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POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: SteveO
Date: March 03, 2008 09:16AM
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I'm looking at getting a 2.4 ghz MB or MBP so I'm studying up on potential issues. One that I've come across on Apple boards and elsewhere seems to be that from 10.4.10 - 10.5.2, wireless connectivity has gone bad. There are even Extreme iMacs that have the problem. So...
1. Are you having issues -- or not?
2. What machine (C2D?) / OS / wireless router do you use?
3. Is the problem limited to when you're running off battery power?
The tried and true fix seems to be staying at 10.4.9 or else turning AirPort off/on. Some are saying it seems to be prevalent (but not limited to) when using certain non-Apple wireless routers. Here's one thread of many I read last night: [forums.appleinsider.com]
Fortunately, there are some people who don't seem to have any problems. My PowerBook 1.67 had these issues for several months before I discovered an Airport patch, so I sympathize greatly with those affected by the current problem. My experience on this board is that by and large, we are a pretty knowledgeable bunch...so if I hear it from you, I put a lot more credence in it than reading about it elsewhere.
If you're more comfortable PM'ing me about this or any other issue you feel deserves fair warning before I upgrade, please do so. Thanks for your input!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2008 09:19AM by SteveO.
1. Are you having issues -- or not?
2. What machine (C2D?) / OS / wireless router do you use?
3. Is the problem limited to when you're running off battery power?
The tried and true fix seems to be staying at 10.4.9 or else turning AirPort off/on. Some are saying it seems to be prevalent (but not limited to) when using certain non-Apple wireless routers. Here's one thread of many I read last night: [forums.appleinsider.com]
Fortunately, there are some people who don't seem to have any problems. My PowerBook 1.67 had these issues for several months before I discovered an Airport patch, so I sympathize greatly with those affected by the current problem. My experience on this board is that by and large, we are a pretty knowledgeable bunch...so if I hear it from you, I put a lot more credence in it than reading about it elsewhere.
If you're more comfortable PM'ing me about this or any other issue you feel deserves fair warning before I upgrade, please do so. Thanks for your input!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2008 09:19AM by SteveO.
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: yeoman
Date: March 03, 2008 09:23AM
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I upgraded from a PB12 running 10.5.2 to a 2.2GHz MBP C2D also running 10.5.2. Routers AExtreme and AExpress (bridged). I did a new install and used combo to update. No airport patch, no dropouts. 802.11g speeds are 6Mbs d/l and 4Mps u/l. Local file sharing is fast (don't know exact speeds). Absolutely no problems. None. If you have more questions post them.
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: blusubaru
Date: March 03, 2008 09:25AM
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: Jimmypoo
Date: March 03, 2008 09:43AM
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: macnut
Date: March 03, 2008 09:59AM
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: Lux Interior
Date: March 03, 2008 10:03AM
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: Acer
Date: March 03, 2008 10:04AM
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Yes.
Buffalo WRGT-64 (their cheapest model at the time)
and a Belkin.
The Buffalo uses WEP, the Belkin is unencrypted.
MBP C2D 2.2 Santa Rosa, 10.5
My dropouts come in batches. One day, not noticeable, the next day every 15 min.
The Airport stays connected (at least the signal stays strong in the menu bar.)
Turning Airport off and on via the menu bar usually gets it working faster than just waiting, but I have not conducted a double-blind study.
I spend most of my time on an AC adapter.
On the old iBook G4 using 10.4, I rarely had dropouts, though I did have them from time to time...until last December, then I seemingly had them more often.
Professor Plum, in the kitchen, with the pipe.
Buffalo WRGT-64 (their cheapest model at the time)
and a Belkin.
The Buffalo uses WEP, the Belkin is unencrypted.
MBP C2D 2.2 Santa Rosa, 10.5
My dropouts come in batches. One day, not noticeable, the next day every 15 min.
The Airport stays connected (at least the signal stays strong in the menu bar.)
Turning Airport off and on via the menu bar usually gets it working faster than just waiting, but I have not conducted a double-blind study.
I spend most of my time on an AC adapter.
On the old iBook G4 using 10.4, I rarely had dropouts, though I did have them from time to time...until last December, then I seemingly had them more often.
Professor Plum, in the kitchen, with the pipe.
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: SteveO
Date: March 03, 2008 10:24AM
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Some have noted fix by applying Apple's N updater before AND after whatever sw updates you have installed. Others have said the 2007-003 Airport updater helped (this fixed my PB 1.67): [www.apple.com]
One guy even said he took his MB into the Genius Bar and they replaced the battery and that fixed everything. This guy said to look at Apple's MB battery replacement notes under a warranty program for defective batts, I guess.
Some have said the problem stems from the airport card drivers from either Atheros or Broadcom (or both) not pinging the router often enough...so they go to sleep prematurely. Somehow 10.4.10+ has broken the drivers [in conjunction with certain routers]. These people have said that keeping an app open that pings your router every 10 seconds or so does help...like iStumbler. I think there's a widget for this.
Problem does seem to have some router specificity. This page looks like it has some good suggestions (a few are mentioned above) although it is long; pages linked within this thread also seem to have some solutions: [discussions.apple.com]
Caveat: I got a couple of script errors trying to load it on my 1.67 PB, I just told it to stop the scripts.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2008 10:52AM by SteveO.
One guy even said he took his MB into the Genius Bar and they replaced the battery and that fixed everything. This guy said to look at Apple's MB battery replacement notes under a warranty program for defective batts, I guess.
Some have said the problem stems from the airport card drivers from either Atheros or Broadcom (or both) not pinging the router often enough...so they go to sleep prematurely. Somehow 10.4.10+ has broken the drivers [in conjunction with certain routers]. These people have said that keeping an app open that pings your router every 10 seconds or so does help...like iStumbler. I think there's a widget for this.
Problem does seem to have some router specificity. This page looks like it has some good suggestions (a few are mentioned above) although it is long; pages linked within this thread also seem to have some solutions: [discussions.apple.com]
Caveat: I got a couple of script errors trying to load it on my 1.67 PB, I just told it to stop the scripts.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2008 10:52AM by SteveO.
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: Mike Johnson
Date: March 03, 2008 10:54AM
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: Article Accelerator
Date: March 03, 2008 11:53AM
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: the_poochies
Date: March 03, 2008 12:27PM
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I had a problem with my new MBP purchased in October, before and after Leopard. Changing the channel on my Airport Express to 12 solved the problem and it has been problem-free since. I think that other devices in my house or my neighborhood were interfering with the Airport signal.
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: martin
Date: March 03, 2008 01:17PM
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: anonymouse1
Date: March 03, 2008 01:47PM
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1. People having problems are the ones who are going to talk about it, so your sample is skewed.
2. For home use, I've gone with Powerline. Once every week or so I have to unplug the "receiver" unit for 10 seconds, to get the "sender" unit to recognize it. Other than that, no problems at all, no security issues, and rates about as fast as are coming in over our DSL line.
2. For home use, I've gone with Powerline. Once every week or so I have to unplug the "receiver" unit for 10 seconds, to get the "sender" unit to recognize it. Other than that, no problems at all, no security issues, and rates about as fast as are coming in over our DSL line.
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: SteveO
Date: March 03, 2008 03:04PM
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Quote
anonymouse1
1. People having problems are the ones who are going to talk about it, so your sample is skewed.
I know that, that's why I specifically asked if people were having problems -- or not. And many here as we all can see are reporting no problems, actually. So that is heartening. Thanks all for the replies, keep 'em coming.
Posted from a 2.4 ghz MacBook at the KC Apple store. Man, I'd like to buy this thing right now! ;)
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: AllGold
Date: March 03, 2008 05:24PM
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I'm holding at 10.4.9 because 10.4.10 and .11 have absolutely no upside from what I have read. They didn't improve anything, only introduced more bugs. Here's a very small sample from MacInTouch:
Quote
Geoff Strickler
The problem with the jumping cursor on MBP with 10.4.10/10.4.11 when Airport is enabled and you're not connected to a wireless network is related to the still unresolved issue (introduced in 10.4.10) with the Airport not connecting to some Wi-Fi access points (especially Netgear units running WPA). I don't know that they're the same problem, but they're both related to the buggy Airport code introduced in 10.4.10.
With Netgear (and some other) Wi-Fi units, the MBP with 10.4.10/10.4.11 is getting lots of receive errors (look in Network Utility). That's the source of the connectivity problems.
It also appears that the new code is not multi-threading nicely, it will hog the CPU for a while, and that causes the jumping cursor/unresponsive trackpad.
I don't know who to contact at Apple about this, but this is a real problem and it needs to be corrected.
Robert Mohns
Daniel Jalkut, developer of MarsEdit, has found a problem with Mac OS X 10.4.11 and blogged about it:
NSURLConnection Crashing Epidemic
[www.red-sweater.com]
Excerpt:
If you're a developer and your application uses WebKit or NSURLConnection, chances are you've noticed an increase in crash reports, too. Always on 10.4.11, always involving NSURLConnection. If you're a user running 10.4.11, chances are you've noticed that network-enabled applications seem to be a bit more flakey and crash-prone.
The fact that the bug seems to be fixed in Leopard makes me think that this is a bug whose source was identified and fixed. Now the question is, will Apple ever ship a 10.4.12 containing a fix? Or will those users be stuck in crash-ville forever?
Apple needs to get this fixed. For these poor 10.4.11 users who got stuck with a buggy URL loader, and for us poor developers who have to gently explain to them that it's out of our control. I have to assume there's already a bug reported against this, but better safe than sorry, I wrote up another one: Radar #5704773.
Here's hoping that there will be a 10.4.12, or a bug fix slipped in as part of a security update.
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: SLM
Date: March 04, 2008 12:03PM
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Yes, my MBP 1.83/APExtreme has slowed down a lot since the jump to Leopard. Arguably the worst version of OSX to date, have had a slew of connectivity issues with it. I rarely run off the battery. The MBP also crashes more often than not when changing locations. The upgrade also screwed up my mail, got most of it back but still lost about 10 months out of 7 years worth of mail. Mail back-up wasn't much help either.
The AlBook is still on Tiger and has no issues.
The AlBook is still on Tiger and has no issues.
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Re: POLL: Are Your Intel 'Books Having Any Wireless Issues / Dropouts?
Posted by: SteveO
Date: March 05, 2008 09:45AM
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