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Wireless problems with 2008 MacBook Pro

Stridder44

Stridder44

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 24, 2003
3,973
198
California
Don't worry about resetting your PRAM... It's safe to do it...

I've tried this solution with no good results... My connection still drops every few seconds!

I'm really frustrated by this... These things are not supposed to happen with a Mac, but since March, when I bought my first Mac, I've been having this problem. Actually it started when I upgraded from 10.5.2 to 10.5.3 and with all further versions.

Anyway, Apple has not said anything about this and I don't think they ever will... It is totally a software issue, rather than a hardware one since it used to work perfectly before 10.5.3 and since it works great on Windows (on the same computer, on the exact same place)
 
Macbook Pro Wireless connection fix

The same thing was happening to me and frustrating the hell out of me. I would close the sceen/lid on my computer. And when I got ready to use it again, I would open the screen, and the connection to my wireless router would be lost. So I would have to unplug and re-plug the power cord into the router in order to re-establish the connection. This went on for a few months, but it was never less annoying.

I took my computer to the genius bar at the Mac store and they showed me how to find out if it's a computer problem or a router problem. Now, every other computer that I've used with my wireless router has worked flawlessly. That's why I kept thinking that it was something with the computer. Anyway, the Genius told me, next time it happens, go to > System preferences > Network > Advanced > TCP/PI > and if the IPv4 address is 169 then it's a router problem.

Long story short, I replaced my modem/router and I haven't had any problems since. So that's what you have to do: replace your wireless modem/router and put yourself out of your misery.
 
akalight said:
The same thing was happening to me and frustrating the hell out of me. I would close the sceen/lid on my computer. And when I got ready to use it again, I would open the screen, and the connection to my wireless router would be lost. So I would have to unplug and re-plug the power cord into the router in order to re-establish the connection. This went on for a few months, but it was never less annoying.

I took my computer to the genius bar at the Mac store and they showed me how to find out if it's a computer problem or a router problem. Now, every other computer that I've used with my wireless router has worked flawlessly. That's why I kept thinking that it was something with the computer. Anyway, the Genius told me, next time it happens, go to > System preferences > Network > Advanced > TCP/PI > and if the IPv4 address is 169 then it's a router problem.

Long story short, I replaced my modem/router and I haven't had any problems since. So that's what you have to do: replace your wireless modem/router and put yourself out of your misery.
Click to expand...

Interesting you say this, because I've had numerous problems with routers before (the same Linksys WRT54G router). 3 separate people with that router have all had problems. Sometimes, it would just stop working for a few hours, then work again. Unplugging for 30 seconds did nothing. You'd have to reset it to get it working again.

But yeah, thing is I'm having these random drops at home, friends houses, and public locations (coffee shops, etc.). It works fine when I boot up into Vista 64, so it must be a software problem. Thanks for that last bit of info though. Didn't know 169 = router problem.
 
Possible solution - fan control

Mike / fellow wireless connectivity sufferers,

I'll give you a bit of back story regarding my particular wireless issue it's been ongoing for months / a year I have one of the first macbook pro's 15" screen so around 3-4 years old. And about a year ago it started with the all too familiar symptoms; no wireless connectivity i.e. I could see the networks but I got a connection timeout when I tried to join them no bars on the menu bar unless I was sitting on top of the router. The problem was network / router independent, i tried all the fixes suggested michael hyat pages and nothing worked. It wasn't the wireless card (we cleaned the contacts and switched my card with a friends and put my card in his machine - my card worked fine in his machine his card (which had previously had no problems now had the same problem) We then started to think about a tricky and expensive antenna change - but as the antenna is basically a wire it is either there or it isn't . then one cold winters evening I brought my mac book home out of the car booted up and got full connectivity in my office (something that hadn't happened for over a year) then over the course of an hour it deteriorated and eventually fell off, then after another cold day I noticed a similar pattern, and the penny dropped - overheating - I don't know if its causing the contacts in on the card to expand and lose the connection or just that the card doesn't work well when hot. But I installed ISTAT and SMC fan control and so far my testing seems to suggest keeping the CPU temp low keeps my wireless connection up if it gets hot as it gets it get around 60 degrees C and it starts to deteriorate. I would be interested to know if anyone else finds the solution works for them!!

Also are there any dangers associated with forcing the fans to overwork / running the machine at an artifically low temperature.

Rob
 
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