“OS X Lion’s set to ship around mid-July, but Apple’s recently-released 10.6.8 software update will upset many users, as it’s messing around with some AirPort wireless networks,” Jonny Evans reports for Computerworld.
“My own wireless set-up’s has been impacted by the problem, which manifested itself shortly after an upgrade to the new OS. One moment my Macs were online, the next they weren’t,” Evans reports. “A trawl through Apple’s support forums shows others are also affected.”
Evans reports, “iOS devices seem unaffected (though I’ve not tested the Apple TV). This implies that there’s nothing wrong with the network and that the problem affects only the Macs, and only those running the latest OS.”
Full article with some suggestions that may help if you’re affected here.
My network went down after updating an iMac and a MacBook pro. The newest iMac was not updated.
I had to take the Airport Extreme back to the original factory settings, rename the network and use a different password to get it to run again reliably.
yes, my Mac Mini has been having a hell of a time with WiFi over my Airport Extreme. Can’t keep Connected for a minute without “searching for networks.” I have given up. Using my iPad exclusively.
This problem started some time in march or april following an update that affected AFS. It has obviously not been corrected or completely resolved. In fact, much of the problem can be related to OS X 10.6.7 which apparently intermittently turns off both the AFS and SMB file transfer protocols. I have only been able to correct the SMB protocol so that I can continue to use Time Machine. But it is a work around and not a solution.
It also did something to streaming from the Mac to the Apple TV. Apparently, mainly through the wireless access, streaming is intermittent, if it works at all from the Mac.
I personally have a MBP and an iMac with the latter running SnowLeopard and the former Leopard. Interestingly enough, following the update to the Leopard machine, AFS and SMB work flawlessly, but streaming to the AppleTV does not; while both the AFS and SMB protocol and streaming were knocked out in Snow Leopard.
I found a partial fix for this in Snow Leopard, but it only seems to fix the SMB protocol but not the AFS (For newbies, it means that I have to log on to a network drive every time that I want to use it, as opposed to it just being there as say a routine USB drive). I placed the partial fix (You need to use Terminal) on my site if you’re interested.
It is interesting to note, that my IOS devices do not have this problem. It is possible that there is no fix for this and that OSX Lion may resolve the issues using an IOS type solution to overcome whatever barriers there are with both Leopard and Snow Leopard.
Anyway if you’re interested look at my solutions and leave a comment or two here or there. Also if you have any other solutions, that would be great.
Thanks
http://theiphonedoc.blogspot.com/2011/04/temporary-solution-to-afp-smb-nas.html
I’ll take a look at this later.
I AGREE with you that it didn’t start with 10.6.8, Mine started about a week after getting my brand new iMac, a full month before 10.6.8 came out.
Now that you mention Apple TV… I about threw mine out the damn window last night. Worse than my iMac.
I’m tempted to wipe my iMac and drop in the disc to go back to 10.6.4 that it shipped with. See if it clears up, if so.. maybe find the combo update to 10.6.6 for the app store. (app store was 10.6.6 right? .7 was after… i think..)
I’ve noticed recently that streaming audio from iTunes on my Mac Pro through my ethernet-connected Airport Extreme upstairs to my Airport Express downstairs and into my stereo has become subject to periodic long pauses. Not sure if it corresponds exactly with the 10.6.8 update, but it’s a new issue. Internet access via Airport on two iPhones and two Apple laptops doesn’t seem to be affected.
UPDATE: Applied 10.6.8 Combo updater and did a soft reset of Airports Extreme & Express, and audio streaming is now working fine.
Personal experience:
I’ve had oddball disconnects from the Internet for many months, but after a lot of work I’ve found the problem to be the Motorola cable ‘modem’ provided by RoadRunner. Pulling the power then restarting the cable modem usually solves the problem. I’ll be turning in the old modem for a newer model that can handle IPV6 more adequately.
IPv6:
This new IP identity system is becoming increasingly active on the Internet now that all IPv4 addresses have been allocated. Apple changed their OS level IPv6 support software with 10.6.8. The transition to full use of IPv6 is going to be bumpy if not outright annoying. It is entirely possible that Apple’s IPv6 update is causing compatibility problems on some networks.
Further tips:
Note that I ALWAYS run the Combo updater for each OS update. I never, ever allow Software Update to perform the OS updates. Years back it was proven that merely running the bare bones updates was a bad idea and likely to result in problems.
Also, it is critically important to run both Repair Disk Permissions and Repair Disk on your boot volume before any OS update. You can do this by booting from your original OS installation DVD. [Note how this will be impossible with Lion, a very bad move by Apple]. If, for example, you install anything by Adobe you will find Adobe leave behind a file permissions MESS that can affect your OS update.
Also note that you can run the current Combo Update at any time on your OS at any time to fix potential problems the bare bones update may have left behind.
All of the above recommendations are from MacFixIt and those of us who have contributed to it over the years. These tips have consistently helped prevent problems in updates.
“at any time on your OS at any time” <– Sorry. Hiccups.
Derek
Thanks for the insights here. I may have to try this one at home this weekend. It’s funny that you should mention about the automatic update, because like a good Apple Netizen, that is what I always run. The idea of the combo update, if I understand this correctly, is that you can go from 10.6.4 to 10.6.7, while if you use the incremental updater which is found in the automatic update, there is a possibility that something is amiss?
If this is correct, then using the AFP, SMB issue which appears to be set in the “off” position, perhaps there is a driver missing that automatically turns on the NAS drive and makes it readable? I’m excited to try this over the weekend. As I stated, I am no expert but this solution really does make a lot of sense.
Thanks.
I have a MacBook that I purchased in 2010 and I am having issues with my network preference screen not opening. I have reinstalled OS but still not working and I keep getting the alert that the ichatagent quit unexpectedly ……PLEASE HELPHELP
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