Can anyone guess why my macbook keeps falling off the internet?

[LowLevelWhingeing]

I can't tell you how upsetting it's been

I was having a lovely time, commenting on all sorts of threads that had no need of my opinion. Then it starts getting a bit slow to load pages...then IT FELL OFF THE INTERNET!!

It was like that slow mo scene in platoon where that guy falls to his knees because his witty and insightful post wouldn't get seen on tinternet..."NOOOOOOOOO!"

When (/if) it happens again, I suggest you check whether you can reach the router control panel. If you're unable to reach that (and can do right now), then it suggests the wi-fi is playing up.

If you can reach the control panel then it's the onward (WAN - wide area network) link (ADSL or cable - I don't know which you might be using) and therefore your wi-fi link is still fine, but you cannot reach anything on the net while the router isn't connected (it might be trying again and again, in which case there may be a system log on the router you can view to see what is reported).

Rebooting the router (rather than the macbook) might solve it, but at least you'd know it's an issue between your router and the ISP, not the macbook's wi-fi playing up.

(I'm assuming you don't normally have to enter the wi-fi password each time you switch on the macbook - ie only if you've done something to the macbook to reset what wi-fi networks it knows about, else it would be something of a nuisance!)

If it keeps playing up, it would probably help to know what router and ISP you are using (and when 'down', whether you're able to reach router control panel, and what the status display says about the internet link).

wow. webdude, can I add you to my friends and family list? .

wow. webdude, can I add you to my friends and family list? .

LOL. Must admit I hadly use wi-fi - most of my clients have switched to data over mains which is (more) reliable, and unlikely to suffer external hacker attacks.

I've been involved with networking for 25+ years and put more trust in cable where an LED will show a connection is working, compared with not being able to see any wireless signals!

When something goes wrong, I often have to 'trouble shoot' over the phone, so finding out what is working and what isn't usually gets to the source of the problem (without me losing too much sleep/ hair!)

I agree. But how do you do it? We're on Virgin and they only will install one broadband cable per household.

Thanks webdude!

It's coming and going at the moment. DP is on the internet fine but I just tried to reply via my phone and that didn't seem to be getting on the web properly (apologies if this comes out as a double post).

I don't usually have to enter a password every time.

When it was 'stuck' a moment ago, the wifi symbol was showing full signal, it just looked like it had crashed while loading a page, then came back on after 5 minutes of so. Also, the trouble starts with pages taking ages to load, and then not working at all.

Sometimes when it goes off, I go to network diagnostics to try and choose a network, but it can't find any networks and just stays blank.

Does that give any clues?

BTW, advance apologies if I go AWOL. It seems to be coming and going today.

I actually had a similar problem with a Mac when other machines could connect fine, it was fixed with a reboot. It does make me wonder if there is something going on with the machine.

However that you say the iPhone's also having problems does seem to point the finger at the router.

Further to webdude's suggestions I'd also be tempted to try connecting to the router with a cable when you're having problems.

That would knock that wireless part of the chain connecting you to the internet and let us see if another link might be causing the trouble.

Thanks BP, I'll have a root around for a thingy wire to connect to the router.