and have 3 users experiencing the same issues. Time or turning the wifi off and back on again seem to be the only solutions. I've tried sigamore's suggestion of setting a static IP and that is still not resolving the issue. Like the original post said the weirdest part is I can ping everything on the local network but anything external just fails.
 
What browser are you using

kgolden said:
I do desktop support for a small company and have 3 users experiencing the same issues. Time or turning the wifi off and back on again seem to be the only solutions. I've tried sigamore's suggestion of setting a static IP and that is still not resolving the issue. Like the original post said the weirdest part is I can ping everything on the local network but anything external just fails.
Click to expand...

What browser are you using
 
Have you tried manually setting the DNS server in network pref instead of auto assignment? Use 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 (Google's DNS). I have the 2013 MBA and have never experienced this, but I've always set my DNS manually to Google's service.

If you can hit local net but can't get out, that mean there's something funky with the DNS service's ability to resolve external addresses, you're not getting actual dropped packets.

Also, does this happen after sleep/hibernation?

There was a weird bug where some macs can't connect to certain wireless AP hardware after waking up until a power cycle.
 
I've had the same. What fixed it for me, was a different router. I got a model with both 2.4 and 5 GHz wireless, a second hand Linksys WRT610N and that fixed the problems.
 
Thanks everyone.

I've tried setting my IP manually - no joy. I've tried a different AP (my phone!) and the same problem occurs.

I always put my MBA to sleep, I only ever shut it down if I'm leaving it unpowered for extended intervals (it's usually in clamshell mode on my desk) or if I'm about to boot into BootCamp (due to the other Wifi bug).

I'll try setting DNS manually and see if that makes any difference, otherwise I'll have to keep restarting the connection, which is infuriating.
 
I am having this same issue. I have a MBP and MBA when I have them side by side the MBA has the same issues you describe. I just bought it 2 weeks ago and it kinda makes me mad. :mad:
 
luckydcxx said:
I am having this same issue. I have a MBP and MBA when I have them side by side the MBA has the same issues you describe. I just bought it 2 weeks ago and it kinda makes me mad. :mad:
Click to expand...

Do you have Mavericks too? Seems related, reading about this issue in the forums. Makes me hesitant to upgrade. Some people say the beta version of Mavericks (10.9.2) helped. There are some other suggestions on the Apple forums:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5506422?start=135&tstart=0
 
luckydcxx said:
Yes I am running mavericks ... i also have a mac book pro running mavericks with no problems at all. hopefully the update will fix this.
Click to expand...

You're lucky...I have the Mid-2012 rMBP. I've been having this problem with loss internet connection since day one. I was using the Cisco Linksys 3200 router up to last week when I purchased an Apple Airport Time Capsule 2TB. Now I am finding that I loss connection to the Internet more frequently than with the Linksys. I don't believe the problem is in the router or the Airport because my iPad Air and iPhone 5s are not having this problem. Time for a trip to the Genius Bar.
 
PingFixer

I made this small app to resolve the variable ping issue. https://gum.co/PingFixer

It basically does the workaround that is mentioned in various online forums, but it's packed up nicely and does some other things to make sure you're actually keeping the wifi card awake.
 
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My Wifi struggles to re-establish connection after waking from sleep. I have to turn it off and back on in the menu before it picks up the access point again. Seems to be exactly the same after 10.9.2. Bit of a pain in the neck really. Definitely happens every time at work. Pretty sure it happens at home too, but I'll have to verify it tonight.
 
Frustrating Airport issue with 2013 MBA

CJM said:
My Wifi struggles to re-establish connection after waking from sleep. I have to turn it off and back on in the menu before it picks up the access point again. Seems to be exactly the same after 10.9.2. Bit of a pain in the neck really. Definitely happens every time at work. Pretty sure it happens at home too, but I'll have to verify it tonight.
Click to expand...

Exact same issue with me. Household MBPro, iPads, iPhones do not have this issue, ONLY the MBA.

Some of the comments on https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5506422?start=135&tstart=0 indicate users have opened their MBA and found loose connections with the Airport card. Is this something a typical user should attempt. Or should I take my laptop to the Apple store and have them do it?
 
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