How did people ever get by with laptops before wireless routers?

August 7, 2009 5:49 PM

My partner's Macbook is having trouble staying connected to our Wireless network. Mine still works fine.

Yesterday, my partner started to have trouble connecting to the Internet using her Macbook. The only thing that changed is the latest update to OSX.

Basically, she can connect to our network, but can't get online. Sometimes rebooting helps, and so did resetting the network settings (deleting all the existing network profiles and starting over). She can connect if she plugs in directly to the modem or to the router and my Macbook (albeit an earlier model) still works fine. It also has the latest OSX update. She has tried connecting on another unsecured network she can pick up and the same thing happens: she can get on the network, but can't access the web or her e-mail.

We suspect it is her Airport card. but we're really not sure She does have Applecare. Is this something that needs to go to the Apple Store? If so, how long will the computer be gone for? Alternatively, is the network card very accessible if I wanted to look for a loose connection?

There are no other problems with the computer.

posted by synecdoche to computers & internet (8 comments total)

We had this exact problem, brought the MacBook into the genius bar, they replaced the card, all is well.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 5:56 PM on August 7

Have you tried running Yasu (free) to reset permissions and clean up after the update?
posted by sharkfu at 6:21 PM on August 7

Sharkfu, yes. Right now I am going through the solutions listed here. I've tried everything up to the re-applying the combo updater, which is now downloading.
posted by synecdoche at 6:40 PM on August 7

Take it to the apple store, I lived with this for a while until I finally took it in and replaced the card. I tried every software fix in the book and none helped.

It's a fairly quick fix but YMMV (I had this done in a day, but wasn't under AppleCare so took it to an outside vendor)
posted by bitdamaged at 6:52 PM on August 7

The trouble is that we won't be able to get to the Apple Store until next weekend (it is out of town for us). Would any Apple Authorized Retailer provide the same service?
posted by synecdoche at 6:56 PM on August 7

This exact problem just happened with my partner's MacBook. He actually ended up stumping the Apple techs over the phone, and now is getting his AirPort Card replaced. Where we are (which is quite of out of the way, as far as computer repair goes) it's going to take three days to get the replacement card, and roughly half an hour to take out the old and install the new.
posted by hip_plumber at 10:13 PM on August 7

Okay, I think we've fixed it. It turns out a number of people are having trouble after installing the latest update and Apple is working on a fix but in the meantime, the fix described here seems to have done the trick. Thanks everyone.
posted by synecdoche at 4:20 PM on August 8

Just a heads up-- looks like there's an official patch now...
posted by sharkfu at 9:58 PM on August 11