HT202663: Use Wireless Diagnostics to help you resolve Wi-Fi issues on your Mac
Learn about Use Wireless Diagnostics to help you resolve Wi-Fi issues on your Mac
Q: Neither wifi nor Internet connect function on my MacBook Pro. How can I restore this function?
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Jun 16, 2016 12:55 PMby Tesserax,Please try the following steps, in order, or until resolved:
Step 1
- Open a Terminal session. The Terminal application is located in /Applications/Utilities.
- At the command prompt, enter: ifconfig -a
- Locate the network interface that is giving you trouble. (Note: en0 = Ethernet; en1 = AirPort)
- Look to see if Terminal indicates the problematic interface is not enabled.
- If not enabled, enter: sudo ifconfig en1 inet up
- At the command prompt, enter: ifconfig -a
- Verify that the problematic interface is now active and various network interface related data should now be listed.
Step 2
- In Finder, go to /Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration
- Move (not copy) the preferences.plist file to the OS X desktop.
- Restart the computer.
- Verify if you have connectivity. If not, go to the next step.
Step 3
- In Finder, go to /Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration
- Move (not copy) the NetworkInterfaces.plist & com.apple.airport.preferences.plist files to the OS X desktop.
- Restart the computer.
- Verify that you have connectivity. If not , go to the next step.
Step 4
- In Finder, go to /Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration
- Move (not copy) the entire SystemConfiguration folder to the OS X desktop.
- Restart the computer.
- Verify that you have connectivity.
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Jun 19, 2016 7:32 PMby Walt,I Have performed steps 1 through 4. I still have no wifi nor Internet connect.
When I completed step 1, the response mentioned neither en0 nor en1. The response to ifconfit -a was as follows:
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 16384
options=3<RXCSUM,TXCSUM>
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>
gif0: flags=8010<POINTOPOINT,MULTICAST> mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0<> mtu 1280
SInce the response contained neither en0 nor en1 I entered the sudo line, sudo ifconfig en1 inet up. The response to this was as follows:
We trust you have received the usual lecture from the local System
Administrator. It usually boils down to these three things:
#1) Respect the privacy of others.
#2) Think before you type.
#3) With great power comes great responsibility.
Password:
ifconfig: interface en1 does not exist
I hope that this makes some sense to you. I still need help to get the system up and running. I await your advice for my next series of steps. Thank you.
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Jun 20, 2016 9:34 AMby Tesserax,Since neither en0 or en1 shows up then your Mac does not recognize either interface exists. This may indicate either a hardware issue or that OS X is corrupted.
At this point I would suggest that you consider running either the Apple Hardware Test (pre-2013 Macs) or Apple Diagnostics (2013+ Macs).
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Jun 26, 2016 12:04 PMby Walt,I Had to use my Applications DVD to get to the Apple Hardware Test. I ran both the regular test and the extended test. The results were that no problems were identified. I presume that this means that the test program was unable to identify any hardware or structural defects that requires replacement of any parts of the MacBook Pro. Does this imply that the OS X is corrupted? I do have Time machine. Should I go back a month or so and replace the hard drive contents? Replace which parts? Or the whole hard drive? What is your advice? Or are there other steps I should perform first? Thanks for your help.
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Jun 26, 2016 2:46 PMby Tesserax,I Had to use my Applications DVD to get to the Apple Hardware Test. I ran both the regular test and the extended test. The results were that no problems were identified. I presume that this means that the test program was unable to identify any hardware or structural defects that requires replacement of any parts of the MacBook Pro.
That would be correct.
Does this imply that the OS X is corrupted?
Potentially corrupted or simply misconfigured. Either way, OS X is unable to "find" the hardware.
I do have Time machine. Should I go back a month or so and replace the hard drive contents? Replace which parts? Or the whole hard drive? What is your advice?
This may work. Ideally you would want to use a clone version of your hard drive over using an incremental Time Machine backup. However, if you do, you would have to go back to a point in time when your Mac's networking was working … and then, restore the complete drive image.
This is really no longer a pure Apple networking issue and I would strongly recommend that, before attempting this, that you submit a post to the Mac OS & System Software area of the Apple Support Communities (ASC). Folks there are better prepared to help guide you through any OS X restoration.
