You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

No AirPort card installed!??

Hi there to those nice enough to try and help me! Did an erase and install (and zero HD) two days ago on my 1st generation MBP and everything worked fine till today! My Airport suddenly seemed to freeze and I was unable to turn it off. I ended up re-starting to then be presented with the error saying no AirPort card installed! Its also not in the sytem profiler! I have read through the other topics on here already and someone suggested deleting the old airport and making a new one, but I can't make a new one as it is not in one of the services! Please help!!

Regards,
Pym, Owner Gamerswl.com

Message was edited by: Pym Cantellow

Posted on Feb 17, 2008 7:49 AM

Reply
162 replies

Nov 20, 2009 4:53 PM in response to Pym Cantellow

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.

Dec 27, 2009 6:09 AM in response to Pym Cantellow

Not a useful comment, but I cant believe this is still going! I took my MBP into the apple store and they replaced the card. This didnt sort the problem so they replaced the motherboard. I think I had to take it back 3 (THREE) times each time I had to wait up to a week for it to be fixed but it is all fixed for me! If none of the software suggestions work for you I reccomend taking it in to the apple store

Feb 3, 2010 7:40 PM in response to Pym Cantellow

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.

Feb 22, 2010 5:47 PM in response to Pym Cantellow

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.

Mar 18, 2010 5:10 PM in response to Pym Cantellow

I'm not going to say I have the "same problem" because it seems like there are a few variations of symptoms in regards to the noted Airport issues, ranging from the Airport Card working intermittently to complete failure, but yes, mine is the latter and it has been well documented here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2371147&tstart=0

My goal is to pinpoint exact solutions to exact problems with exaqct hardware/software configurations. (If that makes any sense). For instance, many people have reported an error of "No Airport Card Installed" while others have received "No information found" So while the problem is relatively the same (no Airport), the proposed solutions are indeed NOT as different symptoms are parallel to different causes.

At this point, I can only speak for myself being the owner of a 15" 2.16GHz MacBook Pro Core Duo with no Airport Card activity at all, running Snow Leopard and applying all the aforementioned fixes listed in this thread as well as replacing the card. Now, had I had this data from every user that has posted in this thread, I could probably pinpoint exactly who has what problem and how to fix them. From here on out, please post your complete system specs.

Mar 24, 2010 4:37 PM in response to nocr

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.

Mar 26, 2010 9:55 AM in response to dgel

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

May 7, 2010 6:00 PM in response to Jerry Stuteville

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.

Jun 25, 2010 6:29 PM in response to Judd Stephens

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.

No AirPort card installed!??

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.