OS X Leopard Airport Scanning Driving You Crazy? A Possible Fix
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[Update: See comments for more news on this.]
Is anybody else experiencing Airport Wireless “airport scanning” weirdness in OS X Leopard? Since upgrading to Leopard, my wireless disconnects constantly to scan for other networks - when the network I’m on works fine. My Airport signal is also lower since the upgrade. I know it’s a problem because it’s affecting four - that’s right, four - separate Macs I’ve been using since Leopard came out. And I’m not the only person having this problem, as a quick glance at Apple’s support forum shows.
If you’re having this problem too, this free download, AP Grapher, might help. Since installing it a few minutes ago, I haven’t dropped connection at all. Here is some guidance from the Apple Support forum:
Hi guys
I too have been going INSANE because Apple can’t seem to sort this out. Its enough to drive you mad - especially when they still aren’t acknowledging it as a problem.
Download AP Grapher from here: http://www.chimoosoft.com/products/apgrapher/
Run the program while you browse…In preferences, I set the scanner to refresh every 10 seconds, and the Grapher to refresh every second. Although I’m still experiencing dropouts, the constant activity means they aren’t noticeable at all. It really does seem to work well because it reconnects immediately
The Grapher is also helpful - the Tx rate (yellow) will show you what’s going on and how frequently the connection drops.
…and no - i don’t work for chimoosoft!
Happy camping, Owen
If you’re more tech-savvy than I am, and have a solution for me and others, please drop a comment and help us all out - thanks in advance.
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Yes, this drives me insane! The weird thing though is that I’ve used osx leopard since it came out, but the airport scanning seems to have gotten worse recently. I am going to look into your fix (thanks for sharing it) and will let you know if it works for me.
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Andrea Hernandez
21 Jun 08 at 4:05 am
Andrea - AP Grapher still seems to be doing the trick. Please let me know if it works for you too. The frustration has been constant and endless for weeks now.
Clay Burell
21 Jun 08 at 4:13 am
By the way, deselecting “Show Airport in Menu Bar” on preferences is another change I made, after reading forums.
Clay Burell
21 Jun 08 at 4:14 am
nope. didn’t work. still scanning…I used to be able to watch a video with no problem, but now I can’t watch anything without almost constant stopping and scanning. I think it may not be the airport scanning, though, I think it may just be our broadband connection is slowing down.
Andrea Hernandezs last blog post..Professional Development Meme
Andrea Hernandez
21 Jun 08 at 4:19 am
did you set the settings per “Owen’s” instructions? And disable “show airport in menu bar”? It’s still working for me, and it’s been about an hour.
Clay Burell
21 Jun 08 at 4:21 am
Yes, I followed all the instructions. I do think there is some improvement. My computer has always done the scanning thing, but it wasn’t bothersome before. Now, like I said, I can’t watch a video. I think it is something other than the scanning. I just plugged my computer directly into the ethernet cable, and it still happened.
I’m glad you solved your problem, though!
Andrea Hernandezs last blog post..Professional Development Meme
Andrea Hernandez
21 Jun 08 at 6:21 am
Andrea, that’s just weird. For the record, it’s now 18 hours and no dropping problems. Again, I:
1. Installed AP Grapher
2. Removed Airport from the menu bar.
That did the trick, and ended a weeks-long headache.
Sue Waters adds to be sure you’ve updated your Leopard software (Apple > Software Update…. in menu bar). I’d already done that, and it wasn’t enough, but it never hurts.
Let’s hope others weigh in with their own silver bullets.
Clay Burell
21 Jun 08 at 8:22 pm
UPDATE: AP Grapher only solved the problem for a day or so.
I think I’ve found the REAL FIX for my situation, anyway. It’s this:
Airport Express “Channel” setting was set to “automatic.” I think that caused Airport to scan for any and all available wireless networks.
FIX IT (fingers crossed) by ASSIGNING A CHANNEL TO YOUR WIRELESS NETWORK. See this link for more: http://www.macworld.com/article/45248/2005/06/changechannel.html
Do that by opening AirPort Utility, selecting your base station, and - if it’s set right now on “automatic” - clicking “Channel.”
Then assign a channel that’s ideally four channels away from other networks in your location (AP Grapher’s “scan” view will show you other available networks where you are, and what channel they are set on, to help you determine the best “more than four channels away” setting for your base station).
Hope that helps. It seems to have done the job for me.
Clay Burell
24 Jun 08 at 3:04 am
Clay, I’ve tried that a few times without success. Let me know if it works for you.
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Jeff
27 Jun 08 at 2:47 am
Hey everyone. My airport scans too, but my connection doesn’t drop. Usually that means it’s having trouble finding the source of the network. And disabling “show airport status in menu bar” has nothing to do with resolving the problem at hand. All it does is stop showing in your toolbar whether airport is connected. I would make sure that the firmware on your router is up-to-date, try erasing all networks except your own in your Network System Preferences, and then look at changing the channel on your router. If you have interference from neighbours or stuff in your home, a channel change should resolve it. Hope that is helpful!
Caroline
27 Jun 08 at 8:31 am
Okay, lots of hits here, so let me update.
AP Scanner _did_ help reduce the frequency and duration of dropped connections, but it didn’t solve the problem.
I just installed a Linksys wireless router in my apartment, and have had no problem at all: fast loads, strong signals, no drops.
This leads me to suspect that the problem is with my Airport Express. It’s two years old, but worked fine until I upgraded to Leopard. So my guess is that Leopard doesn’t play well with older Airports.
Do all the rest of you have older Airports as well? Or do some of you have new ones?
If you have new ones, then I’ll forget considering to buy a new Airport or Time Capsule, and just stick with the Linksys.
Clay Burell
16 Jul 08 at 5:16 am
I have a Macbook Pro with 10.5.1 and this has been a problem ever since I bought it. It had Tiger before the upgrade and it had the same issues of dropping the connection. You want to know the funniest part? I use BootCamp and run Vista Enterprise Edition on the laptop. It NEVER loses the wireless connection. So for al the Apple tech guys out there it seems if you want a wireless connection that doesn’t disconnect you’ll need to put Windows on your Mac.
And for everyone stating in all forums that it is a router firmware issue that is completely impossible due to the following observations. My Macbook pro does this EVERYWHERE. I mean it loses connection at every hotel where I use wireless, my friends who have wireless, at my work and my home NO exceptions. Flip over into Vista and no more drops at the same exact location.
So I wasted 2000.00 to buy a silver Windows laptop with a Apple logo.
cccode
21 Jul 08 at 4:25 am
Airport Express SCANNING all the time .. equals lousy performance - ehMac.ca
21 Jul 08 at 7:11 pm
@cccode (and all): I hate to say it, but the Airport Scanning has returned with my Linksys.
Has anybody heard anything from Apple on this? Maybe it’s a problem only for certain batches of their products, which would explain why some people don’t have the problem, while others do.
I’m reduced now to having to plug in to an ethernet cable to work reliably on my MacBook.
Clay Burell
22 Jul 08 at 5:02 am
[...] is working. One user is reporting the problem on four Macs of his. Every time he thinks the problem is fixed, it [...]
Apple Still Has Not Fixed Leopard Wireless Dropout Problems | Equari
26 Jul 08 at 4:07 am
Okay, here’s the latest ray of hope, from a support forum:
Anybody else find anything useful?
Clay Burell
3 Aug 08 at 4:05 am
I have a month-old Macbook Pro (15″) running Leopard that just started doing the same thing. I installed the “radar widget” and it did absolutely nothing.
Videos stop buffering, chat applications close, it’s horrible. I thought it might be my internet connection but when I switch to a neighbor’s connection it does the same thing. I’m thinking perhaps a dedicated channel for my Linksys Wireless router will do the trick (though a roommate has an Airport Express we might try too).
Jason
7 Aug 08 at 12:38 pm
How frustrating! Here are my observations for what they’re worth:
I got my macbook w/leopard in October. It always did the scanning, but did not drop the connection until recently. My husband uses an ibook, running osx 10.4 that is equally bad about dropping the connection. We have an airport express router. He thought this was the problem, that we should have bought the extreme (the more expensive airport), so it is interesting to hear that people have this problem no matter the router. Finally, I am having the same problem even when I plug into the cable directly. Again, the problem is NEW! I have experimented with watching videos on youtube that I used to have no problem watching just a few months ago on this same computer. Now they stop again and again!! Very, very annoying.
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Andrea Hernandez
8 Aug 08 at 1:27 am
My completely unelegant (is that word??) solution to this has been to start a ping in the back ground to my wireless router. Not a great solution but it keeps the connection stable and active.
Edward Targonski
10 Aug 08 at 1:27 am
@Edward, if you could post the steps to do that, the hundreds of visitors this post gets each week might make you a hero
Clay Burell
10 Aug 08 at 1:56 am
Well right now its a manual process of starting a terminal shell and doing a ‘ping 192.168.0.1′ (my router address) from the command line and minimizing the window. As I said not very elegant but its working, I can stream video and share iTunes. Ping is very low priority and is low bandwidth. Its not perfect but it will work until we can get a fix. I am thinking I can probably do this with automator somehow, but I am still working on that. So the steps are:
1. After logging in, open a terminal session and use shell, new window (you’ll have to pick your favorite theme, its personal preference has no effect on the outcome).
2. From the command prompt type: ping (your router/access point ip address) then hit return.
3. With the ping running minimize the running window.
4. Surf as desired.
If I can come up with an automator script I’ll post that as well.
Edward Targonski
10 Aug 08 at 2:06 am
Edward, thanks so much for that.
For those like me knowing enough just to be dangerous, the Router I.P. address can be located in System Preferences > Network > Airport, right? Under “connected,” mine says “AirPort is connected to linksys and has the IP address 192.138.1.101″, for example.
And this is valid advice I’m giving, right?
Thanks again. People like you make the world better for surfing (fingers crossed).
Clay Burell
10 Aug 08 at 2:22 am
@Clay: That is showing your IP Address, I am assuming that since your network is named linksys that you have a Linksys Router (Sherlock Holmes has nothing on me!) and that it is still set to its default address which would be 192.168.1.1, you can try it out by following the steps I previously listed. I assume that because the IP you listed, 192.138.1.101, is owned by the University of London, and that you meant 192.168.1.101.
Edward Targonski
10 Aug 08 at 2:42 am
The typo king strikes again. Good catch, Sherlock.
I guess I’m hoping a “finding your router i.p. for dummies” bit of all-purpose advice might be possible for all the ppl coming to this thread in hopes of improvement.
But I’m getting the feeling that there’s no one-size-fits-all method for finding that router i.p. - true?
Thanks again for troubling, Edward.
Clay Burell
10 Aug 08 at 2:52 am
Well the gateway is typically the IP address of the web interface for managing the router. For Linksys it tends to be 192.168.1.1, you can identify it by looking at the setup guide for the router or check with the manufacturer. You can identify it in the GUI by opening Finder, Application, Utilities, Network Utility, on the Info screen click the down arrow where is says Network Interface and select the one that is the Wireless Network Adapter, you can see it by where it says Model at the bottom, mine is en1. Then click on the Netstat tab, Select the Display routing table information option and click the Netstat button. The first 2 columns are Destination and Gateway, the entry you are looking for is default under Destination when you see that look under Gateway, the IP address there is the address of the router.
Edward Targonski
10 Aug 08 at 3:07 am
I should mention that this is another process running and could accelerate battery depletion, but constantly re-establishing a wireless connection can’t be good for battery life. This is also a workaround and I will be testing after each system update to hopefully not need it anymore.
Edward Targonski
10 Aug 08 at 3:16 am
The minimized ping command is not working for me. I’m still getting constant network drops…hopefully this message will post! I have a 1 month old Macbook running 10.5.4 with all updates current. Thanks for the suggestions and keeping us posted Clay!
Frustrated Fred
14 Aug 08 at 2:46 am
my solution for my macBook pro/airport extreme [g1] was this:
-disable IPv6 in the network settings
-disable ‘display airport status in menu bar
strange, but true.
schande
16 Aug 08 at 5:53 pm
schande. Good tip. I’ve been working this ALL DAY and the simple 2 steps you posted are holding up for a half hour now.
Mike Maziarz
19 Aug 08 at 11:25 am
I jinxed myself… I am reverting back to Tiger (10.4) immediately.
Mike Maziarz
19 Aug 08 at 11:30 am
@Mike, If you find a link with easy instructions on how to revert to Tiger without losing all sorts of data, please share it here. I’m with you: until Leopard fixes this monumental bug, it’s not worth the trouble. I need stable wireless connections and fast loads more than Leopard’s bells and whistles.
Clay Burell
19 Aug 08 at 12:27 pm
correction: after a day or so with a stable connection i’m having dropouts again. now i tried disabling airport security and signal robustness with MAC address access control but to no avail.
the only thing that seems to be working is to disable all security options [password, closed network and MAC address access control]; not really an option for most of us, i’m affraid.
no news from apple yet?
schande
25 Aug 08 at 8:33 pm
I have a (one week old) 24″ iMac running 10.5.2 with the airport scanning issues from the first time I turned it on.
I’m using a linksys WRT54G2 router. I have a MBP (running 10.4.11), an old titanium PB, and a Dell laptop connecting without any problems.
Any advice?
jen
27 Aug 08 at 11:11 am
Hi all, sorry I don’t have much to offer, as I’ve tried several fixes and today the scanning returned after several weeks of clear surfing. Really frustrating as I have a 12″ G4 Laptop that works fine with tiger, but the 24″ iMac scans and drops connection intermittently.
My best fix so far is to reset the router and change the channel, but its not working today. The website below has a clear analysis and solution chain that has helped me.
http://installingcats.com/2008/06/06/airport-wireless-connection-drops-on-leopard-10-5-2/
There is a comment on repairing permissions that has seemed to help some people as well.
Joe
28 Aug 08 at 3:56 am