Dropped wifi signal
 

Hi! I have a networking problem for which I hope someone can provide a solution. I own an original 700 MHz eMac running on Mac OS 10.4.10 with 768 MB of RAM. I've had the machine for about 4 or 5 years. I live at an apartment complex that provides wireless internet connection. Recently, I moved to another unit in the same complex and, since the move, I've been having problems connecting to the internet. At my old unit, which was a 3-bdrm townhouse, the internet antenna was on the roof above me, approximately 20 feet or so from my computer and, aside from slow downloads, I had no problems connecting to the internet. Now, in my new unit, the antenna is about 40 YARDS from my machine with an okay line-of-sight. However, since the move, the wifi signal drops without warning after about 10 minutes or so being online. It doesn't reconnect after restarting the machine and it sometimes reconnects after I put my eMac to sleep for a few hours. Here's what's odd: not only does my eMac drop the wifi signal, but it also seems to stop scanning for other available networks to join. Obviously, since I live in an apartment complex, I should be able to pick up other tenants' wifi signal (some tenants have opted to use their own DSL account). My eMac had no difficulty picking up other tenants' wifi signals in my old unit. But now, after initially picking up wifi signals around me including the one provided by my apartment complex, my eMac drops the wifi signal and I am not seeing my neighbors' signal. (No, I'm NOT intentionally trying to tap into other people's wifi network!) I'm starting to wonder if there is a problem with my Airport card as well as a weak signal. I also recently had Elgato's EyeTV200 installed and I'm wondering if it is part my signal dropping problem, though I wrote to their support team and they told me they've had no cases of their software or hardware interfering with a wireless internet connection. Any ideas how to fix this? Comments? Suggestions? Thank you to all who respond!

Have you tried both with and without "Use Interference Robustness" checked in the Airport menu item?

What messages appear in your logs when you drop the signal? Logs can be easily viewed using the Console app, in /Applications/Utilities.

Do you have any other WiFi devices around that you can test? Do they exhibit the same type of behavior? An iPhone? An Apple TV?

Do you have any known 2.4 GHz devices other than your eMac? In other words, do you have a 2.4GHz cordless phone, or something else that uses this popular frequency?

What about devices that tend to interfere with broadband radio waves--things with large motors? Or microwave ovens? Anything else?

Trevor

"Have you tried both with and without "Use Interference Robustness" checked in the Airport menu item?"

No, I haven't. Where do I find this option?

"What messages appear in your logs when you drop the signal? Logs can be easily viewed using the Console app, in /Applications/Utilities."

Don't know. Haven't checked the log. Will do so tonight.

"Do you have any other WiFi devices around that you can test? Do they exhibit the same type of behavior? An iPhone? An Apple TV?"

No, I do not. As a test, I pulled out a wireless modem and turned it on to see if my computer was able to pick it up. It didn't.

"Do you have any known 2.4 GHz devices other than your eMac? In other words, do you have a 2.4GHz cordless phone, or something else that uses this popular frequency?"

No, I do not.

"What about devices that tend to interfere with broadband radio waves--things with large motors? Or microwave ovens? Anything else?"

No, I do not have a microwave oven, nor anything else that fits the description of "things with large motors." However, my neighbors around me might.

Trevor

In the Airport menulet on the right side of your menubar. If you don't have that menulet, you turn it on in System Preferences > Network > Show: Airport > Airport tab > check the box next to "Show Airport status in menu bar".

I'm actually curious if you have another device that can connect via WiFi to your existing apartment complex's wireless router.

Trevor

Other than the modem that I inherited from my roommate, no, I do not. Actually, I was wondering if the Airport Express will do what you suggested. I'm thinking that I could plug the Express to the wall and connect it to my eMac via an ethernet cable. Do you think this would work?

I've never played with an Airport Express, so I'm not sure.

Trevor

Regards to question #1: I was unable check the box as it was greyed out.

Regards to question #2: Message was as follows:

"Sep 27 13:20:03 John-Does-Computer webdavd[509]: stream_transaction: CFStreamError: domain 1, error 49"

I have no idea what this means.

That's odd. It's always grayed out? I can check and uncheck that box whether or not I am connected via Airport (802.11x).

It's a message from the WebDAV daemon (webdavd) saying that there was an error with the stream. Basically, you must have a webDAV volume mounted, and that's just telling you that the stream between your computer and the volume had an error--in your case it was interrupted.

Although someone else may have more insight than I do, in my interpretation that doesn't really help us, it just alerts us that a problem exists, which is something we already know.

Were there no OTHER messages in your Console at the same time?

Trevor

Re: question #1 - Well, I can't say for certain that it is ALWAYS greyed out. I tried clicking things to try and "ungrey" it and so far, I haven't figured how to do so.

Re: question #2 - Well, yes, there were other messages, but I think I know what they were referring to. I was trying to refresh my podcasts on iTunes when the signal dropped, and the messages on Console had some terms in the log that seemed to indicate that because of an error, the podcast refresh had stopped. Thus, I didn't include them (there were quite a few and they were repetitious) in my reply. I'll include them tomorrow if you wish.

BTW, thank you very, very much for all of the effort that you are putting out to help me solve this problem of mine. I truly appreciate it! :)

I've tried everything that I could think of and my machine still drops the wifi signal. I'd like to try removing 10.4.10, but I don't know how to go about doing that. Can anyone help me safely uninstall 10.4.10 and "reinstall" 10.4.9?

Yeah. You can downgrade your OS X version from 10.4.10 to 10.4.9 by doing the following:

1. Make a complete backup for safety.
2. Put your OS X 10.4.x Install disc in and do an "Archive and Install" of OS X to the version on your disc. By default the box should be checked to save your users and settings. Leave that box checked.
3. Download the OS X 10.4.9 Combo Update for your computer type (Intel or PPC) from Apple's website.
4. Upgrade from the version of 10.4 on your Install disc to 10.4.9 using the downloaded Combo Updater.

Trevor

Wifi problems
 

Have you run disk utility?

Also try downloading the free disk utility Onyx and running it.

I have been having problems with my computer getting knocked off my network and the net lately also. Have had to call Apple tech three times.

All was working fine until I took it to the Apple Store to have a part replaced.

It could also be a problem in your keychain application.

You can try your express off your router. Make sure when you set it up, while it is plugged in hold the reset button in, unplug it while still holding the reset button in (this is always hard for me), keep holding it in until the light blinks yellow about five time, then it is reset for you to use admin utility or Airport setup assistant. Only use WEP.

Good luck.

My advice would be: never use WEP. WEP is easily broken by script kiddy hackers using readily available tools within minutes. WEP is not very good about cross-platform compatibility between Mac and Windows. WEP is insecure. What should be used is WPA or WPA2.

Trevor

Ahh, just an afterthought.. Since you are now further away from the antenna are you trying to connect through walls, etc? It seems that the signal is too weak now. I'd suggest a stronger antenna on your side....


http://www.quickertek.com/


I'm living in a crowded urban area.. I bought the Quicky Jr. USB and cheap, and I'm getting 3X range over my Airport Extreme card in a iBook g4...

Thanks to everyone who has attempted to solve my wifi problem. Here's an update: After reading the post from "blueshead", I checked out quickertek's website. Since I own an older Mac, I was confused which of quickertek's products might work for me. So, I e-mailed them. I got a reply a couple of hours later suggesting that I download iStumbler to check how strongly my eMac is receiving wifi signals, send them a capture of the iStumbler reading and they would tell me if they thought a Quicky or Quicky Jr. would help. So, I downloaded iStumbler, fired it up, and, voila!, the internet!!! I was able to browse using Safari 2.0 beta, update my podcasts, receive e-mail, etc. for about an hour or so before it lost the signal and went dead. For the past week or so, my eMac was miraculously able to connect to the internet for about 90 minutes or thereabouts before it dropped the signal. Not at all perfect, but acceptable for me to get done what I need to get done. Thus, I never wrote back to QuickerTek. Everything was okay until about three days ago. My eMac totally stopped receiving ANY wifi signals regardless of where they were coming from. It even stopped receiving wifi signals from a modem that I inherited from a former roommate that is only eight feet away with a clear line-of-sight. (In case you're wondering, I do NOT have a DSL account and I hooked up the modem just to see if my computer could "see" it. Last week, iStumbler registered 105% signal strength from the modem. For the past three days, it can't see it at all.) Once again, my eMac is dead as far as wireless networking goes, but because I was able to get the internet, I am convinced that I have a software problem. However, being a geek wannabe, I am unable to tell if the problem lies with one of my apps, a script, or in the OS itself. Can it be solved with a UNIX command? Maybe, I don't know since I have no knowledge of UNIX. If anyone has any additional suggestions, it would be very welcome indeed!

Did you check the connection of the airport card?

Does the problem continue from a newly-created user?

Trevor

I haven't checked it recently, but of late, my eMac has been able to connect wirelessly to the internet for about 3 to 4 minutes before dropping the signal. I DID go as far as removing the AirPort card, disconnect and then reconnect it to my eMac with no change. Thanks for your suggestion though and I'll try it again tonight.

Good question! I don't know. I did try and see if the problem existed in an existing "second user" account (it did), but, I haven't tried the new user route. I'll give it a whirl and let you know very soon.

Well, repeated what I mentioned above. Removed the panel, took out the card, disconnected the antenna wire, reconnected the antenna wire, slid the card back into place, made sure that the card was seated as far back as possible, and screwed the panel back in place. Still no wifi connection.

Last night, I created a new user account then tried to connect wirelessly while in that account. Unfortunately, no luck. I went to our I.T. desk for advice and he suggested that a wire that connects the AirPort card to the rest of the computer/motherboard/whatever got worn out from repeated opening and closing of my iBook. After I reminded him that I had a desktop and not a laptop, he threw out that possibility. Still, though. Is it possible that something inside got disconnected? I have no idea how an eMac is put together, so I can't say that this is the cause. But, I wonder if that is the problem. A wire or something somehow became corroded and the AirPort card no longer has a stable and/or constant connection.

The basis for all of this is me trying to take advantage of my apartment complex's free wireless internet. I'm starting to think that maybe I should shell out the bucks and connect to the internet via an ethernet cable.

Frustrating to say the least!

You would have to open the eMac to visually inspect the airport antenna wire connection. There are also USB "boosters" that would improve the signal to your card.

Just wondering if you ever resolved your problem. I am currently having an very very similar problem but on an old mbp 1,1.