Wifi disconnects after sleep and takes long time to reconnect with Mavericks

Yeah, I'm no longer convinced it was the hidden SSID. As for the access points involved, the ones I can positively identify and do regularly use are a Buffalo WHR-HP-G300N and a Linksys something-or-other, I think a WRT54G2.

An update: re-pairing my portable speaker tipped me back over the edge into unreliable Wi-Fi association again. I had to repeat the removal of the plist file I mentioned above and reboot, at which point I got my working Wi-Fi back again.

This is livable, since I really just use the portable speaker with my iPhone, but man I'd love to have this fixed.

Deleting the BT prefs file is not a fix -- I had already tried it as well as everything else that's been suggested.

Given that zigg1 upgraded from ML (like I had on two rMBPs), I'd bet dollars to donuts that (like me) you won't fix the problem without a clean install of Mavericks. (P.S. FYI, I have a similar Buffalo AP. Note, separately, that I also reported in this thread of having problems reconnecting to WiFi after reboot.)

@SteveW: For many/most, this is a new problem that only arose with Mavericks and happens only when BT is enabled (in the experience of most reported here). IMHO it behooves us to carve-out this problem clearly and separately rather than attempt to tie it in with some amorphous "older" (group of) problem(s).

Fo me, it's on to day three of a problem-free machine!...

@chrismartinphd I don't know entirely what's in the plist (scanning it, it looks like pairing data), and can only speculate as to why, but for me personally it absolutely did solve my problem. That may change down the road… but for 60 hours now (after living with the constant pain about a month) I've got perfect Wi-Fi behavior back right up until I added my portable speaker, and when I purged the plist and started over one more time things started humming again.

However, for you (and, I'm sure, others), I can totally accept that my workaround won't work. I suspect this problem is one of those fun wireless interference issues that gets tickled for different people in different ways that don't make much sense from 10,000 feet up.

I do think Mavs is definitely the common thread, and if/when Apple figures out the issue there, everyone should be better off.

@zigg1: So,after deleting that .plist file, you have no problem with WiFi when BT is enabled and/or in use?

I just want to be sure, becasue a few have suggested that just not using BT (or using a third party adapter) is somehow a "fix", which of course it is not!

@chrismartinphd Yup, that's correct, with the caveat that re-adding my portable speaker makes it all go to crap again (whether it is on or off) until I nuke the plist one more time. BT is on, Wi-Fi is on and working great, I'm connected to both my Magic Trackpad and either connected to or searching for (depending on whether they're on) my Creative desk speakers.

Actually, thinking on it some more, I should try just gently removing the portable speaker via the UI to see if that has the same effect as nuke and re-pair. Hopefully I'll have some time tonight.

Also: I don't consider any of this a "fix", but "don't use that portable speaker you rarely use with your MacBook anyway" is a better workaround than buying another adapter or eschewing BT entirely. 😉 And hopefully the information might help get a better view of the problem.

@ chrismartinphd - I agree to a point, and might be bringing too much 'baggage' in. But, my point, aside from that, was just to note that Apple's network stack has been problematic over the years, and that some varient of this problem has been around since like Leopard... and it came and went with various Apple 'point' updates. SO, while I hope you can pin it down to a fix or something specific, it might also not be due to system corruption, etc. You might just have to wait until the next Apple update.

My 'fix' for now has been just to turn off BT before sleep (and then turn it on after it wakes). Since I've been doing that, I've had zero problems. Of couse, for many non-laptop people with BT keyboard and mouse, that's not even a possibility. And, unfortuantely, I don't have time at the moment to really dig into this one, so I appreciate what you folks are doing here.

UPDATE: So I figured I would give Apple Care one more shot before I forced Apple to return my computer. After another session with a Senior Apple Advisor, he had me run the native Wireless Diagnostics tool which captured the failed Wifi connection and then submitted the report to Apple Engineering. After a few days, I finally got a reply from the Senior Advisor. He did not have any solution or corrective action for me, but he said that Apple Engineering's reply to him was that they are aware of this problem and are working to fix it. He went so far as to say that he is expecting a Mavericks update to be released in the near future that is expected to fix this problem for all of us. So there it is folks, take it this for what its worth.

For me, I am now 4 months into an $1,800 computer which still does not work 100% properly and the best Apple can do is put me in a holding pattern. There is some small shred of good news in this though because at least now Apple is admitting to me that this is a known problem; during the last go-around I had with Apple Care just before Christmas they were treating this like a one-off problem with my machine.

I just fixed it on my mom's Macbook Pro. She's had the problem since Mtn. Lion, and I hoped the Mavericks update might fix it. And I thought I'd done this, but her network was not at the top of her preferred network list. It was only second but that still caused the issue. So System Preferences > Network > Advanced and drag your network to the top of the list. It's also a good idea to delete networks in there that you don't use often. Make sure you click Apply.

zigg1's story got me thinking...

I realized that since installing a fresh copy of Mavericks I had not yet BT paired to anything other than my Apple keyboard and trackpad. Before the fresh install, I had had my (newish) Sony Soundbar as another (sometimes used) BT device. In fact, I realized, I had the Sony Soundbar paired to both rMBPs that developed this WiFi problem (after upgrade to Mavericks).

I wondered if I paired to that whether all my problems might come back....

So I paired to the Soundbar, and the problem came back!

After four days of no problems whatsoever, simply pairing to my Sony Soundbar immediately brought my WiFi issues back full force.

Worse, I removed the Soundbar in BT prefs, deleted the BT preferences file, and restarted, and the problem remained!

So, like zigg1, it seems that as long as I am BT paired to only my Apple KB and Trackpad all is fine. As soon as I pair to anything else, I get the problem with the WiFi connection after sleep and restart.

Even worse, removing the BT prefs file and restarting did not fix problem.

So, there I was installing Mavericks from scratch, AGAIN...sheesh!

Now I'm back to a problem-free machine...I think/hope.

UPSHOT:

I can't pair to my Sony Soundbar without causing this WiFi connection problem to rear its ugly head. The problem remains even if the Soundbar is not in use. The problem remains even after I completely remove the Soundbar in BT prefs and delete the BT prefs file. Not being able to use (via BT) my Sony Soundbar with my computer is a real bummer.

I'm thinking that this is actually the root of the problem: There is a problem in the way Mavericks deals with BT for (some) non-Apple devices and this then somehow compromises the WiFi connecting normally after sleep and restart--the problem centrally under discussion in this thread.

@chrismartinphd Interesting. I wonder if there might have been another plist file hanging out somewhere that specifically impacted you. I can't find any on my system that look interesting. I have the BluetoothAudioAgent plist in my user Library but that's just parameters for Bluetooth audio streaming, nothing about pairing.

@ Ignite Mindz - my guess is that your's is a bit different problem if that fixed it, as I only now have one network listed. I also had 2 initially and tried the order and deleting one. I could see why having it lower on the list might cause a bit of delay, but it shouldn't be substantial... so I'm glad it's fixed for you, but that's still a problem.

@ chrismartinphd - Note that the only thing I added was an Apple Magic Mouse as my BT device, so while not the trackpad or keyboard, it is a typical Apple product.

I tried everything in several of these threads, but what finally worked for me was deleting every single one of my saved WiFi passwords from the network preferences advanced wifi options page.

Not only did this solve my long time to connect after sleep, it also solved my 2 minute boot time issue.

Hope that helps.

@Sampo23 Unfortunately, that was one of the things I tried and it didn't work for me. Still, it's probably worth doing in a list of potential workarounds.

Man I hope this gets fixed soon. 😟

I tried all the above recommendations and the one that worked for me was to TURN OFF BLUETOOTH and my wifi connects quickly and as expected! Running Mavericks 10.9.1 on Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013.

@j2londonuk That's certainly the simplest workaround… if you can do without Bluetooth. Unfortunately, that's simply not an option for many.