airport wifi not connecting

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airport wifi not connecting

Reecently my daughters macbook (mid 2007) starting having wifi conection issues at home. We have a airport extreme 802.11n 1st generation supplying DCHP addresses off a cable modem. After trying many thngs I decided to drop in a new airport card within the macbook, at this point she can see neigbouring wifi networks but still not the home network. She is able to connect at public areas (ie starbucks or school) without issue so the internal airport modem works. The other macbooks and ios devices in the house all connect without issue. It's just this one macbook that won't??? However the Airport utility on her macbook see's the airport extreme and shows green lights on it and the internet. I'm using WPA2 Personal Security with auto channel select and did create a closed network so I enter in the SSID network name and passwork manually but get no device found error. As a work around I have insert a USB wifi device for use at howm and it connects to the airport extreme fine, so I just can't figure out why the internal airport is not cooperating and finding the airport extreme? I'm current on all firmware and software on the airport express and macbook.

Any thoughts?

MacBook (13-inch Mid 2007), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)

Posted on Feb 9, 2013 2:16 PM

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Answer 1

Eric Root

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685,293 points

Feb 9, 2013 2:40 PM in response to gbucyk

Have you tried System Preferences/Network/Assist me?

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Answer 2

gbucyk Author

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Feb 9, 2013 2:49 PM in response to Eric Root

Eric thanks for the quick note, yes I have gone through the Preferences/Network/Assist me? Did not help. As well I have removed all know networks from my settings and even deleted plist and other files from the system directory in case of an old config causing an issue. Today I did a hardreset on the Airport Express and resetup all my connection information. Same result no issues except this one macbook, now it happens to be the oldest devise in the house so I'm not sure if the issue is around compatibility in Moutain Lion or something like that?

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Answer 3

Eric Root

Level 10

685,293 points

Feb 9, 2013 5:43 PM in response to gbucyk

I'm not sure these Apple support articles will help and it is sort of no other ideas approach, but.....

Can’t Choose a WiFi Network

Choose Preferred WiFi Network

If You Don't See WiFi in Network Preferences

Join a WiFi Network

Select WiFi Network

Set Advanced WiFi Options

If the computer can operate using Mountain Lion, I don't think there should be a Mountain Lion issue.

Some other things you can try.

Run Disk Utility/Repair Permissions. Repeat until it shows no repairs were made. Clearing the log in between runs can make the process less confusing. Also see: Disk Utility Repair Permissions You Can Safely Ignore

Reset NVRAM/PRAM

Reset SMC

General Maintenance Recommendations

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Answer 4

gbucyk Author

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Feb 9, 2013 7:52 PM in response to Eric Root

Eric, excellent summary of resources for me to explore. I have attempted fix on permissions and reset PRAM but not some of the others listed, looks like I'll have some things to try over the weekend. I'll post back any progress. This one has been strange. I really appreciate your input.

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Answer 5

gbucyk Author

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Feb 10, 2013 2:55 PM in response to gbucyk

I have tried about everything and I still have the same issue, one new development however is when I used Preferences/Network/Assist me again and typed in the SSID (Network Name) and password (WPA/WPA2) it reported back invalid password. I know I'm typing it correct so I think I'll alter my network password to try and see if that helps.

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Answer 6

gbucyk Author

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Feb 11, 2013 8:22 AM in response to gbucyk

I'm closing out this post as I have gotten to intermitent connection on the macbook and there are a number of threads already regarding this subject which relate to Mountain Lion. In my situation I must have the network discoverable, can not set private. Also I have dropped in the mac ID address in the TCP/IP tab of the network settings. I believe my situation of only one macbook having concern our of 4 mac OS and 5 iOS devices is the age of the macbook, this being the oldest and starting to lose compatibility to the latest OS. Thanks for all the input I'll just stick with a USB wifi dongle on this mac for now and await Apple for updates on the OS.

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