Why is my iMac's WiFi option grayed out?

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Level 1

11 points

Why is my iMac's WiFi option grayed out?

Hello, this is my first time posting in Apple's discussions, so please bare with me... I can usually find solutions to my problems myself, but this one has got me stumped!

I bought my late 2011 iMac used from a good friend that barely used it. From day 1, the WiFi hasn't worked and I could never figure out why. It hasn't been a big deal until recently because I prefer a wired connection anyway.. The problem is that I moved into a house and the owner's wireless router is located in the living room.. So now I need to get it working again. After troubleshooting multiple times, here is some information that you will probably need to help me:

-When I open Network Diagnostics, the only two options available are Ethernet and Other. The External Modem and Wi-Fi options are grayed out and un-clickable.

-When I go to System Preferences>Network, the only things shown in the left sidebar are Ethernet, FireWire, and Bluetooth PAN. When I click the "+" button to add a network, under the "interface" dropdown, the options available are: FireWire, Ethernet, Bluetooth DUN, VPN, PPPoE, and 6 to 4 (no wi-fi obviously).

-Under System Report>Wi-Fi, everything appears to be installed and running correctly. I'm not an expert on Wireless settings, but it seems right. If a screenshot is needed of that, just ask.

I'm hoping there is a simple explanation for this and if anyone has one, please help me out! Thank you!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Jun 26, 2012 3:19 PM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Jun 26, 2012 3:32 PM in response to Bangarang143

Hello, & a warm welcome to the forum, great 1st post! 🙂

Is there a Wifi icon in the Menubar? If so, is it OFF?

In System Report, does Wifi have an IP?

Two things to try...

Make a New Location, Using network locations in Mac OS X ...

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2712

10.5.x/10.6.x/10.7.x instructions...

System Preferences>Network, top of window>Locations>Edit Locations, little plus icon, give it a name.

System Preferences>Network, click on the little gear at the bottom next to the + & - icons, (unlock lock first if locked), choose Set Service Order.

The interface that connects to the Internet should be dragged to the top of the list.

Instead of joining your Network from the list, click the WiFi icon at the top, and click join other network. Fill in everything as needed.

To find out if it's system wide or user specific, try this...

Open System Preferences>Accounts, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

Does Wifi work in the new account?

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Answer 2

Bangarang143 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 26, 2012 6:20 PM in response to BDAqua

Wow, thank you for the quick reply! I'll quickly answer your questions and then give you an update..

Is there a Wifi icon in the Menubar? If so, is it OFF?

No, there is no wifi icon up there like on all my other macs. Weird...

In System Report, does Wifi have an IP?

No, here's a screenshot of it

I did everything you suggested and here's a screenshot of where I got stuck:

Instead of joining your Network from the list, click the WiFi icon at the top, and click join other network. Fill in everything as needed.

As you can see in this screenshot, there is no wifi icon to click on...

So then I tried creating a new admin account and loggin into it. Still no luck. BUT I clicked on "assist me", went through a couple of steps and received this notification:

After clicking OK, it brought me to a screen of wireless networks, but it couldn't detect either of the two that should be accessible. I entered their credentials manually, but it still wouldn't connect. Hopefully this information helps! Thank you for your help I really appreciate it!

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Jun 26, 2012 6:40 PM in response to Bangarang143

Did you try making a new user in System Preferences>Groups & Users yet?

Might open Terminal & paste this command in & hit enter...

sudo ifconfig en1 up

Carefully type your admin password when asked & hit enter, as it won't be echoed.

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Answer 4

Bangarang143 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 27, 2012 7:36 AM in response to BDAqua

Yes, I made a new admin account (I've been needing to make one for my wife anyway) and even in that user, there is no wifi icon on the menubar. Here's what happened after I entered the command into Terminal:

ifconfig: interface en1 does not exist

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Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Jun 27, 2012 3:23 PM in response to Bangarang143

Let's see if these 2 commands in terminal give any more clues...

networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder

networksetup -listallnetworkservices

But I'm thinking we may have to reinstall the OS, or have a flaky Airport card!???

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Answer 6

Bangarang143 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 28, 2012 9:56 AM in response to BDAqua

Hmm... Not cool! Well here's the results from the two commands. Looks like bad news to me, unfortunately. Let me know what else I can do

Last login: Wed Jun 27 08:37:02 on ttys000

Gavin-Andersons-iMac:~ Bangarang143$ networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder

An asterisk (*) denotes that a network service is disabled.

(1) Ethernet

(Hardware Port: Ethernet, Device: en0)

(2) Bluetooth DUN

(Hardware Port: Bluetooth DUN, Device: Bluetooth-Modem)

(3) FireWire

(Hardware Port: FireWire, Device: fw0)

Gavin-Andersons-iMac:~ Bangarang143$ networksetup -listallnetworkservices

An asterisk (*) denotes that a network service is disabled.

Ethernet

Bluetooth DUN

FireWire

Gavin-Andersons-iMac:~ Bangarang143$

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Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Jun 28, 2012 10:34 AM in response to Bangarang143

Only thing I can think of is bootup holding CMD+r keys & & see if System Report there says no Airport.

Naw, that won't tell us anything, I think you'll have to take it in to be checked, or get one of these...

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Asus/USBN10/

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Answer 8

Bangarang143 Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 28, 2012 5:18 PM in response to BDAqua

BDAqua, thank you for your help! I'll just get it in to the Apple store. Luckily it's still under warrantee. Thanks again.

Cheers!

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Answer 9

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Jun 28, 2012 5:26 PM in response to Bangarang143

Oh yeah, if it still has applecare, great, get it in! 🙂

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Answer 10

hb091666

Level 1

0 points

Apr 8, 2013 12:06 PM in response to Bangarang143

I'm having the exact same problem. I'm assuming it's a problematic AirPort card. Were you able to resolve this?

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Answer 11

Bangarang143 Author

Level 1

11 points

Apr 11, 2013 10:30 AM in response to hb091666

Yes, I took it to an Apple store and they diagnosed a faulty airport card.. Lucky for me I had extended AppleCare on it and it works like a charm now! Good luck brotha

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Answer 12

hb091666

Level 1

0 points

Apr 15, 2013 10:37 AM in response to Bangarang143

Thanks Bangarang143, I'm glad it worked out for you! It turned out that the Mac Pro I have is from 2009 and Airport was just an option; not all of those models came with the card installed. I was getting the same "Wi-Fi card is turned off..." dialog box that you described, even though there wasn't even a card installed. That was very confusing for a while as I thought I was having problems with a weak WIFI signal. 😕

For anyone who is reading this and facing the same dilemma, here is what I did to resolve it. I was able to install an Airport extreme card that I ordered from Amazon in my 2009 Mac Pro and it worked as soon as I booted up. For me, the trickiest part was getting the set screws in; I lost one, but got the other one in. So, I recommend having a pair of tweezers close by to pick up dropped screws. Mine was an early 2009 model and I found out that the location for the Airport card in those models is underneath the RAM/CPU block which is easily removed by pulling on the two tabs. On the later models, the Airport slot is close to the drive bay. Based on something someone said on a thread, I connected wires labeled 1 & 2 to the antenna terminals on the card. The antenna connections are snug so it takes some patience to get them seated correctly. Besides the exception noted above, I followed the procedure described here: http://meanderingpassage.com/2007/07/18/how-to-installing-an-airport-extreme-car d-in-an-intel-mac-pro/

If you want to hire someone to install the card, GeekSquad told me it would take about two days and $49. If you decide to use GeekSquad, call your local Best Buy--if they're even still in business when you're reading this--and contact them that way. Apple Store does not install the card.

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