No AirPort card installed!??

Same prob here... +"No Airport card intstalled"+, repeatedly when starting up (or restarting) using *BATTERY POWER*.
The problem went away when I shut down and restarted using the *POWER ADAPTOR*.

Can it really be this simple? Worked for me, and I hope it works for you all!!

I did find an answer - of sorts. The problem has gone away after I restarted using the power adaptor instead of the battery. Don't ask me how or why, because I just don't know. But, it works now... go figger! Hope it works for you too!!

I had my Macbook Pro for 2 months when I started seeing problems similar to those reported in this thread. My MBP would frequently hang in a manner where it was non-responsive to any mouse or keyboard input. The only resolution would be a hard reboot. Often on reboot, the airport card was no longer recognized and clicking on the "empty pie" icon where the wifi signal icon would normally be located returned the message "No airport card installed". The issue escalated to a point where the Mac would not last more than a few minutes until it hung.

After taking it into an Apple store they were able to reproduce the hang once and then determined that it might be a problem with the memory modules. They reseated the memory modules and then tested them individually and could not reproduce the hang. I got my MBP after 5 days. The next morning it hung again...and multiple times.

I took the MBP back to the genius bar and they were "90% sure" that it was a problem with the RAM so they decided to replace both modules and the logic board just to be safe. 7 days later they had made the fixes and tested the MBP without reproducing the hang. However, once I got it home, the original, but secondary problem where the airport card was not detected was still prevalent. There was no combination of restarts, modification of network settings, or resetting the PRAM that would enable detection of the card.

Increasingly frustrated, I made another appointment with the genius bar. The next morning I brought my MBP in to discuss the options. My MBP was assigned to the service manager as a high priority to evaluate and determine if possibly the airport card was not connected when it was last serviced. Within an hour I received a call from the service manager letting me know that they would replace my MBP with a new one due to the number of times that I'd been in and my frustration with the process. They transferred my data over onto the new machine and after 3 days I have yet to run into any issues.

The initial problems may have been a result of a bug in 10.5.8 (new MBP has 10.6) or could have been due to faulty hardware, but unfortunately, there was no final determination.

While I was disappointed with the initial experience and the duration that I was without my MBP, I am very pleased (so far) with the final outcome and how Apple takes care of their customers. Based on experience, I would never have received the same level of care with other computer manufacturers.

My roommates brand new 15-inch unibody MBP has this same issue. She basically got 2 days of use out of it before it froze one afternoon and the Airport Card has been MIA ever since, at least according to 10.6.2.

As the de-facto IT problem-solver for my group of friends, it has fallen to me to fix the issue, even though my own 17-inch unibody MBP has never had this issue. I'm sorry to report none of the solutions presented on this or similar threads have worked so far.

Got an appointment at the local Apple Store tomorrow night. I'm considering bringing my working 17-inch MBP to the store and showing them this and similar threads, because clearly Apple isn't doing anything about this issue, and they HAVE to know about it by now, seeing as how this thread is almost 2 years old and people are still having issues. Either way, I'm not going to let them claim its a malfunctioning HD or OS. Clearly there are more than a few malfunctioning Airport cards or logic boards on the new Mac laptops virtually right out of the box, and on behalf of my exasperated roommate, I'm going to demand a new Airport card, logic board, or both before I leave the store tomorrow.

I'll keep everyone posted.

I have a MBP (late '08) and have had the same issues as others here, a complete freeze with no response from keyboard or mouse, and also issues with the Airport card not being recognized. Extended hardware test, nothing. Reinstall Leopard and Snow Leopard, nothing. Did all available updates, nothing.

I took it into the Apple store, and they said it could be a problem with the Airport card since it sits on the logic board. They said they would replace it. A day later, they said they could not replicate the problem and did not do anything to the computer.

I took it home, and had the same problems with it that I was having before. I upgraded to 10.6.2. Same problems. I did notice that the freezes occurred if I moved, bumped, or tilted the MBP while it was running, making me think something inside was loose. A relative of mine is an IT professional and opened it up but not being too familiar with Macs couldn't do much. He retightened all the screws and things he could find, and since then it worked fairly well, until a day ago and the problems started all over again.

I love the Macs, but this is extremely frustrating! If anyone has any solutions, I would appreciate it.

10.5.8
2.4gz 13" Macbook 2009
Problem first occurred yesterday- no airport card installed.
Repairing permissions and zapping pram brought it back once, but then had a complete system freeze- first I've had in over 12 months. Have managed to bring it back twice more with various combinations of restarts, zapping pram, permissions repairing. Seemed to re-occur on sleep- but not every time.
The question that needs to be answered is whether this is sfotware or hardware- I don't really want to do a complete archive and re-install if it's hardware- or send it in for new logic board/ airport card if it is software.

Possible that the disappearing airport card is a symptom of a variety of problems I suppose but this is very frustrating.

An update; I booted from the installation DVD and did a system profile which indicates there's no Airport card. This to me clearly indicates the issue is hardware related not software, so now I suppose it is off to the repair shop - although the cost of a new logic board (which seems to be the most common solution) has to be close to the cost of a new machine

Hey. yeah, this worked for me too but I didn't remove my battery. I did pull the power plug though. I don't know for how long this will last. You know, like is there something internally going on with my machine. But for now, I'm happy. The Apple Care "Specialist" told me to take it in and that maybe the airport card needed to be re-seated or was corrupted. Maybe so, but it would have been nice if she had told me about THIS. I found this on my very first google search.
it DOES work.

For reasons unknown on my PB-G4 Airport was not detected so also reset PRAM/NVRAM and PMU to no avail, determined to find solution I inserted the REBOOT Disk then powered off and restarted while holding the "C" Key down until Reinstall Window popped up, went to Bar at top to Utilities and Repaired Disk and Permissions, ( DO NOT REINSTALL OP SYSTEM ) once repair is completed I restarted computer and Airport now registered at top, I reconfigured and now surfing once again, I hope this helps.

The removing the cable, cover, holding down the power button 5 second, reinserting battery, Holding Command, option, and P&R buttons while pressing the power botton Worked for me.

Don't forget to hold down the command, option, P&R bottons until you hear three start-up chimes.


Thanks, you guys are great. I guess I will return this New Airport Extreme I just purchased thinking that my old router was the problem...

Thanks again

This is GREAT info. I had spill damage and by some miracle my computer still works. The only problem was that I was showing "no airport card installed". Since my warranty was void because of the spill (dog ear wash), I decided to take the computer apart and clean it up. At first the airport card worked but then it didn't. I couldn't find the airport card in the main case so I figured it was in the display and opened that up hoping to clean it up, that didn't work. Anyhow, I saw this post and updated the OS and now it is working. My display isn't the best but it is better than paying another 2K to replace. Thanks so much for the info, I am so glad to be back wireless.

I had this problem, but i didn't have to unplug my macbook or take out the battery.... just restart and hold command-option-p-r until the trademark apple chime occurs thrice. my airport card was magically back!

Same problem here with my 2010 macbook pro 15" under warranty so I return to two different apple authorised repair centres who returned it working only to find it stops working again after a couple of restarts.

My problem is similar (maybe same cause?) but MUCH bigger.... 24inch iMac, 3.06 ghz, 1TB hd, 4gb ram (all factory installs). Been fine for 18 months, but suddenly Time machine refused to run past 56 GB, and super duper wouldn't back up either-thought the external hd had an issue so formatted it (so lost backups) and tried to back up again... same issue. Tried another external HD.... same error. So I needn't have reformatted! Other mac backs up to both of the drives fine. Then the machine started to hang every minute or so, and wouldn't accept any commands for 2-3 minutes... iMac takes ages to boot then every mouse click takes up to 5 minutes to execute... it says no airport card installed, windows can be dragged around the screen and the docking bar at the bottom animates happily but that's all the iMac will do. The machine is totally unusable and holds all my work and client files-and the errors have led me to a position where I have no backup. Have tried everything. Local mac store closed till Monday. I am one desperate graphic designer let me tell you!