Eenuh Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Okay, so I've had my MacBook for about three years now already, and it's served me fine so far. However, about a month ago, my internet suddenly stopped working in my room upstairs. It also stopped working whenever I moved my laptop into the kitchen or outside (it'll sometimes still work outside but not very well). I have no idea why it suddenly stopped working, as the other laptops in the house still work fine. I can pretty much only use my laptop in the living room now, where the router is situated. It did sorta happen shortly after we got our new kitchen placed, but about a week afterwards, so not sure it would have anything to do with that. We tried changing some settings on the router (a D-Link DIR-635 wireless router) or something but it didn't work. Dad doesn't really know what to do with it any more and neither do I. Any tech heads here who could give me some tips as for what to try to get internet to work again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aimless Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 First things first, we need to know what's the source of the problem, the router or your MacBook. I'd imagine it's the latter given that it would seem other laptops aren't having any issues, but it never hurts to check. How many bars of signal are you getting around the house? Does the signal strength drop off dramatically when in your room, or does it still say you have a good connection despite losing your 'net connection? Are you running off the battery or hooked up to the mains? MacBooks will always lower the power usage — and, consequentially, range — of their wireless cards when not plugged in, I believe, so if just for testing's sake you should see if there's a difference in performance. Do you use wireless handset phones in your house, or anything else that might be causing interference? If so is there any correlation between your drops in internet connection and the usage of such devices; e.g. as soon as someone picks up the phone or starts microwaving your MacBook craps out. If you don't mind delving back into your router's settings for a bit, try turning off all security (WEP, WPA, etcetera) and cycle through the various wireless channels to see if any yield better results; channels 1 and 11 are usually the 'cleanest', I think. If none of that makes any difference then I think it's safe to say the issue lies with your MacBook, not the router. (Updating the firmware is always an idea, but if things were fine in the past there's no particular reason to expect that to fix things.) I'll leave it there for now. Although I will say this: wireless can be a pain in the arse, can't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eenuh Posted July 25, 2009 Author Share Posted July 25, 2009 How many bars of signal are you getting around the house? Does the signal strength drop off dramatically when in your room, or does it still say you have a good connection despite losing your 'net connection? When sitting in the living room I get the full four bars, however as soon as I move into the kitchen (there's no doors in between the living room and kitchen at all), the signal completely disappears and it can't even find my network (or it might find it but can't connect). Same happens in my room. No connection appearing at all (however it does work on my PC). Are you running off the battery or hooked up to the mains? MacBooks will always lower the power usage — and, consequentially, range — of their wireless cards when not plugged in, I believe, so if just for testing's sake you should see if there's a difference in performance. It's usually plugged in really, though before all this started I didn't have any problems just going around without my laptop being plugged in. Do you use wireless handset phones in your house, or anything else that might be causing interference? If so is there any correlation between your drops in internet connection and the usage of such devices; e.g. as soon as someone picks up the phone or starts microwaving your MacBook craps out. No wireless phones or anything. The kitchen has the new microwave and a new radio but even when they're not working my laptop still won't work there. Plus don't see how that would affect the internet in my room even. If you don't mind delving back into your router's settings for a bit, try turning off all security (WEP, WPA, etcetera) and cycle through the various wireless channels to see if any yield better results; channels 1 and 11 are usually the 'cleanest', I think. If none of that makes any difference then I think it's safe to say the issue lies with your MacBook, not the router. (Updating the firmware is always an idea, but if things were fine in the past there's no particular reason to expect that to fix things.) Heh we don't even have any security turned on on our router (stupid dad says it's not necessary since other houses aren't close enough). Not sure how to go through the different channels myself so will have to ask my dad for help tomorrow. =/ I'll leave it there for now. Although I will say this: wireless can be a pain in the arse, can't it? Haha yes, wireless really sucks sometimes. =P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aimless Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Well, the good news is that it doesn't seem to be the mysterious — and ostensibly random — wireless problem that a lot of other MacBook owners have had in the past; their signal strength would remain good, the 'net would just stop working. The bad news is that if you can't improve the wireless signal you're receiving by changing the broadcast signal of your router, it could be that your MacBook's wireless card is on the way out... I suppose it could be that the internal antenna — located around the edge of the screen, I believe — is suffering from a loose connection or something like that, but I'm not much of a hardware guy. Can you remember it taking a tumble around the time the problem started, or anything like that? This is a rather uninformed and possibly rather silly suggestion, but you could always try adjusting the angle of the screen to see if that has any bearing on things... Anyway, the best advise I can possibly give you is to not worry about it for now. Get some rest, pester your dad to do a bit of channel cycling, then we can start striking items of the ominously long list of possibilities. Hopefully someone that actually knows what they're talking about will be around then, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eenuh Posted July 26, 2009 Author Share Posted July 26, 2009 Nah my laptop has never fallen or anything, I'm pretty careful with it heh. The channel changing is what dad and I tried recently but we didn't seem to get any results from that at all. And just now we disconnected the new radio in the kitchen to see if maybe that was interfering, but again no difference at all. It's weird, I'll be in the living room with about 3 out of 4 bars filled, I take two steps into the kitchen and my signal just completely disappears. =/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blender Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 (edited) the most probable explanation is that some source of interference (e.g. a new transmitter or competing routers on the same channel, or a new supernatural being living under your bed) You may be able to resolve it by changing your router's channel on the router's configuration page. (There is sometimes a signal strength fitting that i expect you have already played with.) You can buy an extra router and use it in "repeater mode". You can also make a tin foil hat and wear it. Your head makes a great antenie and as long as you rest your palms on the keyboard, there will be a great signal. However, there is a risk of cancer in all the above. Edited July 26, 2009 by blender Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aimless Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 To be honest I'm struggling to think of other things to try. I'm pretty sure the fault lies with your MacBook, not the router, but if it's a software problem the only thing I can really suggest is to run Software Update from the Apple menu to make sure you have all the latest drivers and such; I don't have a MacBook myself, so I'm not exactly au fait with the various options and settings. To me it sounds like a hardware problem, your MacBook's antenna presumably being loose or disconnected entirely. That should account for you only being able to receive signal within the room the router is situated, but I rather hope I'm wrong as that would mean having to take it to be repaired by a professional outlet — it's possible to do yourself, but I'd advise against it. I've no idea how much they'd charge you, but unless anyone else has some bright ideas I'm not really sure what else to suggest... Does your MacBook sport any sort of skin or outer case, as in something you put on yourself? Bizarrely even thin plastic ones can dramatically dull the wireless signal, apparently, so if you have such a thing — which I'm guessing you don't, as that would be too easy — try removing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blender Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 (edited) assumes you have at least a wii or ds (if not another laptop computer).... test signal strenght in different rooms for comparison Edited July 26, 2009 by blender Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 I had this problem with my Macbook, It would just randomly lose connection every now and again. It could be as simple as just resetting your router, which worked for me the first time. The second time, was because of DNS problems, but that's also easily fixed. Judging by the fact you have connections in certain rooms, I'd rule it out being a problem with your airport card in you macbook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rummy Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 So wherever you can't get signal with your macbook, you CAN get signal with other wireless devices? DS, other laptops etcetc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eenuh Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 I had this problem with my Macbook, It would just randomly lose connection every now and again. It could be as simple as just resetting your router, which worked for me the first time. The second time, was because of DNS problems, but that's also easily fixed. Judging by the fact you have connections in certain rooms, I'd rule it out being a problem with your airport card in you macbook. Nah we have to reset our router regularly already so that's not the problem. It's really just in specific rooms that there is simply no connection at all, even though for example two steps away from that room I'll have an almost perfect connection again. Doesn't make sense. So wherever you can't get signal with your macbook, you CAN get signal with other wireless devices? DS, other laptops etcetc? Yeah, for example my parents can use their laptops fine in the kitchen and outside, yet mine won't work. And upstairs I can get a connection on my computer through a wireless thingie, yet my laptop again doesn't work. Though it all started all of a sudden, as I did have a connection there before (albeit kinda crappy). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rummy Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Hmm, then that sounds to me to be a problem with your macbook, at least in part but essentially the root of the problem. It might have been there before, but something changed that made it noticeable, but considering everything else can work in said dead areas, I can't see how it can't be the macbook. As for what you can do with it, I'm afraid I know very little about macs but imagine it'd be a hardware issue either way, maybe the wireless inside has died a bit in some way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 It may be your wireless doofer in your Mac. While not entirely comparable, a similar thing happened to my PC - the wireless range dropped. Which isn't good when it's a desktop that doesn't move. A new card fixed it. Although don't take my advice, I somehow manage to make Macs crash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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