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.
Thanks for the help. I have already tried checking and unchecking and it did not work. I have done all the resets et.al with the same result. The funny thing is yesterday morning I woke up and imagine what the WIFI is alive and working perfectly. It has worked since then without even a trace of trouble. This is the third time like this. So, the real question is why is this happening. Its certainly not a hardware issue as other wise it won't function accurately now. So, I am at peace until again the WIFI dies.
Y-no....it is a solution for some! It did not work for a lot of us, Although I wish it had. I have tried every thing listed..re-setting pram etc... airport still has no bars and will not even recognize that there is a card installed for internet. Although I reboot to another partition and there it is working fine. Lion is clearly the culprit and I paid for this frustration thinking it was the computer or the airport or the internet service provider...Apple should hide their head in the sand...shameless, how they have dealt with this! Unacceptable is the only word that comes to mind.
Thanks ca1231.
This worked for me as well. The problem came out of nowhere for me.
Hadn't even updated anything.
I noticed that system is not re-creating the removed files. Do you think they will be needed at some point?
Cheers,
V
Nope, didn't work. Thanks, though.
Brand new MacBook Pro. Recently went in for warranty work: they replaced the inverter and the logic board. When I got it back from the technician this "Wi-Fi: No hardware installed" problem started happening. I called them and they told me it must be a software problem, which is not covered under warranty.
I have tried every software-related fix I can find online; nothing has helped. The problem always starts when the machine goes to sleep. It lasts a few hours, after which restarting the laptop fixes the problem. It doesn't happen every time it goes to sleep. It's gone for days without the problem, only to have it happen again for no apparent reason.
Any suggestions?
I've tried numerous different solutions trying to solve the "Wi-Fi: No hardware installed" bug. Resetting the PRAM, updating operating systems, deleting cache etc. The below link explains how to fix for Mac Pro's, MacBook Pro's etc.
http://xiphone.org/os-x-lion-what-to-do-when-you-see-the-wi-fi-no-hardware-insta lled/
"sigh" switch it off and on again. But it really worked - and saved me the effort (and embarrassment) of taking my mac to the Apple store to have it work there!
Running Mac Pro 2 x 2.4 Ghz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 12Gb Ram.
Thanks for all your advice on this -- I have been able to dodge the problem for the last year because the iMac was close enough to an ethernet port.
Not any more. In order to use the thing I need to have WiFi.
I have reset the NVRAM, SMC, and booted both with, and without, the bluetooth keyboards off.
The result is always the same: the BT icon in the menu bar says "No Hardware Installed". However, the system profiler shows a WiFi card installed, and the Network Preferences panel provides the option to turn WiFi on (although it doesn't pay any attention). Also, the Sharing Preferences panel provides the option of sharing Internet via WiFi -- but throw up a warning that WiFi needs turning on, which the computer won't do. I never get a progress bar when it is booting.
WiFi worked perfectly until I upgraded to 10.7. On restart following the upgrade is when the problems started.
As a lifelong supporter of Apple (as I type this on my third iPhone over the many years), I must say I've never been more disappointed in a company than I am right now with Apple over this issue. My MacBook Pro has been unable to connect to the Internet since August 2012. I've tried every so called "solution" that I've found browsing the Internet (via iPhone, of course) but it's been to no avail (not from a lack of diversity of home grown solutions; google "MacBook pro no wifi hardware" and you get over 8 million hits). I've also sent my computer off to the Apple store where they just replaced my airport card, which worked fine for a week but then the same issue rose again.
I am just confused how such a blatant error on Apple's part is not being met with public outrage and also how Apple has not made an effort to fix this mistake. Where is the update that solves this issue? I am dependent on the Internet for my business and my thumbs are getting tired from typing all of these emails from my phone. Please Apple, solve this problem and stop blaming your consumers and supporters for your mistake.
We will forgive you, just fix it.
Alright, around 1 1/2 weeks ago this problem occured to me aswell. I have a Macbook Pro (Late 2008) and suddenly my "Wifi" icon turned gray and had a small underline text saying "No hardware installed". With this being said at a time of frustration, my macbook was in sleep mode and then when I resumed to use it again this problem started to happend. I've pretty much checked every possible issue except hardware but to me it seems too odd that something inside of the macbook would suddenly stop working overnight. I've tried to remove the wifi and add a new one (then leaving me not being able to create a new "wifi" network at all. I've tried to reset it using PRAM/SMC (not being to any help at all). There's a bunch of other things aswell but I'm at a loss for words right now..Anyone got a definit workaround?
I have the same problem on my MacBook mid 2010. The wifi: no hardware installed AND Bluetooth: not available problems have been with me for a couple of weeks now. They have occasionally gone away but for most of the time, I haven't had access to wifi or Bluetooth. I've tried resetting PRAM and SMC but nothing has changed. The only times I have done something to fix the problem occasionally have been to restart my mac a dozen times or more. PLS HELP ITS DRIVING ME INSANE!!!
This might seem correct, but it doesn't explain why my late 2011 iMac suffers from this problem. I now use wired ethernet with no connetion issues.
I do see frequent cases where the wireless mouse fails and turning the blue tooth off and back on corrects it.
I have a new iMac. Wireless worked great and I kept it on even after getting an ethernet cable. But after I bootcamped in windows 8, I have wireless on the windows side, but the OS X side says no hardware. What??????
I won't forgive you Apple, sorry Zacross3.
I really don't understand why I need to dance with this issue firstly with Mac Air secondly with Mac Book Pro Retina.. Every gadget has the same problem which is not being solved for a years as I can see. I have another OS on laptop which is Windows and everything works there. This is the solution of the problem, people! Switch to another OS and forget about this nightmare.
Well !!!!
I thought my issue was related to the 10.8.5 update,
My machine since the update started saying no wifi hardware etc and also freezing .
Ive just spent 4 hrs doing a time machine back to pre 10.8.5
all was well, but it went to sleep and for the 1st time ever wouldnt wake up ... hard reset and yes you guessed it no hardware error !!!, several resarts later and its back on ...
Ive got to say this is the last apple anything I buy ...
Bought an iphone 5 last week ... battery lasts 1 day with everything turned off if im lucky ...
Unfortunately pushing down the corners doesn't work for me. My macbook air has this "WIFI no hardware installed" since last april. Sometimes, the wifi conection comes back randomly. I tried all suggestions, the problem has not been solved permanently. When I cannot get the wifi function, I normally use the USB ethernet.
Recently, I just found a very strange thing: When i have the wifi connection, all software work well. But if I use the USB ethernet when the wifi doesn't work, the itunes has a problem. The error information is the following: After I click "iTunes", I get "An unknown error occured (-50)". Then I click "Ok" and then "Radio". On the "iTunes radio" page, I cannot play any radio station even I have the internet access. The error message is "We could not complete your iTunes Store request. You are not authorized to access the requested resource."
So based on the above testing, I am pretty sure that it should be a software conflict whick make the wifi not work. I hope all you can test your iTunes and then find a solution for this.
Interesting, I'll try to replace the flex cables and see if it fixes it, but I would like to say that in case nobody else noticed, if you leave the laptop plugged to the mains the problem will not manifest.
Lion - WiFi no hardware installed
