Apple Macintosh Airport Issues 802.1x WPA Enterprise
Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:37 am 
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This issue happens with both the Macbook and Macbook Pro. I noticed since the Leopard update 10.5.8 I was unable to connect and authenticate to any WPA Enterprise network with 802.1x authentication implemented. This specifically is happening to me at Purdue University and their PAL2.0 network. But I am sure it is happening on other 802.1x WPA Enterprise networks.
I have been going back and forth with Apple with this issue. I have been sending my logs to them and they are still working on it as I type this. There’s always fifty sources of online education pertaining to the AirPort issue at hand, but at the moment nothing seems to be working, so it’s just a case of waiting until a Leopard-plus OSX solution presents itself. The issue with the wireless seems to not only happen in Leopard, but in Snow leopard as well, so anything past 10.5.8. Here is a screencap that I found on D. M. Stanley’s blog at Link that shows the issue that is occurring.
I will keep anyone that wants to more about this issue up to date as much as I can on this issue. Apple should be giving me another status update in the near future.
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*** Issue is not fixed with the most current update 10.6.2! ***
Update: 11-23-09 – Apple Contacted me and said there are no updates on this issue from the Apple Engineers so that means that they are most likely working on the issue because they would have said something by now.
Update: 4-13-10 – 10.6.3 may have fixed the issue..Click here to read more.
If you or anyone you know is experiencing an issue like mentioned above, Please leave a comment indicating so.
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Apple has contacted me again today to assure me that they are still looking into the issue but have no solution at this time.
Apple Contacted me again today 11-3-09 and assured me that they are still looking into the issue. Although they have not admitted that it is an issue with Mac or not.
I was hoping that this would have been fixed in 10.6.2, but unfortunately the problem still exists.
I’ve been having the same 802.1x WPA Enterprise authentication issues since 10.5.8.
I also have that problem. I’ve been asking people that also have snow leopard and most don’t have that problem so I thought it probably was a bad configuration. I installed snow leopard again but I still have the same problem.
I have only tried to connect to eduroam (WPA Enterprise) on my college (FEUP) and after trying a few times I am able to connect but sometimes it takes more than one hour.
I think apple will take some time to solve this problem since not a lot of people have this problem.
Yeah, I have been going back and forth with Apple for some time now. I still have gotten nothing from them but, we are working on it.
I wanted to see if you had any more contact on this. I’ve been doing some research and saw something intresting.
On macbooks and minis, running 10.5.8, using a system-level 802.1x profile connecting to an AP running OpenWRT and broadcasting 1 open SSID and 1 WPA2-Enterprise SSID, I see issues connecting to the WPA2-Enterprise SSID. I can connect, but if I connect to the open ssid and then connect back to the WPA2-E ssid, the connection gets jacked and I get no IP address. I have to actually remove the system-level 802.1x profile and re-add it to work. If I use a user-level profile instead of a system-level profile I don’t see the errors.
I am not seeing this error on 10.6.2 when using a system-level or user-level profile.
The only info that I have is that Apple wants me to test my mac with a fresh install of Leopard without any network settings saved. Also, I have no technical info of the network I am having issues with, All I know is that they use WPA Enterprise 802.1x with Cisco Access Points.
I have this problem with 10.6.2 on MacBookPro2,2. What is bizarre is that I konw others running snow leopard connecting to the very same access points.
en1:
Card Type: AirPort Extreme
Firmware Version: Atheros 5416: 2.0.19.8
Locale: FCC
Country Code:
Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165
The problem is not fully the operating system, it is also the hardware. Apple engineers recently visited my campus to investigate the issue, and the found that the airport was having trouble with multiple BSSID’s. Apple will release an update shortly with a fix, assuming they can actually fix it that fast.
We are having the same problem; We seem to have narrowed it down to Mac’s with Arteros airport cards and some of the airport extreme cards.
We have three SSID’s on every AP one of which is broadcasted and is open authentication. The other is a non broadcasted SSID using WEP, and the other is a non broadcasted 802.1x SSID . We have removed the two other SSID’s (open auth and WEP) from the AP’s and were able to connect without any issues using 802.1x with the same hardware I mentioned above.
Have you received any updated information from apple on this issue?
I’m having similar (if not the same) issues. Basically, I can see 3 BSSIDs on the same SSID from my desk. When I connect, it jumps on the strongest one and authenticates (WPA Enterprise over 802.1x) OK. At some point, it starts jumping APs. It’ll usually survive one or two jumps, but shortly it stops working. The preferences pane just says “Authenticating…” with the wheel spinning and nothing happens. I have to disconnect and reconnect and start it all over again. I know it’s not strictly the APs (Cisco Aironets), as if I go to other parts of the building I can stay connected indefinitely with no problem.
I’ve contacted Apple about it, and despite their wanting to blame it on Cisco, the tech is going to do some research and see if it’s on their end. Of course, he also wants to try and blame it on my installed apps. I’ve got access to open a Cisco support ticket, as well as a spare MBP to work with. I don’t allow any finger pointing among the vendors I work with.
update on the issue we are experiencing. We have an engineering copy of 10.6.3 that we downloaded from our ADC site and it has resolved our issue. Now its just a waiting game for 10.6.3 to be released.
Even update Snow Leopard 10.6.3 does not resolve this issue: Mine is to the second. At 59 minutes 59 seconds, it appears the airport requests DHCP renewal and drops connection. I only have had MAC since 10.6 .Odd it droppped at 30 minutes in 10.6.2, and now 60 minutes in 10.6.3
Info: Macbook OS 10.6.3
802.1x WEP, TLS, PKI Certificate [client] Active DIrectory
This precise issue has been occurring at the school I work at for about 15 months. Our only solution for all MacBooks with the Atheros wireless chipset (mostly MacBook model 1,1) was to downgrade them back to 10.5.5. Using Login Window Authentication for 802.1x still doesn't work with this band-aid but with a power cycle of the wireless adapter the faculty can login. If we upgrade them beyond 10.5.5 (5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, and 6.3) we simply see authentication failure messages.
Another confusion for many was that some 802.1X networks seem ok. What we've found through trial and error is that the affected machines behave ok if only one WAP is within range of the antenna. If the MacBook has to make a decision between more than one WAP then the issue occurs.
As many have mentioned, the issue is directly related to the firmware of the Atheros card provided by Apple. The firmware isn't written to a chip on the card, but instead is injected during boot, so going back a few versions of OS X seems to fix the issue. Since Apple (perversely) insists that you need to upgrade the OS in order to use their '09 suite of apps this is a huge issue, although editing /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist with an acceptable version of 10.x.x seems to get around this ridiculousness.
My authentication issues had disappeared with the recent update of 10.6.3, but I submitted the thread that I posted about 10.6.3 fixing the issue to apple. Hopefully they will read the comments and send out another fix for you guys.
I am really annoyed with the Apple Macintosh Airport Issues, what you people are doing in order to sorting it out.
I think 10.6.3 is really suitable to sorting out the issues related to apple. There are fair amount of chances that it’s really work for the issues
I am really annoyed with the Apple Macintosh Airport Issues, what you people are doing in order to sorting it out.
I think 10.6.3 is really suitable to sorting out the issues related to apple. There are fair amount of chances that it’s really work for the issues