MacBook wireless issue (ongoing) & DIY airport card replacement

Hello,
With reference to the ongoing MacBook/OSX (10.5.3) Leopard intermittent wireless issues discussed in this forum has anybody gone ahead and taken matters into their own hands and purchased and installed a new Airport card for their MacBook from www.ifixit.com?
Further details at: http://www.ifixit.com/MacBook-Parts/MacBook-Core-2-Duo-Santa-Rosa-Penryn-802-11n -Airport-Extreme-Card/IF186-062
If so, did it resolve your intermittent Airport issues?
It seems to me that when the MacBook is running on battery power only the Airport card does not realise that the MacBook has come out of sleep sometimes and therefore does not always function correctly. Maybe the Airport card does not receive sufficient power when the MacBook comes out of sleep mode whilst running on batteries only?
Typically when I run the MacBook connected to power the intermittent wireless problem does not occur.
This issue has been a recurring problem for me for 6 months now and unfortunately I have not seen Apple address this issue.
My MacBook is 6-months old and is a black MacBook using a 2.2GHz processor running Leopard OSX 10.5.3.
Cheers,
treaders

Visit Apple Store and replaced the Airport card.

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Macbook Connectivity Issues -- Ongoing

I have had problems with my girlfriends Macbook since she bought it. It connects to my wireless network (which has two other computers on it, one of them being my Powerbook G4, it also has an airport express connected). My Powerbook G4 has never had an issue, it can connect to all websites, it can connect and play music through the airport express and it can connect to other computers on the same network. Her Macbook connects to the router, can access most internet sites, it cannot connect to the airport express (it never has) it just attempts to connect but never does, also it can not connect to any other computer on the network. HOWEVER, everything works as it should (including the airport express) when I connect her computer to the router via an ethernet cable.. It has been to the apple store once already for this issue, they replaced the airport card. But it never fixed anything. In the past few days it will no longer to connect to most internet sites, including apple.com. It does connect to google.com and many others, but for some reason some of her more commonly used sites no longer respond. I can try it on her computer and get "Connection Timed Out", walk over to my Powerbook and connect to the site just fine. Both her Macbook and my Powerbook are running 10.5.6, both are fully updated. I would appreciate anyones help with this, I know what I am doing, have done everything I can think of to this computer to get it to work (including reinstalls, changing router settings, everything..).
EDIT
forgot to mention this problem also occurs on other wireless networks, not just mine. So I know its not my network/router.
Message was edited by: Semidios

I have this problem sometimes. Usually I try some combination of restarting the computer and/or restarting the wireless router. One time I had to do a hard reset of the router to make it work.

Recent Macbook & wireless issues

Seems to be a lot of post in reference to connectivity to wireless, and macbooks.
I too have started having issues here lately with my macbook, and I thought I'd share what I found so far between the post and my own macbook.
* Intel core duo, 2 Ghz
* Wireless (radio) device does not seem to matter (same issues with 3rd party radio or airport. (APE[n])
* Within a limited distance, (20ft) the macbook will seem to work fine, except for the occasional drop out to scan for wireless..., which should not be happing.
* Anything outside of 20ft is a crap shoot. Even My neighbors unprotected wireless, which is a linksys, will do the same thing when it connects with the mac book.
None of my other wireless computers (iMacs) have the connectivity issue.
* I'm still using 10.5.6, due too I hear there are some issue with the recent update of 10.5.7
* using version 7.4.1 of APE
* Using WEP instead of WPA, because WPA it does not work with GameBoy wireless
* radio mode is b/g compatible
* (strange issue) under wireless options in APE, it keeps switching country code from US to Puerto Rico after multiple resets of the country.
* This has only started happening in the last 2 months, which somehow I suspect is upgrade related.
If you have similar readings in your macbook, post them here so we can track and narrow down the issues affecting these macbooks.
Grasping at straws..... Antenna issues? APE card issue?
* oh yeah, I can't upgrade my card with the APE enabler, which according to this.....
http://store.apple.com/us/product/D4141ZM/A?fnode=MTY1NDA0Mg&mco=MjE0NDc1NQ
I should be able too. Related somehow?

I have a MacBook and I'm having some troubles trying to connect to any network. The problem is exatly the same one posted above.
Yesterday I went to a friends house. He also got a MacBook. I put both notebooks side by side. He connected to 2 different networks and I couldn't connect to any one. I opened iStumbler in both computers too, and I found the problem: in my friend's macbook, the wireless signal is continuous, while in mine, the signal is intermittent. The orange bar appears, then suddenly disappears, appears again, disappears...
I'm thinking this is a hardware problem, but, before buying a new AirPort card, I'd rather be sure that's not a sorftware/driver issue.
I'm using 10.4.10, and saw some issues about wireless and this version, but the problem also appear when I boot in Windows XP. When I try to connect, the message "Waiting for network" shows up and nothing happen.
Last sunday I was able to connect to another friend connection. I tried to connect several times and it didn't work. Then I reboot the router and connected, but the connection was very slow for a 1mbps speed.

Increasing wireless range by upgrading airport card?

I have had my powerbook G4 1.5 GHz for a little over 3 years and its been great for me except for its wireless range is somewhat lacking. When i have little or very limited connectivity people next to me with the new mac books have full reception. Now i know that their computers have new hardware and possibly better antennas but i was wondering if there was any way to increase the range of my powerbook by upgrading some of the internal hardware. I have seen other posts and people have shown products that are external but i feel that would be a last resort since they have a better chance of being broken. Is there any way to increase the reception by installing a new airport card or better antenna?

Hi, El M. Since the day it was new, my son's Aluminum Powerbook with Airport Extreme card has had less than 1/3 the range of my Titanium Powerbook with original Airport card — and the Tibook's range isn't great. If you really want better range, a third-party CardBus wireless adapter is the way to go. Some can use optional auxiliary antennas to extend their range even more, but the card alone will give you a dramatic improvement.

Apple confirms it's looking into C2D MacBook wireless issues

Apple says it is indeed looking to problems with the latest MacBooks and their Wi-Fi issues.
http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/archives/2007/01/updatedthe_macbooks_weakwifi.html

Well - I thought I had problems - I got this machine a few days before I had to go away for 10 days early December.
I still had the old CD MacBook - so just used the Migration Assistant to get everything over. The new Machine was 10.4.8 and my old one was 10.4.7
On the old machine the only time I had WiFi problems was when our Router [ linksys WRT54G ] was playing up and we kept dropping connection - and at the same time we also had our Cable Modem going belly up too . Once they were sorted out - no WiFi hiccups at all.
Got the new C2D up and running - BUT it took me 7 attempts to get it online [ no no wireless security - long story and not relevant] Went to France - staying 1 night on the way with a mate with a Belkin Router. He operates wirelessly . Set up the C2D and saw no less than 11 Networks !! BUT could I get onto his ?? NOPE - no way no how - totally impossible . Even took off his security for me - still no hook up - gave up and used Ethernet.
Tried in France on a Network I knew there - saw plenty [ far more than I could see with the CD Machine] but no luck.
Returned home trying the Belkin again halfway home - no luck.
Got home - straight on - no hassle BUT Icon showed maximum of 3 bars and speeds were slow - but everything worked.
Suddenly - the machine is now just over 1 month old and 2 days ago my Airport Icon showed the full 4 bars and has remained at that - AND I'm now seeing speeds of 3.7 Meg [ on a 4 Meg cable line ]
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2008 MacBook Pro 17" eats airport cards

I have a 2008 MacBook Pro which was under AppleCare support and had it's AirPort card replaced several times. A few weeks after the support expired, again the last card Apple put in started to fail and soon became unusable. The local apple store refused to help despite the long history them having to replace the card over and over. I bought one on eBay and it was fine for four months and then it too failed.
This is very strange but it seems this unit is somehow burning it's AirPort card. I installed a temperature monitor software and the temps looked fine to me. Could it be overvoltage supplied to the card? I've search online and not found any reports of similar issues with this model.
Symptoms:
1: Networking over AirPort stops working. Turning AirPort off and then back on results in it staying off...will not come back on. Hard restart helps but it fails same way a short time later.
2: The system totally freezes. Cursor stops moving, last sound in progress loops. Game graphics (World of Warcraft) sort of keeps going with animations but the UI is non responsive.
Depsite the temps looking ok to me, my feelign is I have not monitored it to much and do not know what is a valid max temp so, maybe it's cooking them. It did seem like letting it cool off helps though, maybe it is just letting it sit for awhile because sometimes just quick restart helped for a while (minutes).
Makes sense? Should I push Apple to get this fixed? They knew it kept destroying AirPort cards and they never fixed that issue.
Note Apple also replaced the motherboard at one point due to NVIDIA GPU issue. Also they replaced the battery as it was swelling so bad it stopped the trackpad button from working.

I suspect a loose cable in the display connection, try cleaning the ports and reconnect the cables.
you can take this to a shop,
or
if you want to DIY, read this guid carefully.
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Pro_17%22_Models_A1151_A1212_A1229_and_A126 1
good luck.

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So my macbook pro has a grocery list of problems wrong with it, it constantly freezes and shuts down on me and it has a really hard time picking up wireless internet no matter where I am. Also part of the back of it is broken (from being in the car when I was in an accident) But the guys at the apple store say that is just more of a cosmetic issue and it shouldn't hurt how it works. But it has been getting worse every day and in this past week it has been shutting down and freezing more than ever, sometimes I have to even take the battery out in order to shut it down when it freezes. But yesterday when I opened it up it read "no airport card installed", so I got on the phone with a guy I know who knows everything there is to know about macs and he told me to go under system preferences and delete my airport then restart my computer to reset the PRAM and then add another airport under system preferences I did and that worked perfectly last night and restored everything back to normal. Then this morning it did the same thing so I reset the PRAM again and it worked(which I had to do mulitple times whenever I would open my laptop back up)but then this last time it didn't work. And I cant find the airport anywhere under system preferences/network. I've ran disk utility and repaired disk permissions and nothing has worked. I'm out of town right now but I plan on taking it into the apple store as soon as I get back.

I should clarify ... I had this same problem on the old drive but only after restarting from boot camp. But an old platter hard drive is simply too slow to bother with boot camp for my needs, so I just went back to OS X only.
It hasn't been an issue since last Christmas when I first noticed it. Since then, I've had every single part of this Macbook Pro replaced except for the battery, battery cover, and back panel plate. Some components were replaced multiple times. But it's not been a problem because I haven't been using boot camp.
I really don't see how it could be a hardware issue when it only happens during restarts, not during cold boots ... and only happens going from Windows to OS X, not the other way. Could be something in a hardware check from cold boot that doesn't happen on a soft reset.
Other people seem to be having issues with their airport cards not being recognized for a variety of reasons. I suspect it's something an update will cure. Or it'll just be like a variety of other minor bugs which Apple hasn't bothered to fix yet (like the keyboard backlight not switching off under bootcamp, etc).
Thanks for testing it out on your systems. Was just curious if anyone else had seen the problem.

Switching airport cards to solve 10.5.2 network issue

Ever since 10.5.2, i can no longer get online on various routers. my friend who has also updated can get on these same networks that i can't.
i have a macbook w/ the following airport card: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x87)
Firmware Version: 1.2.2
Wireless Channel: 6
he has a macbook pro w/ the following airport card: Airport Extreme (0x168C,0x86)
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Wireless Ch. 6
i am wondering if it would be possible to change my airport card to the one my friend has - or will it not be compatible with my macbook. does anyone know?
i am hoping this will solve my problem after 10.5.2
today apple care basically responded to the issue with "blah blah blah 3rd party blah blah blah compatibility blah blah blah" and pretty much said they weren't working on a fix for this as it was not an issue with 10.5.2.
they said i could go back to 10.5.1 (which i already have) - problem is, besides their screw up with the networking - they also did a lot of other fixes that i would like to have since i spent the money on leopard and should be able to do the upgrades w/out losing things like network capability.
i hoping swapping the airport card will fix it.

yes, switching back to 10.5.1 did solve my problem. not really a solution though is it... not if you would like to have the benefit of all the other fixes that came with 10.5.2.
as far as someone having a solution - i've been following these threads for awhile now and most "solutions" involve making changes to the router. this is not a solution since not all routers that people use w/ a laptop are accessible. i would think that most of us use routers in a variety of locations other than our homes ranging from work to coffee shops to hotels etc.
i don't think coffee shops and hotels are going to allow you to go in and play with their networking system.
as far as i see the only fix is for able to change whatever they did - but seeing as they won't even admit to creating the problem, i am not holding my breath for a solution from them.
i am more and more disappointed with apple. sure, they are coming out with some amazing technology, but as they do their customer service is slipping away as well as the quality of their craftsmanship and attention to detail. i for one wish that apple would slow down a bit on the "toys & gadgets" and get back to paying more attention to their basic items - ie computers. i mean, really, did we really need "the thinnest notebook ever"? i'm not sure i really understand the point, especially when they haven't solved all the glitches with their products that are already out there.

No Airport Card Installed after factory restart

I tried a factory restart on my Airport Express after having some slow connection issues. Now I show "No Airport Card installed" Is it likely my Airport Card is dead?

I should clarify ... I had this same problem on the old drive but only after restarting from boot camp. But an old platter hard drive is simply too slow to bother with boot camp for my needs, so I just went back to OS X only.
It hasn't been an issue since last Christmas when I first noticed it. Since then, I've had every single part of this Macbook Pro replaced except for the battery, battery cover, and back panel plate. Some components were replaced multiple times. But it's not been a problem because I haven't been using boot camp.
I really don't see how it could be a hardware issue when it only happens during restarts, not during cold boots ... and only happens going from Windows to OS X, not the other way. Could be something in a hardware check from cold boot that doesn't happen on a soft reset.
Other people seem to be having issues with their airport cards not being recognized for a variety of reasons. I suspect it's something an update will cure. Or it'll just be like a variety of other minor bugs which Apple hasn't bothered to fix yet (like the keyboard backlight not switching off under bootcamp, etc).
Thanks for testing it out on your systems. Was just curious if anyone else had seen the problem.

Latest Apple Software Update causes 'No Airport card installed' error

Hi,
I accepted the Software Update released 05Apr08 and rebooted. Following the reboot my MacBook Air now says 'no airport card installed' and I can't get the MacBook to 're-recognize' the card.
I have used the airport card to access many different wireless networks prior to this update with no issues.
All advice accepted gratefully.
Thanks.

I'm having the same problem with a brand new Macbook Air I picked up on Tuesday. When I got it home I updated all software to latest, and didn't have any issues...
Sometime on Thursday, however, after waking from sleep the airport card reported it is off, and no amount of attempting to turn it on again would successfully do so. After a restart, the computer reported no Airport card is installed at all. I had to shut down the computer and turn it back on before the airport card was recognized (and work) again. This is now the case every time the computer is put to sleep. Occasionally after I do this, the network will be incredibly slow, something like dialup speeds.
First I tried resetting the PMU (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=14449), but that didn't work. Then I reset the PRAM and NVRAM (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238), which worked for only about a day. Now here I am again with the same issue, and an appointment for the genius bar at 5pm tonight.

Resolution of Logic Board/Airport card failure - iBook G4 2005?

Well, after my first post this morning, I was kindly advised to post a new topic regarding my kernel panics and not-so-nice grey screens of death!
So here goes....
I had experienced this problem since January, when my iBook purchased in April 2006 was coming up to it's first birthday. The problem was this - the iBook would freeze and i'd get a message stating that I needed to re-start. After re-starting, i'd get about 2-3 minutes of use, before the symtoms occured again.
I had the logic-board and airport card replaced twice, by an Apple Store, back in January. The first replacement failed as soon as I got it home, the second replacement failed last night.
So, somewhat dejectedly, I drove to Apple this morning, after booking a Procare session. I was expecting a bill of around £450, as that's what they quoted me back in January, if I had to pay for it. This time I would, as my iBook was 1 month out of warranty, with no Apple Care extended support.
Upon arriving 45 minutes early for my session at the 'Genius Bar', I was promptly served, and advised the tech-guru guy what the issue was. Upon looking at the logs, he checked my warranty, found it had expired, then told me to 'wait', and disappeared into the back office.
Some 5 minutes later, he reappeared, and simply said "have you still got the box for the iBook?"
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I was blown away by this approach. I'd expected a repair, possibly a charge, depending on whether they realised that both replacements had been faulty. However, with a machine 1 month out-of-warranty, I did NOT expect a replacement machine.
However, that's what I got. So, I'm composing this thread on a brand-new MacBook Intel Core-2 Duo, with the new spec 1GB RAM and 80GB hard drive.
So, I'd like to take this moment to commend Apple on their outstanding customer-focused approach. Well-done on resolving my issue. Good luck to the rest of you experiencing similar issues.
iBook G4 2005 Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Your ibook G4 (purchased april 06 probably being the 1.3 ghz model) was worth about 440 pounds second hand. The quoted repair bill of 450 was higher than the price of the machine itself, and you were going to pay it?
There are unopened macbooks on ebay for 520-540 pounds (inc apple sales receipts+warranty).
Them asking you for the box means they're going to con another customer into buying your broken machine.

Installed updates--now Airport Card vanished

Greetings,
I have the most recent 21.5" iMac (3.2 GHz) with the most recent OS installed.
Last night, I installed three updates: iTunes 10, Snow Leopard Graphics Update 1.0, and Security Update 2010-005 1.0. I restarted the computer.
This morning, I went to get online and my Airport was gone. It said "Airport Card Not Installed." This is odd because it's worked fine since January.
I went to Networking, and Airport was off. When I clicked "Turn Airport On" nothing happened.
I tried holding shift and restarting, restarting again, and shutting down. It's dead. My Windows laptop gets internet without a problem.
Some forums have recommended holding P and R while restarting. What is that? Other ideas as to what has occurred?
Thanks!

I recently bought and installed iLife '11 and since then (few weeks ago) I have had intermittent issues with the airport card not working and a message saying 'airport not installed' showing. I mention iLife '11 as it is the only significant change to my system since I bought the iMac. Until now I have never experienced any issues with airport cards on this or a long serving previous iMac. The point is nothing I have done (I've hunted out many discussion threads on this and other forums) has made a blind bit of difference (gone through all of the things so far suggested here - nothing worked). The only solution has been to switch off and try again the next day. So far that has worked but I would rather know why this happens and how to stop it then just be at the mercy of a random error / bug. Anyone else had random failures of airport cards? I have grown to expect Apple equipment to be reliable... having re-evaluate that of late!
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Getting message "no airport card installed"

I can't connect to my wi-fi network and internet. I'm getting the message "no airport card installed" on my 2010 13" MBP. There is a card installed. If the card has come unseated can I reseat it myself or do I have to take it to the apple store
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I'm having a similar issue. My airport card was working fine and then, hours later - it does not recognize it on my new MacBook pro. Not sure what is up here ...anyone from Apple able to solve this one?

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What I have:
5 computers all connected via Ethernet that are accessible to one another via AppleShare. One is a G4 Titanium PowerBook with an AirPort Card installed, but not yet in use. All need to and still do run OS9, yet OSX capable and loaded. Stuck in OS9 for matters I will get into another day.
What I did:
Just bought a wireless router, configured it via an ethernet connected computer. Set up wireless settings with minimum security settings.
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Was unable to access internet via AirPort card until I changed security to None. Ok, now able to access internet, but when I open AppleShare in the Chooser control panel none of the other computers appear. Thus I am unable to access my database and unable to utilize wireless set-up for intended use.
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Thanks,
Marcantonio
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PowerBook G4 Titanium Mac OS 9.2.x also have OSX, maintain office of 5 computer network

Yes more than one device can use the 'Airport Software Basestation' that you are running.
I am not sure what the actual limit is though, having never reached it, I have used three devices at the same time with no issues with my old iMac G4.
Ian

Why does my airport card randomly quit working?

I have been having alot of issues with my airport card. It randomly cuts off for no reason. If I turn the card off and then back on it will work fine for a little while before the problem is repeated. The computer isn't even a year old and it has been doing this for nearly 6 months. I was running Snow Leopard, but now I've switched to Lion and haven't had any better luck. Any help that anyone could offer on this would be GREATLY appreciated as this problem is extremly annoying. Thanks in advance.

Likely because of intermittent network problems.
Also see:
iOS: Troubleshooting FaceTime
iOS: Troubleshooting Messages

MacBook wireless issue (ongoing) & DIY airport card replacement

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