Don’t turn off Wi-Fi in 10.9! (And how to recover a frozen Mac if you do)

If you have a machine that you have reformatted and reinstalled Mavericks onto, and nothing else, then you probably just have a hardware failure. There is no Mavericks update that is going to fix it. If you reinstall Mountain Lion and the problem goes away, then you might have a case, assuming this is truly a clean install.

You have no evidence that this is a widespread issue affecting all 2007 machines. There is ample evidence to refute your claim that it is a plot to sell new machines.

There is more than one user with the problem. I had the exact same experience as Ira, on the same vintage hardware.

The freezing and failure to boot issue in 10.9 is 100% repeatable and 100% reversible for me, by simply toggling wifi off and on. If it's a hardware failure, it's a heck of a coincidence.

My 10.7 install, and every other OS version up unti then, was flawless. I did skip 10.8, though. I don't think an OS 10.9 bug which afflicts some users with older hardware is an unreasonable proposal.

I just want to pile on and report that I'm having the same issue with a 15" MacBook Pro (2007 Santa Rosa). 10.9.1 didn't fix the issue.

I believe the problem first occurred in 10.8.5. I have the same problem on my (actually now my wife's) MacBook Pro (2007) 3,1. Check out the related thread at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5328727?start=0&tstart=0.

Thanks to Ira for indentifying the problem and the (gross) workaround. Hopefully, Apple will properly correct this in 10.9.1+.

Lost Carcosa wrote:

There is more than one user with the problem. I had the exact same experience as Ira, on the same vintage hardware.

The freezing and failure to boot issue in 10.9 is 100% repeatable and 100% reversible for me, by simply toggling wifi off and on. If it's a hardware failure, it's a heck of a coincidence.

If by exact same experience, you mean similar, then yes. Ira cannot turn WiFi back on.

The only thing that would be the same in your case are the troubleshooting steps. Until you erase your hard drive, reinstall Mavericks, and not a single, solitary thing extra, reproduce the problem, erase your hard driive, install some previous OS, fail to reproduce the problem, there is no problem.

Hardware does fail, event without moving parts. Especially on a notebook, heat will do damage over time. I had a MacBook that ran great for years and then it failed like many other MacBooks.

Whether or not it worked in the past is irrelevent. If you can make it work in Lion tomorrow, then you might have a case. If Apple forgot to include your WiFi driver in Mavericks, then you would not be having this problem at all. You wouldn't even be able to turn it on.

> If by exact same experience, you mean similar, then yes. Ira cannot turn WiFi back on.

Ira can't turn wifi back on in the GUI because his Mac freezes when you turn wifi off, and then will not reboot to multi-user mode. If you edit the config file in single-user mode to turn wifi back on, the computer boots into multi-user mode and works normally. We've both experienced the same thing.

I understand you are reluctant to belive the OS is at fault, but the fact is, Ira's workaround has restored my Mac and some others to functioning normally. In contrast, your scolding is not helpful.

I've also been suffering this WiFi issue on a 15" MacBook Pro 3,1.

I first noticed it on 10.9.0 but think it could also have been present on later builds of 10.8.

I've also noticed from a later build of 10.8 (possibly 10.8.5) that letting the machine sleep either on battery or connected to the mains would also cause it to freeze. Sometimes while asleep/frozen the machine gets hot enough for the fans to spin up after which they don't seem to stop.

I've done a post factory ram upgrade on the device but other than that all hardware is stock and the install of Mavericks was a clean install and not an upgrade.

Yes. People often accuse me of not being helpful when I refuse to join a "me too" chorus, or quartet/duet as the case may be. All they want to do is blame any and all problems on some OS upgrade that has been successfully applied by several hundred thousand or million other people. They make outlandish claims about Apple malfeasance yet refuse to attempt basic troubleshooting steps to diagnose the problem.

Why is it that people categorically refuse to accept the possibility that hardware can fail over time? Hard drives wear out. Logic boards heat up, swell, and contract several times a day - for years. Yet it is impossible for that activity to cause a problem. It must be an OS upgrade that, unlike each individual machine, is identical for everyone.

I have seen this pattern repeated year after year since before your machine was built. It is a moot point for a 2007 machine. But my main pet peeve is when people reads threads such as this one, forget that Apple sold 8 million of their particular machine, and convince themselves that their hardware problem, or 3rd party incompatibility problem, is an OS update problem. Then they sit on their hands, dutifully applying update after update, getting angrier and angrier at Apple for not fixing their computer. In a worst case, they may let their warranty run out while waiting for the magic fix.

I guess I am just as guilty for hoping against hope to get some different behaviour with each update. Perhaps I will just take my own advice and wise up - follow Apple's lead and sell to the masses and forget about the stragglers.

I had the same problem with freezing and fans spinning up during sleep. The SMC reset procedure fixed that for me.

If that fails and you need a workaround you could hibernate instead of sleeping. Not very convenient though, I know.

I believe I tried a SMC reset but I still have the problem. Again I think this is another problem that crept in during 10.8.4/5. If Apple can't seem to fix this under Mavericks I'll revert the machine back to 10.8.3 where I believe everything should behave itself again.