Wifi disconnects, wont reconnect, searches forever, after sleep and at powerup

MODERATORS, mods, please do not delete this thread because it appears to be a repeat of this one:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5495375?start=0&tstart=0, this thread has all of the useful info on page 1- unlike the other one which is confusing until page 18+. People need a one-stop place to find info on this, ie. page 1 of this thread. Thank you.

Also, please STICKY this thread because it is an issue for so many people and related to one of the most basics of laptop essentials - wifi. Stick this thread to the main page of macbook, osx etc so it is one of the first things people see without even needing to search.

I have been following this thread (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5495375?start=0&tstart=0) for awhile and we are creating confusion for every new person that reads this thread. When they go to the last pages, to get the latest info they just see a lot of confusing info. They are seeing alot of suggested fixes, trying them and they dont work, or they do work, but there are so many suggestions that no one knows what to try. So I have a proposal. Lets do this right. Copy and paste this post. Dont just say: I tried this and it didnt work, or I tried everything and it didnt work, lets be helpful to ourselves and to others. If you try one of the suggestions and it works for you, bump up the "success count", if it doesn’t bump up the failure count. Because when multiple people have something working we can have confidence it should work for us.

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Problem:

Since upgrading to Mavericks whenever my MacBook goes to sleep (if I leave it idle or if I close the lid) the wifi disconnects and it can take up to a minute to reconnect when it wakes. When searching the web you get the message “Not connected to the internet”

One Reason Why it happens:

Wifi and Bluetooth conflict with each other when the computer wakes. If a bluetooth device was paired, and was disconnected while the mac was sleeping, the mac will first look to repair that device. Since the device does not allow the mac to pair, the mac continues to search for it for up to 1 minute and then will timeout and allow the wifi to ocnnect.

How to test it:

Close the lid of your mac to let it sleep, open it and login, does it take 0-5 seconds to connect Wifi (Wifi icon becomes solid black and can surf the web) if so you are good. Else if wifi icon is gray or shows searching and you cannot surf the web for 30s to 1 minute or until you select your wifi network you have the problem.

Potential ways to get around this (Please add to success/fail count as you test! )

1) EASY - Turn off Bluetooth (Top Right corner menu bar Bluetooth Icon > Turn Bluetooth Off, icon will become gray)

Test it works: Turn bluetooth off, close lid, open, and surf web

Disadvantage: Obviously you cannot use bluetooth.

Success Count: 100+ i.e. yes this has worked for many people!

Fail Count: 0 ie as far as we know this has not failed to work around this issue for everyone!

2) MEDIUM - Delete the plist and reboot your mac (Open finder, select ‘Go’ at top menu bar, ‘Go to folder’ > Library/Preferences, delete this folder if you have it: SystemConfiguration (if you have it) and this file: com.apple.systempreferences.plist (More info https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4301)

Test it works: Turn Bluetooth on, close lid, open, and surf web

Disadvantage: Issue returns if after doing this fix, you disconnect a Bluetooth device while the mac is sleeping.

Success Count: 1 ie there is some low confidence that this method works, need more people to chime in

Fail Count: 0

2) EASY – If you have unpaired a Bluetooth device while mac was sleeping, repair that device. Unpair it while mac is awake.

Test it works: Turn Bluetooth on, close lid, open, and surf web

Disadvantage: You must have the device available of course

Success Count: 1 ie there is some low confidence that this method works, need more people to chime in

Fail Count: 0

3) EASY - Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer (Top Right corner menu bar Bluetooth Icon) > Open Bluetooth Preferences > Advanced > Uncheck Bluetooth devices to wake this computer

Test it works: Turn Bluetooth on, close lid, open, and surf web

Disadvantage:

Success Count: 0

Fail Count: 1 ie there is some low confidence that this method does NOT work, need more people to chime in

4) EASY - Disconnect all bluetooth devices (Top Right corner menu bar Bluetooth Icon) > Open Bluetooth Preferences > Remove all connected devices

Test it works: Turn Bluetooth on, close lid, open, and surf web

Disadvantage:

Success Count: 0

Fail Count: 1 ie there is some low confidence that this method does NOT work, need more people to chime in

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Can this issue be related to other devices/services that cause wifi to drop? Yes, and each issue may have a unique resolution to keeping that device/service working with wifi:

My dropbox cause wifi to drop:

I have also noticed that in addition to bluetooth causing wifi to fail to connect after sleep, if I install dropbox and powerup my machine wifi will not connect. Dropbox if you are not familiar is a cloud service that lets you save docs/pictures to a remote location. I found that my searching the preferences/options of my dropbox application, I could turn off the option "Start dropbox on system startup" which resolved the issue. What I believe is happening is that wifi is set as a very low priority - basically it is the last service to run after all other servies bluetooth, dropbox, printers, etc.

My printer causes wifi to drop:

My guess is that your mac is trying to reconnect to your printer after each sleep (it temporarily disconnects at each sleep), and that on wakeup the connection causes the wifi to hang/never connect - all the while your printer may connect and work as normal (at least this seems the case with dropbox/bluetooth. So my suggestion is this - look through your printers options and see if you can disable automatic reconnecting at wakeup or system powerup, if so you may be able to connect to printer quickly and seemlessly each time you actual choose file > print, and you may never notice any difference in usability of your printer. If this is not an option for your printer, you may have to disable/uninstall it to use wifi without these interruptions.

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Are you mad, sad, dissappointed with apple for releasing software with these issues and not responding/fixing the issue? Complain to them via support feedback. It is the only way the issue will be resolved. Even if a temporary fix works it is not a full solution and apple should push an update. Basically if 100000+ complaints come on the same issue, engineers and managers lose their jobs if they dont address them. I know, I work at a software company. So here is how to complain:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Please give apple feedback! Use this:

Subject:

Wifi drops and does not connect at wakeup after OS update to mavericks

Comments:

Using the mavericks operating system, when I put my mac to sleep it does not recognize wifi upon wakeup. Safari says "No internet connection". I have to manually re-select the wifi connection. In addition, sometimes wifi will drop randomly while surfing and i get the message "No internet connection". This is very frustrating especially since the main use of my laptop is web search. Please fix!