Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 1:08 am Post subject: Random disconnects with Airport on a MacBook Pro
I recently purchased a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 router and flashed it with DD-WRT. I have tried using both the v23SP1 final and several newer builds (searched the forums to find which newer builds users seem to find stable). Last build I tried was June 5th...have not tried flashing it again as none of the different builds seemed to make a difference.
The problem I am having is my MBP with Airport Extreme (G wireless) randomly disconnects frequently - sometimes every 5 minutes, sometimes every few hours. A quick reconnect via the Airport menu temporarily fixes the problem until the next disconnect.
Currently connected are:
G3 iMac (LAN)
Custom built nForce/AMD PC (LAN)
Toshiba laptop (G wireless)
G4 PowerMac (B/Airport wireless)
G4 PowerBook (G/Airport Extreme wireless)
MacBook Pro (Intel/G/Airport Extreme)
Only the MBP has this issue. Is there some sort of problem with OS X on the Intel Duo Core that could be causing thiss problem? I am by no means an expert but usually a quick study at these things. Settings I've tried include...
STP: Enabled/Disabled
Wireless Channel: 1/6/11
ACK Timing: 0/20000
Xmit Power: 28/56/84
Security: 64-bit WEP (older Airport card does not support WPA)
Max Ports: 512/4096
TCP Timeout: 600/3600
UDP Timeout: 600/3600
Nothing seems to help.I had no problems with my old router, but it only supported B wireless. Any help is much appreciated - thanks in advance!
1) Person says that the 10.4.7 update doesn't fix the problem (I would still try the update, though)
2) Another person suggests that Bluetooth may be interfering with the 802.11g and reports that disabling this feature has helped.
Other things to try are also mentioned in the discussion _________________ whr-g54s -- DD-WRT v23 SP2 (08/04/06) mini -- gateway
wrt54gs v5 -- DD-WRT v23 SP2 (08/04/06) micro -- AP
Wow - I figured the problem had to be with DD-WRT, or at least my setup of it. That second thread definitely had some useful info...
I'm wondering if the problem only occurs when connected at the higher speed wireless G settings, as my older router (which only supported B) never had this problem with the MBP. Guess I'll have to play around with it some more. Thanks for the links!
Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 9 Location: Oslo, Norway
Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:47 pm Post subject:
I'm having the same issue - although it only happens when running on batteries...
I've tried all updates there are - nothing helps. When on mains, everything works OK.
My old D-Link router has no drop-outs...
Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 10:44 am Post subject: Information about random disconnects with macbook airport
hey out there,
i had to investigate different firmwares and settings on my linksys wrt54gl. in the end i choose dd-wrt 23 sp2 because its the easiest to quickly configure and has a lot of options.
well the problme i am still confronting with are random disconnects with my airport card (macbook) whenthe macbook is in battery mode. i found the following post in the apple knowledge base : http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304197 . they talk about incompatibillity with third party speed enhancers so my question is :
"what parameters in the dd-wrt stand for speed enhancing or speed boosting?" and "what is the closest setting which mimics the original linksys 4.30.7 stock firmware with which i had no random disconnects?".
i am very grateful for any tips or hints!
best,
martin
Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 9 Location: Oslo, Norway
Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:30 pm Post subject:
Hi all,
Well, the previous message seems to have done it for me.
I turned OFF Afterburner, set Preamble to AUTO, Frame Burst to ENABLE (all under "Wirelss/Advanced Settings" ) - and it's been stable ever since, lasting more than two hours. My MBP has woken from sleep, hibernation and screensaver, no probs, connecting to network as it should and stayed connected.
I have also set one antenna to receive (L), and the other to transmit (R).
It's still too early to tell for sure, but this seems to have done the trick!
Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 12:43 am Post subject: please post your working router settings
hey there,
unfortunatelly this didn`t solved mine (router linksys wrt54gl; dd-wrt 23 sp2). could anyone please post their whole router settings (overclocking rate, xmit, ...) . i think there are still some parameters which are essential for not-dropping airport connections. thanks in advance!
best,
mtin79
Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 9 Location: Oslo, Norway
Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 8:35 pm Post subject:
Hi all!
Since last time, I've had one drop out. I set Preamble to SHORT and have been doing OK since. Seems like I'm saved.
As a sideeffect of this, the MBP seems to be running cooler as well. It used to get VERY hot, I'm talking 70-79 degrees celsius when watching newssites with many Flash banners. Doing video-conversion and pressing both processors up to 90% plus, I'd get 83 degrees or more.
Now, after fixing the wireless issue, I'm cruisng around 50-59 degrees!!! Haven't done any video work yet, but this is amazing!!! I've had 3 batteries replaced and one logic board because the MBP used to get too hot...
Bumping this back up b/c I've spent the last few days dealing with a similar problem. Just wanted to post my experiences in case it might help someone else.
I originally had the Buffalo WHR-G54S running v23 sp1 as my only router. No problems. I decided to add the WRT54g to the mix so I could use WDS. Upgraded both routers to v23 sp2 with no problems and got WDS up & running fairly painlessly. Settings: G Only, Ch. 1, WPA AES. But, the Macbooks kept having their connections dropped. Occasionally, my desktop PC using a Netgear WG311 v3 would lose its connection and have to disabled/renabled to connect.
I took WDS out of the equation and tried all the suggestions in this thread (frame burst, preamble, etc.), but none made a difference. Then I switched the encryption on the WRT54g from WPA AES to WPA AES+TKIP. Boom, problem immediately solved. Zero dropped connection by either the Macbooks or the WG311.
BUT, when I tried to get WDS running again w/ AES+TKIP, it simply would not connect. Checked every single setting, just could not get WDS to work. As soon as I switched to WPA-AES or WEP or no encryption, the WDS would work great. Even swapped out the routers with a borrowed WRT54g v2, didn't make any difference.
Finally, I decided to go back to 128-bit WEP w/ MAC ID enabled. Now everything is working fine - WDS and no dropped connections. Settings: G-only, Ch. 1, 128-bit WEP.
Hopefully this will help anyone else having this problem. Based on postings over at the Apple forums, it looks like this is still affecting a lot of people.
Anyone have any idea why WDS simply refused to connect with WPA-AES+TKIP?
Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 4:16 am Post subject: Apple MacBook Pro constant disconnecting
I had similar problems with DD-WRT
Firmware: DD-WRT v24-sp2 (04/23/10) std
and my daughter's MacBook Pro disconnecting. It would connect for between 10 and 20 seconds, then disconnect/connect.
For me, I solved the problem by changing the ACK timing. Default is 2000. I had changed it to 100 because all of the devices are very close to the router. However I guess the MBP is a bit too slow. I changed this parm to 1000 and it worked perfectly after that.
