Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Lichter21c

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 16, 2010
13
0
The frozen tundra
hello all, so I have had a issue of late.

It seems that my MacBook pro is crashing my network.

I have a 2012 retina MBP, 2008? iMac, two iPhone 6, iPads, nest thermostat, Apple TV all being run off a newer model AirPort Extreme and a Motorola surfboard. I have a pretty decent internet plan and have never had a issue in the past.

Lately, whenever my MBP is on the network, it will cause all other devices and the airport to lag. The Apple TV will stop streaming, my iMacs internet won't work. But the minute I turn off the wifi on the MBP, everything goes back to normal.

I have been running the bitdefender to look for malware. It came up with none. I got a "network" monitor that said I was being attacked by a MiTM attack, but even after changing the name and password, it keeps saying the same thing and is still causing the network to severely lag.


Any help?
 

simonsi

Contributor
Jan 3, 2014
4,851
735
Auckland
Networks don't generally "lag", much more likely is that something on your Mac is chewing the available bandwidth. Assuming you are on a copper connection and not fibre, it is quite possible the upstream that is maxing out, due to the way TCP networks work, that will cause a huge slowdown in your download bandwidth.

So, check for torrent seeding, you may be doing that inadvertently if you have been torrenting.
Check Activity Monitor and wee which apps are using lots of Network.
Consider installing Little Snitch to tell you what is going on and limit unauthorised apps from using the network (in and outbound).

What was the "Network Monitor" you got? MiTM is usually a passive attack, ie you inadvertently connect to the spoof network, thinking it is your real one, so I'm not sure what you are being told by the Network Monitor and/or why.
 

Lichter21c

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 16, 2010
13
0
The frozen tundra
Yes, I am on a copper connection. The one thing that I notice, is that when the MBP is connected to the network, if i open up airport utility on any computer I can see the network "disconnect" pretty much immediately. it will have the little orange button next to it, but the router will still be green.

I have never torrented. I'm not sure if it is something that could happen automatically? I'm not very tech savvy, thats why I like apple products. its pretty much plug and play.

I got the "Sentry" network one that is in the app store. it says it monitors/guards the network and checks for malware.

if i leave the MBP connected to the network for long enough, the problem will eventually go away but will come back within maybe 30 minutes to an hour.
 

Mr. Buzzcut

macrumors 65816
Jul 25, 2011
1,037
488
Ohio
hello all, so I have had a issue of late.

It seems that my MacBook pro is crashing my network.

I have a 2012 retina MBP, 2008? iMac, two iPhone 6, iPads, nest thermostat, Apple TV all being run off a newer model AirPort Extreme and a Motorola surfboard. I have a pretty decent internet plan and have never had a issue in the past.

Lately, whenever my MBP is on the network, it will cause all other devices and the airport to lag. The Apple TV will stop streaming, my iMacs internet won't work. But the minute I turn off the wifi on the MBP, everything goes back to normal.

I have been running the bitdefender to look for malware. It came up with none. I got a "network" monitor that said I was being attacked by a MiTM attack, but even after changing the name and password, it keeps saying the same thing and is still causing the network to severely lag.


Any help?

I don't see what media type has to do with speed (copper vs fiber), especially when it comes to consumer grade Internet. My local cable provider offers more bandwidth than their competing fiber provider.

I do agree that it is most likely something consuming all of the upstream bandwidth. I have had this happen numerous times due to iCloud. When I moved to iCloud photos, the uploads / downloads took DAYS. I have 5Mb up / 50Mb down. As suggested, the activity monitor should reveal if this is happening.

The other possibility is there is something going on with Bonjour, although a little less likely. Make sure none of your PCs have any of their Internet sharing options enabled. Also make sure the APE firmware is up to date and maybe reboot it. By the way, I believe the APE does look like a MITM when a MAC sleeps. It will respond to the MAC's IP address as part of its sleep proxy function.

Finally, please don't use "lag" to describe everything slow. It's hard to understand what people mean when that word is thrown around for any type of performance issue.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.