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exlaimation mark in wifi icon

I have a macbook air purchased last fall. Since I came back from a one-week trip around Christmas, I have been unable to connect to my home wifi network. There is an exclaimation mark in the wifi icon. I have several other devices (mac, iphone, ipad, pc), and most of them work fine - except my son's macbook pro and my wife's iPad. We tried several recommended solutions - "forgetting" the network and re-establishing the connection. I looked online for possible solutions, but so far, no luck. What is going on? Does anyone have any idea?

MacBook Air, iOS 7

Posted on Jan 12, 2014 8:41 AM

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Posted on Jan 12, 2014 6:17 PM

When you see an exclamation point in the Wi-Fi menu, from the menu bar, select


System Preferences... Network


Click the Assist me button and select Assistant. Follow the prompts. You may get a warning that Wi-Fi is not available, that you're too far from the base station, or that you're using the wrong password.


Assuming that you've ruled out those possibilities, restart the computer and try again. If there's no change, click the lock icon in the lower left corner of the preference pane and authenticate, if necessary. From the Location menu at the top of the window, select Edit Locations. A sheet will drop down. Click the plus-sign button to create a new location. Give it any name you want. In the new location, set up the Wi-Fi service with the same settings you used before. Click Applyand test.


If there's still no connection, and if you have control of the router, compare its settings to Apple's recommendations. Some third-party routers may be incompatible in 802.11b/g/n radio mode. Try setting the mode to 802.11n only.

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Question marked as Best reply

Jan 12, 2014 6:17 PM in response to tadfromga

When you see an exclamation point in the Wi-Fi menu, from the menu bar, select


System Preferences... Network


Click the Assist me button and select Assistant. Follow the prompts. You may get a warning that Wi-Fi is not available, that you're too far from the base station, or that you're using the wrong password.


Assuming that you've ruled out those possibilities, restart the computer and try again. If there's no change, click the lock icon in the lower left corner of the preference pane and authenticate, if necessary. From the Location menu at the top of the window, select Edit Locations. A sheet will drop down. Click the plus-sign button to create a new location. Give it any name you want. In the new location, set up the Wi-Fi service with the same settings you used before. Click Applyand test.


If there's still no connection, and if you have control of the router, compare its settings to Apple's recommendations. Some third-party routers may be incompatible in 802.11b/g/n radio mode. Try setting the mode to 802.11n only.

Jan 12, 2014 1:25 PM in response to tadfromga

This exclamation mark in the Airport icon means that WiFi is working but the internet connection is lost.

You have to power off the modem, and the router, both ⚠. Then power up the modem and let it start up completely, then start up the router and let it start up completely, sometimes you also have to turn Airport off on the computer then on again when both modem and router are completely started up.

Jan 12, 2014 4:16 PM in response to tadfromga

Thank you both, but neither one worked.


I have a "guest" access with my router, and when I log in on that network, I can get to the Internet. Moreover, other devices that are connected are working fine. So, I don't think it is the router issue.


I am not getting an IP address, though - when I look at the network under "Advanced" setting, the IP address space is empty.

exlaimation mark in wifi icon

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