[olug] [ot] Sudden wireless problems with a MacBook Pro

[Rob Townley]

On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 10:58 PM, Mike Hostetler <hostetlerm at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The only reason I'm asking this question here is that this list is  filled
> with smart people. :)
>
> For about two years, I've had the following setup: a Linksys WRT54G Series
> 5
> in the basement and a MacBook Pro directly above it on the main floor.  I
> also have an old Linux box hooked directly to this router via a wired
> connection. This worked perfectly for all that time.  Two months ago, I got
> my wife an old Dell desktop.  It's on the main floor, but on the other side
> of the house than the MacBook Pro.  This also worked perfectly for about a
> month.
>
> But a few weeks ago we start to have problems with the MacBook Pro. It
> starts dropping connections like crazy and at random times.  Now the
> connection is mostly off.  The Dell on the other side of the main floor has
> zero problems, as well as the Linux box.
>
> I flashed my Linksys and installed DD-WRT on it so I could tweak the setup
> (really, everyone should so this!) but it didn't help. I changed channels,
> turned up the Xmit Power, turned down the Beacon Interval, etc. but nothing
> helps. I can take the  MBP to the basement, set it beside the router and
> have no signal. This used to work fine before!  I have also tried it next
> to
> the Dell box and the MBP doesn't do any better there, either.  The error in
> the MBP's /var/log/system.out is "Error: WirelessAssociate  <yadda yadda>".
> Google searching shows a few questions without any answers.
>
> Now, here's the strange part -- I can take the MBP to Panera, a hotel,
> anywhere with open wifi and it picks up the network  and works perfectly.
> So it's not just the MBP -- it's a combo of the router and the MBP.
>
> My theory of the moment is that some neighbor just got a wireless router
> that is running all over the board on channels and the MBP is more
> sensitive
> to it than the Dell box.  But I'm willing to listen to any ideas and (even
> better) any possible solutions!
>
> --
> Mike Hostetler
> http://mike.hostetlerhome.com/
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>


Mike,
after flashing with dd-wrt, did you delete any reference to the old Linksys
connection on the Apple MBP?   Is the SSID the same as before?  Since the
MAC address has not changed and maybe the SSID as well, the MBP doesn't
think this info has to be recreated and is still trying to connect using
parameters established with the stock Linksys firmware, not dd-wrt.  Even
more important if encryption is enabled.  WEP keys may be wrapped a few
digits or using the wrong key altogether.

Of course, this doesn't explain why the connection started dropping in the
first place, but may explain why it can't connect even when the MBP is
sitting right next to the dd-wrt enabled firmware.