What's wrong with the wireless?

[Calisi*]

Hi,

I've got the brand new iMac 27inch. Had it for about 2 months and everything has been working wonderfully. Lately though the internet has started to go slow and occasionally drop out. I know this is solely a problem with the iMac because the net works just fine on my other macbook.

I'm running Mountain Lion on iMac but I'm running Lion on the macbook.

Does anyone know of any fixes for this?

 

[Macman45]

Hi,

I've got the brand new iMac 27inch. Had it for about 2 months and everything has been working wonderfully. Lately though the internet has started to go slow and occasionally drop out. I know this is solely a problem with the iMac because the net works just fine on my other macbook.

I'm running Mountain Lion on iMac but I'm running Lion on the macbook.

Does anyone know of any fixes for this?

Some initial steps to try:

1) Perform an SMC re-set:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964


2) Clear and re-set your PRAM:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379


Then try re-booting both your router and modem ( or just the one if you have a combo)

Then try testing the wifi and see if things improve.

 

[Calisi*]

Some initial steps to try:

1) Perform an SMC re-set:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964


2) Clear and re-set your PRAM:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379


Then try re-booting both your router and modem ( or just the one if you have a combo)

Then try testing the wifi and see if things improve.

Thank you for your suggestions.

It's actually working like normal now, should I still do it now or wait until it drops?

Edit:
I've noticed last time it happened I was transferring a bunch of stuff from dropbox. Just now I was uploading a big file.... each time the internet has rapidly slowed down and cut out. Even when I quit dropbox, quit what I was uploading and restarted the machine, it was still the same issue with no or slow connection. It's only about 20 minutes later it's gone back to normal. I've done the exact same thing on my old white macbook and had absolutely no troubles with internet dropping out.

Edit again: Airport Utility tells me it's just been disconnected, and reconnected again 1 minute later. Grrr

 

[Macman45]

Thank you for your suggestions.

It's actually working like normal now, should I still do it now or wait until it drops?

Edit:
I've noticed last time it happened I was transferring a bunch of stuff from dropbox. Just now I was uploading a big file.... each time the internet has rapidly slowed down and cut out. Even when I quit dropbox, quit what I was uploading and restarted the machine, it was still the same issue with no or slow connection. It's only about 20 minutes later it's gone back to normal. I've done the exact same thing on my old white macbook and had absolutely no troubles with internet dropping out.

Edit again: Airport Utility tells me it's just been disconnected, and reconnected again 1 minute later. Grrr

It could be hardware...I'd run the re sets I described above...it won't hurt, and may I prove things....hard to pin down, but it's machine specific which helps a little...worth a shot.

 

[joe-h2o]

Transfer a large file to the macbook from your iMac and vice versa to see what happens. If the wireless drops out when you;re just doing local transfers you know you can rule out the internet/dropbox/remote servers etc.

Is there anything in the console log around the time the network drops out?

Maybe you're having issues with WPA2 and key rotation causing the connection to drop very briefly, which is not a problem unless you need to maintain a solid link (eg, when transferring files, or holding open a VPN).

If you get a drop when you see info in the log about key rotation then it's probably that.

You could try with wireless security turned off and see if that makes a difference, or with something rubbish like WEP (don't stick with that if you want your wifi to be at all secure). If the problem goes away when you're not using WPA or WPA2 then I would suspect a clash between the chipsets in your router and your iMac.

 

[Calisi*]

Thanks Joe.

Macman, I tried both of what you suggested and it didn't work.

I saw a post with someone suggesting I change the router channel, so I logged into the modem/router and decided I'd change the router name first. As soon as I did that it disconnected me so I re-connected and the net was running flawlessly and very fast after that and still is. Problem is fixed for me. I tried disconnecting and re-connecting as normal but it didn't work.. it's only when I changed the router name and re-connected everything was fine again. Soooo.. not sure what even happened but I guess it's something to try if someone is having the same problem and they've tried everything.