Macbook Pro finicky about connecting to internet

Question

My 2009 MacBook Pro suddenly started having problems connecting to the internet wirlessly. I use a D-link router (WBR-2310) connecting to a Westell Modem that has the DSL connection from AT&T. The Mac connects pretty well when using an ethernet cable from the wireless router and also connects wirelessly when I do not enable security on my D-link router but when I enable security its connecting ability becomes very erratic. On  rare occasions it will connect but most of the time it will not and I will spend about 30 minutes or more doing various things in the network preferences tab such as running diagnostics or the connection assistant or deleting the keychain for the network and re-entering under join other network and finally after about 30 minutes it may decide to finally connect. Often times when I first turn on the computer the airport will be on but the airport bars in the tab bar are grey then I will click on join other networks and manually enter the network name (even though the Mac already has this info) and select the security type and re-enter the password and the airport bars will fill in black but I will still be unable to connect to the internet. When I run network diagnostics it will have a green light next to Airport and AirPort Settings, a yellow light next to Network Settings and a red light next to ISP, Internet and Server. Often times if I change the TCP/IP to DHCP from Bootp the Mac will aquire a ip address but still will not connect to the internet. Today I configured the IPv4 address manually and was able to get on the internet wirelessly while typing this actually and when I ran a diagnostics so I could better illustrate the problems I was having it got hung up again and I lost my connection. This time the diagnostics had a green light next to network settings but red lights next to ISP, Internet and Server. I appreciate any ideas. Thanks.

Answer 1

Hey andyjcmrdn,
I know it is an old thread but I wanted to share my solution anyway. It might be useful for some others. I found a thread somewhere mentioning that wbr-2310 is an old version router with a new shell on it. It was recommended to use the firmware from that model of Dlink (DI624). I gave it a try and used the firmware that I found. It seems like it is working now. I was having dropping issues with both my air and iphone 4, they would drop out during the day several times.
thread: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1167857
firmware: http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,16146371
I am using WPA2 Personal with DHCP on.
I hope it will be useful for someone.