Airport loses connection sometimes

Hi guys....need help! I bought my macbook pro 13 inch some time in September 2009. Brand new. Up until 2-3 months ago, things were running smoothly in regards to my wireless connection. Lately (for the past 2-3 months) when I close the lid of the macbook (put to sleep) or shutdown and then reboot or bring back from sleep, my airport does not connect to my wireless connection. It shows my wireless network in the list, the password is also still stored but when I hit connect, it says connection failed. The only way it will reconnect is if I unplug the wireless router and plug it back in again. IT instantly connects after that. Also, the problem is sporadic, meaning that sometimes i can put the mac to sleep/reboot and it will not lose connection. This is driving me crazy. I need help. It cannot be the router because other Windows laptops in my house are running fine! Also my iphone does not lose the wifi connection, its just the macbook pro. Any suggestions please??

This is a known complaint in other threads. I don't think I have found a conclusive solution but a work around. There have been posts that the router upgrade fixes or a different router.
Keep pinging something to keep the connection:
Temporary workaround that works for some:
As soon as you connect to your wireless network, Open Terminal and start a ping going. Use your router IP address; but any local address will do:
If your router has an IP address of 10.10.10.1, then open Terminal (in your Applications ---> Utilities folder) and type;
ping 10.10.10.1 <return>
You'll see a string that looks like:
64 bytes from 10.10.10.1: icmp_seq=728 ttl=64 time=1.527 ms
64 bytes from 10.10.10.1: icmp_seq=729 ttl=64 time=1.513 ms
64 bytes from 10.10.10.1: icmp_seq=730 ttl=64 time=1.203 ms
64 bytes from 10.10.10.1: icmp_seq=731 ttl=64 time=1.684 ms
64 bytes from 10.10.10.1: icmp_seq=732 ttl=64 time=1.063 ms
Your routers adress can be found under:
system preferences > network > airport > advanced... > TCP/IP
This keeps the connection active. It even survives sleep/wake.
I think people using this work around have it running all the time. But in your case you could start when you leave your computer. I think it you stop when you close that terminal window (I suppose there is a stop ping command I should look up).

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Airport loses connection with MR814 V2

I have an iBook G4. My Airport loses connection with my Netgear MR814 V2 router. The only way to get it back is to unplug / plugin the router. The connection is ok as long as I'm on the iBook. The problem seems to occur after I've shut the iBook down for the day and then the next day the connection is gone.
I also have my Windows based Dell laptop using the router (wirelessly) and never have this problem.
This is really frustrating. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!
Mark
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I do not have the answer for you, but I am suffering the same thing with my macBook Pro. After about 15 minutes, I loses the connection, and the airport icon in the menu bar goes transparent. Nothing works to renew the connection except to unplug and re-plug my router. If you hear of any remedy, please post.
Jeff

Airport loses connection but still shows 4 full bars

I've got a strange problem I haven't been able to figure out myself.
On my MacBook Core Duo (original 2006) on 10.6.2, my airport loses connection with my wireless router (Linksys WRT54G) after 5-10 minutes of use. My airport still shows a full signal, but I lose all connection (I cannot even see the router itself when I navigate to its IP address in Safari - normally I get the web based configuration panel). If I turn off Airport and then turn it back on again, I get my connection back for another 5-10 minutes.
I am using WPA encryption.
I get this problem when my computer is far away from the router or very close.
I do not get this problem on our other computers - one Vista desktop and and two XP laptops.
I have no connection problems when I plug my modem directly to the MacBook via ethernet.
My only thought at this point: there are numerous (8-10) other 802.11x networks in my building. I've done my best to choose a free channel, but the best I can do is choose a channel only 1 channel away from others (i.e., choose 7 when others are on 6 and 8). I wonder if signal interference is an issue...but why would all my Windows machines have no problem?
I'm out of ideas at this point - I appreciate any help :)! Thanks!
Message was edited by: MBaker22

MBaker22
I am having the SAME exact problem with my Mac. I have a late 2008 white 13" MacBook and it's been upgraded to Snow Leopard and I'm running version 10.6.2. I am wondering if any Apple employees can assist us on this issue or tell us if the impending 10.6.3 upgrade will have a fix for this.
My Airport will be connected to my wireless network and be working fine. As MBaker22 says, after 5 minutes the connection seems fine, the IP is fine, the network is fine and the network works for other laptops and desktops in my house BUT I can't access the Internet. All of a sudden I have no ability to check for software updates, browse the web or do anything that connects to the Internet.
Some other strangeness. When I try to hit the IP of my wireless router in my web browser, it asks me for credentials and then just sits there saying Connecting to 192.168.1.1...
It also only says connecting to www.google.com or www.cnn.com or www.yahoo.com when Airport is behaving this way.
If I plug in my Ethernet cord to my Mac everything works just fine so this is an Airport issue and probably an issue with Snow Leopard? I'm not sure.
Anyway the REALLY weird thing is that I can ping some websites and not others in the terminal when Airport starts behaving this way. That might be because of caching but either way.
Here's a TCPDUMP of my connection on Airport (en1) using Google DNS 8.8.8.8 (but if I use my ISP DNS it still does this):
11:54:45.524180 ARP, Request who-has 192.168.1.104 tell 192.168.1.1, length 28
11:54:45.524269 ARP, Reply 192.168.1.104 is-at 00:22:41:f9:27:e7 (oui Unknown), length 28
11:55:14.273259 IP 192.168.1.104.50470 > iw-in-f103.1e100.net.https: Flags [F.], seq 1, ack 4294965572, win 65535, options [nop,nop,TS val 31991140 ecr 745959806,nop,nop,sack 1 {4294966990:0}], length 0
11:55:14.349839 IP iw-in-f103.1e100.net.https > 192.168.1.104.50470: Flags [R], seq 4200800152, win 0, length 0
11:55:14.648516 IP 192.168.1.104.59886 > google-public-dns-a.google.com.domain: 33436+ A? en.wikipedia.org. (34)
11:55:14.657939 IP 192.168.1.104.57695 > google-public-dns-a.google.com.domain: 47825+ AAAA? en.wikipedia.org. (34)
11:55:14.733680 IP google-public-dns-a.google.com.domain > 192.168.1.104.59886: 33436 3/0/0 CNAME rr.wikimedia.org., CNAME rr.pmtpa.wikimedia.org., A 208.80.152.2 (100)
11:55:14.737110 IP google-public-dns-a.google.com.domain > 192.168.1.104.57695: 47825 2/1/0 CNAME rr.wikimedia.org., CNAME rr.pmtpa.wikimedia.org. (135)
11:55:14.737165 IP 192.168.1.104 > google-public-dns-a.google.com: ICMP 192.168.1.104 udp port 57695 unreachable, length 36
11:55:14.821208 IP 192.168.1.104.50471 > rr.pmtpa.wikimedia.org.http: Flags [S], seq 3597359122, win 65535, options [mss 1460,nop,wscale 3,nop,nop,TS val 31991146 ecr 0,sackOK,eol], length 0
11:55:14.883842 IP rr.pmtpa.wikimedia.org.http > 192.168.1.104.50471: Flags [S.], seq 1708330874, ack 3597359123, win 5792, options [mss 1460,sackOK,TS val 2552235245 ecr 31991146,nop,wscale 9], length 0
11:55:14.883938 IP 192.168.1.104.50471 > rr.pmtpa.wikimedia.org.http: Flags [.], ack 1, win 65535, options [nop,nop,TS val 31991146 ecr 2552235245], length 0
11:55:14.884271 IP 192.168.1.104.50471 > rr.pmtpa.wikimedia.org.http: Flags [P.], seq 1:379, ack 1, win 65535, options [nop,nop,TS val 31991146 ecr 2552235245], length 378
11:55:14.945929 IP rr.pmtpa.wikimedia.org.http > 192.168.1.104.50471: Flags [.], ack 379, win 14, options [nop,nop,TS val 2552235251 ecr 31991146], length 0
11:55:15.071277 IP 192.168.1.104.60681 > google-public-dns-a.google.com.domain: 34531+ PTR? 2.152.80.208.in-addr.arpa. (43)
11:55:15.164792 IP google-public-dns-a.google.com.domain > 192.168.1.104.60681: 34531 1/0/0 PTR rr.pmtpa.wikimedia.org. (79)
11:55:15.247579 IP rr.pmtpa.wikimedia.org.http > 192.168.1.104.50471: Flags [P.], seq 1:529, ack 379, win 14, options [nop,nop,TS val 2552235277 ecr 31991146], length 528
11:55:15.247664 IP 192.168.1.104.50471 > rr.pmtpa.wikimedia.org.http: Flags [.], ack 529, win 65535, options [nop,nop,TS val 31991150 ecr 2552235277], length 0
11:55:19.730376 IP 192.168.1.1.ssdp > 239.255.255.250.ssdp: UDP, length 271
Now that's me (192.168.1.104) and my router (192.168.1.1) trying to connect to en.wikipedia.org without success.
Any help here would be great, especially since I'm not alone.
Matt

While streaming music, my airport loses connection, is this typical?

While streaming music through my iPhone, my airport extreme loses connection. Is this typical? I assume it loses connections at other times, but it most noticeable while streaming music.

It's a sign of a wireless environment that is less than ideal, which can be the result of wireless interference from competing wireless networks, the presence of intervening building materials and other obstructions, or any combination of these factors. They can't all be avoided but you may be able to mitigate their effects.
Streaming music or video is demanding of bandwidth and intolerant of the minor interruptions that go unnoticed when performing simpler networking tasks.

Airport loses connection to Internet under heavy load

Often, all the computers in my house will lose their Internet connection. However the network stays up just fine. There are both wired and wireless computers. A Netgear 16-port switch handles all the wired machines. The only solution is to pull the power cord from the AEBS and plug it back in. 30 seconds later, everyone's Internet is back up. The AEBS gets its Internet connection via PPoE to our DSL line.
From recent experimentation, I've discovered that this happens a LOT more frequently (at worst, every few minutes) when there is a lot of Internet traffic - many short connections, like when I run web scraping bots. If we go on vacation for 2 weeks, the connection stays up fine.
I know this problem has been discussed before but I've never seen a solution. All Macs and AEBS are on the latest software. Any suggestions?
- Desperate for AEBS love

I'm experiencing problems with airport connections recently, too. I did a lot of analysing since then.
My configuration is based on a linux-driven NAS connected to two wireless acesspoints (1x SMC Barricade 2804WBR, 1x Fritzfon with recent firmwareupgrades). Two PowerBooks are connected with cable, two use their inbuild aiport cards.
Volumes are mounted from teh NAS via NFS.
Everything worked flawlessly for serveral month until, I assume, to the 10.4.8/10.3.9 update. I'm afraid the net isn't this much loaded that the connection losses were showing up immediately.
But then there was the need to rebuild the iTunes biliothek on the MacBook Pro which uses WLAN (connected to the SMC). For some time the connection worked but then the connection to the server (NAS using NFS) was lost. I tried it with cable an without (10.3.9 and 10.4.8). The same problem occured.
I tried to transfer different kind of files and folders an identified some files which seemed to cause the server losses. Always at the exact same point. But I had to learn that theses points differ whether I connect via the SMC or the Fritzfon. I have to say that the connection via the Fritzfon are somewhat more stable.
Fact is, that if the problem occures the whole network stalls, not only the connection between WLAN accesspoint and the client computer but the connection between cable-connected ones, too.
It's even possible that the server or the SMC becomes unresponsible via telnet so I have to restart it by pressing the reset-button.
I think I'll roll the MacBook Pro back to 10.4.7 and do some extensive testing with only this one active in the net.

Airport Loses Connection and Slow Download

After establishing a connection to the router, airport then drops out. First of all the number of bands on the airport symbol on the menu bar reduces gracefully from 4 to 3 to 2 to 1. If I click then on the airport symbol, 'scanning' is shown but with no result. If I try to reconnect, then the wireless network is not visible, either via the airport symbol, or via 'Network/System Preferences'.
When I am connected, however, the download speed as measured using www.speedtest.net is approximately only 50% of what is achieved on either a Windows laptop or my daughter's MacBook operating on 10.6, neither of which suffer the lost connection either.
There seem to be many similar problems reported in this and other fora, but no solutions that work for me.
Does anybody have any idea what to do?

Wi-fi can be very fussy. Cell phones, microwave ovens, other networks in the vicinity can all contribute to diminished performance due to interference. Understood that the other Mac and the PC are in the same location and function properly, (that said, vertical as in transmitting through a floor, is supposed to be more problematic than horizontal), but it is possible the Airport Card is just on the weak side to begin with and more vulnerable than the others. Everything--vertical transmission through the floor and a (perhaps normally) under performing Airport Card--may be contributing to a weak, dropped connection. Don't know. Don't want you to spend money for nothing, but it wouldn't be a big gamble to try one of these which are supposed to be superior. I'm using an Airport Extreme Card on this G5 with no problems, but it's on the same floor as the router and that's not terribly far away.
Also, have you experimented with different channels to see which one has the least interference? If you Option click on the Airport Icon, you will see the RSSI and the Transmit rate (grayed out) under your Network name. The lower the RSSI--it's a negative number--the better, and the higher the Transmit Rate, the better. For G the highest will be 54 (mbps.) I'm not sure which speed the iSight uses, but it might be limited to G. The default channel for many routers is channel 6, so if you're seeing other Networks in the area, it might be one to avoid in particular. All the others, with the exception of 1 and 11 have some overlap, so that's not great. I'm using channel 1 myself, but I might have to move around again if it becomes necessary. My Transmit Rate often stays at the peak of 54, but with interference, will dip sometimes to 36 or even 24.
My RSSI is around -67, but that will fluctuate considerably, as well.
Is there a more powerful antenna as an option for your brand of router?
I think you said you have SSID set to broadcast. That's the correct setting, since not broadcasting the SSID won't offer any extra security and will often cause problems.
You also might try posting over in one of the Airport forums (Extreme?) There are some really knowledgeable people over there for these issues.
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=140

Airport Loses Connection

Hi,
ive been having this problem for a while now and ive been trying loads of different things to fix it to no avail...
I have a NETGEAR rangemax 240 router to where my good old macbook pro's airport connects to. when i leave my computer alone and then the screen saver, then the screen turns off, after a while the connection drops to the wireless network. about 2 months ago, this never used to happen. the connection would NEVER drop. now it seems to drop every time the computer's screen goes to sleep. the computer is alway running, and never actually turns off or goes to sleep. only the screen sleeps. it seems like if the screen sleeps for about an hour or 2 then the airport connection drops. the only way to get it to come back it to select the airport icon at the top and choose my NETGEAR network again. this is really annoying as i need to stay permanently online.
what i have tried:
1. restarting the computer
2. deleting old network profile and creating a new one
3. putting airport at top of network list in system prefs
4. changing network ssid
5. deleted keychain WPA personal and manually connection to network again and then saving the password
6. searched every forum possible and tried everything i can find
any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.
thanks!

I think you need to wait for a fix from Apple on the Intel/Book/Wireless problem... or use an unencrypted connection.:-(
Though... I'm thinking if you knew how to set up a Root account and make an identical Keychain as the user, that might be the cure.

Airport loses connection after I put my mac to sleep.

After Everytime I put my mac to sleep, My airport seems to turn itself off and will not turn back on untill I restart. Then, the Icon that shows my airport connections turns into an arrow poining up. What does that arrow mean and how do I keep it from happening?
--At a loss, thanks for your help! Joseph

Same thing here... on my Titanium Powerbook. I am trying to figure out if it was after I updated to 10.4.4. No problem on my G5. I am going to try installing 10.4.4 again.

Airport loses connection. i need to restart. Why?

Why does airport on my imac core5i 2011 keep losing connection? My other devices do not.

Might be the session limitation or Interference or Router IOS issue.
Needs to check the logs for clarifying the problem and to check why clients are not getting associated.
Are your clients getting the proper signal when they are not getting associated?

PowerBook G4 17" Airport loses connection to Airport Extreme

I am presently running 10.4.5 on a PB17 G4 connecting at home to an Airport Extreme Base Station running V5.7. I additionally connect to another Airport Extreme Base Station at my office running V5.7. After about 5 minutes of connection time, my PB17 begins an off and on connection cycle which never seems to end. After a few minutes of handshaking between each Airport, the PB17 would maintain a connection for 5 minutes or so and then begin dropping the connection all over again.
This problem has been occuring for several weeks and existed when the PB17 was running 10.4.3, as well.
If it did not seem to be some consistant over time, I would wonder if the internal antenna is no longer seated properly.
BTW, I also run an iMac G5 (with built-in iSight) on the same network. It never has a problem.
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PowerMac G4 DDR 1 GHz

Problem is still there .. and it's getting worse. Is there any possibility to uninstall this "security" patch from January?
Maybe this'll help a little:
Ping shows up this strange behaviour when the connection is lost:
ping: sendto: Host is down
ping: sendto: Host is down
*snip about 15 lines*
ping: sendto: Host is down
ping: sendto: No route to host
ping: sendto: Host is down
ping: sendto: Host is down
*snip about 15 lines*
ping: sendto: Host is down
ping: sendto: No route to host
and so on .. the log of the various routers tell me, that the Mac disconnects every 8 seconds after reconnecting to the network. And it takes another 26 seconds for the MAc to retry the connection (without success ) ...

Airport express as network extension for a time capsule lose connection repeatedly

Hello,
I boght recently two airport express in order to extent my timecapsule wifi. Installation as a network extension was no problem thanks airport software.
But both AP express repeatedly lose connection, sometimes after hours, sometimes after some minutes, even if they are just a few meters away from the time capsule.
What is the reason and what can I do to avoid this annoyingly behaviour?
Thanks for helping!

Hi - it can be used as an wired or wireless extender of your time capsule network or it can just join the network wirelessly and provide a remote ethernet connection - in all cases the USB port can be used for a printer only.

Built in Airport Extreme constantly loses connection

Hi,
I know a lot has been written about the recent airport firmware update where people have lost their reliable connections and I think I have suffered with this as well. My Netgear modem/router sits downstairs and my mac upstairs so there is a distance of about 30ft max (direct of course a bit less). When I purchased my iMac 2.5weeks ago I also logged into the internet without a problem and since the update it's all gone. My windows laptop can connect from exactly the same place and so when I moved my iMac to within 4 ft of the router it worked. Of course having an iMac in your hallway is not the best solution.
So eventually my question, what sort of range does the built-in airport have?
I can connect sometimes but it will go away again and maybe come back...it's a bit like a sulky teenager. Even last night I did a speed test on both the mac and windows laptop and the laptop got double the download speed as the Mac! That's got to be a first.
I would like to move the netgear upstair but my phone engineer says the best speeds I can achieve is through the main telephone socket.

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Airport express loses connection and blinks amber until restarted many times a day.

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Hello Daniel Epps. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
Every few minutes, it seems to temporarily lose its connection to the internet and start flashing amber until it reconnects. It's extremely annoying. Does anyone know why this is happening? Is it an airport problem, or a cable modem problem?
It could be either or neither ...
It is very possible that you may have some form of Wi-Fi interference in the immediate area that is preventing you from getting a good clean signal, and what I would check for first.
I suggest you perform a simple site survey, using utilities like the following to determine potential areas of interference, and then, try to either eliminate or significantly reduce them where possible:
o MacStumbler, or
o iStumbler

Airport Express loses connection to base station

Airport Express second gen loses connection to base station, has to be reset.

Roger that. Late 2013 MBP 2.5 i5 4mb ram, 10.9.1 Mavericks, formatted and hand loaded after questionable upgrade load. Fast, flawless, no issues.
Airport Express configured to wirelessly extend existing network for the express purpose of supplying an analog
input to a stereo amplifier via airplay. No other devices are connected to the AE.
The WAP is a Century Link Actiontec C1000A VDSL2 physically located 6 feet from the AE with no obstructions.
There are no existing proximal fortuitous distortion or RF interference sources. Other 802.X networks near are
on non-conflicting channels. The WAP is less than six months old and has no issues.
The WAP is configured for MAC filtering with the SSID turned off. In the allow list are two iphones, a printer, two more MBPs and the Airport Express. One of the iphones is loaded with the Remote Ap which functions
flawlessly when the AE is connected.
The AE connects properly in the Extend Existing Network mode and performs as advertised as long as Air Play
and/or itunes is active.
Some time after music has ended, the MBP has gone to sleep, or been shut down ... the Airport Express loses its connection to the wireless network, with its amber light flashing.
Performing a reset and reconnecting is necesssary, and all works as advertised after. Subsequently,
sleep, inactivity, or shutdown will cause loss of connection again.
I am aware the AE can be connected with CAT6, but that is unnaceptable. If I had wanted to use wire I
would have plugged the MBP into the amplifier and saved $100.
My speculation is some sort of TCPIP flub in the design ... as in the AE does not natively transmit keep-alive
packets when it stops getting data from the Air Play computer. It would be easy to decide whether to fix
the problem or return an inadequately designed product ... if there were any information about it. No schematics, no operation description however leaves me only to say thank you for your time and hope
you have the solution.

AirPort in Intel iMac loses connection and does not see network

I bought an Intel iMac in the summer of '06. I had no problems connecting my airport card to my house wireless network which uses an AirPort Extreme Base Station.
In september I brought my iMac to college and used an AirPort Express as my base station. I had no problems other than that the computer did not automatically reconnect to the network upon start up.
In december I returned home and configured the AirPort Express (located on the main level of the house) to extend the network of the AirPort Extreme (located upstair in the bedroom next to my iMac).
Lately the iMac loses connectivity to the wireless network randomly while the computer is on, even in the middle of using it. Not only does it lose the signal but does not list my network when i click the airport signal icon on the top bar of the screen. Once in a while it will have it listed but will give me an error when trying to connect. The only way I have of fixing the problem is to restart the computer.
I know the airport base station works fine and the network is still there becasue I have a PowerBook G4 that I will put right next to the iMac and the PowerBook will still be connected to the network.
Can someone help?

I have a very similar problem. My machine's airport connection has always been a little flaky, but it's always gone on working. However, yesterday I turned on WEP 128 bit encription. It now connects for a few minutes and then I see the signal strength gradually die until it goes off completely. There are then two ways to get it back working: 1. close the lid, then open it again; 2. tun off the airport, then turn it on again. When I do that the signal strength suddenly comes on full after about 3 seconds. The G4 iMac I have doesn't suffer from this problem. I am using a netgear access port as the base station.
Macbook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Airport loses connection sometimes

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