Need to constantly reboot Mac to get online

[MacKenzie999]

Hi everyone...

I'm looking for help with a couple of issues with my MacPro (early '08 2x2.8 GHZ, 18GB Ram, NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800, 10.8.5 on an SSD).

Lately I've had a problem staying online. The connection will be fine for awhile (maybe an hour or so), then the web and email go away. I mainly use Firefox but have tested multiple browsers. My Mac is ethernet-connected to my cable modem (other connections to the modem are a wireless router that feeds numerous devices, as well as a powerline network adapter feeding a laptop).

So I'll be browsing online when I notice my page refreshes hang up, and I end up solving this by rebooting the mac. None of the other devices on the network seem to be experiencing this issue. I am not a tecchie and I have no idea how to begin solving this issue. Any help greatly appreciated!

My second issue, which I like to assume is unrelated to the first, is what is the best procedure for doing a serious dust cleanout for my MacPro? We recently had some construction done and a fine layer of dust seems to have settled just about everywhere and I assume my mac's innards are no exception. Again, any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
-Mike

 

[pastrychef]

There's no special procedure required to clean out the Mac Pro's innards. Since you had construction done, I would suggest pulling out the processor/RAM tray, optical drives, hard drives, and PCI-e cards then using a can of compressed air on those items individually as well as the inside of the Mac Pro itself. Remember to dust out the area behind where the optical drives reside. The power supply is there and it's fan can pull in quite a bit of dust.

* Of course, standard precautions need to be heeded, such as touching some metal to make sure you are not carrying any static electricity when accessing the internals of the Mac Pro, etc.

In regards to your networking issue, when you stop being able to access the internet, are you still able to see the laptop on the network?

 

[MacKenzie999]

I never connect to the laptop, it's my wife's PC but I will check that next time I lose connection. And thanks for the other advice!

 

[pastrychef]

My pleasure.

If you can see the laptop over the LAN, then it's probably a problem with the WAN. If you can't see the laptop, it's probably a problem with the LAN.

 

[MacKenzie999]

Cannot see the laptop.
Again, I am no tecchie. Any advice on how to troubleshoot? I understand this is a probably a lengthy answer, so even just a link pointing me in the right direction would be great.
Thanks!

 

[pastrychef]

If you can not see the laptop when the problem occurs, it's a problem within your local area network. You can try troubleshooting the power line network adaptors or router.

 

[MacKenzie999]

Will do, thanks!

 

[Potatochobit]

if you can, take your mac to work or an internet cafe also and test it for a few hours

my wifi adapter died on my 2008 unibody macbook pro, it is common issue

wired ethernet ports also die, symptoms tend to be when you start ur computer it does not connect, or shows connected but no data is transfered