# AirPort Extreme Connectivity Starts Strong and Fades



## ikcerog (Sep 16, 2009)

Greetings,

This MacBook is almost three years old, but my problem only cropped up over the last 72 hours.
I am having some frustrating issues with my wireless connectivity via my AirPort Extreme card.

Here are the stats for my machine:
OS X 10.4.11
2 GHz Intel Core Duo
1 GB Memory

AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x86)
Firmware Version: 1.4.4

My router is a Linksys WRT54GS (neutered, version 6) which is running firmware version 1.52.7; this router is less than 25 feet away, across the hallway, with minimal physical obstruction, and I have taken off all security measures on said network. iStumbler has found no signal interference (that I can interpret). Two Windows PCs have been able to keep a solid signal over the course of the last three days, but the MacBook's signal drops after about 10 to 15 minutes.

As I write this sentence my signal has dropped from 4 bars to 1. (4 bars being ~55% of full signal according to iStumbler.)

I have made an appointment to take this machine in to the "local" Apple Store on Friday, but I was wondering if anyone has any input on this. I'm at a total loss.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

-John G.


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## tarugo (Nov 30, 2009)

so, what do you say about that!

....three days ago I stated having airport extreme conectivity problems!

first it is ok, then it drops up and down, and then its gonne!! so I have to restart everytime!!

my system is the same as yours...and my macbook is a abit more then 3 years old!

.....is there a catch!?? is this an INTENDEND problem!!?


PLS help to get my WLAN up again. I have a router besiede my computer and it the connection is weak!!?? ....come on!!



Wireless Card Type:	AirPort Extreme  (0x168C, 0x86)
  Wireless Card Locale:	Worldwide
  Wireless Card Firmware Version:	1.4.4
  Current Wireless Network:	tarugo
  Wireless Channel:	1

Model Name:	MacBook
  Model Identifier:	MacBook1,1
  Processor Name:	Intel Core Duo
  Processor Speed:	2 GHz
  Number Of Processors:	1
  Total Number Of Cores:	2
  L2 Cache (per processor):	2 MB
  Memory:	2 GB
  Bus Speed:	667 MHz
  Boot ROM Version:	MB11.0061.B03
  SMC Version:	1.4f12

.


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## ikcerog (Dec 1, 2009)

Greetings.

My apologies for never concluding my thread.
I ended up taking it to the Apple store about an hour away; they kept it for a long weekend, replacing the wireless card, as well as keyboard/lower case because it was cracked.
The good news being that the keyboard itself was 'free', as well as the labor to open up the machine, so all it cost me was ~$100 for the card itself.

Sorry to say this is probably not what you want to hear, but it seemed to be the only solution. I had taken the machine to a few different WiFi hotspots around town as well, just to make sure it wasn't my router that was the problem, even though three other wireless devices had no problem with receiving a signal from it.

Good luck.

-John G.


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## kalkap (Dec 7, 2009)

I have a Macbook Pro that's about a yr and a half old that's running Snow Leopard and I'm having serious regrets about every buying this thing.  My latest problem is the same as those previous here...AirPort issues.

It starts off strong with no issues and then about every other hr or so, the signal says it's full, but can't do anything on the network via wifi.  I have to shut off AirPort and the turn it back on to get it to work again.  Sometimes I have to shut completely down.  Not exactly hard to do but very frustrating especially when doing a backup to a network drive.

I have 2 other windows based laptops in my household that never have any issues, so I'm certain it's not the router.  To be sure, I factory reset the router, downloaded the latest firmware for it but still the same issue.

Oh and, Apple says I don't have any updates available.

Someone please HELP!!!!  I'm beginning to lose my patience with this thing.


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## Satcomer (Dec 7, 2009)

Well what are you running? 10.5.x or 10.6.x?  The answer you give can give us a way to help you.


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## kalkap (Dec 7, 2009)

SL 10.6.2 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
  Software Versions:
  Menu Extra:	6.0 (600.22)
  configd plug-in:	6.1 (610.2)
  System Profiler:	6.0 (600.9)
  Network Preference:	6.0 (600.22)
  AirPort Utility:	5.4.2 (542.23)
  IO80211 Family:	3.1 (310.6)
  Interfaces:
en1:
  Card Type:	AirPort Extreme  (0x14E4, 0x8C)
  Firmware Version:	Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.91.19)
  Locale:	FCC
  Country Code:	US
  Supported PHY Modes:	802.11 a/b/g/n
  Supported Channels:	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165
  Wake On Wireless:	Supported

Above is the MacBook Pro guts info regarding Airport.  Thanks ahead for any help.


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## Satcomer (Dec 8, 2009)

Try the steps on the web site Tutorial: Fixing Wireless connectivity (including AirPort) problems: Dropouts, slow speed, more and see if any of the steps help. Just remember to stop the wireless before trying any of the fixes.

Good Luck.


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## kalkap (Dec 11, 2009)

Thanks for that link.  I haven't made my way through all of them yet but working on it.  I'm still getting times where Airport says it's connected but can't ping out to anything, though it's doing it less frequently.  Just FYI, I think the biggest change was when I deleted and re-created the network locations.  This is my first Mac so I'm not even sure what those are even for but either way, it's at least tolerable at this point.  

Thanks again


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