I am unable to connect my MacBook Pro to internet

cee198 wrote:

It is OS X version 10.8.5

how do I update it if it won’t let me connect to the internet

The easiest way will probably be with the help of a USB flash drive, and a modern Mac or PC.

Do not erase the old Mac. You will need for it to be running some version of the Mac operating system in order to use what you are going to put on the flash drive.

1. Using the modern computer, go to: How to download and install macOS - Apple Support .
2. Use the link for El Capitan 10.11, or Sierra 10.12, to download a .DMG (disk image) that contains an installer for that operating system. Note: This is not an image of a bootable drive. It is just a way of packaging a "regular" application that "happens" to be an installer.
3. Put a copy of the .DMG file onto the USB flash drive. (A modern Mac will likely be able to open the .DMG, but not to successfully run the installer inside. You need to run the installer on a Mac that is compatible with that installer's version of the operating system.)
4. The modern computer's work is now done, and you can delete any copy of the .DMG on its internal drive.

Now that the modern computer has let you get the .DMG from the https Support page,

1. Transfer the USB flash drive to the old computer.
2. Copy the .DMG file to the old computer.
3. Open the .DMG file to mount the disk image.
4. Run the installer application inside. (Presumably after first backing up the old computer and making sure that you have something to boot from, if something goes wrong during the upgrade.)
5. Be patient.

Once you are on El Capitan or Sierra, the versions of Safari and the App Store on the old Mac should be recent enough that you can use the old computer to visit How to download and install macOS - Apple Support, where there are App Store links for upgrading to High Sierra, Mojave, and Catalina.

If you upgrade to High Sierra or Mojave, you may want to install Firefox 115 ESR afterwards. It's an old version of Firefox, but it's newer than the versions of Safari bundled with those versions of macOS.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-users-macos-1012-1013-1014-moving-to-extended-support

If you upgrade to Catalina, you may want to install the current version of Firefox afterwards.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

Then back up your system.

What version of macOS are you running on that MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)? (Look in About This Mac in the Apple () menu.)

That Mac originally shipped with Mac OS X 10.7.4 (Lion). It can upgrade as far as macOS 10.15.7 (Catalina) – and no further. If you are running anything earlier than El Capitan (OS X 11.*), it is likely that you are locked out of almost all https sites, due to changes made over the years to https security. It will also be a bit little bit more difficult, though not impossible, to upgrade your version of the operating system for the same reason.

If you upgrade to Catalina, you can install the current versions of the Firefox browser and LibreOfffice office suite … but 32-bit applications will stop working.

can you connect to this EXACT web page:

http://support.apple.com/en-us/102662

NB that is the older MacOS downloads page, except using http instead of httpS

we KNOW you can not reach the httpS version, but can you reach the http (no S ) version?

What happens when you try to connect to the internet exactly?

How are you trying to connect?

Are you just opening a web browser?

If so, what happens?

Are you trying to connect to a Wi-Fi network?

Or are you using an ethernet cable?

Why not? What happens when you try to open a web page?

Do you get an error? If so, what does it say?

With such an old OS version, the browser may not be able to open the website, but that would have nothing to do with your internet connection.