# Mac 10.6 and possibly some Linux/Unix Troubleshooting
**URL:** https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000
**Category:** NYSpeed Off Topic
**Created:** [October 27, 2010, 7:45am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000 "2010-10-27T07:45:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2010, 7:45am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/1 "2010-10-27T07:45:35Z")
Alright here is the basic rundown of the trouble we’re facing. Macs 10.6 and above will randomly disconnect from our wireless. Windows PCs and 10.4 and 10.5 Macs work fine. Even Macs that are dual booted work on the windows side but not the Mac 10.6 side.
We’ve been working on this for months, contacted Cisco (wireless equipment provider), and Apple (still waiting to hear back) and have had no luck. The one bandaid we do have is assigning a Static IP, which really isn’t what we are looking for.
It appears in the console that the Mac’s are requesting a new IP address ever 20 seconds even with a Static IP in place.
Anyone know about a similar issue either on OSX 10.6 or Linux/Unix?
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### Author:  [@TradersBASE](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/TradersBASE)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2010, 8:28am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/2 "2010-10-27T08:28:59Z")
Maybe not related but the Mac firewall in my experience has caused alot of issues with DHCP. Even after giving permission to DHCP I’ve had to reset the firewall settings as it was blocking DHCP and related apps.
Try turning the firewall off and see if that fixes anything perhaps. Just a suggestion.
GL
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### Author:  [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2010, 9:53am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/3 "2010-10-27T09:53:34Z")
Firewall is off…no dice
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### Author:  [@Gl1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Gl1)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/4 "2010-10-27T10:07:32Z")
wireless, wired, or both? I had this same problem with my imac when using wireless, and I had to run a wire.
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### Author:  [@TradersBASE](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/TradersBASE)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2010, 11:25am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/5 "2010-10-27T11:25:06Z")
Sucks. Was worth a shot. Odd it’s chattering so much even with a static IP assigned. I know Rendezvous is a rather chatty protocol. In fact at Ingram Micro we had to disable that on our macs because it was causing issues with the production network (or so they said).
If I think of anything else I’ll throw it out there and I’m in for others info too.
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### Author:  [@boxxa](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boxxa)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2010, 11:54am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/6 "2010-10-27T11:54:11Z")
I am willing to bet its your wireless card driver issue. I had this with my internal card on a older Linux version that did the same thing and the newer disto with kernel patches fixed it. I dont think it was a DHCP getting a new IP, my issue was it wasnt setting up the keys right and would eventually die when the AP tried to rekey.
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### Author:  [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2010, 11:57am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/7 "2010-10-27T11:57:51Z")
> [@boxxa](#):
>
> I am willing to bet its your wireless card driver issue. I had this with my internal card on a older Linux version that did the same thing and the newer disto with kernel patches fixed it. I dont think it was a DHCP getting a new IP, my issue was it wasnt setting up the keys right and would eventually die when the AP tried to rekey.
On a mac? try again
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### Author:  [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/8 "2010-10-27T13:24:23Z")
> [@Gl@re](#):
>
> wireless, wired, or both? I had this same problem with my imac when using wireless, and I had to run a wire.
Just wireless it appears…only 10.6 and above. Basically any quick solution, both client side and controller side we’ve tried.
@TradersBASE - What’s Rendezvous?
---------- Post added at 04:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:19 PM ----------
> [@boxxa](#):
>
> I am willing to bet its your wireless card driver issue. I had this with my internal card on a older Linux version that did the same thing and the newer disto with kernel patches fixed it. I dont think it was a DHCP getting a new IP, my issue was it wasnt setting up the keys right and would eventually die when the AP tried to rekey.
Mac’s are flawless \
I should mention this is happening to multiple machines running 10.6+, various models.
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### Author:  [@LZ1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/LZ1)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/9 "2010-10-27T13:32:57Z")
Have you used wireshark to get a packet capture?
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### Author:  [@boxxa](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boxxa)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/10 "2010-10-27T14:25:02Z")
I am still voting kernel bug.
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### Author:  [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/11 "2010-10-27T14:56:28Z")
Are they wireless-N access points? Do you have any wireless-g only access points?
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### Author:  [@benmtx5](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/benmtx5)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/12 "2010-10-28T00:18:30Z")
my macbook pro does the same, I also contacted apple, blah blah well bring it in for service,
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### Author:  [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2010, 4:26am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/13 "2010-10-28T04:26:58Z")
> [@LZ](#):
>
> Have you used wireshark to get a packet capture?
Negative, I can post the kernel/system logs
> [@boxxa](#):
>
> I am still voting kernel bug.
Your guess is as good as mine right now
> [@boardjnky4](#):
>
> Are they wireless-N access points? Do you have any wireless-g only access points?
All our access points are N capable, we only have Cisco APs and our new ones are Aironets I believe (not sure on model #)
Princeton had a report that the Macs would connect a/n and try to grab an IP for both channels. Not sure if this is true or not.
> [@benmtx5](#):
>
> my macbook pro does the same, I also contacted apple, blah blah well bring it in for service,
At this point it doesn’t seem like there is anything too service. It appears to be something with OS 10.6. On the controller logs the 10.6 Macs try and renew their DHCP lease every 20 seconds, which floods the network. From what I was told by my boss, the 10.5 Macs also try and renew the lease frequently but not as bad as the 10.6 ones.
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### Author:  [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/14 "2010-10-28T06:09:43Z")
When we switched over the Wireless-N access points here at the office, the wireless on my linux laptop went HAYWIRE. Dog shit slow, constant disconnects, etc… I ended up having to edit some configs and force it back into Wireless-G mode.
The linux drivers for Wireless-N cards are just shit. Mac might be suffering the same?
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### Author:  [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/15 "2010-10-28T06:11:30Z")
> [@boardjnky4](#):
>
> When we switched over the Wireless-N access points there at the office, the wireless on my linux laptop went HAYWIRE. Dog shit slow, constant disconnects, etc… I ended up having to edit some configs and force it back into Wireless-G mode.
>
> The linux drivers for Wireless-N cards are just shit. Mac might be suffering the same?
Is there a bash command for this? There is no option that I saw in OSX to select which channel/frequency/etc. to use. It’s pretty much on or off.
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### Author:  [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2010, 6:19am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/16 "2010-10-28T06:19:10Z")
on linux it’s a config file. Probably not the same on a mac. I’ll do a few minutes of research for ya.
---------- Post added at 09:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:14 AM ----------
try a control+click when choosing the wireless SID…do this from the full network menu, not the bar at the top.
after that, find where it says what your connection speed is, if it’s 54mbps then you’re in 802.11g
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### Author:  [@boxxa](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boxxa)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2010, 6:27am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/17 "2010-10-28T06:27:29Z")
> [@ProgRocker](#):
>
> It’s pretty much on or off.
Ah the price of an OS aimed at non-computer savvy people.
Its probably a plist file somewhere or a modified ktext you could download.
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### Author:  [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2010, 6:32am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/18 "2010-10-28T06:32:28Z")
most likely a kext, but I think you can do it without editting configs
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### Author:  [@ProgRocker](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ProgRocker)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2010, 6:34am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/19 "2010-10-28T06:34:39Z")
> [@boardjnky4](#):
>
> on linux it’s a config file. Probably not the same on a mac. I’ll do a few minutes of research for ya.
>
> ---------- Post added at 09:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:14 AM ----------
>
> try a control+click when choosing the wireless SID…do this from the full network menu, not the bar at the top.
>
> after that, find where it says what your connection speed is, if it’s 54mbps then you’re in 802.11g
Control Click didn’t work…However if you go into the System Profiler \>\> Network \>\> Airport \>\> It lists me as connected 802.11g (I’m connected to our older AP rather than our new ones.)
> [@boxxa](#):
>
> Ah the price of an OS aimed at non-computer savvy people.
>
> Its probably a plist file somewhere or a modified ktext you could download.
I’ve tried viewing the config files but I don’t know what opens them. I tried Text Editor but to no avail. I understand the whole “we’re apple don’t look at our shit” and people buying these apples because “I’m going to college and I need one and it’s silver and shiny” but come on. Troubleshooting these things is a bitch, the system logs are a joke.
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### Author:  [@LZ1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/LZ1)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2010, 6:36am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/mac-10-6-and-possibly-some-linux-unix-troubleshooting/162000/20 "2010-10-28T06:36:14Z")
Everything you do from the GUI can be done from the CLI from 10.5 and up…It didn’t always work that way.
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