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Annoying Router/modem problem with iMac


Rainier  Davenport

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I have a router/modem problem with our iMac which I just can't seem to shake. I will attempt to describe...

When I open a page on Safari and do tasks, everything works fine until you stop using the computer for about five minutes. At this point Safari seems to freeze and won't do any tasks. It then tries to reload the page and comes up with a message that 'Safari cannot load page/contact server ect, ect'.

If I turn Airport off and then on again, the page reloads and Safari works fine, until you leave it for about five minutes when the whole freezing thing repeats again.

It seems as though the iMac goes offline or loses contact with the modem/router and will not re-establish contact until you force it by turning Airport on and off. We have two other MacBook computers in the house and neither of them has this problem. The iMac is the only computer that my Wife and I share, and we Log On and Off as users.

We have a Cisco Linksys WAG54G2 that uses ADSL2+ from the phone line. The download speed is pretty fast and it all seems to work well, except for the problem I have tried to describe.

The iMac and and MacBook Air both run OS 10.6.8 and the MacBook runs OS 10.5.8

Can anyone help at all?

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Do you loose SSID?

If so the problem is with your Linksys.

Reset

update to the latest firmware

Reconfigure

Try not to use WPA/WPA2

Use wep

change MTU settings to 1400

I have a router/modem problem with our iMac which I just can't seem to shake. I will attempt to describe...

When I open a page on Safari and do tasks, everything works fine until you stop using the computer for about five minutes. At this point Safari seems to freeze and won't do any tasks. It then tries to reload the page and comes up with a message that 'Safari cannot load page/contact server ect, ect'.

If I turn Airport off and then on again, the page reloads and Safari works fine, until you leave it for about five minutes when the whole freezing thing repeats again.

It seems as though the iMac goes offline or loses contact with the modem/router and will not re-establish contact until you force it by turning Airport on and off. We have two other MacBook computers in the house and neither of them has this problem. The iMac is the only computer that my Wife and I share, and we Log On and Off as users.

We have a Cisco Linksys WAG54G2 that uses ADSL2+ from the phone line. The download speed is pretty fast and it all seems to work well, except for the problem I have tried to describe.

The iMac and and MacBook Air both run OS 10.6.8 and the MacBook runs OS 10.5.8

Can anyone help at all?

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Hi, Rainier

That's got to be frustrating.

When did this start? Perhaps after a security update? Are the MacBook Air and MacBook both single user machines with autologin enabled and do they also both connect via the same Airport and DSL modem? If you try to connect with either laptop in the same physical space as the iMac do they have any problems? Lastly, are you extending the wifi network with a second Airport and if so, is it the same or an older model?

It is a good idea to have your DSL modem's firmware (and the Airport's as well for that matter) up to date but if the problem lies there or with the Airport you'd probably see connection problems with all three computers. And take note that WEP encryption when properly implemented will limit your connection speed although this is not usually a problem. And speaking from experience, my MacBook Pro tends to be flakier with WEP encryption than with WPA or WPA2. But it is a simpler scheme and thus may help solve this problem.

I had a similar problem a year or two ago that cropped up after a security update and the fix was pretty simple but had steps that needed to happen in a certain order. I've moved since and my desk notebook from then is still packed and I can't recall the sequence that fixed things. I'll look for it in the meantime.

Best regards,

Jim

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Hello Jim,

Thanks for your reply. The problem has been with the iMac since we bought it only 6 months ago. The Air and the MacBook are both single user machines and they all go through the same Modem/Router without any problems. There is only one router/modem and speed is pretty fast, even when all computers and iPhones are on and downloading data.

I agree with your suggestion that the issue is with the iMac and not the router/modem. I don't think changing the level of security WPA WPA2 WEP will help as all machines are WPA2 and work fine.

I think there is some kind of 'time out' feature in the iMac that drops the internet connection after being idle for a certain length of time, or it seems that way to me. I just can't figure it out.

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The problem has been with the iMac since we bought it only 6 months ago. The Air and the MacBook are both single user machines and they all go through the same Modem/Router without any problems.

So you're saying the iMac is set up for multiple users? Is Preferences:Security set to log out after a short time-out? I've even seen that on single-user iMacs...

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So you're saying the iMac is set up for multiple users? Is Preferences:Security set to log out after a short time-out? I've even seen that on single-user iMacs...

Hello Jay,

I think I found the setting you are referring to in the 'Security - General list. There is a box that says 'Log out after XX minutes of activity' The box is not ticked so that suggests it is not active and not the cause of my problem.

Regards

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Here are a couple of thoughts, Rainier:

I'm making the assumption that this happens after the iMac wakes up from sleep. Does the problem occur if some time has passed but it hasn't gone to sleep?

What happens if you wait a second and refresh your browser? Does the connection get restored?

See if the DNS addresses are different on the iMac from those on the laptops that work fine. Open Network Preferences, click the Advanced radio button in the lower right corner, then select DNS in the bar of choices at the top. Check with your provider and see what they suggest for addresses. DNS addresses caused me problems keeping connected a while back and changing them to what the provider suggested solved that problem.

Check wifi signal strength. If you have the "Show Airport status in menu bar" box checked on the Network Preferences page, just option/click on the wifi icon. You want an RSSI of -70 or less and hopefully no weaker than around -55 or so. If you don't have the box checked, look at Network>Airport in the System profiler, and you'll again want numbers in that same range for the Signal half of Signal/Noise. You might want to check the same parameters on one of the laptops at the same position as the iMac. A weak wifi signal could definitely cause your symptoms.

You could also give deleting the current Network settings and starting over a try. It only takes a minute or two and could fix the problem.

I'm still looking for that notebook.

Best regards,

Jim

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Is it worse during prime time? Once it loads the page, does it do it in a timely fashion? Try to test the throughput between computers in the house i.e. iMac -> MB, MB -> MB but not with the outside world via internet.

Chances are your ISP needs more DNS Server address'. You can Google "slow internet DNS servers" and see if it helps.

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Hello Jim and Stacey,

The problem occurs if the iMac is turned on or woken from sleep, does not matter. The DNS addresses are the same as the other computers. The wireless router is no more than 5 meters away from all the computers. It is also raised up high to allow the signal to travel without any interruption. There is no noticeable slow down of loading speed at any point of the day or night.

Regards

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Rainier,

Have a look in System Profiler. Does your iMac have an Atheros 9280 Airport Card? If so what firmware version is it running? Version 2.1.14.5 evidently causes problems like yours. It's possible to roll the firmware back or Apple might replace the Airport card under warranty.

Firewall settings could also be at fault, but that's easily fixed. Turning the firewall off, logging out and back on and turning the firewall back on may do the trick.

Best regards,

Jim

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You've tried searching for an answer at discussions.apple.com, right?

Are you connecting via PPPoE? There is a setting for "Always On", "Automatic" or "Never" for dialing a connection.

Probably want that set to Automatic, so if the connection is disconnected, the computer will re-establish connection automatically if it loses your connection.

Cheers,

Rich

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