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When the hell is Apple gonna fix the Wireless problem in Leopard?!

new experiment...

So I have managed to maintain a stable connection by going into the router's settings and selecting one channel instead of automatic and selecting mixed mode instead of Wireless G. It has been stable and connects after sleep or any shutdowns.
 
Something to do with being unplugged

I've experienced what sounds like the same behavior as has been reported here. I have to frequently turn airport off and on because traffic just stops flowing - never any error messages or notification of a problem - signal strength stays put, data just stops flowing and DNS doesn't work. The interesting thing is that it only seems to happen when I'm running off battery and don't have the power plugged in. I have an early MacBook running 10.5.1

Anyone seen this pattern?
 
^On my MBP my connection drops whether I am plugged in or using battery power. Unlike some people here, after waking up or booting up my connection works perfectly fine. It's just that at random times, I will lose all data connection even though it shows I have full bars. Simply turning OFF/ON the airport seems to correct the problem or renewing the DHCP; I don't have to reboot my MBP like what some people are doing.
 
This is so stupid though, we shouldn't have to do all these tricks to get our internet connection to work. I have just about had it... if i can't get a permanent fix soon, i am done with this macbook.
 
Connectivity...

I have noticed that the network settings in Leopard are not as robust as they should be, they are very meticulous for each type of setting or connection, if you select the ethernet connection you must bring this setting all the way to the top of "selected services" and delete the rest for that particular setting, if you are connecting via wireless then do a location like:"wireless home" or "wireless work", if ethernet then "ethernet home" or "ethernet work" etc, whenever you establish these settings for the first time in the network settings you need to restart the computer and if posssible the router, afterwards you just select the location via the finder menu bar (apple logo>locations)...avoid the 'automatic' set-up... also in the keychain app, there's a function where upon you can check for its stability (keychain first aid) try and see if there's an issue with the Keychain Access app.If I think of anything else i will post it.
 
I will post later on snapshots of my network settings and maybe that will help someone here, it is better to try and tackle this issue now then have to be disssapointed with the upcoming 10.5.2 upgrade, if the upgrade resolves this then its all good but what if it does'nt?

yankeehoo said:
I've experienced what sounds like the same behavior as has been reported here. I have to frequently turn airport off and on because traffic just stops flowing - never any error messages or notification of a problem - signal strength stays put, data just stops flowing and DNS doesn't work. The interesting thing is that it only seems to happen when I'm running off battery and don't have the power plugged in. I have an early MacBook running 10.5.1

Anyone seen this pattern?
Click to expand...
I have read that by resetting the PMU, the issue improves...take the battery off, press the power button for ten seconds then reconnect your battery,restart.
 
pics of my network settings...
 

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Mlobo01, I notice from your screenshots that you're using a wireless network with WEP - does WPA not work properly for you?

I only ask cos of how everyone says how easily crackable WEP is. I'm using WEP myself cos WPA caused too many problems but I'd prefer to use something more secure.

Still, only 2 days till MWSF and hopefully 10.5.2 ... 😀
 
Ill try it and let you know...

I'll try it and post the results, I have read that also, and I truly do not know how it could be cracked? I think it could be someone's exaggerated sense of alarm (I could be wrong), but I'll try it and see how stable it is. I also set my router to transmit for a small area about 20 feet, since its right in my room. anyone else trying to pick up the signal will barely register it and not to mention that its SSID broadcast is off.
 
So far so good...

I will try these settings and post my results, One thing I did notice is the Lock symbol on my Airport networks list, it was not there before with WEP, and can someone explain if WPA-PSK is different from WPA alone? if not my next trial is WPA alone. I will try theses settings for the connectivity properties, what happens when the system goes to sleep or shutdowns etc, and I will post the results, Thanks
 
is WEP really weak?

http://db.tidbits.com/article/8942
http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/wifi-security.html?14@@!pt=TB874
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=WEP+break+in&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30114/98/
These are good articles explaining its properties, and hopefully what you read in most posts regarding WEP's vulnerabilities falls within the folder of corrupt or misused information, I believe now that it is vulnerable because I have read and understood why its obsolete instead of re-hashing someone else's info-tidbits.
When you research these details then you can apply whatever method you feel suits your range of privacy, for now Im staying with WPA just to be sure no one is using my network, and I would like to truly thank Neutralgamer for his suggestion that prompted me to research this matter. Thanks N!
 
For testing purposes, I looked into hacking WEP... and after following a pretty easy to follow walk through.. I was able to crack my own 128bit wep key in about half hour. And that was using a really old laptop, I think on newer laptops it would probably be faster.

I changed my wireless now for mac filtering and now I never have to worry.
 
Tefret said:
For testing purposes, I looked into hacking WEP... and after following a pretty easy to follow walk through.. I was able to crack my own 128bit wep key in about half hour. And that was using a really old laptop, I think on newer laptops it would probably be faster.

I changed my wireless now for mac filtering and now I never have to worry.
Click to expand...


Until someone spoofs your Mac address. 😉 I do the same thing though, no encryption just Mac filtering. if someone wants to spend time spoofing a mac address on my network so be it.
 
Mlobo01 said:
...I would like to truly thank Neutralgamer for his suggestion that prompted me to research this matter. Thanks N!
Click to expand...

No probs my friend; glad to be of service! 😀 At least your WPA setting works, I wish mine would.

Tefret said:
I changed my wireless now for mac filtering and now I never have to worry.
Click to expand...

Mindflux said:
I do the same thing though, no encryption just Mac filtering. if someone wants to spend time spoofing a mac address on my network so be it.
Click to expand...

I never even knew anything about MAC address filtering before. There was a setting on my router called "MAC Address Control" which I never gave a second look to. But you're both right; why worry about WEP or whatever when you've got MAC filtering on anyway? Thanks guys.

I've enabled it as well now just for the 5 computers in my house and hopefully I can sleep a little bit easier now. Isn't it great when everyone just helps each other out (intentionally or unintentionally) in forums? 🙂
 
A thread from Apple's Forum

Airport Connection problems...
user jegdart98 writes...
"I copied over v1.6.2 of IO80211family.kext which I copied from a backup of a 10.4.10 system, and my reconnect issue has gone away. My router is a Linksys wrt300n and I connect at 130mbps."
It's been working fine for a couple of weeks, I haven't had to reboot after sleeping at all.
here's the thread:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1200966&start=195&tstart=0
Also an update on my testing, the connection has been a little jumpy but is been improving since I established the new settings. also I established the MAC filtering. Im testing both my mini and laptop. The WEP encryption seemed to slow down the signal, without the encryption it does seem snappier.
 
mjfarsi said:
This is so stupid though, we shouldn't have to do all these tricks to get our internet connection to work. I have just about had it... if i can't get a permanent fix soon, i am done with this macbook.
Click to expand...

I'd think twice, a lot of people at my work have various PC laptops (Dell, Sony Vaio, etc.) and they seem to struggle everyday with our company wifi connection. They are always amazed how quickly my MacBook Pro connects and identifies all available networks. Nothing is perfect.
 
Neutral Gamer said:
No probs my friend; glad to be of service! 😀 At least your WPA setting works, I wish mine would.





I never even knew anything about MAC address filtering before. There was a setting on my router called "MAC Address Control" which I never gave a second look to. But you're both right; why worry about WEP or whatever when you've got MAC filtering on anyway? Thanks guys.

I've enabled it as well now just for the 5 computers in my house and hopefully I can sleep a little bit easier now. Isn't it great when everyone just helps each other out (intentionally or unintentionally) in forums? 🙂
Click to expand...

Just make sure the IP range you give out via DHCP is as 'few' as the addresses you are filtering. If you have 5 items grabbing DHCP then limit your range from 192.168.0.2 - 192.168.0.7.

If you let DHCP go hog wild it'll issue out new addresses to any machine.
 
So far so good with WPA...

So far so good, Im satisfied that the connection is stable, it was a rocky start for my connection and it did get lost upon long-term sleep, once after restart as well, but I left it alone for a while and it began to stabilize further, I have no idea if its the caches or the way its registering upon other files but I have tested it in all manners, Im gonna see if not having any WPA set-up makes a difference in terms of speed, since my network has a short reach about 20ft. radius, and I only have 2 machines. Also I set the router to a short preamble, Im researching the significance of the now over google. Im not sure if all routers have these same settings, but supposedly short preamble makes for better video-audio and VOIP streaming, can anyone opine and that or test his/her equipment. thanks
http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1508&sid=d0a9acb239f727146c251d5387383c3b
 
I just want to add my frustration to this thread! I switched back to a Tiger partition on my MBP recently because it was so annoying -- every single stinkin' time I had to log in, I have to manually enter my hidden SSID and the password. WPA or WPA2 Personal by the way. To add insult to injury, the dialog that opens asking to join a network > other... doesn't accept full keyboard access (i.e. tabbing to all fields), so I have to find my mouse (actually never handy) and click through.

My security includes MAC address filtering, hidden SSID, WPA/2 personal strong password, restricted IP space, private IP space, and a faraday cage around my condo. Just kidding about the faraday cage. It could be one or all of these things contributing to the weirdness; I have not taken the time to systematically go through each variable to test it. But as someone else stated, I should freaking have to! 🙂

This is just one of the few Leopard problems I am having (another deals with Bluetooth).

On the other hand, Tiger has been flawless in all of these respects (thank goodness it's not my hardware). Now if conftest would just stop crashing on fink builds. 🙂
 
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