Airport keeps dropping out

u2groupie · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:03 am Post subject: Airport keeps dropping out

Hi all. I've had my Mini since Friday, and this is the first mac I have ever owned... been PC all my life. The Mini runs great, except...

I'm using Airport to connect to my exsisting wireless network. For the first several hours, everything was great. But now, I keep loosing my internet connection and my access to the shared drives on my PCs.

I've tried Internet Robustness, changing frequencies, disableing wireless security, turning Ipv6 off... nothing seems to help. I *would* just give up and connect ethernet, but this computer is intentionally in a different room than my router and I am NOT up to re-running all my wires, etc.

PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME! This is seriously tarnishing my new mac experience!!

TIA

Tre

devo · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:13 pm Post subject:

It sounds like tried everything. Have you tried moving the mini? I have dead spot in my family room where nothing works. The rest of the house is fine. It seems weird that it would work and then stop. Did you open you mini to add memory? You might want to check your AE antenna connection.

Edit: When you got a signal was it strong?

u2groupie · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 12:27 pm Post subject:

It does sound a little strange, especially since I've never had this problem with my wireless laptop (which is why I figure it's a problem with the Mini). I guess I will try moving it to another part of the room to see if this happens. It's just incredibly irritating... I'll be cruising along... dropped. Sometimes it's quite frequent, sometimes it takes an hour or so to drop again.

No, the mini has never been opened for memory or anything, so I'm reasonably certain the problem is not there.

When I do have a signal, it's always 4 bars. I think ONCE I saw it drop down to 3.

I've been thinking about this problem while I'm at work today. I know this is also a longshot, but do you think power-cycling the router will help at all? I am REALLY reaching for straws here. Rolling Eyes

devo · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 1:00 pm Post subject:

You might want to restart your router. Does your router have an option to refresh the DHCP list? See if your mini is listed if it does. Any new cordless phones in the house?

u2groupie · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 1:13 pm Post subject:

I'm not actually at home with the mac now, but I know from looking at it yesterday that I can see the mini from the router. I noticed that when I was playing around with mac address filtering. I'll see if restarting the router works when I get hope. *crosses fingers* Very Happy

u2groupie · Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 7:29 pm Post subject: I think it might be fixed?

I've done two things, I don't know which one seems to be doing the trick.

#1 I powercycled my wireless router.

#2 I switched from DHCP to Manual in System Preferences and entered everything in manually. So far, I have not dropped once, and none of my friends are screaming at me about logging in/out of Messenger all the time.

Woo hoo!!

Thanks for your input!

Tre

devo · Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 9:14 am Post subject: Re: I think it might be fixed?

u2groupie · Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 9:58 am Post subject:

I was worried about it being a range problem too. Even through the router and the Mini are in different rooms, they're really not that far apart (apartment living, gotta love it) and only have one wall between them. I don't have any cordless phones (just the cell) and it's not like I'm using the microwave all the time. I was worried that since I do live in an apartment, that there would be interference from my neighbors', and there's nothing I can really do about that.

I'd never had any problems with DHCP before. I had two computers connected to the router by CAT5 and two wirelessly before I bought the Mini and never had a single problem.

Oh well, it works and now I can work away in perfectly networked bliss!

BTW, the router is a Linksys WRTG54G, with thelatest firmware update.

Tre

devo · Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 12:31 pm Post subject:

u2groupie · Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 1:09 pm Post subject:

I'll give it a whirl tonight when I get home. I'd really rather have DHCP enabled. I'm into "set it and forget it" kind of stuf. Smile

iMav · Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 2:03 pm Post subject:

u2groupie · Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 6:11 pm Post subject:

Home now. I tried switching back to DHCP and same as before... I'd barely closed System Preferences and my connection was already dropped. Hoping it was just a fluke I let it go and in 10 minutes time, I'd dropped 8 times. Switched it all back to manual and I'm normal. How odd.

Maybe the router is starting to fritz? I've only had it six months, so I hope that is not the case. I guess it'll just be one of those mysteries. Smile

Tre


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