I suspect the world would be better if that percentage were even greater.
My MacBook drops connection regularly!
The one problem that I have been having with my new Macbook is with its network. I have a Linksys WRT54GS router with the DD-WRT firmware loaded on it, and when I am running on battery power, during periods where network access lulls the wireless from my Macbook disconnects. I haven’t really confirmed that it’s a power management issue, but it sure feels like it, and the thread on apple.com below seems to indicate that it’s likely. It might also have something to do with WEP, although some people seem to be having issues whether they are running WEP or not.
Apple – Support – Discussions – My MacBook drops connection regularly! …
If I get this figured out, I’ll try to post a followup.
[tags]Apple,Macbook,Wireless[/tags]
Comments
Comment from Mark
Time 9/28/2006 at 8:14 am
No, I don’t seriously use WEP and expect it to keep my information private. Yes, I do understand that it can be broken easily.
There is a small problem: I have two TIVO DVRs on my home network. They have two security options: none, or WEP. Yes, I double checked last night to make sure. Therefore, my options are really quite limited as far as it goes. My choices are “no security at all” or “some minor nuisance that will still probably keep 99% of people off my internal net”.
Comment from soren
Time 9/28/2006 at 1:11 pm
Data point: when I visit my friend’s house where I use my MacBook on his DD-WRT enabled router with WEP I also get dropoffs. I don’t think it happens with WPA.
Comment from Kevin VandeWettering
Time 9/29/2006 at 5:11 am
Weirdly enough, I might have stumbled on something. You told me you bought a Macbook and I was poking around because I was curious.
A post I read says you should set the MAC addresses of the machines accessing the Linksys router manually, firewalling anything else. I figured it was worth a shot. It would also keep people out of your lan, since you are force to use WEP.
Comment from Mark
Time 9/29/2006 at 4:38 pm
I suppose I could do that. I also noticed that Apple is pushing out a bunch of updates today, so maybe something will get addressed. In the mean time, I’ve been using the wireless at Yahoo! all day without any problems, even though I’ve spent most of my time on battery power. It definitely seems to be something that is specific to the Mac/Linksys/DD-WRT setup.
I’ve also heard that the official firmware may have less trouble. The thing is, I really love the new DD-WRT firmware, and would rather not give it up. I’ve also heard that lowering the beacon interval on the access point can help. All things I could try.
Comment from cesar
Time 9/24/2008 at 3:29 pm
I FOUND A SOLUTION THAT WORKS!!!! First a little back story.
Got my Mac Blackbook and the wi-fi worked great from my Linksys wrt54g2 router. Moved to Germany and into an apartment and my connection issues started happening. My MB would connect once then loose connection quickly and would only recover connection if i either closed and re-opened my screen, or re-connected to my network… then it would drop again before my next page turn.
After multiple days of research I read about SOOOO many others having this issue and the fact the Apple pretty much refused to acknowledge the issue. It seemed that sometime near the OX 10.4.2 update the airport driver got fubar’d leaving all those with Intel based macs wi-fi connects messed up.
Some of the solutions i read about and tried had to do with changing my WEP connection to WPA. This did not work, but i left it as WPA as my research finds it a more secure connection. I also read about and tried setting my Wireless RTA Threshold in my router to 256 from the *2432 default. This as well did not work, though I have left it at this setting as it seems to be the best value for MAC’s connecting over wi-fi. This is not true for PC’s though so be careful.
More research, more research, o’ my brain hurts and my patience is wearing….. then BINGO!!! I found a thread about connection issues that pertained to MB’s not connecting to local-network printers. The poster mentioned that MAC’s seem to have a hard time connecting to networks that had more than one wi-fi network present. This is my issue i thought. I have 8 in my available connections now. In my old home I had just mine. So i followed the directions suggested and it has now been 2 weeks of 100% perfect wi-fi connections.
Below is the excerpt from this page, http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/macbookpro/topic2005.html (Do a find for “Little Snitch”). The program the writer talks about is called Little Snitch found here, http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html. It’s a $29 dollar program, but in my mind its well worth it to make my $1500 Blackbook work!
This may not be the Apple Fix we have been waiting for them, but its completely working for me.
[quote]
I have used Little Snitch software for several years, and it occurred to me that I might be able to use it to block any connections with the other network. Using the latest version (v.2), go to Preferences, or Little Snitch Configuration, choose Rules under the Window menu, and click the New button.
In the pop-up window that shows up, click on the gear icon and choose “Choose System Process.” A file open box opens, and under the folder “libexec,” choose “airportd.” “airportd” is the system daemon that controls the Airport card in the MacBook Pro. In the box that comes up, set the main menu to “Allow Connections” and the Server menu to “Local Network.”
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Comment from mneptok
Time 9/28/2006 at 1:56 am
WEP?!
You’re kidding, right? You don’t seriously use WEP and expect it to keep information private, do you?
WEP keys can be broken in under 2 minutes using widely-available tools. Go with WPA.