M1 MacBook Air continuously drops WiFi connection

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Level 1

16 points

M1 MacBook Air continuously drops WiFi connection

I got a new M1 MacBook Air last week and it continuously drops the wifi connection.

In my summer house I have a fiber connection and the MacBook Air drops both on 2.4 and 5 GHz as well as when I connect to a Netgear Orbi mesh network (with updated software).

Every time I close the lid or leave the computer unattended for a while the connection is lost. I need to go in to Network settings and refresh the DHCP in order to reestablish a connection.

At home I use a 5G Huawei router and Deco mesh network. Same thing there. The new MacBook Air is on Mac OS 11.4 as well as my old one.

My wife´s older MacBook Air, my older MacBook Air, our respective Ipads and Iphones and Apple Watches, as well as our Apple-TV, works in those very same environments without any dropping of the wifi connection at all.

So it is very hard to imagine any other root to this problem other than the M1.

Is Apple working in a fix?

All I've seen in this forum is standard: run diagnostics, blah, blah first line support things. So I'm not asking if there is a work around. What is needed is a fix. Otherwise I will have to return to using my old MacBook Air. It's not possible to use the new one having to go through the dropped wifi everytime I want to use it.

Posted on Jul 24, 2021 1:51 AM

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Answer 1

Leanne_68

Community Specialist

Jul 25, 2021 7:50 AM in response to Northman

Hello Northman, Thank you for using Apple Support Communities! It sounds like you're experiencing a problem with your MacBook Air disconnecting from your Wi-Fi. We would be happy to help!

We recommend checking your Wi-Fi settings to ensure that "Automatically join this network" is enabled. Also running a diagnostics may help determine if the issue could be related to the system or hardware. Learn more here: Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac.

See Start up your Mac in safe mode, this will allow us to determine whether issues you’re experiencing are caused by software that loads as your Mac starts up. Cheers!

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Answer 2

mgs4410

Level 1

8 points

Aug 23, 2021 10:23 PM in response to Northman

Having the same problem, but one thing I did dig up on a forum somewhere that seems to help is the USB-C ports might not be playing nice with whatever wifi modem/antenna they spec'd on this M1 MacBook Air. So try unplugging whatever external drive or USB-C/Lightning hub/charge port you are using and depending on and see if that helps. That's right, they only include one type of port, make you buy expensive hubs and dongles whats-its to get anything done, and to top it off these things can interfere with your wifi reception when you use them.

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Answer 3

mgs4410

Level 1

8 points

Aug 23, 2021 10:22 PM in response to Northman

Having the same problem, but one thing I did dig up on a forum somewhere that seems to help is the USB-C ports might not be playing nice with whatever wifi modem/antenna they spec'd on this M1 MacBook Air. So try unplugging whatever external drive or USB-C/Lightning hub/charge port you are using and depending on and see if that helps. That's right, they only include one type of port, make you buy expensive hubs and dongles whats-its to get anything done, and to top it off these things can interfere with your wifi reception when you use them.

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M1 MacBook Air continuously drops WiFi connection

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