Wifi won't turn on since upgrade to Lion

I have had the 'WIFi drop out won't restart' problem for months now. The problem is I can't replicate it at the apple store. Looking at the logs on the system it is clear that the system simply cannot see the card. The message coming up on the log says exactly that. Apple speculate that it might be something to do with the energy saving mode but no amount of tricking around with this makes a difference.

I have a 2008 MBP core 2 Duo 2.5 with GB memory. The first battery expanded and warped, the screen hinge cable broke, the keyboard lost keys, And it has the notorious unshielded video card. The wireless card had to be replaced, as was the memory (all except the battery was done by apple just after the the 3yr warranty ended so they do the right thing in my experience).

This doesn't detract from the fact that this is a duff product unfortunately. In an effort to sort my airport problem out, and it is happening a minimum of once an hour, I have had the system bench tested at Apple, completely reinstalled, reinstalled from an apple master copy and my files dragged over, disk repaired countless times, I have deleted locations, Pram, everything.

Bottom line nothing works. The box of bits Apple have sold me has a particualr bit that just doesn't work. If Apple has used an incompatible wireless card for this particular design of machine then it sits with Apple to get it working or change it for a compatible card.

A persistent theme in these forums is that it is a firmware issue, however Apple don't ever seem to get around to sorting it out. How does one go about getting their attention?

P

Ombudsman, consumer affairs.

Pete

Thanks Pete, unfortunately there isn't such an Ombudsman that I can find. The sale of goods act (19790 may help as it allows for a reasonable expectation that the goods you buy will work for a reasonable period but does involve a trip to the county court and it is difficult to argue with a tech company if you aren't a techie.

Given that so many people seem to have the same problem with the WiFi you would have hoped that Apple would have the good sense to listen and act. All that is needed is a fix for the problem and then we are all happy.

It does seem a few people are being forced to live with this issue right now, so if Apple don't sort this are we just expected to pony up for a new machine which I don't otherwise need or want and write off the value of our current machine? I wouldn't feel right about flogging my machine on eBay knowing it had this problem, and unfortunately that would leave me with nursing a chunk of a loss.

I suppose I can just through myself on the mercy of the Genius Bar (again)

P

Forgot that we are most likely in different countries. Personally I have never had the issue in my five Macs, so I haven't had to worry. Have not had to change a single setting between Snow Leopard and Lion, so I wonder if it really does narrow down to a certain release of hardware? I'm sure it will be figured out at least in Mountain Lion if not before. Apple have too much at risk here in today's market.

Pete

Hi Peter, I am in the UK hence the different system. We have three 13in mac books, a mini mac and a mac pro in the house here as well and none has this problem or any other. I had hoped Lion would sort it out.

I seem to have been a bit unlucky with my machine, between the other units at home and the 40+ imacs in my office I have had two hard drive failures, one wipe and reinstal and that's it. In five years.

P

You need to film the problem when it occurs on your phone. That can be your evidence, as it was for me.

It sounds so obvious now you say it! Thank you for the suggetsion.

I have deferred my Genius appointment until Tuesday. I will report back

P

🙂 no problem wasteofspace.

So to update my problem: after 7 repairs I had a new problem (older problems= battery life, wifi not working, graphics problems).

My computer was freezing all day. Then it wouldn't charge or turn on. I called Applecare (keyword is Applecare) and talked to someone who seemed to empathise. They then talked to the Apple store manager and transferred me to the manager and I told them my situation (previously, the manager was not in the store). The manager said he would talk to the people above him (?) and call me back. Then another apple employee called me back several hours later saying he was told to call me but he wasn't sure why. I explained my situation for the 3rd time that day and he said he would call me back. When he called back he announced that they would replace my computer.

So my advice is: do the Genius bar thing up to three times. If they insist on not replacing your computer call Applecare. Get them to find you a manager. I am so relieved.

I can't help but think that my timid non-confrontational nature is a disadvantage in these situations.

rachelnsw wrote:

🙂 no problem wasteofspace.

So to update my problem: after 7 repairs I had a new problem (older problems= battery life, wifi not working, graphics problems).

My computer was freezing all day. Then it wouldn't charge or turn on. I called Applecare (keyword is Applecare) and talked to someone who seemed to empathise. They then talked to the Apple store manager and transferred me to the manager and I told them my situation (previously, the manager was not in the store). The manager said he would talk to the people above him (?) and call me back. Then another apple employee called me back several hours later saying he was told to call me but he wasn't sure why. I explained my situation for the 3rd time that day and he said he would call me back. When he called back he announced that they would replace my computer.

So my advice is: do the Genius bar thing up to three times. If they insist on not replacing your computer call Applecare. Get them to find you a manager. I am so relieved.

I can't help but think that my timid non-confrontational nature is a disadvantage in these situations.

Happy to see it. Big brand companies need to deliver to customers and no one should stand for being passed around when it is obvious a faulty machine. I love my Macs but I have had a lemon in the past. It 'Just Happens'. lol

Happy Computing

Pete

EUREKA! I might have found it..maybe...well, I dunno...

I started having the same problem with my '08 Macbook Pro (WiFi stops working - I can turn WiFi off, but not back on). This started several months after I upgraded to Lion.

What I've just noticed is that the problem seems to disappear when I'm connected to power - I only have a problem while I'm running on battery (and only sometimes then). I don't have a long track record with this yet, but it seems promising.

Could be the right track. On my previous trips Apple they have pondered whether this is a power management issue, the system sends the card to sleep and then can't wake it up. It makes sense.

I find it happens a lot where I am streaming, but it also happens when I am using a VPN to remote in to work. And at any other point. It seems to hap-pen on my machine whether or not it is charging though. Still haven't had time to attend a geneius (although bought 4 ipads yesterday so still dumb and loyal). Will book Monday

I have iMac and i face this problem since upgrading to Lion. There was a software update a couple of months back but even with that update the problem exists. Before the software update it never connects to WiFi but after the update I observed the following

1. After wakeup if TimeMachine backup starts then WiFi will not work otherwise the WiFi comes up momemtarily and as soon TimeMachine backup starts (happens all the time) WiFi fails to connect.

2. Also WiFi fails to reconnect because it doesn't renew the lease and this happens consistently after a long sleep.

The only workaround is trun Off and On WiFi to get connected. Hopefully Apple will address this issue soon.

I did a reformat of my computer and installed lion. A month ago. It was fine until now and it will not turn on.

Welcome to the club, I had the problem for at least a year and it started with Snow Leopard, persisted through a clean install of Lion. I finally solved the problem by getting rid of my mac. For the price, these machines aren't as awesome as people claim.

If it was faulty right through two systems then it was faulty to begin with and you should have taken it straight back for exchange or repair instead of passing a faulty machine off to someone else. No computer magically repairs itself, the problem gets worse if not addressed.

If you don't have a Mac why post here?

Pete