Someone tell me what the hell is up with my airports

[spacehog371]

Okay... last night around 3am my airport network stopped broadcasting for the most part. I usually get 5 bars in this spot... last night it drops to 1-2... to zero... to 4... back to 1... then 2... etc. Restart my computer... same thing... so now I think its the base station.

The internet barely works when I'm getting signal. I restart the airport and the modem. I go to the menu bar list and I have to keep clicking it and once in awhile it shows up... when I finally get it to connect... same thing... 1 bar... 4 bars... 2 bars... complete disconnect... 4 bars... 1 bar.

So now I'm thinking my airport card is screwed up in my computer... so I go get my powerbook (my main computer is a macbook pro), turn it on... and the same exact thing is going on with that... just to make sure I check a third computer... same deal.

Now I think it's the airport again.

I was lending a friend my brand new airport (new model), so I went and got it from him... plug it in... no signal whatsoever... so I plug into using ethernet and change the channel to 10 (from 2). It restarts... green light... alright its a go... except for when I try to connect to it its like the signal is so weak I can't. When it does... it says 4 bars... and then disconnects immediately.

So... there has to be some kind of major signal interference in the area that is overpowering it... that started last night at 3am. Any ideas about how I go about figuring this out?

 

[iSaint]

We'd tell you, but we'd have to kill you after.





I honestly don't know. The only time I've had problems with signal I bought a new cable modem. I haven't had a dropped signal since.

 

[Reflow]

Google for a wireless sniffer to see what's out there. I know there are some hardware that blocks wireless signals (airmagnet ect)

 

[mad jew]

Try fiddling with the broadcast channel to maybe find a better signal with less interference. Also, do you have file sharing apps running, because they can take down a wireless network quite quickly.

 

[Ironwill]

Airport Extreme

I have been having the same problem off and on. It is annoying as hell. How do you changebroadcast channels?

 

[mad jew]

I use AirPort Admin Utility in the Utilities folder for my Express, but I don't know if it's the same for the new Extremes. It's an option under the Wireless Network heading.

 

[Ironwill]

I wonder if the problem is caused by the fact that there are over twenty wireless networks that I can access from my apartment. That has to cause interference.

 

[mad jew]

Yep, that'll do it. That's where fiddling with the channel should help.