# Wireless issue using Airport Extreme



## huntpro13 (Dec 31, 2008)

My wireless internet has been slow and intermittant today, and it's getting frustrating. I am running Mac OSX 10.4.11 on a Powerbook 2.33 Ghz Intel Core Duo with 2 GB 667 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM. 

My girlfriend's Dell laptop, as well as my daughter's Dell laptop both connect fine with good speed in Internet Explorer. I am running Firefox 2.0.0.3 and Mail 2.1.3.

I know almost nothing about wireless connectivity, so please be gentle. If my email connects at all, it takes forever. Sending and receiving files requires a smoke break, and loading web pages is well, frustrating. 

Again, the kicker is that I can pull up a web page on my Mac, and it takes about a minute for everything to load. Onn my girlfriends Dell, it took like 3 seconds. 

Any help would be appreciated.

Joshua


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## Natobasso (Dec 31, 2008)

Hi! A few suggestions:

1. Go to wireless System Prefs and turn on "Interference Robustness"
2. Go to apple menu and select "Locations" and create a new location for your wireless rather than using Automatic. Helps keep your mac from searching for the strongest signal, which may not in fact be yours.
3. Repair permissions (apps/utilities/disk utilities/repair permissions) and restart. This is your first line of defense when things go wrong.
4. Ping your router to make sure you're sending and receiving packets. You'll need to know your router's IP address. Should be in the location you set up. Open Terminal (apps/utilities) and type ping -c4 then the ip address with the dots. You should get 0% packet loss. If not, there's a problem wth your connection.

Let us know what happens after doing these steps.


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## huntpro13 (Dec 31, 2008)

1. Go to wireless System Prefs and turn on "Interference Robustness"
DONE.

2. Go to apple menu and select "Locations" and create a new location for your wireless rather than using Automatic. Helps keep your mac from searching for the strongest signal, which may not in fact be yours.
DONE

3. Repair permissions (apps/utilities/disk utilities/repair permissions) and restart. This is your first line of defense when things go wrong.
DONE

4. Ping your router to make sure you're sending and receiving packets. You'll need to know your router's IP address. Should be in the location you set up. Open Terminal (apps/utilities) and type ping -c4 then the ip address with the dots. You should get 0% packet loss. If not, there's a problem wth your connection.
DONE:

PING 10.0.1.3 (10.0.1.3): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 10.0.1.3: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.048 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.3: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.049 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.3: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.070 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.1.3: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.094 ms

--- 10.0.1.3 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.048/0.065/0.094/0.019 ms

________________

Still very poor speed. I unplugged from my Airport and plugged directly into the computer. Very fast, works perfectly. Sumthin's amuck between my laptop and my Airport. 

I appreciate your help in advance. 

Joshua


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## Natobasso (Jan 1, 2009)

Okay, we've eliminated a lot, now it's time to look at your FF browser. You're using a quite old version of v2 FF. I'd recommend updating it to the latest version of 2 or even moving up to 3 if you don't mind losing a theme or two. 

Also, what websites are you going to? This can make a difference. I usually test by going to Google.com. If that comes up instantly chances are other sites will come up nearly as fast.

What other apps are you running on your mac? FF can be a resource hog so make sure you don't have Photoshop and 10 other apps running at the same time.  

How full is your hard drive? Mac utilizes virtual memory quite a bit and this can slow things down if your hard drive is more than 80% full. 

I'd recommend repairing permissions and restarting the computer. Oftentimes this is all that's required. Tho I'm pretty sure your Firefox needs to be updated to at least 2.0.0.20 if not 3. More info here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/2.0.0.20/releasenotes/


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## DavidBridgfoot (Jan 1, 2009)

Hello fellow frustrated Mac users.

Can you please give me your suggestions for fixing the airport connection failure (dropout etc) issues that are persisting on my mac?

I am on OS X 10.5.6, the latest version of Firefox, fixed my permissions, changed router channels, changed to WEP back to WPA, changed routers, etc etc etc.... nothing works..!!

I can connect via a LAN connection no problems, and on having my Airport updates confirmed (through an Apple reseller) it worked temporarily but now again will not connect wirelessly.  It detects the networks fine but comes up with my WPA request every time and the connection ties out...

I understand Apple have no fix for this issue.. please help before my Mac becomes the worlds first flying silicon chip based frisbee...


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## Natobasso (Jan 1, 2009)

You should go back to WEP and confirm your password. 

By "latest version of Firefox" do you mean version 3?


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## Natobasso (Jan 1, 2009)

Check this out, there's a GREAT article here on macfixit for ways to fix these intermittent internet connections with Airport Base Station:
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=2005093011343164


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## DavidBridgfoot (Jan 1, 2009)

Thanks for that, I will explore the options, and see what happens, fingers crossed.  (ps its FF v3)
Cheers,
David


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## huntpro13 (Jan 1, 2009)

Okay, we've eliminated a lot, now it's time to look at your FF browser. You're using a quite old version of v2 FF. I'd recommend updating it to the latest version of 2 or even moving up to 3 if you don't mind losing a theme or two.
DOWNLOADING FF3 NOW

Also, what websites are you going to? This can make a difference. I usually test by going to Google.com. If that comes up instantly chances are other sites will come up nearly as fast.
JUST A FORUM, LIKE THIS ONE

What other apps are you running on your mac? FF can be a resource hog so make sure you don't have Photoshop and 10 other apps running at the same time.
I DID THINK OF THAT... RESTARTED AND ONLY RUNNING FF, STILL REALLY SLOW.

How full is your hard drive? Mac utilizes virtual memory quite a bit and this can slow things down if your hard drive is more than 80% full.
149 GB HARD DRIVE, 20 PARTITIONED FOR PC SIDE (WHICH I DON'T CURRENTLY USE), 56 GB AVAILABLE ON MAC PARTITION.


I'd recommend repairing permissions and restarting the computer. Oftentimes this is all that's required. Tho I'm pretty sure your Firefox needs to be updated to at least 2.0.0.20 if not 3. More info here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox.../releasenotes/
DIDN'T I REPAIR PERMISSIONS IN THE LAST LIST OF SUGGESTIONS? DOWNLOADING FF3, WILL INSTALL AND RESTART, BUT AS MAIL IS SLOW AS WELL...


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## huntpro13 (Jan 1, 2009)

Downloaded Firefox 3.0.5.dmg. Dragged the icon to Applications, it asked if I wanted to replace the existing Firefox. I say Reaplce and I get an error saying, "The operation cannot be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for some of the items." Firefox is still there, but is the old version.

This is my home laptop. I'm the only user, and it did not ask for my admin password. Thoughts?

Thanks for being understanding about the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing.

Joshua


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