10.4.10 made my wireless go sucky
 

I just installed the latest update (10.4.10) and now my MB's wireless connection drops periodically. The signal strength seems fine, just no network activity is possible.

I have to turn off the Airport and turn it back on again to get it to work.

I am loathe to downgrade my Airport FW (as suggested by macfixit).

Anyone had this problem and found a solution.

I applied the update via the Combo updater.

Yeah, I've got the same problem! It's driving me insane!

It seems to be really bad sometimes, dropping the connection every few minutes, but then it'll go hours without losing connection!

I've checked all the logs, and nothing seems to be of interest. The wifi signal appears to stay fully connected (all 4 lines are solid) but no network traffic is sent/received until the airport is turned off and on again.

I'm going to try a few things tomorrow, see if I get anywhere, I'll post back here.

Dom

My situation improved when I turned off my WPA security on my wireless network. No dropouts so far.

I'm trying that but am not very keen on no password.

Easy!

Go download the standalone updater (for 10.4.10) from apple (making sure you download the PPC for the older macs, and Intel for intel).

Run the standalone installer, letting it install 10.4.10 again, and then all problems cease!

Good luck!

Dom

Reapplying the combo updaters has always solved these little annoyances for me as well.

DomD & brycesutherland.

Worked like a charm. Every other time I have just downloaded the combo updater. This time I didn't. Thanks for reminding me why I do that.

Guh, not so sure now.

It's been a whole day, but now it's dropping the wifi again, and I've had another kernel panic (bringing the count up to two).

Not happy!

Dom

I've tried the boot in safe mode fix, and the reinstall 10.4.10 from the stand alone. In both cases, I still have the same flakey wireless. Sometimes it connects, sometimes it works, most of the time, it doesn't.

The worst part is my airport express on the same network is having no connectivity problems at all. I can stream music to it fine, so long as my mbp is plugged in to the network.

Just had another dropout, but this time turning off the wifi and then powering it back on didn't help.

Did find these logs though:
Looks like lookupd has a little fit, and then configd tells the airport to have another scan. I'm guessing nothing is fount because lookupd is still starting (hence why when we power off and back on later it works because lookupd has had time to start).

Of cause, I could be completely wrong, and I probably am. I'm going to dig a little deeper.

And to Tirial - I was suspecting a certain sort of traffic was triggering it, but from what I can tell, this is not the case for me. My wifi gets dropped even when not in use (although there would still be some packets flying around. I just don't know! :()

Dom

Found this: http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=51428

Though it dates back a while, and references 10.4.5!

I'm going to wait till the next dropout, and then run 'lookupd' in the terminal. Let me know if anyone has any luck with this before my next drop out to test it.

Dom

Nope, seems to be unrelated.

Any ideas?

Another panic *sigh*

I'm having the same issue as the rest of you. The one thing I notice is that I will only lose connectivity when my MBP is "not" connected to an outlet. When it is connected to an outlet, I don't see any drops at all (and yes, the battery is working fine and is fully charged). Are you guys seeing the same thing? or is this an isolated incident?

I'm not sure if it's strictly when the A/C is off, I move around a lot.

But I know it _does_ happen when it's unplugged. And for comparison I have the 2.0Ghz Core 2 Duo white Macbook, and upgraded from 10.4.9.

Dom

edit:

As I was posting that, sat in the other room with no A/C plugged in, my wifi died. Maybe no A/C issue? Could be a power saving idea... A pretty sucky one at that.

Ya, I understand...I just turned on the firewall on my two machines. Very few inbound connections anyway.

SO, i don't think i will install 10.4.10 in case of sucn a problem.
anything else are recommanded?

edalzell thats not really an acceptable fix, someone can capture all your internet traffic (read; passwords, bank details, card numbers, etc) just by being near your house and looking at the data being transmitted wirelessly.

This is something I am NOT doing, especially when WPA2 worked fine before, and now it's broken. OS X is capable of handling it, and we shouldn't have to sacrifice our security in order to use the features of the machines we own. By not using any encryption, you're begging to get your details stolen. Even SSL won't help if you're using an open wifi connection.

I also agree with dshowgina, a reinstall is unlikely to solve anything. I'm going to take my MacBook to my friends house later, they're somewhat experts on the Macintosh platform, so hopefully some good will come of it. I'll report back here of cause.

If I'm still having problems, I think I'll send my MacBook in for repair. This problem is unacceptable and very frustrating.

I have a quick hack (I'm not even going to call it a fix) that HELPS to reduce the number of dropouts. Open a Terminal and type this:
Then just hide the window with ⌘+h and leave it running in the background. I'm fairly sure this is only happening when I have no AC plugged in, and as such makes me thing that the card is going into a low-power state, and not coming out of it. By pinging a server and therefore keeping data flying around it should prevent the card from dropping into low power mode in the first place.

Good luck,
Dom

I agree with you to a point. Passwords, CC info and bank details should only be entered on a secure connection.

In my case, as I live around a bunch of old people and not near a public road, I am not too concerned about it.

But it is a valid concern and thanks for bringing it up. When it gets fixed, I will turn the security back on.

Another kernel panic:
Woo! Well pissed.

It does point me towards this though. Even though my Macbook doesn't have a Santa Rosa processor, it should still apply.

I think I'm going to take this in tomorrow, and see what they do.

Dom

Nice find!

Lets hope Apple hurry the f**k up with this.

Dom

I just noticed this MacBook update on MacUpdate:
http://macupdate.com/info.php/id/252...ok-pro-updater

Not sure what it does, though.

I'm not too sure, but I read earlier what for something unrelated, I forget exactly what though.

Thanks for the heads up anyway!

Dom

Me too
 

My MacBook wireless is all messed up since the update. yes I was running it on the battery It is a portable laptop... I am not doing anything right now because i spent an hour or 2 resetting the modem and such. I think it's that windows derived intel chip and Gates is laughing and getting ready to make his own commercials

Haha, well put!

Well the words seems to be that Apple are developing a patch now, and I assume they'll offer it via software update eventually, so keep an eye out!

Dom

It looks like today's update fixed this for me. Is it fixed for you guys too? :)

Sadly today's update has done nothing for me. I still have the same wireless problems (3 kernel panics so far).

I'm having the same problem as everyone else here. I was wondering what type of routers you guys have and if just getting a new one would fix it. I never seem to have this problem when I'm on public wifis. I have an At&t 2WIRE.

I was on the phone with Apple forever yesterday and they couldn't seem to find a solution. The last resort they said was a reinstall of OS X... but I'm not convinced that'll fix the problem either unless I don't download 10.4.10.

Yeah, any news on this?

I have an ASUS WL-700gE, what about everyone else?

The update didn't do anything for me either :(

Dom

As suggested here I changed my routers default channel to 1 (11 was the most frequently used) and everything is fine so far!

I also boosted the power of my wifi signals (my router is fancy and lets me do these things :P) so I should be the strongest signal around here from now on!

Good luck!!!

Dom

No issues here
 

I've got a decked out MBP and running N-only (2.4 GHz) on an Airport Extreme and my wireless is rock solid. I've been running 10.4.10 since 6/29 (for the obvious reason). I do have that weird audio issue - still need to update for that.

Lucky you eh?

I noticed a audio update on my Software Updater the other day, have you checked recently?

Dom

Yep, I saw it, just haven't installed it yet because it requires a reboot.

Still having the same issue...
 

Ok, so I just got this MacBook 3 days ago and this issue is driving me up a wall. I have tried all the things mentioned above and I am still having this issue. At first I thought it was my access point (d-link DI524), which has been working for 2yrs problem-free. I have been using my neighbors AP, which is not protected, and even with that setup the connection still drops.

Just to throw this out there, I do have Parallels installed on the system; any possibility of this being related to the issue? I guess I just needed to vent out.

Thanks. :cool:

I have a "virgin" out-of-the-box MacBook. It came with 10.4.9.. The wireless was perfect. As soon as it booted up after the 10.4.10 update, the wireless problems started.

I'm running fine on WEP, but WPA/WPA2 is a total wreck.

Yeah, that was almost the same for me.

I'm pleased we've been able to test it on a 'virgin' machine, rules out any other possibilities, thanks for the info!

I think that in the 10.4.10 update the airport driver is introducing a bug where the card receives data from an access point it's not associated with, and is either stalling or crashing the kernel. This is made more likely by the 'low power' state I assume the card enters when on battery power.

This is annoying, but if you're able to lock your router into a more disused frequency (channel 1 works fine for me, 11 was crashing everything) then the problem seems to go. Good luck!

Dom

edit: I'm still using WPA, I refuse to run an open AP, and WEP is a joke.

Miracle...or just luck
 

So, here is what i have done so far. Just as a post before mentioned i reinstalled the 10.4.10 for INTEL only. not sure if that did anything.
I decided to look at my Access point config and then i noticed i was on channel 1, i switched to channel 6 and its been 45 minutes since I have been connected uninterrupted. lets see how long this will last.

Thanks to all for your responses, tried it all and i am sure some of them help with the issue.

:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

Hey nice one!

This seems to be a fix until we get a patch released, it works fine!

All those with problems, simply change what channel your access point operates on; if you're router is set to 11, try channel 6, followed by channel 1 if 6 doesn't work. If your access point is set to channel 1, do it in reverse!

Dom

I am happy to report that the small change i made today on my access point has done the trick. i have been able to surf the web without any interruptions.
Hope this tip can be useful to others.:cool:

dom, it doesnt look like apple is going to release a patch to our problem, they don't even recognize it as an issue, we should only have problems running on battery and thats when most mb users get kernel panics, im trying to find a solution to the kps but until apple recognizes the problem we are out of luck

Yeah, this blows.

I haven't posted in a while. guess why? Wifi problems again.

My MacBook is STILL in the repair center (8 days now - as opposed to the 5 day promise). I had a phone call to say they can't find anything physically wrong with it. No surprises there, I told them it was a software issue; it only starts with 10.4.10.

Now the tech is running some tests, and then god knows what. I'm rather pissed off about this, to say the least.

Anyone else had any info?

Dom

I just bought my college-bound son a brand-new white MacBook 2.16 on July 5, and have been having nothing but headaches now with both it and my wireless network.

My ATT/SBC 2wire 1800HG had been working just fine on my ethernet-connected Dell desktop, my Dell notebook and two other wirelessly connected Dell desktops in the house.

The MacBook would not connect to the 2wire with the default WEP settings, so we switched to WPA. The MacBook initially connected, but then I started developed odd glitches with the other machines after altering their settings.

As of last evening, the MacBook will not connect to the router, although it was running on battery; I'll have to try it again plugged into the wall.

I have the very same situation with my Black MacBook (Core2Duo 1GB RAM 120 HD) I took it to AppleCare and the guys got my lap first for 4 days and told me "Oh its just a small problem with ur OSX, just format the lap and reinstall and everything is gonna be ok" I did just what they told me and the panics appeared again, I was very mad and went again with those guys and they had again my lap for 8 more days and they they called me "Please come to chat about yoyr lap, its ready!) So I was there and told me, we re-formated your lap but PLEASE do NOT install 10.4.10 download manually the 10.4.9 and WAIT until 10.4.11 gets released because theres a serious problem apple is fixing ATM but no solution until now, they had like 20 laps with the same problem and now I did what they told me and it is working perfectly no panics no problems with 10.4.9 with or without power cord, no wifi problems, seems we`ll have to wait `till Apple fixes this software problem, and I say software because they told me the same as you guys that the hardware is OK, we only can wait the, if anyone knows something please tell us =).
XRoleX

Just thought I'd add my voice to those apparently experiencing this problem.

This is happening on my Rev. A MacBook Pro, and a Rev. A MacBook.

Symptoms are that network connectivity would simply seem stop. Sometimes simply clicking the AirPort icon in the menu bar will be enough to wake it up. Occasionally I'll have to turn AirPort off and back on. Rarely, it'll require a reboot to get WiFi back.

Only happens when I'm on battery power. I've not had any kernel panics with this yet.

My base stations are both AirPort Expresses. I can verify that the problem's local to the Macs since my Xbox 360, Wii and DS all connect to the internet fine. Also, my G4 Mac Mini appears to be unaffected despite running 10.4.10.

I sincerely hope Apple release an update to fix this. In all honesty, I can't see why they wouldn't, since it appears to be quite widespread. I've spoken to a genius at my nearest Apple Store and he said he's very much aware of the problem and said it'd be a case of an update from Apple being required to fix it. He also said (anecdotally) that he's seen it happen on newly-formatted systems which are immediately updated from retail Tiger to 10.4.10.

widgets still work
 

I'm not sure if I have the same problem as the rest of you. I have a mac mini and an airport express. Occasionally I can't access the web, but I still have 1, 2 or 3 airport arcs (bars). However, even when the web doesn't work, I can still use the translation widget and several other widgets that access the internet. I have tried moving my computer closer to the airport express, thus getting 4 bars, and the problem hasn't occurred at that range. I haven't always had this problem, but I can't remember when it started (at least 3 months ago). Installing the 10.4.10 intel combo update hasn't resolved this issue.

Good news!

After taking my MacBook into a Apple Repair center, it came back out working fine!

Here's the weird thing, they didn't find any problems (my guess is they were using a open WIFI) and therefore didn't fix anything.

I've been using it for a week now, not a single crash, drop of signal, or anything else. Even on battery!

Dom

What you mean Dom? just use it in an open WiFi signal and then all its fixed?? Are you with the 10.4.10 ? Please tell us more details pleaseeee im fine wioth 10.4.9 but if you figured out using .10 please share it :D

I found that using an open network did help. I have since gone back to an WPA2 secure network and haven't seen many issues. I didn't change anything...weird, eh?

well yeah maybe in an open network it is OK but what about if I am where I have no privileges and canT put the network withOUT WEP key? this solution is only for places where I can set the network as I wish but where I cant do nothing and the problem is gonna appear again?? but well anyways for somebody who is in secured networks I highly recommend to update to 10.4.9 manually and wait Apple to release a fix or the 10.4.11.

Hope this help somebody :p

Rosetta Apps act funny
 

I noticed that the apps that wouldn't launch for me were all PowerPC (i.e. Rosetta) apps. After extensive Googling (and no help from Apple) I think I've found a solution.

Run this:

sudo update_prebinding -debug -root / -force


This generates lots of output. If you get an error it will stop. The last file name you see is the last file that worked.

dyld: re-prebound: 0x90bee000 /usr/lib/foobarbaz.1.dylib <=== NOTE THIS FILE NAME (e.g. /usr/lib/foobarbaz.1.dylib)
update_prebinding: error: dependent dylib is not prebound
update_prebinding: error 256 running update_prebinding_core


Edit the file below. Find the file path you noted from above. Comment out the NEXT line with # as that is the file causing the problem. Be careful when searching in vi as slashes have to be escaped with a backslash. Or just leave out the directory part of the path and just search on the filename (e.g. foobarbaz.1.dylib) as there's usually fewer than three or four matches.


sudo vi /var/db/dyld/update-prebinding-paths.txt


Repeat this process until update_prebinding completes without error. I had to comment out two lines, one from Java 1.3, and one from the Java-based Sun Download Manager (which never worked all that well anyways).


Finally, reboot (not sure if this is necessary, but I did it).


Now you should find that Rosetta apps launch fine. The first time you launch from the dock you will notice it takes a bit longer than usual. It should launch normally after that.

I'm coming to the conclusion that this is a generic problem, with many different causes.

I too changed nothing, but my wifi started working magically. The techs said they didn't change a single thing.

I dread to say it, but I think it has to be put down as just 'one of those things' that happen :/

Let me know if anyone disagrees.

Dom

same thing
 

I have the same issues and will report if 10.4.11 fixes things or not. I will also be picking up leopard between now and February so we'll see how that goes. I'm using a 2wire 270 and wpa2

10.4.11
 

Seems to be running more stable then before any one else see the same results?