I have this exact same problem. My MacBook pro is rev 3,1 from summer 2007. I believe my airport is nearing the end of it's life. I have access to 3 networks: work (uses airport extreme), my house (was using dlink but upgraded to airport extreme) and my sisters house (they use netgear). All of them I keep having connection timeouts. This has only started to happen in the past two weeks. Before I never had any issues whatsoever. I also have no problems connecting my iPhone wirelessly thru these networks. I can't seem to pinpont when it happens other then it seems to have been getting worse. There doesn't seem to be a clear solution so I will be making an appointment to the genius bar soon.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Macbook Connection Timeout?
- Thread starter canucks-17
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Change Channel
Hello all,
This could end up being yet another one of those "anecdotal fixes" but it worked for me after months of trouble shooting.
I changed the channel from 11 to 6.
I had a linksys router running on channel 11. Neither my macbook nor my girlfriends book could connect to my WLan, however we could both connect to her WLan.
I then brought an AirPort Express thinking that it was my base station. But that didn't work either.
I downloaded iStumbler and noticed that both my Linksys and the Airport were on channel 11, I then checked the connection settings for my gf's WLan (/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist) and found that it was channel 6.
I changed the channel for my Linksys router to channel 6 and now I am writing to you from my WLan connection.
Again this may not be the golden fix, but it worked for me.
I wish you all the best of luck.
Hello all,
This could end up being yet another one of those "anecdotal fixes" but it worked for me after months of trouble shooting.
I changed the channel from 11 to 6.
I had a linksys router running on channel 11. Neither my macbook nor my girlfriends book could connect to my WLan, however we could both connect to her WLan.
I then brought an AirPort Express thinking that it was my base station. But that didn't work either.
I downloaded iStumbler and noticed that both my Linksys and the Airport were on channel 11, I then checked the connection settings for my gf's WLan (/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist) and found that it was channel 6.
I changed the channel for my Linksys router to channel 6 and now I am writing to you from my WLan connection.
Again this may not be the golden fix, but it worked for me.
I wish you all the best of luck.
this has happened to me once... i kind of started freaking out, haha.
i ungplugged/plugged back in my modem and wireless router (so that i felt i was doing something to fix it) and it eventually connected again.
but i think it was my wireless router since my ipod touch wouldn't connect either. hmm....
i ungplugged/plugged back in my modem and wireless router (so that i felt i was doing something to fix it) and it eventually connected again.
but i think it was my wireless router since my ipod touch wouldn't connect either. hmm....
connection timeout error on certain networks
Hello all
I dont think I have much to contributed except from urging for some kind of fix from apple. My Mac seems to hate certain wireless connections. When coming back from sleep it refuses to join certain networks and when trying to connect manually I get the connection timeout error. I do have a fix for the problem: restarting the ruter.
Now one might think that this is a viable fix, well it was annoying ok when I was at home. But now I am visiting my parents and the ruter is located in a small loft, which is hard to access. On top of that there are others using the network who are less than happy with me turning it off on a regular basis.
Windows and Linux machines do not have any problems with the networks, which adds to the frustration as I am (or used to be) quite a Mac fan-boy
Hello all
I dont think I have much to contributed except from urging for some kind of fix from apple. My Mac seems to hate certain wireless connections. When coming back from sleep it refuses to join certain networks and when trying to connect manually I get the connection timeout error. I do have a fix for the problem: restarting the ruter.
Now one might think that this is a viable fix, well it was annoying ok when I was at home. But now I am visiting my parents and the ruter is located in a small loft, which is hard to access. On top of that there are others using the network who are less than happy with me turning it off on a regular basis.
Windows and Linux machines do not have any problems with the networks, which adds to the frustration as I am (or used to be) quite a Mac fan-boy
Mine gets random disconnects and its really annoying. I just bought a Macbook last week after being 3 years on windows only to face this problem. Not a good way for Apple to start off on a bad foot and shatter all the positive memories I had of it.
fixed indeed
to the poster of message #80: thank you very much. your post is worth a case of wine. the solution linked to fixed our very persistent problem described in this thread instantly and permanently. (2 MacBook Pros, one Leopard, one Snow Leopard.) pretty good for a solution that was originally posted to the internet 4 years ago...
to the poster of message #80: thank you very much. your post is worth a case of wine. the solution linked to fixed our very persistent problem described in this thread instantly and permanently. (2 MacBook Pros, one Leopard, one Snow Leopard.) pretty good for a solution that was originally posted to the internet 4 years ago...
Duh! I unplugged the airport, plugged back in and it fixed my problem.
I was having the same problem as above with my Airport Express, Mac tower and Linksys router. I could see the network but it would timeout before connecting. Try this: Unplug the Airport Express, wait 20 seconds. Plug it back in. And Bam! Everything worked again.
I was having the same problem as above with my Airport Express, Mac tower and Linksys router. I could see the network but it would timeout before connecting. Try this: Unplug the Airport Express, wait 20 seconds. Plug it back in. And Bam! Everything worked again.
connection timeout
I am having a problem with my netgear. I was experiencing a connection timeout so then I reset my Netgear, now when I can browse the internet just fine, however when I go into netgear and lock the network my mac experiences a connection time out. I have tried many things, any suggestions.
I am having a problem with my netgear. I was experiencing a connection timeout so then I reset my Netgear, now when I can browse the internet just fine, however when I go into netgear and lock the network my mac experiences a connection time out. I have tried many things, any suggestions.
I've been having this problem since I bought my MBP 15" 8 months ago.
sometimes the connections drops and keeps giving me timeout, but the other thing is when i try to download something large it times out (usually torrent or usenet - and i bought a usenet account a couple of days ago and downloaded sabnzb but everytime i try to download something, connection timeout and then i have to restart the router)!!
sometimes the connections drops and keeps giving me timeout, but the other thing is when i try to download something large it times out (usually torrent or usenet - and i bought a usenet account a couple of days ago and downloaded sabnzb but everytime i try to download something, connection timeout and then i have to restart the router)!!
Unplug router, and plug it back in.
I was having an issue very similar to this one. Unplugging your router and plugging it back in solved it for me. Works fine now.
I was having an issue very similar to this one. Unplugging your router and plugging it back in solved it for me. Works fine now.
I feel helpless!
I'm on a boat in Fiji, using a Vodafone wireless dongle, and keep losing my connection. My vodafone software and my apple network software show I'm still connected, but suddenly I can't get into another page, or if I'm downloading a software update, I get a message that I have a timeout error. I then disconnect my connection and re-connect and then things start happening again. However, I have not been able to stay active long enough to download my apple software updates which is really frustrating. I'm a mac novice, (bought this, my first mac about 10 months ago) and not terribly computer savvy to begin with. Looking through this forum, I'm confused by much of what I read, but I'm beginning to think this problem may be beyond my capacity to solve. Anybody have any suggestions?
I'm on a boat in Fiji, using a Vodafone wireless dongle, and keep losing my connection. My vodafone software and my apple network software show I'm still connected, but suddenly I can't get into another page, or if I'm downloading a software update, I get a message that I have a timeout error. I then disconnect my connection and re-connect and then things start happening again. However, I have not been able to stay active long enough to download my apple software updates which is really frustrating. I'm a mac novice, (bought this, my first mac about 10 months ago) and not terribly computer savvy to begin with. Looking through this forum, I'm confused by much of what I read, but I'm beginning to think this problem may be beyond my capacity to solve. Anybody have any suggestions?
I don't know al the details..
But I have experienced MASSIVE WI-FI connection problems with my MBP, working through three different routers before getting it to work fairly well.
A) Have you EVER had ANY IP screening software installed, e.g. peerguardian, peerbox or any other filtering software - PURGE YOUR SYSTEM. Tossing the .app in the trash does NOT remove all components from your drive and will still disturb networking. You can check you console log after startup and see if there's anything roaming around (Applications -> Utilities -> Console), also check Activity monitor.
B) Have you had voddler installed theres a good chance you have vnet still sneaking around your system, there are more associated files that needs to be MANUALLY DELETED which could effect Wi-Fi connections.
C) If you, like me, have a Dlink DIR655. Log in on it using cable, go to ADVANCED -> WI-FI protected setup and uncheck this function. This was the last thing that gave me a stable Wi-Fi connection. My MBP could not handle this security tool and has work without a glitch since I unchecked this option.
The following are folders and paths were lingering files might disrupt your Wi-Fi:
cd /Library/LaunchDaemons
cd ../Extensions
cd ../Application\ Support
cd ../Receipts
cd ~/Library/Caches
cd ../Preferences/
Anything related to PG or any other IP filter here might hinder Wi-Fi (e.g. ppktool, xxx.qnation.pg.... and so on)
Hope this helps someone like me who was on the verge of returning my Mac
But I have experienced MASSIVE WI-FI connection problems with my MBP, working through three different routers before getting it to work fairly well.
A) Have you EVER had ANY IP screening software installed, e.g. peerguardian, peerbox or any other filtering software - PURGE YOUR SYSTEM. Tossing the .app in the trash does NOT remove all components from your drive and will still disturb networking. You can check you console log after startup and see if there's anything roaming around (Applications -> Utilities -> Console), also check Activity monitor.
B) Have you had voddler installed theres a good chance you have vnet still sneaking around your system, there are more associated files that needs to be MANUALLY DELETED which could effect Wi-Fi connections.
C) If you, like me, have a Dlink DIR655. Log in on it using cable, go to ADVANCED -> WI-FI protected setup and uncheck this function. This was the last thing that gave me a stable Wi-Fi connection. My MBP could not handle this security tool and has work without a glitch since I unchecked this option.
The following are folders and paths were lingering files might disrupt your Wi-Fi:
cd /Library/LaunchDaemons
cd ../Extensions
cd ../Application\ Support
cd ../Receipts
cd ~/Library/Caches
cd ../Preferences/
Anything related to PG or any other IP filter here might hinder Wi-Fi (e.g. ppktool, xxx.qnation.pg.... and so on)
Hope this helps someone like me who was on the verge of returning my Mac
Same problem.
About an hour after I purchased my MBP I started having this problem. At first I thought it was my router (after all, apple is perfect and my brand new macbook pro could never be having problems !!...or so I thought). I then proceeded to call tech support because I was furious. The first girl who I spoke to was a complete bone head who I believe doesn't really work there but then I got to speak to a very smart and polite man who spent an hour on the phone trying to fix my problem. Finally, HE DID! ... until the next day when it started happening again.
Apple, please fix this problem or i'm going back to my trusty PC that I am really starting to miss. The internet problem happens WAYYY too often and I JUST bought this.
About an hour after I purchased my MBP I started having this problem. At first I thought it was my router (after all, apple is perfect and my brand new macbook pro could never be having problems !!...or so I thought). I then proceeded to call tech support because I was furious. The first girl who I spoke to was a complete bone head who I believe doesn't really work there but then I got to speak to a very smart and polite man who spent an hour on the phone trying to fix my problem. Finally, HE DID! ... until the next day when it started happening again.
Apple, please fix this problem or i'm going back to my trusty PC that I am really starting to miss. The internet problem happens WAYYY too often and I JUST bought this.
About an hour after I purchased my MBP I started having this problem. At first I thought it was my router (after all, apple is perfect and my brand new macbook pro could never be having problems !!...or so I thought). I then proceeded to call tech support because I was furious. The first girl who I spoke to was a complete bone head who I believe doesn't really work there but then I got to speak to a very smart and polite man who spent an hour on the phone trying to fix my problem. Finally, HE DID! ... until the next day when it started happening again.
Apple, please fix this problem or i'm going back to my trusty PC that I am really starting to miss. The internet problem happens WAYYY too often and I JUST bought this.
Do yourself a favor, forget Safari which is the cause of the problem and download Camino or Opera. As hard as it was for me to believe the culprit is actually the browser, at least in my case. On a hunch I switched to Camino and haven't had a "timed out" since, to verify I'll occasionally open Safari and will always get it within 5 min.
Camino is top notch and your problem will disappear, I'm just glad I found a solution because I'll NEVER go back to Windows.
Manual Ethernet/802.1x purge?
So, after reading, researching, and fiddling around with my settings I feel like I may have found a fix. (I'm running OS 10.6.4 on a Macbook Pro 5,5)
1. System Preferences>Network>Advanced>Ethernet>Configure:>Manually.
Apply this to all of your connections.
2. Also, if your workplace or school has an enterprise network and uses 802.1x profiles, purge those profiles. (System Preferences>Network>Advanced>802.1x; then select all the profiles on the left side and delete them.)
Last Resort: Change your router's settings from WPA2 to WPA or WEP. (NOT RECOMMENDED, as this will weaken your network security!)
Try it out and see if this helps! Any further suggestions are appreciated!
So, after reading, researching, and fiddling around with my settings I feel like I may have found a fix. (I'm running OS 10.6.4 on a Macbook Pro 5,5)
1. System Preferences>Network>Advanced>Ethernet>Configure:>Manually.
Apply this to all of your connections.
2. Also, if your workplace or school has an enterprise network and uses 802.1x profiles, purge those profiles. (System Preferences>Network>Advanced>802.1x; then select all the profiles on the left side and delete them.)
Last Resort: Change your router's settings from WPA2 to WPA or WEP. (NOT RECOMMENDED, as this will weaken your network security!)
Try it out and see if this helps! Any further suggestions are appreciated!
airport solution!
I found a solution to wireless connection problems. I backed up everything on time machine, then reinstalled the operating system with the disks that came with my macbook. When it asks you what you want to keep from your time machine, reinstall everything except network connections you previously had. When its finished, set up your internet connection again, run update on everything (remember all your previous updates are probably gone).
Worked perfectly for me, not a single hitch since then ( 2 months or so so far). Finally!
I found a solution to wireless connection problems. I backed up everything on time machine, then reinstalled the operating system with the disks that came with my macbook. When it asks you what you want to keep from your time machine, reinstall everything except network connections you previously had. When its finished, set up your internet connection again, run update on everything (remember all your previous updates are probably gone).
Worked perfectly for me, not a single hitch since then ( 2 months or so so far). Finally!
I'm having the same problem recently, though it's not only connection timeout, the network won't even appear from my room, while a month ago it appeared and connected flawlessly
UGH...I have this problem too and I just got my macbook THREE weeks ago! I wish Apple would do something about it! I mean, they already own both my kidneys and maybe a lung too.....
I just got mine on Saturday. I hope I don't have this problem, because this is what I really need it for and I really can't afford to get a new one. Right now my internet is working perfectly, haven't got disconnected once
(Thankfully). I paid an arm & a leg for this macbook because I needed a new computer for school (Compaq broke down on me 2 weeks ago & I HATE Windows), and I always wanted a mac. Why not buy one when I have the money? Anyways, I'm babbling right now lol. Hope you get your problem fixed 
I have seen this happen with both Macbooks and Macbook Pros.
Suddenly, while it worked flawlessly before, it stops working. I spent weeks digging through various forums and finally found a number of potential solutions.
Buy an Airport Express or Extreme
This mainly happened with Linksys routers, running both stock and DD-WRT firmware. This lead me to believe it was a chipset incompatibility.
Make sure your WAP encryption type is TKIP, not AES (may or may not be an option depending on your router firmware.
I went through all the steps of trashing preferences and everything else, which ultimately did squat.
I also found this became an issue in high RF traffic locations (lots of other wireless networks). Do a site survey and find the channel that is least congested and switch to it. I ultimately came to the conclusion that this might have triggered the issue. The RF in my area was congested enough and the one more person adding a WAP was the proverbial straw. This was part of the reason (though I had fixed the problem by this point), I upgraded to a 5GHZ router. Much more RF bandwidth.
To be honest, my area is so congested with wireless I still get a "Connection Timeout" every once and a while when initially connecting to my wireless and that is with an Airport Extreme and a 2010 Macbook.
Suddenly, while it worked flawlessly before, it stops working. I spent weeks digging through various forums and finally found a number of potential solutions.
Buy an Airport Express or Extreme
This mainly happened with Linksys routers, running both stock and DD-WRT firmware. This lead me to believe it was a chipset incompatibility.
Make sure your WAP encryption type is TKIP, not AES (may or may not be an option depending on your router firmware.
I went through all the steps of trashing preferences and everything else, which ultimately did squat.
I also found this became an issue in high RF traffic locations (lots of other wireless networks). Do a site survey and find the channel that is least congested and switch to it. I ultimately came to the conclusion that this might have triggered the issue. The RF in my area was congested enough and the one more person adding a WAP was the proverbial straw. This was part of the reason (though I had fixed the problem by this point), I upgraded to a 5GHZ router. Much more RF bandwidth.
To be honest, my area is so congested with wireless I still get a "Connection Timeout" every once and a while when initially connecting to my wireless and that is with an Airport Extreme and a 2010 Macbook.
I tried everything from this thread but nothing works for me.
What however seems to work for me is:
After I get connection timeout to my wifi router (and even reboot doesn't work) I connect to different wifi network (tethering on my cellphone as I don't have second wifi network at home) and then connect back to original wifi network.
This actually saved my mac from hammer.
What however seems to work for me is:
After I get connection timeout to my wifi router (and even reboot doesn't work) I connect to different wifi network (tethering on my cellphone as I don't have second wifi network at home) and then connect back to original wifi network.
This actually saved my mac from hammer.
I got a very interesting case on this connection time out issue.
A bit background... I live in 2-storey house and my D-link router located on upper floor. When I was at upper floor, near to the router (where the signal should be better)... 'connection time out' appear when connecting to wifi. But interestingly, when I'm at lower floor (far from router) I'm connected to wifi automatically and effortlessly.... This really piss me off (not able to browse and stay connected while in bed). Any idea why this happen?
A bit background... I live in 2-storey house and my D-link router located on upper floor. When I was at upper floor, near to the router (where the signal should be better)... 'connection time out' appear when connecting to wifi. But interestingly, when I'm at lower floor (far from router) I'm connected to wifi automatically and effortlessly.... This really piss me off (not able to browse and stay connected while in bed). Any idea why this happen?