Since upgrading my iMac to Lion, the WiFi shows up as "no hardware installed" on the desktop. This is after showing a grey progress bar on the white boot screen. It only happens on first boot but works fine after a restart. I have tried deleting the Preferences folder as has been suggested for some MGP users. Does anyone have any thoughts?
iMac 2011, Core i7, 12GB RAM, OS X Lion
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7), 12GB RAM
I also think it is the flex connection cable.
I have a 2011 MB pro. I had intermittent connectivity losses after closing my MB when leaving the train and reopening it at the office. No networks could be found. A reboot would solve the problem.
Then after a while, I started to see 'No hardware installed' when I clicked on the (empty) wifi icon.
After replacing the wifi card, it worked for a while (so I suspected it was the wifi card). Then the problem came back. Now here is what I found.
The flex cable between logic board and wifi card has a connector on the logic board that sticks out a bit and which touches the case. I suspect that over the course of one or two years, depending on how much the MB is tossed around and used on laps, the connector suffers from pressure exerted through the case and the soldering points start to loose.
Once one soldering point gets loose I guess you will start to see unpredictable behavior - but all related to physical pressure on the back of your MB. One day it works all day (where you are actually sitting at your desk and not moving the MB around!), another day your wifi is gone. After carrying it around the connector will surely have disconnected a few times so wifi is gone, a reboot may bring it back once steady at a table top.
So the issue comes in disguise: we think it is sleep related - but it is actually related to what you do after you put it to sleep, which is of course put it in your bag and carry it around.
I came to this conclusion after carefully resoldering the tiny connection points of the flex cable (logic board side). (which is extremely hard, you need an smd soldering device plus a good magnifying glass and steady hands)
I also ordered a new cable which has not yet arrived. Mine had part number 821-1311-02 and I found one for $19 at PBParts.
Problem gone and has been gone since (one and a halve week ago).
I suspect that anyone who had the cable replaced, either as part of a card replacement or as part of a logic board replacement no longer suffers from this issue.
Also, it would explain why most suggested fixes seem to work for a while, with the problem jumping back in your face after a short while.
My suggestion to anyone who has these kind of issues is to order a new cable (not a used one!) and see if that works. It can be very easily replaced. Be careful when you take the old one off the logic board - mine was apparantly so bad that the second time I did that the connector came off the flex cable. So make sure you have your new cable at hand before getting the old one off.
Good luck to you all.
I put up with this for a year, because the iMac was in a location with easy ethernet access. Unfortunately, I had to move it to a place not so blessed.
I took it to an Apple store, where the genius bar ran a harware test, which said the WiFi card was bad, and wanted $103 to replace it. So I bought and installed a replacement myself ($43). Still had a "No Hardware Installed" message.
Then the light bulb went on -- I bought a Netgear wireless range extender ($60), which is connected to the iMac via the ethernet port, rendering the WiFi issue moot. You will need another computer with WiFi to set the thing up, but it only takes about two minutes.
And I didn't have to pay Apple to fix the problem Apple created.
*Update - Fixed Problem via New Flex Cable - If pushing down the corners worked for you, then replace your flex cable - do this on your own seeing is $20 dollars and 20 minutes of your time. Having Apple do it will cost you $300 and will take 2 weeks*
If you didn't see my original post, I have had intermittent problems with my wireless for months. I was able to push down the corners of the laptop to get the wireless back from time to time.
The fix: I purchased a used flex cable online and replaced the old one. I will provide pics of the old one to follow, which shattered (I'm not kidding), when I removed it. This has fixed the problem entirely.
The story leading up to my repair: So, my wireless completely stopped working right before Thanksgiving. I went to the Apple Store in Manhattan Village (Los Angeles), where they now had people waiting outside like it was a nightclub. I waited inside with my appointment for the obligatory 25 minutes after which I met my Genius who was unable to diagnose the problem. Instead, the Genius said he would have to charge me $100 some odd dollars to fix it and promised it would be done in a few days in time to retrieve it before Thanksgiving. I also asked the Genius to replace 3 of the screws on the back of the case (which had fallen out) and they told me they didn't always carry screws. I reminded the Genius that not having screws in a repair shop is like saying you don't a wrench at an autoshop. I don't think the Genius got it.
I called before my trip, a day later than the Genius had promised to have it ready, and another Genius told me they didn't have it ready, and that they recommended sending it out which would cost me another $300 some odd dollars, MINIMUM. I told this Genius I couldn't understand charging $400 some odd where 1/4 of it was to tell me they didn't know what was wrong. She didn't get it.
Needless to say, I told the Genius I was disappointed and that I wanted to speak to the Genius manager. I explained to her everything, at which she said she could try to expedite the outsourced repair. I told her, "No thank you," and that I wanted to pick up my computer ASAP. She said she wanted to speak to me when I arrived and I hesitantly agreed, as I felt they had already wasted my time by promising things they couldn't deliver on. When I arrived, I spoke to the Genius manager who was apologetic for the timeframe issue, but entirely unapologetic (which she actually said, she wouldn't apologize for) for not being able to fix the problem. This was unprompted and bizarre, seeing that I didn't do anything, but ask for my computer back. She offered to waive the $100 charge, which I thanked her for. It was the very least they could do, I think.
When I got it home I went ahead and opened the back and took a shot at figuring out the problem myself. I used to repair PCs, but never Macs or Laptops so I was in foreign territory. I went ahead and re-set the gold connectors bridging the card to, what I think was, the receiver, making them a tighter fit. This didn't fix the problem. I then attempted to remove the flex cable at the center of the computer connecting the Logic Board to the wireless. As I attempted to remove it, one of the ends shattered entirely. I had to pick out piece of metal connectors from the flex cable out from the Logic Board connection.
With a destroyed flex cable I had no choice, but to order a new one. The new one came, but was a bit too long for my case. I installed it anyway, taping it down to the harddrive "case" to hold the slack. It worked!
I think it is needless to say that I am incredibly disappointed with the support and general physical quality of my MacBook. I wish you all the best of luck in your wireless repair endeavors!
Here is the solution:
http://macnerd-presents.blogspot.com/2011/08/os-x-lion-wifi-no-hardware-installe d.html
uncheck the "reopen windows when logging back in" button
The Macbook's have a different issue. The current desktops don't have any hardware issues, they just boot into safe mode when more than 1 bluetooth device is trying to connect during bootup. In safe mode, it will say no wifi hardware installed.
The Macbooks having the wifi issues are not booting into safe mode like our iMacs. They are definately having a driver or hardware problem. If you do a clean install of Snow Leopard, the wifi hardware will work again, I've read a lot of posts about users doing that until a fix is issued.
Not a solution, but can save you some headaches. The problem trying to solve the no wifi hardware issue is that different machines are having the problem for different reasons and the machine should be listed in the Macbook and iMac sections of the forum separately. Just looking in the Lion software section can be misleading because a fix for one machine will differ from another because they have different hardware and firmware.
Perhaps these posts should be in the proper hardware forums. For iMacs with Lion and no wifi, if you see the progress bar during boot then your machine is booting into safe mode. If you leave your bluetooth devies off during boot, it will work fine.
For Macbook 2008/9 and 2010 Macbook Pros, this is not a safe boot bluetooth problem, so it should be addressed in the Laptap hardware sections. But as of now, there has not been any definate fix, the software fixes issued last week works for some, doesn't for others.
I just got a 2010 Macbook Pro in a trade last week and wiped it and loaded Lion onto it. My wifi hardware is always working, but I am having a video driver problem where the screen goes black for no reason or it gets stuck waking up from sleep. So I just loaded Snow Leopard back until Apple fixes the drivers. NVidia drivers seem to be causing more headaches than the broadcomm wifi hardware.
I encountered this same problem for a few weeks and had to restart my macbook repeatedly and out of 10 restarts, 1 would successfully have wifi.
Eventually, as my macbook was 10 months old, I went to the service centre.
They replaced my airport card and it seemed to solve the problem .... for1 or 2 days ... then same problem of not getting wifi resurfaced.
I sent the macbook back again. This time, they changed the entire LCD display to a brand new one and explained that the airport card is located inside the LCD display part of the macbook. And now problem solved.
Thakfully, my macbook is still under warranty and the servicing was free. But I would have been willing to pay to get the problem rectified.
Perhaps its worth sending your machine to apple service to get it fixed .... May be a better solution in the end.
I had the problem an iMac 21" (current model) dropping to Safe Mode everytime I started it. After reading the posts I tried keeping the keyboard off until I see the apple logo - it worked. But being disatisfied with this solution I kept investigating. The iMac was in Bluetooth Discoverable mode.
When I disabled the Discoverable mode, as is usually recommended unless you are actually connecting a new device, it worked normally and properly. I left the wireless keyboard and mouse on, shutdown the iMac and waited for 30 minutes (just to be sure). This time after pressing the power button it started normally.
I repeated the test several times all with successful resuts.
I recommend if you are seeing your iMac (Lion) dropping to Safe Mode (progress bar shows up during the initial part of boot up) then check to see if you have your bluetooth setting in "Discoverable" mode.
Of course keeping the keyboard OFF until you see the apple logo also works - but it just doesn't feel right. Mac's should "Just Work" no hastles like those other guys.
Open a terminal window. Type:
sudo rm -f /var/vm/sleepimage
It may ask for the administrator password. Type that in.
Then reboot the machine. I did a hard reboot where I held down the power button until it forced a restart without saving anything.
It started back up, and the wifi hardware was working again.
This actually worked for me for this wifi no hardware installed issue:
Go to /Library/Preferences and delete all com.apple.airport* and com.apple.network* files.
sudo rm -f /var/vm/sleepimage fixed it for me.
I was geting the "no hardware installed" message for about a week (this time). As has been recommended several times, I turned off BT, restarted and had wifi back. BTW, my MBP was not booting in safe mode.
@Gordon Martin Jr - I have been using Macs since 1986 and will never switch to a windows box, so Apple is highly reguarded in my house... but... "I'm sure Apple is working on an update" is way too optimistic, even for me. But... I hope you're right.
I support @atgrazi in his statement "Also everyone from this issue should take the time to call Apple Care or email the feedback department."Burn that bandwidth and remind them that they have a problem we need fixed soonest!
I have tried a lot of things at different times which fixed the issue for few days and sometime few weeks.
Although, the issue keep reoccuring.
Here are the list of things to try, each of them individually worked for me and kept Wi-Fi running for few days.
1) Reset PRAM http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
2) Reset SMC http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
3) sudo rm -f /var/vm/sleepimage
Open terminal and run this command and restart your MBP
4) Turning off bluetooth and restarting your MBP
Check if your bluetooth is working and discoverable. Turn it Off and restart.
If you see "Wi-Fi: Not configured" error message, add a new Wi-Fi interface
and keep the service name as Wi-Fi (From System Preference -> Network -> + )
5) Reinstall MacOSX (not downgrade).
6) This didn't work for me, but worked for some other ppl on the forum
http://macmanus.nl/2012/05/17/1074_refuses_to_see_atheros_ar9280/
7) Buy a Mac compatible USB Wi-Fi Adapter
I will continue to edit and update this post, if the issue reoccurs in the future and i am able to fix it again.
I feel your frustration. I went through every fix I could find and was convinced it was a software issue. Brought it to an apple repair specialist who diagnosed it as a hardware problem. They replaced various boards from the wifi/bluetooth and last option was the logic board which would have been really expensive. In the end it was a connection cable which is all they charged me for. No issues since they fixed it. Best of luck
I have tried many of the 'fixes' online, some work sporadically, but no permanent fix. The best solution I've found is to use a usb wifi dongle to work around using your b0rked wifi hardware. This one has a tiny profile, and is <$10 on amazon and does the trick beautifullyl Edimax EW-7811Un - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003MTTJOY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF 8&psc=1
I don't know how relevant this is in your case but maybe this will help someone else...
In my experience with servicing MacBook Pros, sometimes the wifi and bluetooth hardware is reported as uninstalled after servicing the logic board or replacing the dvd drive. Usually, the fix is as simple as removing the back of your computer and ensuring the black 0.5" cable running at an angle from the logic board to the side of the case is securely connected in both locations. If the tech was not careful servicing the machine, said cable might be loose, inhibiting the hardware from being detected. Sometimes you even need to pull back the black tape over the cable and reseat it. Tread carefully- this might void your warranty.
I just had the same problem today. All what I did is turn off my bluetooth, and then restarted my Macbook pro, and it worked for me!
Lion - WiFi no hardware installed
