Wifi issues after installing 10.8.4, mid-2010 MacBook Pro

Question

Sean Munson Author

Level 1

13 points

Wifi issues after installing 10.8.4, mid-2010 MacBook Pro

Since updating to 10.8.4, I've had issues with my MBP dropping the wireless. Specifically:

The wifi connection sometimes spontaneously drops (still shows signal, but DNS lookup fails)
If I change networks, turn on and off the wireless, or put the computer to sleep and then wake it, it will be unable to find any networks.
When I cycle power on the wireless, the menubar icon often stays as "off" even when I've powered it back on (and the drop-down menu indicates it is powered on). Or, the menubar icon will show wifi as on (but disconnected) while the network preference panel shows it as disconnected
Removing the network interface and rebuilding it it causes the system to hang.
Sometimes it comes up with no wifi hardware installed. Resetting the SMC brings that back, but the other problems still persist.

This happens independent of which network I'm trying to connect to. Other devices stay connected.

So far, I have tried:

repairing permissions
reinstalling the OS
resetting the SMC
deleting and reinstalling the network interface from the network preferences
booting in safe mode (cycling power still causes wifi to go away until reboot)
deleting network preference files

The only thing that seems to work is restarting the computer. This is, obviously, inconvenient, so I'd like to find a solution. Does anyone have any suggestions of other things I should be trying?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), mid-2010

Posted on Jun 25, 2013 7:50 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 25, 2013 9:47 PM in response to Sean Munson

I've got the same problem with my 2010 MBP. Upgraded to 10.8.4 and now the built-in wireless constantly drops the network as you've described.

A few weeks ago I tried a couple of tweaks I found here. Unfortunately they didn't work and I don't have the forum links handy.

The only work around I've found so far is:

1) Falling back to 10.8.2 fixes the problem.

2) Using a wifi USB doo-dad (that's a technical term)

The USB dongle is ok, but doesn't have the same range as the built-in wifi. I'd be very excited to find a fix for this.

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Answer 2

Sean Munson Author

Level 1

13 points

Jun 26, 2013 12:21 PM in response to Stephen B. Peters

Thanks - how were you able to get back to 10.8.2? At this point, I think rolling back the OS to 10.8.3 is probably my next step/.

I found this thread, but it wasn't encouraging https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5126627?answerId=22331769022#22331769022.

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Answer 3

Jun 26, 2013 12:45 PM in response to Sean Munson

How did I get back to 10.8.2? Well... A year ago I replaced the stock HD in my MBP with a new one, and I still had the old one around. I plunked that into an external drive case and booted from it, and worked off 10.8.2 for about a day...

No wifi problems with the built-in hardware. Clearly this problem was introduced by the 10.8.4 update. It wouldn't be so bad working off the USB dongle, but I need the range the built in wifi has.

Right now I'm clearing files off a third drive so I can do a complete Carbon Copy Cloner backup of my 10.8.4 drive, then I'll attempt a Time Machine restore of the system files from just before I was so rash as to allow an updater to run.

Unless I find a fix that works.

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Answer 4

Sean Munson Author

Level 1

13 points

Jun 27, 2013 4:05 PM in response to Sean Munson

After a Genius Bar visit, it appears the timing was coincidence for me. The connector for the wireless had started to "disintegrate" -- $50 and a replaced connector later, things seem to be working fine again.

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Answer 5

Jun 29, 2013 4:12 PM in response to Sean Munson

Sean, I'm running the Apple Hardware Test on my machine. Five runs through and it's not reporting any errors. Did they take your machine apart and see that the connector was coming apart, or did they get an error from the Hardware Test?

I'm happy to take it down to Apple because this sure is a hassle, but it would be handy to know if AHT can detect this failure.

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Answer 6

Jun 29, 2013 4:16 PM in response to Stephen B. Peters

Apple Hardware Test has a reputation for false negatives. It will find gross problems, but they use a more comprehensive set of tests that is more Hardware-specific at the genius bar.

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Answer 7

Sean Munson Author

Level 1

13 points

Jul 1, 2013 1:41 PM in response to Stephen B. Peters

In my case, it passed the hardware tests at the Genius Bar, but the rep decided to reseat the cable anway (easy to try; things clearly were not working). When he did, the cable came apart in his hands.

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