AirPort Deafness After 10.4.8 and AirPort Update

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Date: Wednesday, October 11th, 2006, 09:32
Category: wireless

airport-extreme.jpgThe weirdest thing happened to my MacBook Pro (2.0GHz, week 7) recently. Some time after installing Mac OS 10.4.8 and AirPort Update 2006-001 (version 1.0) my AirPort performance got completely hosed. I can download Web pages for a few minutes but then my WiFi connection goes almost dead. The bits trickle in so slowly that I can’t even load a full Web page. Sometimes turning AirPort on and off will get it working again but only briefly.
My AirPort throughput is abysmal when it actually works – sub 1k/sec downloads according to MenuMeters. I’ve tried rebooting my Verizon DSL modem and my AirPort Extreme to no avail and last night isolated the problem to my MacBook Pro’s WiFi drivers because my iMac 20-inch works fine on the same WiFi network and my MacBook Pro flies when connected via Ethernet.
So I’m appealing to you, fair reader. Have you experienced any WiFi voodoo on a MacBook or MBP since installing 10.4.8 or the Airport Update? I could really use a tip here as I’m not really eager to tinker with the AirPort libraries or to ‘nuke and pave.’ Not to mention that the 50-foot Ethernet cable looks really lame running through my house.
Please post your suggestions in the comments below.
UPDATE: I’ve tried repairing disk permissions in Disk Utility (no errors reported), cleaning my system and user prefernces Preferential Treatment and Tiger Cache Cleaner to no avail. I also haven’t found anything related at MacFixIt or Apple’s Discussion boards. Should I just re-run the 10.4.8 installer?


airport-extreme.jpgThe weirdest thing happened to my MacBook Pro (2.0GHz, week 7) recently. Some time after installing Mac OS 10.4.8 and AirPort Update 2006-001 (version 1.0) my AirPort performance got completely hosed. I can download Web pages for a few minutes but then my WiFi connection goes almost dead. The bits trickle in so slowly that I can’t even load a full Web page. Sometimes turning AirPort on and off will get it working again but only briefly.
My AirPort throughput is abysmal when it actually works – sub 1k/sec downloads according to MenuMeters. I’ve tried rebooting my Verizon DSL modem and my AirPort Extreme to no avail and last night isolated the problem to my MacBook Pro’s WiFi drivers because my iMac 20-inch works fine on the same WiFi network and my MacBook Pro flies when connected via Ethernet.
So I’m appealing to you, fair reader. Have you experienced any WiFi voodoo on a MacBook or MBP since installing 10.4.8 or the Airport Update? I could really use a tip here as I’m not really eager to tinker with the AirPort libraries or to ‘nuke and pave.’ Not to mention that the 50-foot Ethernet cable looks really lame running through my house.
Please post your suggestions in the comments below.
UPDATE: I’ve tried repairing disk permissions in Disk Utility (no errors reported), cleaning my system and user prefernces Preferential Treatment and Tiger Cache Cleaner to no avail. I also haven’t found anything related at MacFixIt or Apple’s Discussion boards. Should I just re-run the 10.4.8 installer?

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  • http://william.beem.us William Beem

    Yes. I have a LinkSys switch instead of an AirPort, but my MacBook Pro reception is very spotty. Reception comes and goes, just as you describe. It wasn’t perfect before the update, but it’s worse now.

  • http://www.macmaps.com/ gopher

    I’ve found out Airport seems to be affected by several known issues, and have posted those issues and resolution for them on http://www.macmaps.com/WIFI1048.html

  • http://fogles.net DF

    I’ve always had a very specific problem with Airport on my MBP. It always runs flawlessly on the computer network (that requires a WAP key), but frequently locks up on any other network. I can reboot but always get a spinning beachball before I can log in. The system always works fine when moving from one network to the other if I shut off airport first, but when I turn it back on and connect to a different network, I often see the same symptoms described here. The 10.4.8 update didn’t seem to affect this problem – I had it both before and after the update. But remember, there’s NEVER a slowdown on the company wireless that uses a WAP key.

  • http://www.snyderinsider.com Adam

    I’m not sure if my issues relate, but the Airport on my TiBook (400MHz G4) is acting strange after the mentioned updates. I’ll be sitting in my living room, only a few walls away from the iMac G5 that’s sharing (broadcasting) its cable internet connection through its own Airport Extreme card (I’m cheap, so I refuse to buy a wireless router, haha), and my signal appears strong (3 and 4 bars). Just as soon as I open Safari to start browsing, the 3-4 bars drop down to 1-2 bars and eventually I lose the connection (0 bars). What’s more, the Airport connection will jump up to 4 bars very quickly after I lose connection, then it will let me surf for about a minute, and again drop the connection.
    I don’t know what’s going on with Airport, but I hope Apple recognizes the problem we’re having and fixes it soon. I guess I’ll post this in the Apple Discussions too…

  • http://www.macrobatix.com Bob Wallis

    I have two MBP 2.16ghz, 15″ , both have been upgraded to 10.4.8 – also have airport base station and airport express. I have had no problems on my home network – although, My base stations require no key – this may be why I am not seeing this problem. Try turning off the security on your base station to see if it makes any difference…Hope this helps…

  • Karl Warschau

    Jason, you are definately not alone, I too have been affected but have a workaround. See here: http://www.macsonly.com/arch00610.html#_61
    HTH, Karl

  • http://netenberg.com/ Ilias Moisidis

    I confirm that after quitting Coconut Wifi, airport speed is back to normal.