AirPort Issue

My MacBook has trouble maintaining a WiFi connection. I had WPA on and the status in the menu bar would continuously alternate between "Scanning..." and "On". So I turned wireless protection off and I am now able to connect to wireless. However, the menu is bar is still switching between "Scanning..." and "On". What's going on here? Is it a problem with my MacBook, a Leopard bug, my router or what? Is this a known issue and are there any possible fixes?

 

Hmm it seems that it's "On" until I click on the airport icon in the menu bar in which case it switches to "Scanning...". Is it just refreshing the list of available networks then? More importantly though is how I am unable to connect to the wireless network when wireless protection is on. Any ideas?

 

Firstly, what wireless protection are you using? Is it WEP, WPA, an access list, etc.?
Because then the ultimate question is, "have you got it set up correctly?"
That's really what it sounds like.

 

Macks, he said WPA in the second sentence, first line, of the first post.

What is your signal level at? If it is low, it may drop the connection alot. When wireless hits below a certain point it will lose it's ability to stay connected (This happens on all wireless connections), so that could be happening.

 

I doubt it's the wireless signal since I'm in the same room as the router. Maybe I'll visit my girlfriend's place tomorrow and see the problem persists over there. I'll also take a look at the setting for the WPA correction and make sure it's set up properly.

Still, since I'm in the same room as the router, does this explain the phenomenon of the status of the Airport in the menu bar resetting to "scanning..." everytime I click on it? Am I interpreting its behavior correctly? Is it supposed to stay at "On" when I'm connected to a network?

 

Oh, I may have mis-read that then. It only changes when you click on it? In that case, I think that is normal, because it has to quickly scan for all available networks when you click on the menu.

Are you getting disconnected at all?

 

Yes, I get disconnected when using WPA. And yeah, the checkmark remains beside the network I'm connected to so I'm assuming that indicates a connection. I'll investigate the disconnection issue when using wireless protection later. It works fine when it's an open network.

 

If you are actually getting disconnected, see what your signal level is. There might be something wrong with the location of the router, or something wrong with some of the hardware (Or it's configuration).

Which router are you using?