Apple Offers Update to Recent AirPort Update

Milanek writes "Apple has released new version of AirPort Update 3.4.1 which solves problems introduced by the last AirPort update, 3.4." A great many people complained about lower signal strength after the 3.4 update last week.

Comments

Bad Apple Updates

[sukhjeet]

Apple hasn't had the best of luck recently with their updates. Unfortunately, I update my 12" G4 PB pretty soon after they are announced here on /. Nothing too terrible has happened to me, but it would be nice if Apple was more careful or patient in releasing updates. I guess some things are hard to predict, but it definitely doesn't make people like me happy.

Re:Bad Apple Updates

[logicat2001]

Rather than complaining about your or Apple's "bad luck" why not post some details as I've personally not had any troublesome updates recently. Maybe you've got a terrible case of "user error"? I know I've had that before and it feels much worse than catching the flu.

One thing I am sure to do, especially with OS updates, is Repair Permissions on my system volume before installing the update. I have no hard proof, but I've written shell scripts before and I'd speculate that incorrect file/folder permissions could derail a less-than-elegant installer.

Also, major updates typically include a reminder that one should have a current backup at hand before installing and although I usually scoff at such advice myself, a current backup will minimize any post-install troubles.

Actually, having a current backup will minimize most technological troubles whether from a faulty software install or from having that laptop run over unexpectedly by a large vehicle.

Food for thought?
Logicat

I'm waiting . . .

[grolaw]

Because I have learned my lesson: don't live on the bleeding edge if you have real work to get done.

I'm fat, dumb and happy and staying with 3.3.1 for the next few weeks. I'll let others play around with this update till the bugs are worked out.

Thanks to ^Fish Sun^ for the reversion page. That saved my entire day.

Re:no problems here...

[Textbook Error]

Had the supposedly "buggy" patch installed, and then got the new one. Never saw a difference in wireless signal strength. All bars lit. Of course, the AP is located in a strategic location in the house using sound RF engineering principals to determine the location and not stuffed in a dresser underneath the clean socks, and a pie tin, as it would appear the whiners have done to themselves... ;-)

Conversely I had the AP located 40cm away from the PowerBook, passing through 3cm of wood, and got repeated loss of signal (I'd still be joined to the network, but would be unable to pass IP traffic anywhere: even to ping the base station).

This was a 1.25Ghz AlBook connecting to an original Graphite base station. A G3 iBook connecting to the exact same base station from 2 rooms away was absolutely fine with the update installed, but the AlBook was lucky to last 5 minutes before losing the connection.

The physics of RF at 2.4 GHz haven't changed any recently, last I checked.

Although a lot of people complained about the signal strength dropping, there were definitely other problems with the previous release. I was still getting 5 bars, yet was unable to make a stable connection - absolutely nothing else changed on the Mac or the AP apart from this update, and since rolling it back I haven't lost the connection once.

Re:Firmware update or driver?

[onebuttonmouse]

In the case of all the firmware updates I've done, like the superdrive or bluetooth mouse, software update has just downloaded a program to /Applications/Utilities for you to run later rather than updating straight away. With the 3.4.1 update, no such program is downloaded. Perhaps it's reasonable to assume no firmware is altered?