Wi-Fi: No hardware installed

I have MBP 15". I have upgraded to Lion last month. Everything was working fine. With latest upgrade 10.7.1 sometime it shows "No hardware found' restarting 1-2 times brings back the wi-fi. Sometime the Mac gets hang. Is anyone else having similar problem? I read that lot's of users have wi-fi issue. Shall I downgrade to SL?

Many users have wifi - no hardware found issue after upgrading to Lion. It just cannot be coincidence. When I searched on this forum I have noted that firmware is upgraded. Hence it may explain that downgrading to SL is not working. I am currently backing up my MBP. I will try to get wifi back. If successful I will post on this forum.

Sevag, I assume you're still having this problem? I think I may have evidence that an OS problem is the correct answer.

I bought a new iMac mid-August which came with Lion installed. After initially seeming fine, on day 2 I had the same problem; no internet and a message saying 'Wi-fi: No hardware installed" on the pull-down menu under wi-fi. Being a new machine I called Apple support who intialled advised me to re-set the P-RAM. This seemed to work, but a couple of days later it happened again. This time I tried re-starting, which solved it. When it began happening every morning I called Apple again, suspecting a hardware problem, and they advised me to re-instal Lion to eliminate the possibility of a software problem. I did this with their help, installed Lion over the internet and then re-updating it to version 10.7.1. It seemed to work for a week, but then the same thing happened again.

I called Apple a third time, who confirmed my computer must be broken and arranged a replacement by courier, which arrived 3 days ago. Things all seemed fine until this morning when the same thing happened on start-up: 'Wi-fi: No hardware installed".

After muttering a fair few curses I called Apple again, who this time put me in touch with a senior technician. My feeling is that two identical computers are unlikely to both be broken, and therefore it must be an OS problem. If so, I'm happy to simply keep re-starting the computer (the obvious work-around) until OS 10.7.2 is released. However the techician I spoke to said this wasn't a known bug and nobody else had reported such problems! In truth, had it been a known bug it would be foolish of Apple to replace my computer, so I can only conclude that not enough people are reporting it to them.

In conclusion I would urge you (and anybody else experiencing this problem) to submit it as a bug report via Apple feedback:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Just wanted to give you folks (ramgarge, sevag, and silhouettes) an update on my MBP that had this issue (see Aug. 23). Since the second trip to the genius bar I haven't had any wi-fi problems at all, so at least in my case it appears that it was a pure hardware problem with the ribbon cable. In other words, Lion *can* have proper wi-fi support.

Hope you're able to solve the problem - I know how infuriating it can be.

Dear All, I request you (and anybody else experiencing this problem) to submit it as a bug report via Apple feedback:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Changing WiFi card might be resolving the issue temporarily(see silhouettes's post), but appears that after few days similar problem is occurring. You may try downgrading to SL. You may succeed. I see many of us posted that downgrading did not work. It is also very surprising that a brand new iMac with Lion pre-installed would have this problem too.

With a new Mac I don't think down-grading to Snow-Leopard is an option for me! However after some trial and error I have at last managed to reproduce the problem; it seems that for some reason my iMac has been starting up occasionally in 'Safe mode'. You can do this deliberately by holding down the shift key soon after the start-up chime, until you see a progress bar on the screen. This disables a number of extensions, including the wi-fi, and does result in the same 'No hardware installed' message. Others here might like to try this for themselves.

Quite why this is happening I don't know. Somebody in another thread suggested there may be issues with the bluetooth keyboard and track-pad both trying to connect to the iMac at the same time on start-up; however this doesn't explain why others are having the same problem on laptops. It does seem that *something* is causing some Macs running Lion to spontaneously boot into Safe mode from time to time. This perhaps explains why a simple restart generally solves the problem, as by then any bluetooth devices are already connected.

Sevag: thank you for your concern, however I've been using Macs since system 7, so it'll take more than this to dis-illusion me. Come to think of it this repetative re-starting is quite reminiscent of system 7! I'm relieved to know it's a system bug rather than a physcial problem with my machine, but amazed that Apple would be unaware of this to the extent of replacing my whole computer. I'm sorry to hear you've had such a hard time with the same problem.

Ok Here is update from me. I have MBP 15" purchased June 2009. I have lost wifi - says no hardware installed. This happedned after about 4 weeks Lion installed. Initially after 2-3 restart, wifi was coming back. That happened for 3-4 days. After that it has stoped detecting wifi and says no hardware installed. I have taken all backup and reinstalled SL. No success. SL did not detect the wifi. Upgraded to Lion again... still no wifi. Ethernet (wired) connection is working. Thinking to go to Apple Store. I will update what happens then...

Ramage: When you start up the computer does it seem to take slightly longer than usual and mark the progress with a loading bar under the apple logo?

Silhouettes: I don't see progress bar when the computer starts. It does seems that taking longer than compared to SL. Here is another update from me, I got apple store appointment yesterday evening. The technician first booted the MBP with his external hard drive, which had Lion installed. Same issue-no hardware installed for wi-fi. He told me that Airport card is bad/gone needs to be replaced. I requested to run hardware test on it. The hardware test did not detect AirPort card, giving message no AirPort card found. They did not have spare card in the store, hence need to be ordered. They will call me once card is available. It will be $108 plus tax. They still don't know so many people having wifi issue after upgrading to Lion. Still I have question did Lion blow up the card? There months back My MBP did not start, taken to apple store and spent $320 flat fee for logic board replacement and now this $110 expense. It is true that Apple genius bar technicians are not aware of any issue with wifi with Lion or upgrade to Lion. My wife asking me, why I did not read reviews before upgrading to Lion. Why it was needed? I have no answer. We were pretty happy with SL and did not face any issue in last couple of years except that Logic board replacement three months back but no software issues.

Just want to inform you that I've the same issue with an MBP mid 2010, 3 weeks after the upgrade to Lion.

"WiFi no hardware installed". I tried everything mentioned in the forums (amazing how many people have the same problem) but it did not solved the problem. (I did not downgraded to SL).

Here in Belgium, we don't have official Apple Stores with genius people.

I'm convinced that Lion caused those problems, but it's still not clear if there will come a software fix soon or the hardware has been broken.

I don't know very good what would be the best option; send the MBP back (takes about 14 days) or wait.

Wi-Fi: No hardware installed (Macbook Pro) -

After connecting Wi-Fi, and surf online about 15 minutes,Wi-Fi is off, can not turn on. and It shows "No hardware installed". I shut down the Computer and leave about 15 minutes. Then Power on the computer, Wi-Fi is working again. After that, Repeat again. I don't know why, I have tried several way. No fixed.. I faced this problem since with Snow Leopard, Now Lion. If somebody know how to solve.... Please...

Dear,

Had the same issue with my MBP (mid 2010) and tried everything.
The hardware test did not give any error and all kind of resets did not solved anything.

Finally, I just returned my Mac to the Apple store and got it back after 3 days and with a new WIFI card in it (and a bill of 250 €).

I'm absolutely convinced that there is a link between the upgrade to Lion and the 'broken' WIFI card but Apple keeps denying it.

So, Mr. Tint, no choice: bring your Mac to the repair shop and pay.

The following worked for me after getting the Wi-Fi no hardware found error. I went to system preferences > network. Unchecked the Show wi-fi status in menu bar. Then turned off wi-fi in the network options. Then checked the show wi-fi status in the menu bar option, and finally turned wi-fi on again. Bingo my icon was back functioning. This is with after a Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 (11C74) upgrade.