Powerbook G4 intermittently can't connect to D-Link wireless router after waking from sleep.

August 4, 2006 8:52 AM

Powerbook G4 intermittently can't connect to D-Link wireless router after waking from sleep.

I have two Mac PB G4s (12" and 15", both running OS 10.4.6) at home networked with a D-Link wireless router. Most of the time, I can access the internet without a problem. Occasionally, after waking either computer from sleep, the computer will not see the access point. Restarting the computer or router may or may not solve the problem. Connecting to the router with an ethernet cord allows me to access the internet. Any ideas as to the problem?

posted by cahlers to computers & internet (7 comments total)

Do you have the latest firmware for the router?
posted by Alex Handcoding at 10:12 AM on August 4, 2006

I had a strange problem like this a while back. Can you see any other access points in your neighbourhood? I found that a new-fangled MIMO Netgear router in my neighbourhood seemed to be using up all the available frequencies leavnig my poor Linksys router/wireless card unable to connect.

I ended up just buying my own MIMO Netgear routers to counteract it and things seem to be fine now.
posted by PWA_BadBoy at 10:47 AM on August 4, 2006

I'm not sure about whether I have the lates firmware. How would I obtain the latest firmware? I cannot see any other access points in my neighborhood.
posted by cahlers at 11:21 AM on August 4, 2006

Actually I can occasionally see another neighborhood access point. But the issue also happens if I cannot see the access point.

Another suggestion someone had was that if one laptop is asleep, the 2nd laptop may get an IP address previously assigned to the 1st, such that when laptop #1 wakes, both machines have a single IP address assigned. However, renewing the DHCP lease does not solve the problem.

Additional insight is appreciated.
posted by cahlers at 11:42 AM on August 4, 2006

I had a problem like this recently. After some googling, I came across this solution, which basically boils down to nuking the file /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist (elsewhere in the thread it is suggested that you can ignore the hardware-related steps like removing the battery. I just deleted the file).

I can't swear that this is foolproof, since it was an intermittent problem to begin with, but I haven't had the problem since I did this. YMMV. I have also had various other problems that were apparently caused by messed up plist files.
posted by alopez at 1:02 PM on August 4, 2006

I'm not sure about whether I have the lates firmware. How would I obtain the latest firmware?

Perhaps try D-Link's support/downloads page. After entering your model number, it'll hopefully tell you the date of its latest firmware. And, if that date is after you bought it, then your model would have an older version.

(To be sure, even if the date is before you bought it, you might still have an older version, depending on how long your unit sat on the shelves.)
posted by Alex Handcoding at 1:20 PM on August 5, 2006

+1 fave

I had this problem on my Powerbook (my wife's actually) and deleting the plist file did the trick. Make sure you give that a shot.
posted by wflanagan at 5:03 PM on August 5, 2006