Lion - Wi-Fi doesn't automatically reconnect when reawakening after sleep

I'm getting this problem too on my MacBook (mid-2007). I've tried all the various workarounds and fixes mentioned here, and now it sometimes reconnects automatically after waking up. However, it still on occasions refuses to reconnect until I click the Airport icon and manually select my network from the list (don't have to re-enter the password though). Roughly half the times I wake the Mac up, it won't reconnect.

I've noticed that this Mac has no trouble auto-connecting to WEP and unencrypted networks; the problem only occurs on my WPA2 network.

Apple put a fix out for this bug. 10.7.3 works great for me.

The wi-fi bug fix released by Apple only addressed the issues the iMacs were having. It did resolve that issue, however these recent posts are referencing issues with MacBooks. After updating my iMac I attempted to do the same on my wife's MacBook, only to find that the update wasn't even listed as available on her Software Update.

This has been a persistent and annoying problem in Lion, and it is still not fixed.

It happens consistently on my MacBook Pro mid-2008.

Could you try this and get back to me with the results

Go to the bluetooth menu and select "Turn Bluetooth off"

Does this make a difference ?

matt@logosystems.co.uk

Matt

Hi Matt,

The turn off Bluetooth used to work before some update in my MBA MID-2011. It does not anymore. However, If I dissable deep sleep (hybernation) with sudo works flawless.

My conclussion:

A.- Apple developers screwed the weak up protocol after hybernation.

B.- They dont want to aknowledge the issue ir they "ignore" that the issue is present.

C.- Why they dont try a fix? Should be THAATT complicated?

I mean developers if u even read this follow this steps to reproduce the issue:

1.- Connect a MBA to a WiFi network and save settings

2.- Move to another location and connect to another WiFi network and save settings

3.- Let the computer to enter in hybernation (deep sleep)

4.- Move bakc to the 1st location

5.- Issue is there.

Disable hybernation and repeat.

Issue is gone. However there is gonna be no hybernation. Battery in sleep will last just some hours instead of the advertised 20-30 days.

This is just an infuriating problem which started with Lion and still hasn't been fixed months later!! 😠

I've been trying these "fixes" for months to no avail on my mid-2008 MBP.

The problem is absurdly easy to reproduce:

1. Put MacBook Pro to sleep.

2. Wake it up.

3. No Wifi. 😟

Hopefully the problem will be fixed in 10.8 Mountain Lion.

Sadly it hasnt been fixed!

Im running 10.8 on a mid 2012 MBP, and every time i start up or wake up i have to search through the available networks in my building, find mine and reconnect to it!

😟

I have just started having this issue. I am running Mountain Lion (before that Lion), and my MacBook pro would always automatically reconnect to my home network. Until last thursday, when my ISP sent me a new modem/router.

That new router has a limitation such that I could not use the manual SSID I had set for my wifi because it contained a "." character. So I had to use the samer SSID only without the dot. This then looks like a new network to my MacBook and I had to reenter the access key on first access.

Ever since, my MacBook no longer automatically reconnects to our home network when it wakes up from sleep: I have to manually select it.

I tried various tricks, like making sure my home SSID was the first in the list of known networks. Then even clearing the whole list. All to no avail.

The only thing I noticed is that when my MacBook scans for visible networks, my home network does not come up first in the list, there are two others with names that are alphabetically before.

My iPhone and iPad automatically reconnect. Only my MacBook does not. This is actually becoming a pain ...

Albert

This used to happen to me. Someone in the community suggested using the on/off button to wake it up rather than jiggling the mouse or striking a key on the keypad. It's worked ever since.

Not sure what to say other than I've no longer had any issues since upgrading to OS10.8. My iPhones have never had any issues, not have my iPads (all running IOS6).

Sorry...

Scott

Well - it works again as it used to - i.e. my MacBook now again automatically reconnects to known networks ?

Did I change anything - nope. Except that I rebooted my MacBook. I imagine some process that handles the automatic reconnection had failed or crashed, and a reboot put everything back in order.

Albert

Ok I think I have finally solved this most frustrating of issues.

Basically a nearby router that my macbook can see is incorrectly configured with the wrong country code (or someone has imported a foreign router).

When the macbook wakes it looks for any wireless signal to understand what country it is in and then only listens on the wireless channels for the country detected.

I have about 10 wireless networks around me and one of them is set for Country "TW" - I am in Country Code "GB"

Most of the times the first network I see is the GB one and my laptop looks for my wireless network on the GB wireless channels and connects OK.

Sometimes, my laptop detects this rogue TW router first and only listens on wireless channels that are correct for TW - it hence can't see my wireless network as it is configured on channel 48 which is not part of the TW approved set of channels:

Here is a snippet from my syslog:

Nov 9 18:18:11 GarysMacBook kernel[0] <Debug>: en0: 802.11d country code set to 'TW'.

Nov 9 18:18:11 GarysMacBook kernel[0] <Debug>: en0: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140 149 153 157 161 165

Hence, the options are find the neighbour with the rogue router and get it fixed/binned, or choose a channel that can be seen by both the rogue router country and your own country.

The GB channels are:

Nov 4 14:01:23 GarysMacBook kernel[0] <Debug>: en0: 802.11d country code set to 'GB'.

Nov 4 14:01:23 GarysMacBook kernel[0] <Debug>: en0: Supported channels 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140

Unfortunately for me, my Netgear WNDR3700v2 (N600) router only allows me to chose channels 36, 40, 44 or 48 - None of which are visible if my laptop detects the country as TW !!!!

I need to find the neighbour with the rogue router, I guess...

Oh well, at least I know what causes the problem...

BTW - I could do with the forum thankyou points, so please be generous...

Rgds

Gary

I meant to add - look in the file /var/log/system.log and search for this line to see what country's your machines are picking up:

system.log:Nov 9 11:36:57 GarysMacBook kernel[0]: en0: 802.11d country code set to 'GB'.

Rgds

Gary