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Wi-fi off and will not turn on - MacBook

I have a MacBook aluminum unibody (late 2008) with OS 10.7.5. This morning when I turned it on, the wifi icon in the Menu bar was 'empty' (i.e. no bars) - clicking on the icon gave me the info that 'wifi is off' - I clicked 'turn wifi on'- nothing happened. I opened System Preferences - Network. Status showed Wi-Fi is off. I clicked on the 'turn wifi on' button - nothing happened. I restarted the MacBook - repeated the above steps - six times now - always the same result :-(

Can anyone suggest some other trouble shooting steps to take?

I've also unplugged and re-started the modem/router. AIl other devices in the house can connect to the network without any problems - my MacBook is the only device having problems!

Cheers,

Tricia

MacBook (13-inch Aluminum Late 2008), Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Aug 5, 2013 11:43 PM

Best reply

AtlantaElise

Level 1

11 points

Posted on Oct 2, 2013 3:08 PM

I just had this similar problem happen to me! Although you have probably resolved your issue by now, this is what I ended up doing to fix it.

1. Go to System Preferences and open 'Network' - or click your wifi triangle along the top tool bar and select 'open network preferences'.

2. Click your wifi on the left hand side from the list, and then click the small cog at the bottom of that box, and click 'Make Service Inactive'.

3. Once you've done that, click the minus to delete your wifi as an option from this box.

4. APPLY!!

All other instructions I read said to click the plus and add your wifi again and then restart. Well that did nothing for me, infact it did nothing about 7 or 8 times, soooooo...

5. Restart your computer now, without any wifi configuration setup.

6. Once restarted, go back into system preferences, into network, and use the + button to add a wifi connection back into your computer. With any luck, you will be able to click on 'Turn wifi on' and it will actually work!

View in context

78 replies

Oct 24, 2013 2:37 PM in response to Patricia Henwood

My late 2008 MacBook Pro has the same problem. It only started doing it recently. The fix AtlantaElise provided is great, but I found that a PRAM reset temporarily fixes the issue too. Since it's happening more often now, I'm thinking of just starting the computer from now on while holding down Command, Option, P, and R. What can it hurt?

Apple support article on resetting PRAM

Oct 24, 2013 3:20 PM in response to ToddMcCann

I upgraded to 10.9 Mavericks and haven't seen it yet (though I have only turned off/on my machine twice since). It's early days but maybe it's been fixed in the latest OS ?

Oct 24, 2013 3:26 PM in response to fergalfromcork

I did the same, Fergal .. and it seems the problem is solved.

Oct 25, 2013 3:22 AM in response to AtlantaElise

AtlantaElise,

Lifesaver! Thank you very much!

Billy

Oct 27, 2013 6:59 PM in response to AtlantaElise

This worked for me!! Thanks!!

Eric

Urumqic

Level 1

0 points

Oct 29, 2013 2:41 PM in response to AtlantaElise

Thanks so much Elise!

landtoy

Level 1

0 points

Oct 31, 2013 8:48 PM in response to Urumqic

Did a clean install of Lion and still had to do the WiFi fix to get the WiFi to work.

After the clean install of Lion I installed Mavericks and so far I can restart without loosing the WiFi.

Nov 8, 2013 2:51 PM in response to AtlantaElise

AtlantaElise solution works. Restart with wifi service disabled. Reenable upon restart. Thanks!

Nov 14, 2013 1:07 PM in response to AtlantaElise

Elise, I had exact same experience as you. I had to

Make WIFI Inactive
Delete WIFI
Reboot
Add WiFi back

It didn't solve the problem without the reboot.

Also, upgrading to Mavericks did not solve the problem.

Kudos to you.

Nov 14, 2013 2:26 PM in response to sonianator

I was all fat, dumb and happy after installing Mavericks ... for about 2 weeks. Like you, the problem came back. I'm just putting the machine to sleep instead of having to deselect wi-fi, reboot, then re-select.

Nov 18, 2013 6:24 PM in response to AtlantaElise

This worked for my 2008 MacBook, thank you so much!

Nov 21, 2013 5:34 PM in response to AtlantaElise

Thank you Elise! this worked like a charm, I recently upgraded my RAM and encountered this peculiar problem, and after following your steps everything is running smooth.