Macbook PRO can't find ANY Wifi network - only at home

Question

Level 1

0 points

Macbook PRO can't find ANY Wifi network - only at home

Hi, i have a very strange problem with my *Macbook Pro*. I have 3 apple computers at home and one pc. On all machines Wifi works fine, except my new alu Macbook Pro. Important note is, when im with my macbook on other place, office, caffe, *Wifi works fine. But when im at home, this macbook simply can't find ANY network, it's blind.* Interesting thing is, all other computers are several years old and WiFi works fine on them. My friend also bought a brand new macbook pro, and this machine also couldn't fine any network at my home, or in other case when it found networks, it couldn't connect and recieve error message "Connection timed out". I noticed there is new Wifi network in our range, is it possible that this network can cause "blindness" on new macbooks?

Macbook PRO, Mac OS X (10.5.8), can't find any wifi

Posted on Feb 27, 2010 2:07 PM

Reply

Answer 1

frcina Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 27, 2010 4:53 PM in response to sig

Tried power cycling many times. Router is *D-link DI-524*. I upddated firmware, nothing changed...Macbook Pro is still blind, all other machines are using this WiFi without any problems. It's really strange...This WiFi works fine for all machines except new Macbooks Pro. BUT this Mackbooks Pro are working fine on all others WiFi's...i have no idea where should be a problem.

Reply

Answer 2

kostby

Level 4

2,964 points

Feb 27, 2010 5:32 PM in response to frcina

Two easy possibilities:

#1: It's possible that your router is not set to broadcast the SSID (network name) - in other words, it's there, but it is NOT showing itself. If you know the name of your WiFi router, try entering it manually in your Mac's Network Preferences, and see if you can connect.

#2: Maybe 'Network Filtering' is turned on - doing so denys WiFi access to all computers except those whose MAC addresses you've entered into the table. MAC means Media Access Control - the 12 character hexadecimal number unique to every network device. +(To find your Mac's MAC address, go to Network Preferences, under Airport, it's listed as Ethernet ID, a 12-character hexadecimal number separated into six 2-character groups by colons.)+

You diagnose these issues further by entering your router's admin mode and see if it is set to broadcast SSID and if network filtering is turned 'on'.

Reply

Answer 3

frcina Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 28, 2010 4:21 AM in response to kostby

*I have to say, I'm really glad you are trying to help guys.*

Well, router is almost on default settings, SSID is brodcasted and i'm not filtering MAC adresses. I tried changed channels, diffrent types of security or no security, no luck.

Guys, maybe i wrote it wrong, but this MacBook can't see ANY network. Around me there are 4-6 other networks which I'm able to see from other machines. So *problem is, this Macbook can't seen ANY network - not just mine.* BUT when i'm with this Macbook in office for example, or any other location, Wifi works....

And one more important thing, this happened suddenly. I was able few months ago to find any WiFi around me with this Macbook. No changes to router, no changes to mac. Problem is somwhere in the middle...try to focus on this: why i'm not able to see any of those cca 6 networks around me. I really think it has to do something with distorted signal and Wifi card used in new macbooks. It's really sick, because all other machines works perfectly (MB 07, MBP 06, PC, iPhone 3g)

I found a log on the router, and it's happening all the time:

+Sunday February 28, 2010 12:52:29 Unrecognized attempt blocked from 77.49.167.124:10179 to 82.119.105.172 UDP:51413+

+Sunday February 28, 2010 12:52:39 Unrecognized attempt blocked from 84.74.154.198:51104 to 82.119.105.172 UDP:51413+

+Sunday February 28, 2010 12:52:41 Unrecognized attempt blocked from 85.228.116.143:30977 to 82.119.105.172 UDP:51413+

+Sunday February 28, 2010 12:52:45 Unrecognized attempt blocked from 82.19.214.16:49713 to 82.119.105.172 UDP:51413+

+Sunday February 28, 2010 12:52:51 Unrecognized attempt blocked from 79.5.189.206:42386 to 82.119.105.172 UDP:51413+

+Sunday February 28, 2010 12:53:01 Unrecognized attempt blocked from 82.231.42.177:48944 to 82.119.105.172 UDP:51413+

+Sunday February 28, 2010 12:53:03 Unrecognized attempt blocked from 150.65.37.20:35339 to 82.119.105.172 UDP:51413+

+Sunday February 28, 2010 12:53:08 Unrecognized attempt blocked from 83.34.238.95:27314 to 82.119.105.172 TCP:38481+

+Sunday February 28, 2010 12:53:09 Unrecognized attempt blocked from 83.34.238.95:27314 to 82.119.105.172 TCP:38481+

+Sunday February 28, 2010 12:53:09 Unrecognized attempt blocked from 89.135.92.244:22231 to 82.119.105.172 UDP:51413+

Reply

Answer 4

frcina Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 28, 2010 10:08 AM in response to frcina

I FOUND something! Now I'm much more closer to the solution.

Macbook is still blind. I connected it to the Ethernet. Than went to +System preferences/Sharing+. I enabled Internet sharing and setup following: Share internet connection from "ethernet" to computers using "Airport". So now is the Macbook something like router. Other machines can connect to Macbook's airport card and get the shared internet.

Ok and now the interesting part, I've disabled internet sharing. Voalaaa, i can see all WiFi networks around and can also connect.

When i put Macbook to sleep or restart it, it's blind again.
Any ideas?

Reply

Answer 5

kostby

Level 4

2,964 points

Feb 28, 2010 9:38 PM in response to frcina

I'm pretty sure that the router log entries you posted are NOT related to your MacBook's 'WiFi blindness'.
I searched for the 'unrecognized attempt blocked' string and 'D-Link router' and found this discussion --> http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/575516.html.

Apparently the log entries you listed are unsolicited INCOMING packets being blocked by your router to the specified destination IP address 82.119.105.172 from outside your LAN. If that IP address is your MacBook, then it's already successfully connected to your router at that point.

I don't have an answer as to why WiFi suddenly 'sees' after using your MBP as a router for other network traffic.

Reply

Answer 6

tn3

Level 1

0 points

Mar 3, 2010 9:07 PM in response to frcina

I too am having the same problem. I have no clue what's going. There are several other networks around me and the macbook doesn't find any at all. This is a new problem and I don't know what spurred it on. It only started about a couple of days ago.

Macbook Details:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.53 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1

Reply

Answer 7

pmowrer

Level 1

0 points

Aug 11, 2010 6:21 AM in response to Sebastian-S

I just had a problem where the D-Link router I had routinely connected to with my MacBook Pro suddenly couldn't be seen at all. Fortunately I was able to solve it.

While there had been some minor issues before, they had all been solved by power cycling and/or rebooting the MPB. Other devices (mainly PCs) experienced no such problems with the network.

However, this time, the MBP couldn't see the network even if sitting next to the router. Again, all other devices saw and connected to the network just fine. Logging into the router, I noticed a checked option labeled "Enable Auto Channel Scan". It changes the channel that the router operates on from time to time. Apparently, a switch to channel 13 had, for whatever reason, made the network invisible to the MPB. Switching to another channel solved the problem.

Reply

Answer 8

Aug 11, 2010 7:44 AM in response to pmowrer

pmowrer wrote:
I just had a problem where the D-Link router I had routinely connected to with my MacBook Pro suddenly couldn't be seen at all. Fortunately I was able to solve it.

While there had been some minor issues before, they had all been solved by power cycling and/or rebooting the MPB. Other devices (mainly PCs) experienced no such problems with the network.

However, this time, the MBP couldn't see the network even if sitting next to the router. Again, all other devices saw and connected to the network just fine. Logging into the router, I noticed a checked option labeled "Enable Auto Channel Scan". It changes the channel that the router operates on from time to time. Apparently, *a switch to channel 13 had, for whatever reason, made the network invisible to the MPB. Switching to another channel solved the problem.*

Perhaps this is why:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listof_WLANchannels

Reply

Answer 9

sig

Level 8

35,862 points

Feb 27, 2010 2:20 PM in response to frcina

Try power cycling your router. Make? Model? Updated firmware?

Reply

Answer 10

Mar 4, 2010 6:20 AM in response to tn3

Have you simply tried deleting your airport connection? In System Prefs/Network, select Airport in the left hand column, then hit the minus button. Then hit the plus button and re-add it.

Reply

Answer 11

May 19, 2010 3:38 AM in response to Andrew Wolczyk

I have the same issue on a friend's macbook. Any updates from you guys?

New ideas would be very much appreciated!
Thanks.

Reply