MacBook Pro (July 2008) 2.5GHz Airport Issues

[CrazyMacGuy]

Hello there team,

I've been stumped with this infernal machine for quite some time now...

I have a home network with a Netgear WPN824v2 (using firmware version V2.0.20_1.2.17NA and hardware version V2H1) as my Wi-Fi broadcast device. It is currently set to Channel 2 (the least dirty channel for my house based on what KisMAC told me) and is broadcasting in 802.11g mode only, with the 108Mbps technology of the router turned off and the ExtraRange option on. I'm using a WPA2-PSK [AES] encryption and a 9 character password/passphrase.

Now that you know the basics there, the interesting thing is that this macbook is the only one in the house having issues with the wi-fi configuration.

My Black Macbook (July 2007 manufacture) has had no issues at all, here is my Airport info:

pci168c,24:

Type: Other Network Controller
Bus: PCI
Slot: AirPort
Vendor ID: 0x168c
Device ID: 0x0024
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x106b
Subsystem ID: 0x0087
Revision ID: 0x0001
Link Width: x1

Airport:
Software Versions:
Menu Extra: 6.2 (620.24)
configd plug-in: 6.2 (620.15.1)
System Profiler: 6.0 (600.9)
Network Preference: 6.2 (620.24)
AirPort Utility: 5.4.2 (542.23)
IO80211 Family: 3.1 (310.6)

Interfaces:
en1:
Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x87)
Firmware Version: Atheros 5416: 2.0.19.8
Locale: FCC
Country Code:
Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165
Status: Connected
Current Network Information:
Home Network:
PHY Mode: 802.11g
BSSID:
Channel: 2
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: WPA2 Personal
Signal / Noise: -43 dBm / -96 dBm
Transmit Rate: 54

My Fathers Macbook Pro (July 2008) on the other hand has been nothing but issues.

pci14e4,4328:

Type: Other Network Controller
Bus: PCI
Slot: AirPort
Vendor ID: 0x14e4
Device ID: 0x4328
Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x106b
Subsystem ID: 0x008c
Revision ID: 0x0005
Link Width: x1

Airport:
Software Versions:
Menu Extra: 6.2 (620.24)
configd plug-in: 6.2 (620.15.1)
System Profiler: 6.0 (600.9)
Network Preference: 6.2 (620.24)
AirPort Utility: 5.4.2 (542.23)
IO80211 Family: 3.1 (310.6)

Interfaces:
en1:
Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x14E4, 0x8C)
Firmware Version: Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.91.26)
Locale: FCC
Country Code: X0
Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165
Wake On Wireless: Supported
Status: Connected

Current Network Information:
Home Network:
PHY Mode: 802.11g
BSSID:
Channel: 2
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: WPA2 Personal
Signal / Noise: -60 dBm / -96 dBm
Transmit Rate: 54

As of right now, the Wi-Fi on his is working fine, but this is after I tried a multitude of fixes ranging from trashing config files and .plist files to resetting the SMU and the VRAM. The only thing that fixes the issue is me changing the wireless password/passphrase. If I make that only one character different, it works fine, but only for about a week, then the macbook pro smokes itself silly again and it stops connecting properly. I get messages on the pro saying "none of your preferred wireless networks were available" but right there in the list, there it is! It sees it, but cannot connect, getting a "network timeout" error each time until I change the passphrase.

OH MAC GEEKS OF THE INTERNET, wanna give me some insight on this one?

 

[CrazyMacGuy]

Bump?

Can I get a bump on this one, team? Anyone have any ideas?

**edit**
Oh, and as of today, Dad's Macbook Pro is behaving just fine... we'll see...

 

[Grizzly Bear]

MacBook Pro & Time Machine issue

I have been having the same problem and have visited the Apple Genius Bar twice, changed my broadband provider, consistently changed the password, reset the time machine and altered Admin setting.....but to no avail. I woudl love a solution to this problem.

 

[danbic]

MacBook Pro - BCM43XX - Airport disconnect by the end of the day

I am running the same problem. By the end of the day my AirPort almost die. Pinging computers connected to my LAN I got delay above 1000ms. :-(

Tried all boots, reboots, on & off unsuccessfully: started rebooting and then turning on/off my wi-fi router; then my macbook pro many times. Nothing helped. Worst, other laptops connected to same LAN were running fine.

Then I got my MacBook Pro from my desk and went for a walk across the office. Surprise: it started working after a few seconds.

Checking my Airport status and Signal/Noise changed from -44 dBm / -90 dBm to -29 dBm / -86 dBm. Still same transmit rate: 54.

I went back to my desk and everything was fine (and signal/noise is back to -44 dBm / -90 dBm).

My clue: if your Airport stop working, go out for a walk with your macbook pro.

 

[iLog.Genius]

You pretty much did everything. The only thing left to try is reinstall and/or try it in Windows. If the same problem occurs in Windows, it's definitely the AirPort itself. If not, then it's OS X and a preference file.

 

[Cathode]

Hello there team,

I've been stumped with this infernal machine for quite some time now...

I have a home network with a Netgear WPN824v2 (using firmware version V2.0.20_1.2.17NA and hardware version V2H1) as my Wi-Fi broadcast device. It is currently set to Channel 2 (the least dirty channel for my house based on what KisMAC told me) and is broadcasting in 802.11g mode only, with the 108Mbps technology of the router turned off and the ExtraRange option on. I'm using a WPA2-PSK [AES] encryption and a 9 character password/passphrase.

As of right now, the Wi-Fi on his is working fine, but this is after I tried a multitude of fixes ranging from trashing config files and .plist files to resetting the SMU and the VRAM. The only thing that fixes the issue is me changing the wireless password/passphrase. If I make that only one character different, it works fine, but only for about a week, then the macbook pro smokes itself silly again and it stops connecting properly. I get messages on the pro saying "none of your preferred wireless networks were available" but right there in the list, there it is! It sees it, but cannot connect, getting a "network timeout" error each time until I change the passphrase.

OH MAC GEEKS OF THE INTERNET, wanna give me some insight on this one?

My late-2008 unibody MacBook Pro is also having similar issues. I run OS X 10.6 and the Netgear wireless internet at home has issues daily. No one in the house is effected except for me. We use a AirPort Extreme at work and it works 100% of the time.

I loaded up Boot Camp the other day when it happened, and the issue was non-existent using Windows 7. Everything immediately started working. One of my preferences or something has to be screwed up on the Mac side. Does anyone recommend which files specifically I should check out?