New Mac Mini... airport problems

Hi, I have a problem with the wireless connection of my new mac mini (Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz)... it's very slow and the signal strength is always up and down... what to do? I also have an iBook and a PC connected at the same router and they're working fine. Should I wait for a firmware upgrade or should I contact Apple for support? Thanks

+I think I placed the mini in the best place+
OK, but since it's not working for you, it might still be useful to know how everything is arranged, distances between computers and router, and anything between mini and router. And presence of nearby 2.4GHz cordless phones.
To quote AndyO:
"The real problem is that unlike almost every other problem in system troubleshooting where symptoms can help one refine the possible causes until only one is left, variable wifi is something that is very difficult to deal with at a distance because there are many, many factors which can impact the quality and level of signal, and _much can hinge on small details that often get overlooked_.
"It should be noted however that the general consensus has typically been that Mac minis suffer poorer wifi reception than other systems, in part one suspects as a result of the antenna being up in the top-right corner of the enclosure where it is in part screened by the casing. Thus, make sure there is nothing directly above the mini itself, or immediately to the side of it which might hinder signal."

Similar Messages

Newer mac mini airport utility can't work with older airport express

Hi anyone who can help me out.
I have a relatively new mac mini (2012), and a much older airport express. I can accesss the internet no problem, but I cannot use the airport utility to chane the password on the airport expres. when I try, I get this message "This version of AirPort Utility doesn’t support this base station. Go to AirPort Service and Support for more information." I have the latest version of Airport utility (6.3.1), which is supposed to work with all generaions of airport express. I need to change the password, but I do not have any of the original set-up disks for the airport. How do I fix this?
Thanks for your help.
liametmanu

Unfortunately, AirPort Utility in Lion and Mountain Lion no longer supports the older wireless "b/g" versions of the AirPort Express. This would include model numbers A1084 and A1088.
Please locate the model number on the side of your AirPort Express devices to verify the version that you have.
If you have another Mac running the Leopard or Snow Leopard operating system, you can use AirPort Utilty on that Mac to administer the older Express. A PC could be used as well.
If you cannot use another Mac or PC, then you might want to consider trying an unsupported method to install an older version of AirPort Utility on your Mountain Lion Mac. No guarantees can be offered that this will be successful since Apple does not officially support this method, but it does seem to work for most users.
See this thread for more details:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/22940547#22940547
If nothing seems to work, the final option....likely the one that Apple wants you to use.....would be to buy a new AirPort Express.

New Mac Mini USB problem

I have a brand new Mac Mini (December, 2011, 10.7.2) as well as an older Mac Mini (circa 2005, 10.6.4).
I bought a new GearHead USB wireless mouse to go with the new mini.
The mouse works fine on the old Mini (and also on a Windows PC).
On the new Mini, the mouse works until the Mini hibernates or powers down. On wake-up, the mouse doesn't work until I unplug and replug the USB transmitter. This is the case on all USB ports on the Mini, as well as on the keyboard and monitor USB ports. It doesn't matter which port I use or which port I unplug and replug into - I always need to unplug and replug the transmitter to get it to work after power- or hibernate-cycle.
Note that I have also tried a Logitech USB wireless mouse and an Apple Bluetooth mouse and they both work fine on both the new Mini and the old Mini.
The problem is only occurs between the Gearhead brand USB mouse and New Mac Mini (10.7.2).
I assume that the problem is that the mini is powering down the USB port and not refreshing it after power cycle, until I unplug and replug the transmitter. Alternatively, I suppose, the transmitter could be asserting itself early in the boot process before the Mini is awake enough to hear it. In either case, it seems that the band-aid fix is a command-line to force the OS to refresh the ports, but I can't find any reference to such a command.
Thank you for any help you can provide.

Hello,
I assume that the problem is that the mini is powering down the USB port and not refreshing it after power cycle,
To me it seems like when the usb is powered down the trnasmitter loses the signal with the mouse, i think your mini is perfectly fine, even though the mouse works fine on the old mini I think its how the transmitter handshakes with the new mouse on the new mac mini. Do you have a new mouse of the same brand that you can test and see if it has the same issue...
If so then it forsure the transmitter... not the mini... else take your mini in for health check.
good luck, let me know how u go...

Mac Mini Airport Problems

Hi,
My MacMini is disconnecting very frequently from my home network. Using my MBPI I cam access the internet. So I know the problem is not with the internet service provider or wireless router. I re-started the MacMini and try accessing my home network and get asked by my wifi network password. However it times out and boots me out. Ocassionally, when I manage to connect to the internet I check for Mac software updates but again it times out. Ii seems that the problem is with the Mac Mini Airport. Any ideas?

alebastardo wrote:
Mac Mini, RSSI: From -78 to -85
MBP, RSSI: From -62 to -65
The values for the mini are very low.
This message gives guidelines for evaluating a signal-to-noise ratio (the signal value minus the noise value):
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=10329543&start=1
If your noise level is in the middle -90s (a very good value), that would give you a SNR of 10 to 17, which would be considered a low or very low signal. I think the explanation of the mini's connection problems is that it isn't receiving a strong enough signal.
There's a way to use a command-line airport utility to learn the actual noise level. Let me know if you want more details.
Can you move the mini or the base station so that they are nearer to each other? Is there anything on top of or next to the mini that might be blocking the signal that you could move? Can you try rotating the mini to see if that improves the signal?
The ultimate fix would be to connect the mini to your AirPort Extreme with an Ethernet cable, either directly or using some sort of "PowerLine" adapter.

New Mac mini audio problem - beeping from audio output

Hi Apple fans
Please help me. I recently purchased a new Mac mini from my local store. It's three-and-a-half weeks old as of today.
It's an i5 2.3 with 8 GB of corsair RAM.
I like to watch movies and TV on it and have the audio connected to an external amp and speakers via the headphone output.
After a reboot today I lost the sound through that output. All that I hear through it now is an electronic beeping, six notes, descending in pitch, repeating.
I have no idea what it is, other than annoying since this happened on a brand new computer. Not looking forward to the idea of losing my mini for a week as Apple figure it out, but it may be all that's left to do.
Maybe somebody here can help me out - anyone have an idea what's going on? I did an fsck -fy already, and there seems to be nothing wrong, based on that check. For completeness sake, I ran the sound over a USB sound card, and the beeping noise was not there, and sound worked fine. Ditto for the internal speaker - no weird noise there, this seems limited to the headphone out port. I've tried different cables, and even amps, and a set of small speakers without amp. The noise is there when using the headphone jack, and it's absent when using the wee internal speaker or USB-based sound. Please help?
I captured the sound on a video which I've uploaded. It's kind of jarring, so keep your hand on the volume button.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUt8miCYcJQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUt8miCYcJQ
Thanks much for any input - it would be very much appreciated.
Pascal

Hi Pascal,
Certainly strange, but I have no ideas other than having it looked at by Apple.

Airport Express problems with new MAC MINI and DLINK router SOLVED

Hi just thought I would post this as it may well help others experiencing similar frustrations with new core duo mac mini and wireless connection or quality problems across the network / internet etc
I have a 3 week old, new mac mini core duo 1.8ghz 2gig ram, 120gb disk - First Mac, connecting to my exisiting wireless network via DLINK ADSL Router 2MB Broadband also one windows laptop and pc also wireless on the network and two airport express potins to stream itunes to
Problem was briefly
Mac worked fine, but the network connection just far too slow, laptop and pc, 1800+ kbps downstream mac mini 90 - 150kbps (http://www.adslguide.org/tools/speedtest.asp)
also if i ping the router directly from terminal (ping -c 20 192.168.1.1) average response 12+ ms with 20% packet loss, yet laptop and pc avg 2ms no losses
Spent 2 evenings on frustrating calls of more than 1 hour each (due to being cut off , then ring back and closed etc etc) and carrying out a the helpdesk troubleshooting (I am an IT consultant I think I am above this level), eventually an archive and install of the os as well
last night I call for the third time, insisting I dont wish to carry out any further troubleshooting, and want it replaced and resolved or my money back
I receive a call back from product specialist (not sure if thats mac mini specialist or airport) but we resolved the issue (his knowledge far superior to the help desk do this do this attitude)
between us we carried out the folowing and resolved the problem and I am now very happy
mac now downstreaming also in excess of 1800kbps (as expected for 2mb broadband)and no packet loss
This problem was resolved by switching off the turbo option hidden away in the routers settings, under wireless configuration
Supposed to improve performance, but its rubbish and will make hardly any difference under mac os to the speed but will certainly affect your mac mini performance(you may have a similar setting switched on in your routers and mac os dont like it)
We stumbled across this by first disconnecting one of the airport express devices from my dlink network, and using it on its own default apple wireless settings, effectively making it a standalone wireless network, and not via the dlink router
we then carried out the same ping with the ip address of this device (from airport admin utility default 10.0.1.1) and the results were fantastic 2ms avg no package loss
this established it was something with the router, and how we then interrogated the routers settings and found the turbo on option within wireless configuration
you may not be able to replicate this if you dont have an additional network you could join (such as airport express), but probably worth checking your own router settings for something similar
Hope that may be of assistance to others, sorry that its a bit long winded and garbled, but I'm just so excited to finally get my new mac working as i would expect it to
Also perhaps insist on speaking to a product specialist immediately that the helpdesk are unable to help you

Hello macfar14. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
For just streaming iTunes and/or for sharing a USB printer, the AirPort Express Base Station (AX) just needs to be configured as a wireless client ... which you already attempted to do.
Just to be sure nothing was missed, here are the basic steps to do this:
Either connect to the AX's wireless network or connect directly, using an Ethernet cable, to the Ethernet port of the AX, and then using the AirPort Utility in "Manual Setup" mode, make the following changes:
AirPort > Wireless
o Wireless Mode: Join a wireless network
o Network Name: <existing wireless network's Network Name or SSID>
o Wireless Security: <select the encryption type of the existing wireless network>
o Wireless Password: <enter the existing wireless network password>
o Verify Password: <re-enter the existing wireless network password>
Music
o Enable AirTunes (checked)
o iTunes Speaker Name: <enter desired speaker name>
o iTunes Speaker Password: (optional)
o Verify Password: (optional)
o Click Update to write the new settings to the AX
In iTunes:
iTunes > Preferences... > Advanced > General
o Look for remote speakers connected with AirTunes (checked)

New Mac Mini doesn't recognize airport card

I have a new mac mini, leopard, 1.8G c2duo, and have finally resolved some display issues. Now it doesn't recognize my airport card. Ideas?

If the airport card doesn't appear in the System Profiler (select 'About this Mac' in the Apple menu, then click the 'more info' button, then click 'Airport Card' down the left hand side) then the mini likely has a hardware problem and would be in need of repair/replacement. On the other hand, if the Airport Card shows up there, the system clearly can see the card, but it then means there is likely a problem with MacOS or a setting - in which case if you could describe the symptom (ie, where it is you are not seeing the card) then it may be possible to resolve.

Wretched airport reception on new Mac Mini

Me and this Mac Mini are not getting on at all.
I've set this machine up right next to my iMac G5. Both are accessing the same Airport Express wireless router that is in the family room down the hall about 15 feet.
The iMac G5 is downloading at 6x the speed of the Mac Mini. To download the same file from the same site the iMac G5 d/led at 125 KB/sec while the Mac Mini then got 24-25 KB/sec. Just to make sure, I then tried out my iBook, and it also d/l'd at 125 KB/sec (the file was cyberduck).
I tried to just transfer files from the iMac G5 to the mac mini using wireless, with similar results.
Have tried moving the machine all around the room, right now it is perched by itself on a dresser with no gain in performance.
I hope I have a bum unit, or one whose antenna has come loose. If not, there's going to be a real problem with the new Mac Mini.
Already I have had to use an ethernet cable to link the mini to the iMacG5 because the Mac Mini's airport reception is so bad that it can't stream music or video from iMac--four feet away.
Ouchy. Really looking for a report from another owner of the new mini so I can tell whether I have bum machine, or if these are the new titanium powerbooks.

Could you guys with the mini problems run the ping test? This will make it clear if you are having the same or a different problem as the iMac crowd. I suspect that the problem is the same.
Open Terminal and type
ping -c 30 <your router IP address>
you will get 30 pings on 1 second intervals something like this
PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=167.164 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=120.104 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=73.494 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=26.472 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=1.452 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=1.475 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=4.092 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=2.442 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=1.459 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=1.532 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=250.869 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=221.416 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=175.034 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=128.510 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=1.439 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=1.466 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=16 ttl=64 time=1.472 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=1.538 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=18 ttl=64 time=1.496 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=19 ttl=64 time=1.502 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=20 ttl=64 time=249.518 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=21 ttl=64 time=202.338 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=22 ttl=64 time=155.823 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=23 ttl=64 time=112.687 ms
The typical sequence is 6 pings of about 1 mS followed by 4 pings of about 250, 200, 150 and 100 mS. This 10 ping pattern then repeats.
- gws

New Mac Mini with Lion Video Problem With Dell E228WFP monitor

Just purchased a new mini Mac 2.3 with Lion pre installed. I connected to my old Dell E228WFPI monitor via the Mini Display to VGA adapter. The mini mac worked fine for an hour until I put it to sleep. It would not rewake. After rebute the gray screen and apple logo appear with clock, but after clock screen to black and monitor goes to power saver mode. Took unit to apple store twice and could not resolve problem by changing resolution or other methiods. Finally, we learned that the system works fine using Belkin HDMI to DVI cable. This Dell Monitor had DVI connector. Hope this helps...

How can a computer that's been turned off (and I mean completely OFF) get a network request? Only a sleeping computer should react to such a request. If you're sure you shut down (Apple Menu, Shut Down), then only an internal power supply or logic board problem should cause this. The only way it could be software is if Lion is not shutting down the computer but is instead putting it to sleep. Is it a new Mac Mini? If so, you should have it replaced or repaired.

I just got a new Mac Mini, and now when I try to import photos into Lightroom, iPhoto try to load them first, then Lightroom can't find the files. Big problem. What to do?

I just got a new Mac Mini, and now when I try to import photos into Lightroom, iPhoto ties to load them first, then Lightroom can't find the files. Big problem. What to do?

Simple:
File -> Export to get your photos out of the iPhoto Library. In the Export dialogue you can set the kind to Original and you'll get back exactly what you put in.
Apps like iPhoto2Disk or PhotoShare will help you export to a Folder tree matching your Events.
Once exported, you can then trash the iPhoto Library - just drag it from the Pictures Folder to the trash and empty it.
After that, if you're entirely neurotic about it, just put the iPhoto app in the trash and empty it.
Regards
TD

I have problem setting up a new wireless keyboard and my new Mac mini

I have problem setting up a new wireless keyboard and my new Mac mini

Same with my new mac mini.
Got it brand new via the online shop.
Happy to start with the new mac i really got dissapointed by the fact that it`s impossible to pair the wireless keyboard unless you first connect a USB keyboard to the mac mini and start the configuration.
THIS S.U.C.K.S. !!!
No hint at all from apple that you first have to connect the USB keyboard.
I had to borrowed a USB keyboard from my neighbour :-((
After setting things up it was no problem at all to establish the BT connection with the keyboard.
Works fine now.

Problem with USB speakers and new Mac Mini

I have a USB sound system consisting of a pair of Harman Kardon soundsticks and a woofer from probably 10 years ago (bought and used originally with a Mac). I have tried driving it my new Mac Mini. It works fine for about a minute; then the music stops. Here's what I've tried to diagnose the problem:
1. The problem does not occur when these speakers are driven from my Macbook Air (about 3 years old).
2. The OS and iTunes software is up to date on both machines (10.9.5 and 12.0.1.26).
3. It does not depend on which USB port I use on the Mac Mini.
4. Using a port on a USB extender on the Mac Mini does not solve the problem.
5. The iTunes Preference settings are the same on both machines.

Sorry, no actual experience with USB Audio devices.
I found this in the Pro forum, but the outlook doesn't seem good:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1739084&#1739084

Problems installing OSX Lion - new Mac Mini 2011

Hi!
I'm having major problem with my brand new Mac Mini.
I wanted to upgrade it right away after reading so many succeful upgrading reports on various forums so I bought a 120GB Intel 320 SSD disk and 2x4 GB of Kingston 1333mhz ram. I swapped the drives right away and idiotically used to original drive in a case to create an external installation USB-drive (my 4GB USB drives didn't work).
I then created a bootable USB-disk with the external original drive and tried to install but only get the circle with slash after selecting the drive in the "options" menu. If I remove the USB-drive I get a flashing folder icon. If start holding down Command + S I get a message saying that the "version of OSX is not supported on this platform".
I also tried using the Recovery Assistant HD to create a bootable recovery tool but that gives the same results.
In short:
I can't install OSX Lion on a brand new Mac Mini with upgraded HD and Ram. I don't have the original installation anymore.
Am I out of luck?

Internet Recovery solved this problem. Option+Command+R.

Scrolling problems on new mac mini

I bought a new mac mini yesterday. Out of the box, it was ready for an update to 10.7.2, which I did. The problem is with scrolling on certain web pages, even when browsing Apple's site, the scroll bar lags or will not move at all. A perfect example would be http://news.google.com/ even after a page has fully loaded, the scroll bar does not respond. After long delay, it might jump to a different scroll position, but definitely NOT smooth scrolling.
I ran disk utility and repaired permissions. I have restarted mac mini.
This is not the case running os 10.7.2 with my 2007 imac.
Any suggestions?

Very interesting....
I restored the entire os lion, no help. Firefox works just fine. Safari is broken, when using screen sharing. I can scroll pages with the mac mini using it's own mouse and display, however, the mini's mouse becomes de-activated when screen sharing is enabled onto it. The mouse controlling the imac cannot scroll safari's browser, nor can it refresh pages when doing such things as 'submit reply'. Lol, I had to reply using Firefox. I do believe it is essentially a refresh issue, during user activity within each page. If you click a scroll postion, and then click outside of the page, it will refresh to the new scroll position. This is the same case as for submitting a reply.
Outside of that, I am disappointed that both the imac's mouse and the mini mac's mouse cannot be used simultaneously during screen sharing with the newest update. Whereas, I can have simultaneous mouse control when accessing a non-lion macbook pro from my lion imac.
I do not see any reason to disallow simultaneous mouse use. This works great for comunnicating to users in other rooms, with direct desktop support.
Actually, I have found that there is still mouse control, it is just not visible on the vnc user's screen. I wish there was a way to re-activate that, it would probably resolve the scrolling issues too. Any know what to replace in what library?

Problem connecting Apple TV to my new Mac Mini iTunes libraries.

I cannot appear to connect via Apple TV to my iTunes libraries on my new Mac Mini. My other iOS devices and MacBook Pro all connect up fine. I have two accounts on my Mac Mini. One is a shadow of my Macbook Pro account and the other is a family account. On the family account, I can see the Airplay icon on the top menu bar but all it gives is the option to open Display Preferences. When I go to my Apple TV on the family account, it attempts to load the iTunes library but hangs for a long time and then states it cannot connect to account. All my software is up-to-date and I have tried a full reset on my Apple TV. On my other account, I don't even get the Airplay icon.
I am at a loss as to what is wrong.

Let me clarify. The computer is on and so is Apple TV (home sharing is switched on both). On one user I see the Airplay mirroring icon (the same one that also appears on my MacBook Pro and my iPad and iPhone). Except that all I get is the "Open Display Preferences". Even in in the display preferences the AirPlay option is greyed out. I have tried resetting options on both the Apple TV and the Mac Mini but to no avail. If my other Apple devices weren't working then would think it was an Apple TV problem. however the problem seems to be in communication. As I said in my original post, the puzzling thing is that Apple TV know what iTunes library on the Mac Mini to connect (as it states it on the TV screen [and it is different to my MacBook Pro library]) and knows it exists but just won't connect to it.

New Mac Mini... airport problems

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