A Troubled Little Apple

All of my sites are built and managed using a single MacBook computer. After a year of having no major issues with the machine (and I push the thing to the limits!), suddenly and inexplicably my internet connection started to drop.

This post will detail the fix I found for the problem and might not be that interesting for those of you who don’t use Macs.

The Symptoms

1. Internet connection drops or breaks whether using wireless (Airport) or Built-in Ethernet (Cable).
2. Drops every few minutes, when computer sleeps or when changing wireless connection.

Temp Fix

Restarting the computer reconnected me to the internet temporarily.

The Fix

I searched for days. I’m not kidding here! I couldn’t upload or download anything without having to restart. The problem basically brought Phauxshow to a standstill. There is a lot of action on various forums but none of the suggested solutions seemed to work for me. It’s important to note though that some solutions worked for some people. It seems, in that case that while certain symptoms may be shared the root cause may vary from computer to computer.

Here’s what worked for me…

1. Click the Apple Icon then select System Preferences and then select Network.
2. Select the Location that you most commonly use.
3. Show the Network Port Configurations.

This will bring up a list of your Port Configurations.

4. Unclick things you don’t need. In my case I unclicked Bluetooth and Built-in Firewire.
5. Drag AirPort to the top of the list. Drag Built-in Ethernet to the second spot.
6. Make sure both are clicked and hit Apply Now then restart your computer.

There is also some talk about Resetting your Pram. I didn’t need to do this but you might need to.

That’s it! You should have a stable internet connection and your sanity back.

I’d definitely love to hear if this worked for you. Also, I welcome links to alternative solutions in the comments below.