derbothaus
macrumors 601
Must be 10.7. iMac's are having difficulty right now. All my other 10.7 and 10.6 Mac's have no issues. Immediate connectivity both wired or wireless.
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WiF or Ethernet cable, which is better?
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Must be 10.7. iMac's are having difficulty right now. All my other 10.7 and 10.6 Mac's have no issues. Immediate connectivity both wired or wireless.
So to update:
Updating my Netgear firmware actually made the connection drop even more often. Whereas before, it had periodically had trouble connecting (via ethernet) from waking the iMac, the firmware update made it so that connection would drop intermittently whilst browsing. Unacceptable. I've since downgraded the router back to its original firmware, and it's browsing fine now, but I predict the "trouble connecting" after wake will return.
Alas... I'm not sure what to do. I may consider purchasing a new router, altogether. It is 8 years old, this Netgear. I also hear Linksys plays much better with macs?
EDIT: Honestly, this is pretty ridiculous considering I've never had this problem with my router being connected to my old PC.
Updating my Netgear firmware actually made the connection drop even more often. Whereas before, it had periodically had trouble connecting (via ethernet) from waking the iMac, the firmware update made it so that connection would drop intermittently whilst browsing. Unacceptable. I've since downgraded the router back to its original firmware, and it's browsing fine now, but I predict the "trouble connecting" after wake will return.
Alas... I'm not sure what to do. I may consider purchasing a new router, altogether. It is 8 years old, this Netgear. I also hear Linksys plays much better with macs?
EDIT: Honestly, this is pretty ridiculous considering I've never had this problem with my router being connected to my old PC.
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derbothaus
macrumors 601
Re-apply the 10.7.2 Combo Updater not the little 200MB "delta" one. Zap the PRAM. Try again.
ELMI0001
macrumors 6502
just curious - do you have an iDevice that you wi-fi sync to a machine? If you synced to the iMac you would have to have the Wi-Fi on, and set the ethernet to have priority, right?
Any updates? New router fix the problem? I just bought this router. Replaced a 6 year old Linksys. Seems to be working fine.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002HWRJY4/ref=oh_o03_s00_i00_details
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How do I reapply an old update? My iMac is most up to date. Thank you.
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Leaving both the ethernet cable in and WiFi on does not resolve the problem. I have ethernet designated as priority, but when it doesn't reestablish connection, it's as if it'll try fixing it first, before it changes to WiFi. This takes anywhere from 30-60 seconds for it to reestablish connection. It's very frustrating.
Have you experienced this yourself prior to the new router? Please update us if the new router has fully abolished this annoyance. Judging by the Apple Support thread, people have tried virtually everything, including buying a new router, and the problem eventually creeps back. Are you using the new router via ethernet, or WiFi, or both? Thanks.
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You don't need wifi on to wifi sync an iPhone/iPad.
The computer must be connected to the wifi router (part of the same LAN as the wifi network) with an ethernet cable, but it doesn't actually need it's wifi on.
derbothaus
macrumors 601
You download and run again. It will just re-apply it over your current 10.7.2. No harm and some have found this to help their WiFi issues.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1459
Then run SW update to re-patch to most current.
panzer06
Contributor
WiFi is the only way to go when there is no ethernet connection nearby regardless of whether the computer is a desktop or laptop.
That said, if there's any internal LAN access going on wired (when available) is the only way to fly.
OP, I gave my mum my old iMac and there are no wired outlets nearby. She lives on WiFi. No issue at all just browsing and printing. Occasionally she has to reboot the iMac (after about a month or so of sleep/wake/sleep etc)
Cheers,
ELMI0001
macrumors 6502
No, I haven't had that issue. I just have the MacBook and iDevices and we moved the router to the basement to keep the office looking tidy and clean. I didn't like the mess of wires so my new router purchase was for something with improved range the ability to have an external drive attached. Sorry, I'm not much help on you issue.
any updates?
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Good to know for the future. Thank you.
Thanks, I did this. I'll update as soon as the problem reappears, or if not, report so in the next days/week.
Also, not sure if this matters, but I browse almost exclusively on Chrome. I don't think it's a Chrome issue, because I've launched Safari before when the connection couldn't reestablish and it too couldn't browse.
Well, in any case, will update either way...
Update: It happened again this morning. Woke computer from sleep, had no internet connection in either Chrome or Safari. Waited a while, it finally reestablished connection.
Frustrating.
Why is this such a problem? I've never experienced this before with my PC. "It just works"...?
Frustrating.
Why is this such a problem? I've never experienced this before with my PC. "It just works"...?
heimbachae
macrumors regular
what is "a while"? and I've heard of issues with lion. the newest update should be coming out within the next few weeks, hopefully that will alleviate the problems everyone seems to have.
derbothaus
macrumors 601
What model router do you have and have you tried setting a static address for yourself? Maybe your DHCP sucks or your router is a cheap piece? There is usually a brief moment after waking that the Mac has to ping the router and either continue to use or re-lease an address. If the DHCP server in the router is slow, unresponsive or something else it can take a few seconds. So putting in a static can alleviate this pausing. This may not be your issue but worth a shot.
omr
macrumors member
I wondered if there was a way to tell the macbook, etc. to disconnect and/or turn off wifi automatically when an ethernet connection is initiated.
Ethernet set as default/first in order of preferred connections in network preferences.
Wi-Fi set as second.
If Wi-Fi is on and already connected, and then I connect via ethernet, I'm under the impression that OS X then chooses to use the ethernet connection, per the preference settings. But Wi-Fi remains on and connected. I'm assuming this is wasting power through the macbook, plugged-in - but battery especially, and although likely minimal it's potentially wasting router resources having an inactive connection remaining connected.
I can imagine it being useful to leave Wi-Fi on in the event you disconnect from ethernet during the same usage period, but why would OS X choose to remain connected to a secondary and unnecessary connection? ...Just in case the ethernet cable gets unintentionally disconnected, say during an important data transfer? I suppose that could happen, but I wonder why a user couldn't , or how the user could decide whether or not to choose this action to happen automatically? Other than manually turning off or on Wi-Fi of course.
Ethernet set as default/first in order of preferred connections in network preferences.
Wi-Fi set as second.
If Wi-Fi is on and already connected, and then I connect via ethernet, I'm under the impression that OS X then chooses to use the ethernet connection, per the preference settings. But Wi-Fi remains on and connected. I'm assuming this is wasting power through the macbook, plugged-in - but battery especially, and although likely minimal it's potentially wasting router resources having an inactive connection remaining connected.
I can imagine it being useful to leave Wi-Fi on in the event you disconnect from ethernet during the same usage period, but why would OS X choose to remain connected to a secondary and unnecessary connection? ...Just in case the ethernet cable gets unintentionally disconnected, say during an important data transfer? I suppose that could happen, but I wonder why a user couldn't , or how the user could decide whether or not to choose this action to happen automatically? Other than manually turning off or on Wi-Fi of course.
tgara
macrumors 65816
So I have an iMac that is normally connected via an Ethernet cable for all the reasons people posted above. However, I would also like to use Airdrop, which requires Wifi to be on.
In the Network settings, both Ethernet and Wifi are on. However, I would like the "default" to be the Ethernet cable, and not the Wifi because speed is faster, more stable, etc. etc.. Can I make this happen by making sure the Ethernet service is on the top in the service order list?
FYI, Airdrop seems to be working when the Ethernet service is at position 1 on my iMac, and Wifi is at position two (both being on, of course).
In the Network settings, both Ethernet and Wifi are on. However, I would like the "default" to be the Ethernet cable, and not the Wifi because speed is faster, more stable, etc. etc.. Can I make this happen by making sure the Ethernet service is on the top in the service order list?
FYI, Airdrop seems to be working when the Ethernet service is at position 1 on my iMac, and Wifi is at position two (both being on, of course).
Click the gear at the bottom of the window in the network pref pane and select "Set service order..." then drag ethernet to the top. This way both ethernet and wifi will be connected, but Internet access will by default use ethernet.
tgara
macrumors 65816
Great, thanks. I have mine set up as you described, and its working fine. This was the info I was looking for.
Hi,
on my system this was always highly unreliable. It's probably the specific router I have though.
Symptoms include: phone can see the iMac, but once sync' starts, freeze and eventually lose the connection; in Finder can see another Mac's shared disks, but unable to connect to them (freeze Finder, subsequent error); able to connect to another Mac by using afp://ip.address in Finder; unreliable connection to ethernet printer from wireless Mac (see it, fail to connect). Internet works fine wirelessly. Seems like a whole lot of auto-discovery and 'here-i-am' type services don't work properly. I gave up on wireless synchronising of the phone. But like I said, it's probably just my router/wifi.
Cheers,
A.
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marzer
macrumors 65816
Or you can activate Airdrop to work over Ethernet and shut off WiFi completely.
This also works on older Macs to enable Airdrop on machines not supported natively.
Analogy
Have you ever lost a connection with a mobile phone? How many times? 5, 10 or more times in the last ten years?
How many times have you lost a call with a long line? Zero?
ANYTHING..wireless is problematic ...whether its the blue tooth keyboard or blue tooth speaker that dies.
Owners of "smart tvs' see the word "loading" depending upon a wireless connection that is not happening....loading can stay on the screen until Christmas.
I am surprised you needed advice on this issue.
Have you ever lost a connection with a mobile phone? How many times? 5, 10 or more times in the last ten years?
How many times have you lost a call with a long line? Zero?
ANYTHING..wireless is problematic ...whether its the blue tooth keyboard or blue tooth speaker that dies.
Owners of "smart tvs' see the word "loading" depending upon a wireless connection that is not happening....loading can stay on the screen until Christmas.
I am surprised you needed advice on this issue.
tgara
macrumors 65816
Ah, nice! I will follow up on this, as the Ethernet connection is much preferred than using the Wifi, at least for me! Many thanks Marzer!!
What bout both wired and WiFi @ the same time with wired set to priority? Reason I ask is because WiFi is need for Maps and having home location auto populate. More importantly with OS 10.10 coming out this fall, WiFi will be needed for Continuity and Handoff features. So my Q is; have both wired and WiFi enabled ok?