Turn Airport Off or Leave On?

I have a new iMac and a wireless router. When I first set it up I used my Wi-Fi connection for a while until I moved my iMac to its permanent position on my desk, near my router, and am now using a wired connection. Should I turn my Airport setting off and then turn back on if I need to connect wirelessly again or should I just leave it on. Does it matter?
Thanks,
Steve M.

I can't think of any downside of having both running and connected (I am doing the same, now in fact), but you might want to check and make sure that in System Preferences, Network, that your ethernet adaptor is listed ahead of your airport.
If not, then your iMac believes the airport connection takes precedence, and network traffic will get routed through the Airport connection as a priority over your direct connection, resulting in slower intra-network file transfers between computers.
It won't make a difference for your internet connection though- with either airport or ethernet, this only affects file transfers, etc.
Message was edited by: kguy

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I bought a new MacBook Pro several months ago. I keep losing my wireless connection (my wife, sitting several feet from me has no problem with her iPad2). I find the quickest fix ix to turn Airport off and back on. Very annoying. Suggestions please?

I bought a new MacBook Pro several months ago. I keep losing my wireless connection (my wife, sitting several feet from me has no problem with her iPad2). I find the quickest fix ix to turn Airport off and back on. Very annoying. Suggestions please?

What kind of wireless router are you using? more importantly which protocol are you connecting with? Are you and wife connecting using the 2.4Ghz band? or do you have a dual band router that offers the 5GHZ band? Are you both connecting vie 802.11 a/b/g or n?
The best thing to do is to go into SYSTEM PREFERENCES and select NETWORK, then select AIRPORT and click on the ADVANCED button.
Under the AirPort tab you should delete all the preferred networks and only add back in your network with the proper security settings and passwords.
If you hold down the option key on your keyboard while clicking on the airport icon at the top on your macbook pro. you'll seesome data that will tell you what band and mode you're connecting at, as well as in an indication of signal strength (RSSI) if you write down and post back that information it'll tell us what's going on.

Which is better when charging? Turning it off or leaving it on?

Which is better when charging? Turning it off or leaving it on?

I think it is a good idea at least once a week to charge your phone whilst it is switched off......dont worry about it 'overcharging'.....any fresh updates for Apps etc tended to come thru a little bit quicker if your phone is switched off then back on

Airport Card Disappeared After Turning Airport Off

I successfully used my MacBook Pro to connect wirelessly to the 'net for 2 hours, then turned Airport off for security purposes. I came home and tried several times -- unsuccessfully -- to turn Airport back on (to use my home Airport Express.) The wireless transmitter was functioning, as established by a successful connection by my iPhone. I rebooted and attempted to turn it on several times -- no joy. I tried removing /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist and restarting, and the menubar icon (and About This Mac - More Info) claim that no Airport Card is installed. It seems unlikely that the card would die just because I turned it off. Any ideas?

What Mac are you referring to? (Part of your info at the bottom should at least say what model). Turning it off for security purposes? In any case check System Profiler>Network>Airport Card and see if it shows up there. You might want to post in your Mac model specific forum area.

My computer is running SO slow. The intermet also keeps freezing up and I have to turn airport off then back on/refresh before it will work again. I dont have enough space on my start up disc to run certain programs. Easiest way to fix?

My computer is running SO slow. The intermet also keeps freezing up and I have to turn airport off then back on/refresh before it will work again. I dont have enough space on my start up disc to run certain programs. It will say I need to quit programsin order for things to run. Easiest way to fix? Im not great with computers!
Running mac os x version 10.6.8

Easiest way is to have an external drive to which you copy the things you store like pictures, movies, and music
which take up a lot of space. Then delete them fron the main drive and clean it up with one of the maintenance utilities. You can readily access the external drive's contents whenever you wish.
http://lifehacker.com/5814440/what-kind-of-maintenance-do-i-need-to-do-on-my-mac
http://mac360.com/2008/07/the_top_7_free_utilities_to_maintain_a_mac/

Runninig 10.6.8 on new iMac. The last wo weeks I keep loosing internet and have to turn airport off and on to restore service. It is not the router as my two laptops do not have this problem. I read that in 2008 MMP's had a similar issue.Any thoughts?

Runninig 10.6.8 on new iMac. The last two weeks I keep loosing internet and have to turn airport off and on to restore service. This happens every time it goes into sleep mode. It is not the router as my two laptops do not have this problem. I read that in 2008 MMP's had a similar issues .Any thoughts?

Go to /Library/Preferences/System Configuration
Move all the files from the System Configuration folder to the Trash.
Restart your Mac. See if that made a difference.

Constantly having to turn Airport off and on.

I am constantly having to turn Airport off and then on in order to stay connected. I am continually getting dropped off the network and the only thing that works is turning Airport off and then back on again. It works until the next time it decides to quit which is several times a day. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Please try each of the steps that follow, in order, until resolved:
STEP 1
Create a New User Account
System Preferences > Accounts
Click "+" to add a new account
Log off, and then, log back on with the new user account.
Try connecting to a Wi-Fi network with your Mac's AirPort.
If this resolves the problem, there maybe something amiss with your current profile and further troubleshooting would be in order to try to find out what it is.
If this does not resolve the problem, go ahead and log back in to your normal account.
STEP 2
Delete Preferred Network(s)
System Preferences > Network > Select AirPort > Advanced > AirPort tab
Under Preferred Network, use the minus button to delete the network(s) you regularly use from the list
Delete AirPort Keychain Entries (Note: only applies if you connect to AirPort/Time Capsule routers)
Launch the "Keychain Access" application located in /Applications/Utilities
Click on the "Kind" filter at the top, and look for any "AirPort network password" entries...and delete them.
Restart, or log out then back in.
Add Preferred Network(s)
System Preferences > Network > Select AirPort > Advanced > AirPort tab
Under Preferred Network, click on the plus button to add any preferred network(s).
Restart or log out then back in.
STEP 3
Disable the Mac OS X Firewall
System Preferences > Security > Firewall
Click the "Stop" button.
STEP 4
Move System Configuration Files
(Note: You will have to reestablish your network connections settings.)
Go to Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences
Move (not copy) the SystemConfiguration folder to the OS X desktop.
Restart your Mac. (Note: OS X will rebuild the files that are now sitting on your desktop. If this doesn't resolve the issue, you can move the folder back to its original location.)

Can't turn airport off in 10.6.1

Ok, I'm running 10.6.1 on a 2.16GHz MBP and I noticed that I can't turn off the airport from the menubar or from the system control panel. I was able to do this in 10.5.x.
I tried deleting the com.apple.airport.preferences.plist file and then rebooted, no luck.
Anybody else have this problem?
(Note: I'm using a linksys wireless system, not Apple's airport wireless system. I don't think this should matter as I was always using this router and have had no issues turing off the airport wireless connection before)
Message was edited by: Mark T1

Anybody else have this problem?
Works fine here.
Try repairing permissions - then delete the three related plist files in this location:
~/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/...
• com.apple.network.identification.plist
• preferences.plist
• com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
Make sure you know your configuration details first in case you are required to reinstate your wireless connection, etc. as a result of removing these files.

Turn 'em off or leave 'em on?

Thanx to the folks on this site I recently was able to connect both of my iBooks wirelessly. Now my question is-and I am not so concerned about someone accessing the iBooks, I am concerned about physical harm to them-can I leave "AppleTalk" and "File Sharing" on, even when they are not in use? Thank you again, Wayne Loney

I leave AppleTalk and/or File Sharing on all the time on my iBook and my eMac. No problem. (My iBook is in OS X 10.3.9; the eMac is in OS 9.2.2.)

Automate turn airport on or off to save battery

i read a method in a book [are you allowed to mention names of specific books?] to toggle airport on and off by inventing a shortcut for it. i think it was something like system preferences>keyboard and mouse>keyboard shortcuts>+. the book said type the command exactly as it appears in the menu bar, so in this case, Turn AirPort On, and then you designate the shortcut, i think by pressing the desired keys. this is where the problem arises, the only keys i can get to in the text box, are the cursor keys, so now i am left with right cursor arrow, as a shortcut for turn airport on. not the best shortcut, but ok as long as it works, which it doesn't. cant think of anything else so can anyone help? id be very grateful. also, does anyone know how much battery leaving airport on eats anyway? i guess you could design an experiment to test it but it would be kind of a long way around.

Are you talking about iPod touches or MacBooks? The touch is a pretty locked down system and unless someone wrote an app to shut off WiFi, then you are not going to be able to do through a script on a standard touch. Jailbroken, don't know and really don't care. However, it is easy enough to just turn it off with three taps.
If you are talking MacBook (or any Mac), you could conceivably write an Apple script to automate turn Airport off/on. However, you have posted in the wrong forum to get any help. Try on of the MacBook forums for some help.

Allow administrators to turn airport on or off in Mac OS X v10.4.10

Hello there,
The school district I work for has a lot of Mac OS X v10.4.10 laptop clients, connected to Airport Extreme base stations and third party access points (Proxim 4000) bound to Mac OS X Server v10.4.11 Open Directory Master.
Even though students and laptops are managed by MCX, students still have access to the Airport icon in the Menu Bar to "Turn Airport Off" or "Turn Airport On" option, which is a major headache as the network home folder connection is lost and students have to restart the computer to resume normal operation.
In Leopard there is a new feature in the System > Network > Airport, it is called "Require Administrator password to control Airport" which allows only administrators to turn airport on or off option, so students don't intentionally "Turn Airport Off".
What can be done in Tiger to achieve this capability?
In addition, I would very much appreciate if there is the same type of solution to the Battery Status icon from the Menu Bar, where students can change the Energy Saving settings.
Thank you,
Alim

If you run Software update on your Mac you should be able to update your OS to 10.4.11. Incremental updates are free and since you are already running 10.4.10 I can't see any particular reason your computer won't run 10.4.11.

Airport Card Turns Itself Off (Macbook OS 10.5.8)

My girlfriend's Macbook has spontaneously begun turning off its airport extreme card. I can turn it back on, but it will only stay active for 30 seconds or so before it shuts itself off again. All of the network settings appear normal and I've tried a few basic troubleshooting things (like removing the battery and holding down the power button).
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Tynan Granberg wrote:
My girlfriend's Macbook has spontaneously begun turning off its airport extreme card. I can turn it back on, but it will only stay active for 30 seconds or so before it shuts itself off again.
Welcome to Apple's discussion groups.
It might help to reset the connection settings on that Mac using these steps one at a time until it works again:
1) Use the AirPort menu bar item to turn AirPort off, then on again.
2) In the Network panel of System Preferences delete the AirPort item from the left column, then add it back.
3) In the same panel as (2), define a new location and see if you can make that work.
4) In the same panel, select the AirPort connection item, click the "Advanced" button, select the "TCP/IP" tab, then click "Renew DHCP Lease".
5) In the folder /Library/Preferences ( not <yourhomefolder>/Library/Preferences), move the folder SystemConfiguration onto the Desktop, then restart your computer. See if you can now make your AirPort connection work.
They may not help, but they'll only take a couple of minutes to try. Before you try these, note all your network settings, because the latter steps will destroy them.
If that doesn't help, I'd run the diagnostics that came with that Mac. If that still doesn't show you anything, I don't have any more suggestions.

My ipad 1 will not charge, unless I plug it in, and then turn it off for the entire duration of its charge. If I turn off my ipad and then try and charge it, it just turns on and will not charge. It will also not be recognized by my computer. Any help?

So, I have an ipad 1 as shown above. Recently it froze so I followed Apple instructions and held down the home button and the sleep button until it reset. A couple weeks later I noticed that it would not charge with either the wall plug in or usb plug in. I discovered that it would charge only if it was completely dead (up to 5% and then it stops charging) or if I plug it in via wall plug, then turn it off, and leave it off until it is completely charged. It will not charge if it is on. I have followed all of Apples help/troubleshooting and it still hasn't worked. This would not be such of an issue, but now I have learned that the ipad will not be recognized by itunes and cannot be updated. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks

Make an appointment at your local Apple store and take it back. I think there's some sort of hardware issue going on and they are the only ones to handle it.

Firewire network fails when I turn Airport on

1. I want to network two tiger machines via firewire, for backup purposes.
After I've connected via firewire (manually via "Go" menu, since nothing else works), I turn my Airport back on, and it dismounts the connected volume. Why is this happening, and how do I stop it?
2. The reason I turn airport off is because bonjour seems to default to it, even though I've put firewire at the top of the list on both computers. Is there another way to face this problem?

This problem has been solved. John at Apple Support spent quite a bit of time with me on the phone until he fixed the problem. Turns out that my router had assigned the same IP address to two of my devices. He had me go to Preferences>Network and delete Airport, then restart and add Airport. That time it selected a different IP address and all was working again. Thanks John.

Little Snitch sends outgoing requests with Airport off

Noob, just downloaded Little Snitch on MBP, getting familiar with background processes and shell scripts. Let x = variables.
LS is showing my mDNSResponder sending out a 225.etc request after I turn Airport off. No other machines on network are runing.
When I DLed Little Snitch and began running it, neither configd nor SystemUIServer were on the LS register. After restart, both showed up and have been sitting contentedly.
When Airport is on, Finder via nmblookup is sending a request to [x].255 about every minute that I have Safari open. When I turn Airport off, then back on, and I'm running LS, Safari to verisign connection shows up and configd connection shows up at ff[x:xx].
My concerns: Former employer is after my intellectual property. I had MBP connected on a daily basis to WiFi and certain sharing elements on with firewall off (stupid, I know, but I didn't know nad hadn't thought about it, and co. in question was pretty technologically dinosauric). Connected to same network by ethernet occasionally, and installed by disk a Windows partition and Open Office by disk given by employers' IT staff.
What's the possibility that a keystroke logger was put on my machine by an Admin of network I connected to, and is there any way to detect and disable said keylogger? Also, is there any way--outside of reverse-lookup, SPAM blacklisting sites--to check destinations of remote connections my comp might be making to an external server?

FWIW, mDNSResponder is the process responsible for [Bonjour|http://developer.apple.com/networking/bonjour/faq.html], Apple's name for its implementation of the popular zero-configuration networking technology. (That's what allows your Mac to discover & use network printers, local servers, etc.) And as mentioned [here|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3789], it is also used in Snow Leopard for unicast DNS resolution; without it, that OS cannot resolve hostnames like www.apple.com.
Likewise, [nmblookup|http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Darwin/Referen ce/ManPages/man1/nmblookup.1.html] is the process that supports the OS X implementation of [Samba|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samba_(software)], which allows file & printer sharing between Windows & UNIX type OS's.
[configd|http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#DOCUMENTATION/Darwin/Reference/ ManPages/man8/configd.8.html] is an essential process that among many other things supplies the dynamic network port configurations that support the above & many other network processes.
So it is perfectly normal for these processes to periodically generate outbound network activity & by itself that does not mean a key logger is installed in your system.

Turn Airport Off or Leave On?

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