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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.
I installed the update and can confirm that my signal strength is back to what it normally is..
Just when you make it idiotproof, some idiot builds a better idiot.
The lack of signal strength was causing some severe crashes here and there. It's good to have both NLS and GlideSlope back up to working levels, because without them it's virtually impossible to let the system auto-handle itself (requires extensive manual control to get it to work correctly when those two utilities are down).
Good work to Apple, and don't let it happen again!
I have been pwned because my
"Apple Offers Update for the Updated Update to Recent AirPort Update Which was Updated Before by another Update previously..."
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.
All is well over here with the 3.4.1 update. Now I can finally dig into those Airport Management Tools.
linkity link
Apple also put out a doc on the tools (link to PDF article)
clickity click
Like Teddy with an elephant gun.
...on my 900MHz iBook G3 12". Better reception that 3.4 it seems, but I didn't suffer a major hit to signal when upping to 3.4.
A great way to check your strength is MacStumbler which also has some tasty war driving applications if you're so inclined.
With 3.4, I was getting a signal of as low as 81 in my room in some places (as far as 30 feet from my router), and now with 3.4.1 I'm above 100 everywhere in the room. Rock!
I'm getting bus error crashes when trying to download the patch on two different Macs, one a G5, the other a G3 iBook. The session goes something like this:
This is very repeatable for me -- it happened three times on one machine & twice on the other. I don't remember the softwareupdate command having a problem like this before.
On the other hand, I was able to use Safari to download the .dmg directly from Apple, and Safari hasn't crashed on me. And the fact that people are reporting success with this suggests that the GUI tool is working, &/or the problem is local to the download option for the command line tool.
Still, it's annoying -- I was hoping to skip downloading it over & over, and this was much more of a kludge than I had in mind...
DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL
On a positive note, I can more easily connect to my neighbor's very weak network - it's increased in strength x2, and my signal seems to be somewhat stronger (10-15 pts. on kisMAC)
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.
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...
Locating it as close as possible to the client machines and strategically centered in the middle of the desired zone of coverage while moving it appropriately closer to clients that are behind walls and other objects that soak up energy at 2.4 GHz -- works very well.
Knowing the limitations of the signal and being willing to install a second AP if necessary to get the desired coverage is probably also something that helps.
If your signal strength is marginal, fix the root cause -- get better antennas (while remaining with the legal Effective Radiated Power limits) and put them in the correct locations.
The physics of RF at 2.4 GHz haven't changed any recently, last I checked.
If you're running with a single bar for signal strength you haven't designed your RF patterns/system layout correctly. Fix that. Then a silly software bug that lowers signal strength by one bar will be as *yawn* unexciting as it was here...
+++OK ATH
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?
MacBook Pro. Worst name since the Bicycle
Big improvement on my 12" PB. Good thing too, it was getting really hard to pick up the neighbours' cable connection. I was about to ask them to move their AP a bit nearer.
MacBook Pro. Worst name since the Bicycle
Anyone else experience problems with the ABS losing WAN connectivity with 3.4?
I have incoming SSH open, and I noticed that once a day (or every other day maybe) with 3.4 I would lose access from outside, and then when I got home, I noticed that I could ping the ABS but not any outside IP. The ABS still had a valid WAN address from DHCP, but somehow had lost the ability to get out through the cable modem.
Anyone else have this happen? and has it abated for you with 3.4.1?
/Oh, if only I had done nothing simply out of laziness!
This just goes to show that you always should wait at least a week before installing any updates from Apple. I myself lost a battery on an iBook 500 with 10.2.4, and my airport extreme siganl on my 12" powerbook with this airport update. This will be the last time I ever install an Apple update without scrutinizing the forums first for potential bugs.
The signal weaknesses weren't my primary concern about the 3.4 version. My problems were with actually connecting to my networks, and being blatantly dropped. Sometimes this resulted in me having to reboot my system.
With this update I could not wake from sleep and automagically get onto my home network. Other times I would be dropped, have to turn off Airport, and then turn it back on to even see the network. This didn't fix my problems a majority of the time. There is no real excuse about signal strength, as my powerbook is a foot away from the wireless router. My room mate had experienced the same problems. We both have 12" 1Ghz powerbooks.
Please, please PLEASE post your hardware when you are reporting problems/talking about recent updates. It gives the rest of us "bleeding edgers" a little more room to breathe, and also allows us to submit proper bugs to Apple if need be.
Besides an informed decision is the right decision.....
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O_o