MacBook air m1 - WiFi drop out issues

IanC

IanC

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Ian
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Just wondering if anyone has come across this problem before, I connect to my home bt broadband fine, but whilst logging in to Gmail, for example, the WiFi just goes\disappears and I have to reconnect again. No problem with speed or visibility of the network, I have reset the router, forgot the network, restarted the machine but the problem persists. Quite frustrating having to find the network and login every 5 mins.
Thanks for any help
 
I had the same issue with a virgin router , I installed a ubiquiti system , and had the router Wi-Fi disabled, I have had no problems since.
you might try looking at the Wi-Fi lease time in the router setup menu, this may be the problem

you could also get an rj45 adaptor to make the MacBook wired, and see if it still drops out
 
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Are you using a hub?

On my other half's 2019 macbook pro, if you connected the hub to one of the USB-C ports, it screws up the wifi. Connect it to the other USB-C and everything works fine.

Awesome Apple engineering.
 
Apple also have a habit of playing fast & loose with standards in the network space to "make it better" (example sending 7-10 RADIUS requests per second when denied access because of wrong credentials, because that can't be right someone denying an Apple device - I see them as denial of service attacks and deny them service with an exponentially increasing ignore time)
 
Could be your OS?
I got a new MacBook Air M1 last year loaded with Monterey & had issues connecting to the internet.
After downloading Ventura a couple of months ago it connects instantly.

(As a matter of interest an expert told me Mojave was the last system he trusted. I bloody hate technology :)).
 
Mine has dropped out a few times over the last 18 months, but no worse than my old work PC I used at the same desk, which is the furthest point from the router in the house. My MBP hasn't dropped out, but doesn't get used as much in that location.
 
Where is your computer in relation to the router? Is there a direct line of sight between computer and router?

We had a similar problem with my wife's MacBook because there is a structural wall partially blocking the signal. Moving the computer so that it can "see" the router has solved the problem.
 
These are interesting times. I have a vaguely similar issue, having very recently installed a Virgin Hub5 alongside Gigabit fibre. Now I find that whilst my Windows laptops connected up quite easily to the new wifi, and my recent M2Airs and M1 Mini all connected quickly and easily, my older 2015 iMac running Monterey is ok mostly but not consistently, and Safari just will not work on it. I'm guessing that very fast network speeds or wifi channel-hopping are screwing it up, and I wonder if that is a common issue with some computers?
 
LG9K said:
Are you using a hub?

On my other half's 2019 macbook pro, if you connected the hub to one of the USB-C ports, it screws up the wifi. Connect it to the other USB-C and everything works fine.

Awesome Apple engineering.
Click to expand...
Not sure what you mean by hub? I have nothing plugged into the MacBook anyway
 
Oldgrunter said:
Could be your OS?
I got a new MacBook Air M1 last year loaded with Monterey & had issues connecting to the internet.
After downloading Ventura a couple of months ago it connects instantly.

(As a matter of interest an expert told me Mojave was the last system he trusted. I bloody hate technology :)).
Click to expand...
Wait, there are different os's for macbooks? :(
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
Where is your computer in relation to the router? Is there a direct line of sight between computer and router?

We had a similar problem with my wife's MacBook because there is a structural wall partially blocking the signal. Moving the computer so that it can "see" the router has solved the problem.
Click to expand...
I'm right next to it haha
 
IanC said:
Wait, there are different os's for macbooks? :(
Click to expand...
Ventura is the current version of MacOS.
Previous versions included Monterey, Catalina, High Sierra, Sierra, Mountain Lion, etc...
Intel based Macs can also run Windows natively, for example I have Windows 10 as a boot up option on my iMac 27.
Apple silicon based models e.g. your MacBook Air can only run MacOS natively, but can (I think) run Windows virtually.

Q. How old is the Macbook?
Q. Have you asked Apple support about WiFi dropouts?
 
are you just getting the problem with gmail ???? and are you using the Mac Mail app or going through Safari to read your mail.
 
@IanC - I'm assuming you're connecting on 5Ghz rather than 2,4Ghz?

lindsay said:
These are interesting times. I have a vaguely similar issue, having very recently installed a Virgin Hub5 alongside Gigabit fibre. Now I find that whilst my Windows laptops connected up quite easily to the new wifi, and my recent M2Airs and M1 Mini all connected quickly and easily, my older 2015 iMac running Monterey is ok mostly but not consistently, and Safari just will not work on it. I'm guessing that very fast network speeds or wifi channel-hopping are screwing it up, and I wonder if that is a common issue with some computers?
Click to expand...
I've not used a Virgin Hub but it certainly shouldn't be the case that wifi is dropping because of fast network speeds or availability of channels, some routers aren't up to much and individual drivers for some cards can have issues. These days I generally find wifi extremely reliable on 5Ghz since it doesn't have the interference of issues that 2.4ghz does.
 
I have noticed that my 2015 MBP has got less good using wifi over the last six months or so, as my home network is unchanged and no one else in the house is reporting problems I can only assume that it has been one of the security updates to Monterey which is upsetting things.
Any network intensive processes like using Light Room. with network storage now needs a wired connection to be at all usable.
 
JohnMcL7 said:
@IanC - I'm assuming you're connecting on 5Ghz rather than 2,4Ghz?


I've not used a Virgin Hub but it certainly shouldn't be the case that wifi is dropping because of fast network speeds or availability of channels, some routers aren't up to much and individual drivers for some cards can have issues. These days I generally find wifi extremely reliable on 5Ghz since it doesn't have the interference of issues that 2.4ghz does.
Click to expand...
Not sure, how do I check that? I just use default settings on my router, no other device needs special treatment like this apple :(
 
What I have noticed tonight is, WiFi working perfectly on the Mac then I turn the Xbox on to stream the bake off programme, then it drops out straight away and I have to sign in again.

Maybe it doesn't like the bake off?
 
Nikon f1.8 said:
are you just getting the problem with gmail ???? and are you using the Mac Mail app or going through Safari to read your mail.
Click to expand...
I'm going through chrome, then Gmail that way. I was in chrome tonight when it signed me out, but I think the issue is connected to competing devices because it occurred when I turned my Xbox on, no idea how to fix this
 
GeeJay57 said:
Ventura is the current version of MacOS.
Previous versions included Monterey, Catalina, High Sierra, Sierra, Mountain Lion, etc...
Intel based Macs can also run Windows natively, for example I have Windows 10 as a boot up option on my iMac 27.
Apple silicon based models e.g. your MacBook Air can only run MacOS natively, but can (I think) run Windows virtually.

Q. How old is the Macbook?
Q. Have you asked Apple support about WiFi dropouts?
Click to expand...
It's a 2021 version I think and I haven't contacted them yet no, do you have a contact email?
 
IanC said:
What I have noticed tonight is, WiFi working perfectly on the Mac then I turn the Xbox on to stream the bake off programme, then it drops out straight away and I have to sign in again.

Maybe it doesn't like the bake off?
Click to expand...
Could it be that you have a static IP address set on the Xbox which is the same as the one issued to the Mac by DHCP?

Check the Xbox network settings and make sure that the IP address is assigned automatically by DHCP and not set manually.

If your Xbox needs a static Ip address for some reason then you need to make sure that the router can’t assign the same IP address. You can usually do this in the router settings by setting up and IP range in the DHCP settings
 
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steve_lyt said:
It sounds like a ip addess clashing , if you just connect the mac does it work normally, if this is the case , can you fix the ip address of the mac, this may solve the problem
Click to expand...
Yeah without the Xbox it's working ok
 
Try this on your macbook

Use DHCP or a manual IP address on Mac

On your Mac, set up your internet connection to use DHCP or a manual IP address using Network settings.
support.apple.com

and this on the xbox
setuprouter.com

Static IP Address for Xbox 360

Detailed instructions for setting up a static IP address on the Xbox 360.
setuprouter.com

set different addressees for each device , this should sort your problem out
 
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I agree with the post above about checking your DHCP range, if you log into the Admin interface of the router you should be able to find LAN settings and the DHCP range. Sometimes routers will set the whole range for DHCP apart from themselves, some will set a portion of it.

For example, if your router address is 192.168.1.1 and subnet 255.255.255.0 and your DHCP starting address is 192.168.1.2 and the last address is 192.168.1.254 then any static address you set for your Xbox could be in the DHCP range and clash with something else. In this case, you would need to change the start or end address say for example change the end address to 192.168.1.200 then you could give the Xbox the static address 192.168.1.201. Any more static addresses on your network would 192.168.1.202, 192.168.1.203 etc. and you'd need to make sure you didn't allocate the same address twice.

Alternatively, if your router address is 192.168.1.1 and subnet 255.255.255.0 with your DHCP starting address as 192.168.1.2 and final address as 192.168.1.100 then as long as you chose an address 192.168.1.101 or higher for your Xbox, you would be ok.

The reason it's a problem if you set a manual address within the DHCP range is because your router likely doesn't know about the static address (there are some ways it can be set up in the router which I'm mentioning for completeness) and it thinks it's managing all the IP addresses so if you for example give the Xbox a 192.168.1.2 address the router doesn't know this and it gives the address to your Mac. Then when the Xbox powers up, the Mac may be detecting a duplicate address on the network (which cannot function with networking and is certainly not a Microsoft problem as incorrectly mentioned in the post above) and shutting down the network interface. Hopefully it's something simple like that as it should be straightforward to resolve.

In response to checking your network frequency, you should be able to check on your Mac under network status or similar which frequency you're connected at although it sounds like this isn't your problem.
 
steve_lyt said:
Try this on your macbook

Use DHCP or a manual IP address on Mac

On your Mac, set up your internet connection to use DHCP or a manual IP address using Network settings.
support.apple.com

and this on the xbox
setuprouter.com

Static IP Address for Xbox 360

Detailed instructions for setting up a static IP address on the Xbox 360.
setuprouter.com

set different addressees for each device , this should sort your problem out
Click to expand...
I wouldn't recommend setting up anything with a static IP address unless absolutely necessary.
 
ecoleman said:
It has nothing to do with Microsoft or Apple.
Click to expand...
OK I thought the Xbox was a Micr$oft product and since the problem only occurs when the Xbox is connected then I would have thought it was Micro$oft to blame.
My Playstation does not kick me out of the WiFi but that is not a Micro$oft product though ;)
 
It’s the router causing the problem, the new virgin router wireless , is just as bad. It kept cutting off the internet for fun. I got virgin to disable it, and now use ubiquiti to manage my Wi-Fi , i have had no problem since. Must my computers are wired and never had a problem with any of them
 
Nikon f1.8 said:
OK I thought the Xbox was a Micr$oft product and since the problem only occurs when the Xbox is connected then I would have thought it was Micro$oft to blame.
My Playstation does not kick me out of the WiFi but that is not a Micro$oft product though ;)
Click to expand...
nothing to do with xbox or MS. Its just how is network is locally setup that seems to be causing IP conflicts for whatever reason.
He could have exact same issue with a PS or some other device.
 
Nikon f1.8 said:
OK I thought the Xbox was a Micr$oft product and since the problem only occurs when the Xbox is connected then I would have thought it was Micro$oft to blame.
My Playstation does not kick me out of the WiFi but that is not a Micro$oft product though ;)
Click to expand...

Neither would the OP's xbox if the network was configured correctly.
 
steve_lyt said:
It’s the router causing the problem, the new virgin router wireless , is just as bad. It kept cutting off the internet for fun. I got virgin to disable it, and now use ubiquiti to manage my Wi-Fi , i have had no problem since. Must my computers are wired and never had a problem with any of them
Click to expand...
The OP has a BT router and it works perfectly well when the xbox is off.
Why do so many people assume the hardware is at fault. Most IT issues are caused by the interface between the chair and the keyboard.
 
steve_lyt said:
Try it wired and see if it still happen. All you need is a usb c to rj45 adaptor. I use wired when ever i can much less hassle
Click to expand...

Did you ha a promlem with a previous router. If not it can only be the router that is not handling the automatic ip adressing, just make them static and your problem will go away
 
steve_lyt said:
Did you ha a promlem with a previous router. If not it can only be the router that is not handling the automatic ip adressing, just make them static and your problem will go away
Click to expand...
Static IP's are fine if you know what you are doing - if not, they can lead to exactly the sort of problem the OP is having, where a static IP is assigned within the dynamic IP range, and it all falls over when the router assigns a conflicting IP as a result.
 
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