Airport won't turn on in OS X v10.6

I have the exact same issue, I believe.

Airport will not turn on. I have only a hollow diamond on the top bar and if I go to network preferences, I cannot add in Airport. I've tried adding a new location, etc, but when I add an interface, there is no airport selection.

In my system log, I get this:

Aug 28 22:34:42 MacBook-Pro Apple80211 framework[233]: airportd MIG failed (PowerEnable Event) = 5 (Input/output error) (port = 23839)
Aug 28 22:36:57 MacBook-Pro Apple80211 framework[233]: airportd MIG failed (PowerEnable Event) = 5 (Input/output error) (port = 23839)
Aug 28 22:37:07 MacBook-Pro Apple80211 framework[233]: airportd MIG failed (PowerEnable Event) = 5 (Input/output error) (port = 23839)


Of course it worked a few hours ago under Leopard. Thanks for any help; I hope that doesn't indicate hardware issues.

HI,

Try deleting this file.

com.apple.airport.airportutility.plist

/Users/YourName/Library/Preferences. Drag that file from the Preferences folder to the Trash, empty the Trash and *restart your Mac*.





Carolyn 🙂

Any error messages in your system log?

airportutility.plist is exclusively for AirPort base station configuration using the AirPort Utility and has nothing to do with the AirPort card.

Try deleting /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/NetworkInterfaces.plist and restarting. If that doesn't work, try deleting the entire contents of the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration folder.

Thanks, Pete. I did do that and still no luck. I've been on with Apple tech this morning (escalated twice to an Airport specialist) and here is what we've tried:

- deleted all of the associated preferences, trashed, etc
- reset SMC
- reset PRAM

None of this worked. So we just tried booting to the 10.6 DVD (holding down C as it restarts) and surprisingly enough there is still no airport support then (no icon in the bar).

To the OP -- can you try that? Boot to the 10.6 DVD and see if you have any airport support? It would be good if we both have the exact same issue that we try the same things to confirm.

I just noticed the OP is on an iMac and not an MBP like me so it really confounds things to say we're not even on close to the same hardware but having similar issues that look like they are hardware related.

I have the exact same problem. The airport symbol at the top remains gray and empty when you try to turn airport on. Going into network preferences and clicking the button to turn airport on also does nothing. Ethernet is also working just fine. If yours fixed itself, I'm just going to wait and see if mine does the same before deleting stuff as mentioned above.
Everything worked fine before installing Snow Leopard.

putting it to sleep didn't work for me, we'll see what happens overnight =(

Noticed same problem today. Actually didn't notice this immediately as I don't normally use Airport, normally connected via Ethernet on my desktop iMac Intel.

Exact same problem: Now Airport won't turn on since Snow Leopard installed.
Tried: Zapped PRAM, removed the .plist file.... So "fixing itself" is only solution? Puhleeze Apple. Thank god I don't use Airport normally. But if I did? Totally *****.
That plus "losing" my HP 5610 Printer due to HP's not having a driver available? Thats TWO huge boo-boos.

The speed is nice but considering reverting to 10.5.8 until some of these issues are sorted.

ARGH!!!!

So what would you like Apple to do about your HP printer?

HP decided not to support it anymore.

That's Apple's fault how?

Hi all
I had almost the same problem, but my Airport would turn off. Anyway, I deleted the Automatic location in my Network Preferences and created a new location for Airport. Make sue you export your Airport settings to desktop first to make things easier.
I then imported the settings to the new location and nowit's working fine.
Hope this helps.

Russ

I want to confirm the solution of creating a new location.

I converted to SL and had a great experience. I was traveling and new wifi spots were fine.

When I got home, the normal Airport link with a Snow Airport wouldn't work at all.

That is when I discovered that I had to open the lock to get out of grey mode for many preferences.

Created a new location after getting rid of the old made the link work fine.

Seconding (thirding?) this solution:

Changed location from "Automatic" to a new location. Doing so re-enabled Airport to be able to be turned to "On".

So thats pretty easy fix to any who encounter this problem. Thanks all for posting this solution.

This worked for me as well! Thanks =) I am using the airport that is built into the Imac. I do want to add that under network preferences, there may be a yellow dot beside Airport, which usually indicates some sort of problem. Under status, it would also say "Airport has the self-assigned IP address 169.254.XXX.XX and will not be able to connect to the Internet." This is a change with the upgrade to SL, because it's actually looking for an external router (which doesn't exist because I'm using the built-in thing), according to tech support. So, just because you don't see a GREEN dot, it doesn't mean that there is a problem =)

Thanks this works for me too!