MBP and missing Airport network, bad wifi in MBP?

I have a 15" MBP, 2.2GHz model 3,1. Up until yesterday, I've had an Airport N network running without fault. Yesterday, the computer couldn't find the network, although the Macbook sitting next to it had no problem connecting. I completely reset the configuration on the router, rebooted the MBP, but it still only recognized my wifi network intermittently. By the time I would try to connect to it again it would be gone and I would get timeouts. The Macbook is able to connect to the network, run the Airport Utility, etc. just fine. Any ideas?

I've been following all these threads hoping for some solution, but the fact seems to be that the MBP's airport function is just dismal, and I find that the bad network performance has a knock on effect into all sorts of other performance aspects as the poor computer struggles to maintain a connection.
How dismal? Well, I was reconfiguring my network for the nth time yesterday and ended up with an iMac and the MBP literally side by side on a desk and equidistant (about 2 ft) from a Time Capsule. The screen grab at this link clearly shows the laptop (MAC ending :25) at half the rate and half as good signal/noise as the iMac.
<http://gallery.me.com/iain.boyd#100008>
I'm seriously thinking of going retro and running an ethernet cable to my desk. The world was much better then.

Similar Messages

Restarting Mac and Choosing Airport Network all the time

Ever since a couple days, everytime I restart my Mac I have to select my Airport Network. It will no longer do it automatically for me. Can someone tell me what's going on, and how do I change it to have it choose the network automatically. Thank you.

Change your Airport settings.
System Preferences > Network > Airport > Airport Tab
Change from Automatic to Preferred Networks, ensuring your network is the only one in the list.
Turn off your base station and leave for an hour.
If that doesn't solve it.
Reset it and create a new network with a new network name and password.
iFelix

Can you mix roaming and extended airport networks as such:

I have my main aebs connected to the cable modem. I want to conenct several airport expresses to the aebs via powerlien adapters to form a roaming network. One airport express I cant connect conveniently to powerline so I want to set it up to extend the wireless network as well as acting as a a wireless to ethernet bridge (to connect a Tivo). Any pdroblem mixing these two types of networks?

Several is a lot.. there isn't really enough wireless channels free to make several viable unless you are running 5ghz. You can extend wireless and use the express as ethernet bridge. But it might be worth thinking if you use roaming network naming for the rest of the network.. at least use a different name for the unit you extend.

HT3546 can you use your wireless modem and a airport to extend wifi or do you need two airports?

please help

If you require a wireless connection, then you would need a second AirPort to accomplish this. The first AirPort would connect to the existing wireless modem via Ethernet. It would be configured as a bridge and also configured to be extended by the second AirPort. You can use any combination of 802.11n AirPort models for either of the AirPort to configure an extended network. Finally, you will want to disable the wireless radio in your wireless modem to prevent Wi-Fi interference between the two wireless networks.

Itunes 10.1 Windows 7 and missing airport express speakers

First, let me say that although this is my first post, I have been lurking here and exploring the forums for a long time. I have windows 7 64bit, an airport express (so that I can play my music remotely on my stereo) and an ipad. Everything works great under itunes 9.x. However, I wanted to upgrade my ipad, which required me to upgrade to itunes 10.x. The ipad update went well, but I no longer have the option to select my remote speakers in itunes or the remote app on the ipad.
I have searched the forums and have performed the following: 1) unselected and reselected both homesharing and folder sharing in itunes, 2) Unselected and reselected 'search for remote devices' in itunes, 3) Changed settings in windows firewall to ensure the 'private' profile for itunes had both udp and tcp protocols, with transverse edge detection on, 4)reset windows firewall and then reinstalled itunes 10.x at least four times, 5)ensured that I can reach my airport express through airport utility on that same computer.
I am at my wits end with this. If I try to reinstall itunes 9.x, it tells me that my library has already been updated and itunes 9 does not open. I would really like to be able to run version 10 and would appreciate any further suggestions.
Thanks,
Brock

Just to let everyone know. I believe my issue was with Comodo Internet Security software. Even though I had the firewall portion off, after uninstalling the airport express speakers came back. Note...I had this configuration working fine with iTunes 9, but 10 must've had some underlying changes.
Message was edited by: zosobao5150

Airport Network Suddenly Not Appearing

I have 3 Macs and the airport network has suddenly stopped appearing for the eMac. I've turned airport on and off and I've restarted.
My radio strenght is showing grayed out. It is not a distance issue either because nothing has moved and the eMac worked fine the day before yesterday. The other Macs in the house are fine and can see my network.
Any suggestions anyone can offer would be most appreciated.

Hal,
There have been a number of reports about OS X 10.4.x and Airport connections being lost and/or difficult to reestablish after waking from system sleep, often fixable by turning Airport off and then back on via the menubar icon, but I don't recall any noting loss of connection during normal use. A few possibilities come to mind as starting points for further investigation. What is the WiFi signal strength at the eMac when it does establish a connection? Are there any devices like microwave ovens or 2.4GHz cordless phones located near the eMac? What is the DHCP lease time? When all computers are online, what IP numbers as assigned by the Belkin router do they show?

There was an error joining the Airport network

Re: error joining the Airport Network
My wife and I bought two new Macbooks at Best Buy on December 28, 2006. On the first day, I set them both up to work with our 2WIRE wireless router, and they both worked flawlessly.
However, on January 27, 2007, my wife started her MacBook, tried to select the wireless router in the Airport drop down menu (like she always has done before with no problem), and received the following error message:
"There was an error joining the Airport network "2WIRE229"
After several unsuccessful attempts to fix this problem by restarting and reconnecting, I did some research on the internet and came across the following discussions from other people who have experienced exactly the same problem:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3815739

I am having the same problem. I have an access point in my living room and a homework desk in my bedroom. My desk is maybe thirty feet from the access point through one wall. The desk does sit in front of a window. When I try to use my PowerBook at my homework desk I can, intermittently, pick up three access points: mine and two others. The two others are on the same channel as each other, but that should not be interfering with my access point and certainly shouldn't be causing it to disappear from the list all together.
Hoping that my signal just wasn't reaching well enough (the antenna on the AP was not very prominent) I bought a 6dBi antenna for it. My PowerBook has always worked in the living room and certainly works there now. I do get a much stronger signal in my bedroom but I still can't use the laptop on my homework desk.
What doesn't make any sense in all of this is that the wall in my room with the window is the same wall in the living room where there is a large sliding glass door. So, if the interfering signal is coming from outside it should be affecting the living room as well. I am at my wits end on this one.

Constantly losing and rebooting airport express

Hi, I have an aiport express station that serves two g4 laptops, a printer, itunes and an intel desktop. When it works, it works fine, but I constantly (sometimes twice in one hour, often at least 3 times a day) lose my connection (disappears from the wireless network list on all computers) and I have to unplug and plug back in the airport express. That fixes it, but it's a pain.
Is this an ISP problem? Is something expiring too often and is there a way to fix it?
My airport is plugged into a linksys cable modem (have RCN service).

heya dave,
haven't checked in on this for a bit... but seems like i came back just in time. maybe pour yourself a cup of coffee, and settle in for a read - i'll share a story with you.
i am on Rogers. when the problem started (the day i updated the firmware) i was using a Webstar high speed modem made by Scientific Atlanta. it had just been released by Rogers about a month or so before the problem started... the old modem worked fine, the Webstar worked right up until the firmware update - so i wouldn't be incline to buy into any line that it's the modem... it seems perfectly clear to me that it is/was the firmware.
i have recently changed over to the Portable Internet modem put out recently by Rogers. i am thinking it is also Scientific Atlanta, but i am too content with my connection/position on the sofa right now to check it...
i am using a MacBook Intel Core 2 - when i got it, i went a bit accessory crazy and went on several buying sprees for it. loved the idea of no longer being tied to the back rooms (where my cable comes in) so very quickly got an airport network set up. and loved the idea of Airtunes too - yup, both the express and the base station running. all worked great at first... don't remember when the Airtunes started doing the disappearing tunes trix, but from this forum i gather that was also after a firmware upgrade.
trying to putz around with that was a real treat. at one point the Express just seemed to decide it had had enough and took a couple of weeks vacation of malfunction - despite being told that the *factory settings hard reset* was infallible, for two weeks it absolutely refused to reset, despite my tring a couple of times every day. would have taken it back, but it conicided with a rush at my day-job... after downloading and printing (the base station still worked great at this point) enough paper for several first novels and hours going through it all - and coming to the same *do a facotry reset* option - i read a two- or three-paragraph reply in this forum (i think... it may have been one of the other discussion groups) that solved that one - i printed it out as well, and have amazed/amused friends: i tell them the story, show them the stax of sheets that i waded through with no answer, and then the one page sheet that actually solved that issue - by connecting the express directly to the MacBook through ethernet.
so the Express came back to life, but not without residual issues - at this point i will tell you, i have always (for 20+ years working various frontend typography systems and then into the Macs) personified the hardware... ascribing personalities and names to them. my Express is called Patrick, while the Base is named Blanche. some people think i do it to try to humanize technology, but really i do it because i like the look in people's eyes when i'm talking about them... it gives me a sort of crazy-cat-lady cachet.
anyway, when Patrick returned from the near-dead, suddenly i started having issues with the Base - i couldn't figure it out for about a week. did resets, changed channels, relocated phones, waded started to wade through the paperwork again.. found out with some admin utility or other that within range of my living room sofa there are about a dozen wireless networks all humming away. after about a week of that i found out that since coming back to life, the Express (Patrick) had decided he was the base station and kept seizing control over the network - despite not being hooked into the modem. many resets later, he seemed to learn his place again and once again began to function as an add-on acessory instead of the boss.
and then there's the printers story... i have two, a simple b/w laser for type and (at that time) an 8-colour inkjet for photo, both USB. i guess you see where that story goes. i tried to cheat and finagle, but no dice, the base was quite firm with the rule - only one USB printer allowed. i realized my options were to buy another express to service the inkjet, move the inkjet into the middle of my living room - yuk - or replace my trusty photoprinter.
got a Bluetooth inkjet, the Pixma 6600D - great, problem solved... not quite. all is good if i am in the back office, or in the hallway between the office and the front room... past the hallway, about 10-12 feet away from the office, and the Printer is out of range. but i do have a workaround... if i am in the front room, i e-mail any images i want printed to my Blackberry, and use it to send to the printer - the Blackberry took the suggested range of 33 ft. to heart.
and my Airport network... that i loved so much at for all of its modernity and convenience. Patrick the Express sits beside the stero, his green light quite happy. it is too frustrating to try to play music only to have it start gapping and evenutally grind to a halt... the Base Station Blanche remains perched high above the office on a race of metro shelving - her sole purpose in life now to relay my files to the b/w laser - although every couple of days she seems to lose the printer and i have to shut them both down and restart before she finds it again.
i actually took it into my head just after Christmas to fire it all up again - there'd been something updated or something... and i decided to try changing the channels again. Airport Admin couldn't read the configurations for either part of my Airport Network, couldn't make any adjustments to them, and in fact they both disappeared for a couple of hours after i tried.
i am thinking in the new year to see if i can install the original Airport software that came with the base station, back when it all worked and was glorious... and until i hear that an upgrade, either software or firmware is in fact an improvement, they will (knock wood) continue on that way.
for now, i am can be quite happy with Roger's portable modem. by default, i am tethered to a 12 ft. radius to it, but that's not such a hardship...
pierce
MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Using Airport for office network and still connect to public wifi

HI
I work in the public sector and we have open public wifi network that we can connect to, but have no control over and would never be given no access by our service user. we are a small sub contractor in a office tucked away.
We have 3 Macs and 2 wifi printers and several iPhones and iPads, our thought was to link them all and create a mini local network using the Airport extreme but still stay connected to the Wifi. as the only other option would be a 4G router but that is hit and miss with the connection.
After much stubbornness on my behalf i can not seem to fathom a way round this problem, is there a solution with the devices we have
Ian

No we can't get access from the company we work for they let us have wifi access only with no controls.
and the building has no phone access as we are in the middle of a hospital.
the office has all its devices and printers that we can't link but separately we can connect to the guest wifi

Airport network connected on full bars but "no internet connection" and missing lock icon!

this is really frustrating!
I'm using wireless in my house. when i click on my network it connects and it shows perfect connection which is full bars.
on Network Preferences it says that i'm connected to the Airport but when i go to Safari it shows "You are not connected to the Internet" so i click on Network Diagnostic where the 3 network status on top has the green indicator but the ISP, Internet and Server show red and failed.
I don't think there's anything wrong with my internet connection since I'm able to go online using my sister's computer and also on my iPhone.
There's also usually a Lock icon/symbol next to my network's name but when i'm connected to my network the Lock icon seems to be missing but it still shows full bars connection. I really don't get how it's possible to be connected to a network, but no internet connection, while i can access the internet on other devices.
Please help me out here. I've tried ways like going to library>preferences then put the system configuration into Trash, and going to Network Preferences and removing the Airport service and creating a new one.
and one more thing. all mentioned above are when i clicked on Advanced on network preferences then i clicked on TCP/IP and changed the Configure IPv4 from Using DHCP to Manually. When i'm back to using DHCP there's an exclamation point over the airport icon on the top bar and it says no internet connection.

Got my own question answered by a colleague.
He had me create another "Location" in the network pane of System Preferences, then choose it and click Apply. I created a new location which I called 'Airport', chose it and clicked Apply and sure enough, an IP address showed up and all is well.
Justin said it's a network bug in Leopard.

How to setup a network with a time capsule, airport extreme and an airport express?

Hello.
First I want to make it clear all my knowledge off wireless networks is going on forums on the internet, before a couple of months ago I didn't realize wireless networking was so intricate so forgive my lack of experience.
I just bought a time capsule (today, 4th generation), I have an airport extreme bought in January 2011 (they just got refreshed so mine is now one generation old) and the same with my airport express (bought in January).
I originally bought the airport extreme and setup a wireless network using the dual band setup. I have no issues with the 5ghz network and most of my devices run on wireless n so I had no issues with them. my only two wireless devices that can not use the 5ghz network is my iPhone 4's which use wireless n but it has to use the 2.4ghz signal. Problem is in my apartment I am bombarded with other peoples 2.4ghz networks so my signal is terrible 10-15 feet from the airport extreme. Near my extreme I am getting signal ranges around 15mb to 20 mb. When Im about 15 minutes away in my bedroom (so one wall in between) my signal plummets to 1-2 mb. sometimes as low as 0.17mb which is not good. I got the airport express to extend my range and placed it in my bedroom. . After setting up the airport express the signal still was terrible. I researched and realized that if the signal strength ***** then the airport express cant boost the signal as much which makes sense in hind sight. I then researched setting up a roaming network or a WDS network. Per research a WDS network was not recommended b/c I was not using a wireless g network. I attempted to create a roaming network and then realized that you can not use an airport express in a roaming network. This has led me to now buy a time capsule.
First, in my setup do I or should I have the time capsule as the primary? I believe its more powerful than the airport extreme but Im not sure if that matters in a network that is distributing wifi from ethernet (thats how I am connected the extreme and the time capsule)
so can I do
cable modem ETHERNET Airport extreme(in the living room where its always been and works great in that immediate area) (3rd generation) ETHERNET Time Capsule(in the bedroom where I usually get poor signal) (4th gen) and then an airport express connecting to the 2.4ghz signal in the bedroom where the time capsule also is EXTENDING the wireless range?
or should it be the time capsule first bc its more powerful?
I tried setting up this setup and everything is green but I don't know if what I am doing is actually working on full cylinders b/c I am confused on some aspects. mainly on the airport extreme which is the primary device I have under the wireless tab selected create a wireless network and on the time capsule it also is on create a wireless network with the network name being exactly the same. Should it be changed to extend a wireless network? and then bridge mode? Should I have different channels for the different devices that are on 2.4ghz?
I am open to hear ANY suggestions, or ideas to improve my setup. PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!, lol its been 5 long months of poor internet in my bedroom where my wife has her setup with a roku box and wifi tv (I have those hardwired for now) but mainly for her iPad and iPhone b/c its so bad sometimes she has to turn wifi off and use 3G. I have same issue in my bathroom, sometimes Im getting decent signal and sometimes its so bad I can't open the link on an RSS feed in safari which I have to assume doesn't require that much bandwith?
I have no wireless g devices. The only device I need 2.4ghz for is my iPhone 4's but they both use n also. All my other deivices connect on 5ghz and my 5ghz network is decent, a lot better than the 2.4ghz network atleast.

You wrote so much that I find it hard to address all your concerns. However, here are some thoughts:
1) I'd configure the Time Capsule as the "main" router, connected directly to your cable modem. Configure it to "create a wireless network" and to "Allow this network to be extended". Configure the other devices to "Extend a wireless network".
2) Put any device that's extending the network half way between the main router and the wireless clients. If the signal from the main router is weak at the cllient's location, then the extending device will also receive a weak signal.

How to connect old aiport express to my new Airport Extreme? My Ipad says "base station e5713b cannot be configured" and my AirPort tool on my PC will not permit me to add my new Airport Extreme network (no network names to choose from)

How to connect old aiport express to my new Airport Extreme?
I have a PC running with Win7 and just replaced my Jensen With a brand New Airport Extreme.
I have set up the Airport Extreme to the internet, Iphones and Ipads and it work as it should.
I have downloaded latest Version of Airport tool on my PC. In addition i have downloaded the airport tool for Ipad.
I have reset one of my airport Express and it now shows up both on the Ipad and on the PC airport tool.
My Ipad says "base station e5713b cannot be configured."
I have wired the airport Express to my Ethernet to be able to "see it" on my Airport tool.
My AirPort tool on the PC will not permit me to add the airport Express to my new Airport Extreme network (no network names on the drop-down list to choose from). I wished for an easy set-up, but nothing seems to be plug and play as the Commercial says.. can you please help me?
Sigve

Hi
Thanks for Swift reply.
Yep - I in fact have two A1088 and one A1264
I actually bought the new router because the Jensen
router always lost connection to the Airport Express after some hours or days. I
always needed to restart my Jensen to play music and that was driving my wife
mad. The hope was that the Extreme should fix this. Both A1088 have been set up
to only stream music to two of my stereo amplifiers from my PC’s Itunes library.
Are the A1088 now useless?
The A1264 has been set up to feed internet into a Denon Reciever that needed Ethernet cable.
Please advise
Regards
Sigve

Slow file open and save across airport network

Hello -
I just purchased an Airport Extreme base station and am having some problems. I could not seem to find an answer to this issue in the archives.
I have a small architecture firm and have 3 computers networked together (iBook G4, mac-mini, and Powermac G5). The G5 is our file server. A typical CAD file size is on the order of 10 mb. Since going wireless with the Airport Extreme, opening these files has become painfully slow - 2 minutes for a 11 mb file, for example.
All computers have a strong airport signal (four bars), and internet connection on all machines is fast.
Security: WPA2
Robustness: ON
Thanks for any help you may have to offer.

(I posted this elsewhere, hope this helps you as you did not have any responses. )
Big horrible slowdowns in file transfer over wireless have me pulling my (remaining) hair out.
I had given my Apple Airport base station (b) to my brother in Pakistan after I found a Belkin (g) at Staples for free (after rebates) and have been using it for a while. Not a pretty box but the price is beautiful and it works OK.
My real use for it is for my eMac and a couple of older PowerBooks I keep downstaors as a "music studio" for my music and podcast recording (and transferring upstairs to my server folder over wireless) and web browsing.
All worked OK as I would transfer the files to my PowerBook upstairs (connected Ethernet to a router connected to the wireless router or sometimes directly via Airport connection if laptop was not at my desk). Both configurations worked fine (only limitation being my eMac's (b) speed older Airport speed).
Since 10.4.5 (as that is the last "change" I can see made on my system overall, I have discpovered I cannot even transfer a 3.5 MB file from the eMac to ANY of the other machines. After reading several threads here it seems several people have noticed the HORRIBLE SLOWDOWN if not complete death of Airport usability for file transfer. People are being made to go around changing router settings, channel IDs etc.
That sounds like typical tech support bunk to me. After all, if the channel ID on the wireless router is a problem why is my web browing going on at normal speed but a 120 MB file transfer just told me it will take 2023642128 hours. No, I am not kidding. That is the time it would take to get man to Mars. Someone else was told to hook up the machines over Ethernet. Sure, that works for machines in the same room - and is a bearable temporary solution in that case - but not in an upstairs/downstairs situation. Burning CD-Rs to transfer 120 MB files every time is also not a good way to show off Apple technology.
So, in my humble opinion, some recent update from Apple just broke something in Airport networking or Appleshare. (Much like I have found out that DiskWarrior, a hard disk repair utility will crash after completing a current task unless you downgrade QuickTime from 7.0.4 or something to a lower version. Go figure.)
I love Apple, getting friends to switch all the time, but annoyed at these bugs that basically render standard applications unusable. So far I have not been able to figure out what the problem is.
I already deleted all the network port configurations on the eMac except wireless. Activity Monitor shows 0.1 to 11 kbps speed (yes, that is 0.1 to 11 Kbps not Mbps). No other apps are running, Tried connecting to different machines. All machines can transfer data at high speed except over Airport/wireless.
Hope you can suggest a solution when you find one.
Imran

Help Airport Extreme Lost WiFi and I have no idea how to fix it...

I've had to AEBS hooked up and transmitting a Wifi signal for the past 6 months or so. A few days ago I I lost the Internet connection on wifi only. I have an iMac hardwired through the AEBS and it doesn't have a problem connecting to the Internet.
I've updated the AEBS.
I've reset my router and modem.
I've unplugged them for 5+ minutes
I've sworn at them
I've yelled at the dog for trying to bite my feet when I was messing with the wires.
By playing around in Airport Utility I've been able to learn th*e following.
*Connection Sharing:* Off (Bridge Mode)
Desktop connected, Airport (self assigned IP)
*Connection Sharing:* Share a public IP address
AEBS will not connect to ISP, airport and ethernet show connections in System Pref to AEBS and Internet (192.168....)
*Connection Sharing:* Share a group of IP addresses
AEBS connects to ISP (so it says), airport and ethernet show that they are connected but no pages will load. I've screwed around with the DNS address, IP addresses, and everything.
Can anyone help? I'm already bald or I'd pull my hair out.

I suggest starting by performing a "hard" reset of the AEBS. Once that is done, the AEBS should be back to its default configuration of an Internet router.
With the reset done, connect your iMac directly to the AEBS's LAN port via an Ethernet cable. Can you access the Internet now? If so, while still connected by Ethernet, run the AirPort Admin Utility to configure it the way you need it. You can use the following as a guideline:
AirPort tab
o Base Station Name: <whatever you wish or use the default>
o AirPort Network Name: <whatever you wish or use the default>
o Create a closed network (unchecked)
o Wireless Security: Not enabled
o Channel: Automatic
o Mode: 802.11b/g Compatible
Internet tab
o Connect Using: Ethernet
o Configure: Using DHCP
o WAN Ethernet Port: Automatic
Network tab
o Distribute IP addresses (checked)
o Share a single IP address (using DHCP & NAT) (enabled)
Once configured, try connecting your PowerBook wirelessly. Can it access the Internet?
Once you verified that you can get Internet access for all of your computers, you should secure your wireless network.

Since updating my airport utility app to iOS 8, it can no longer see my base station and will not connect to wifi.

Since updating my airport utility app to iOS 8, it can no longer see my base station and will not connect to wifi. My son's 4s with an older version of the app sees it and connects fine, so I know it's working. The internet works fine for everyone else in the house but my

Please take a look at this Apple support document to see if it help solve your issue:
iOS: Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections
If this does not help, we would recommend that you post in the iPhone community support area, since you have an iPhone / iOS issue. The link is just below.
Using iPhone

MBP and missing Airport network, bad wifi in MBP?

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