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wifi keeps dropping since Yosemite upgrade

Since upgrading to Yosemite, my previously-stable (with Mavericks) wifi connection keeps dropping. I have to click the wifi icon and re-select my network every minute or two. I have turned off bluetooth and uninstalled/reinstalled wifi and my networks. I have rebooted multiple times. No luck so far. It appears that others are having similar problems. Any solutions at this point?

Early 2013 MacBook Pro Retina 13" running OS X Yosemite 10.10

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 16, 2014 11:23 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 16, 2014 11:28 PM

Hi ..


Might be corrupted network preferences as a result of the upgrade.


Open the Finder. From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder


Type or copy paste the following:


/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration


Click Go then move all the files in the SystemConfiguration folder to the Trash.


Restart your Mac.



See if that makes a difference.


Your Mac will generate a new SystemConfiguration folder for you.


If that doesn’t help, try here > Wi-Fi: How to troubleshoot Wi-Fi connectivity

312 replies

Nov 6, 2014 11:35 AM in response to Saavedl

I was on phone to Apple care this afternoon and they said I could go back to mountain lion but wouldn't be able to go to mavericks but I would upgrade straight to yosemite, can you please tell me how you did this I'm starting to pull my hair out, it is happening to both mine and my husband's mbp retina and they keep saying something is interfering with signal, arggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh

Nov 6, 2014 12:04 PM in response to kezgez

That's interesting because this solution was suggested also by apple care guys (Spain). This is what I did:

- reboot while keeping pressed cmd+alt+R at the start up

- the machine will connect directly to apple servers

- when the recovery process is finished select the disks utility option

- erase and/or partition at your choice. I took the opportunity to create a separate partition for OS 100gb and data 900gb

- when finished select reinstall OS (factory settings)

- once in mountain lion go to apple store, go to your purchases and there you should find all your softwares. In my case I found separate downloads for Mavericks and Yosemite As I was advised to.

- Select Mavericks upgrade and reinstall all your apps.

- Restore data


this process do not use time machine so the reconstruction process is time consuming (1 full day) but worth it every single minute


hope this helps

Nov 8, 2014 8:27 PM in response to mattormond

just adding my voice as someone also having this issue.


In my case, the issue is a conflict between Bluetooth and Wifi. when Bluetooth is turned on, my wireless connection drops to 1MBpS and then stalls out entirely. the moment I turn off Bluetooth, my wireless connection speed jumps right back to my expected 11MBpS (which is great considering I’m 20 feet from the modem with several 100-year-old plaster walls between us).


i have no clue other than waiting how to fix this; nothing in thse threads has worked.

Nov 8, 2014 10:00 PM in response to mattormond

I have time capsule at office and airport express at home, i noticed since upgrading to Yosemite that WIFI is dropping only at office but functioning normal at home!


I tried everything i find here and elsewhere and nothing cured. Then i hard reset my time capsule (this won't erase data but only configuration) and set it up form scratch and even change the wifi name and voila! Since more than 36 hours now without single dropped.


Hope that help someone have situation similar to mine.

Nov 9, 2014 4:13 AM in response to amer_AN

The fixes on this and other threads are all a bit random; that is some things work for some people but there is no generalised explanation of the problem or resolution and regrettably Apply is totally silent. My own experiences are all over the place. No doubt I never had wifi issues like these prior to Yosemite. However there are instances when it works well. At my home I am experimenting with Apple's Extreme and it seems to have made a difference. At work, in my office, the user experience over wifi is dreadful but my IT colleagues confirm that the router is old, the speeds slow. Nonetheless I get a better result on my iPhone and they on their smart phones, than I do on my Air. However, in another part of the University, where the infrastructure is better, I am able to download (OOKLA) at 140 MBS and upload at 110 MBS, not bad. So Apple can say - see no problem with Yosemite it is the networks you connect to. Similarly at home, using BT Home Hub I get variation - from 6-8 MBS download to 58 at the same location depending on - who knows what. hence I am experimenting with Apple wifi network to see if that improves stability. I conclude: 1. there is a problem here, 2. the nature of it makes problem identification exceedingly difficult, and 3. my experience is that Yosemite is just more sensitive than its predecessors. It does work, of course and is capable of high speed connection - but if the signal is poor, it struggles more than Mavericks. I hear that an updated OS is in Beta, on this forum one found it solved his or her problem and for the other it made no difference. I don't think we are getting to get satisfaction on this until the next OS.

Nov 9, 2014 7:35 AM in response to Stan in London

Exactly the same problem, wifi dropouts every so many minutes and sometimes even impossible to connect. I use Airport through time Machine as router. My problem got solved by switching to my other (not so good) router built in my modem. Looks like (in my case) a problem between Yosemite and the Apple router protocol. Other mac here in the house runs Mavericks with NO problem at all, so do the iPhones and iPad.

Nov 9, 2014 7:42 AM in response to Rene Veldhuizen

Add another to the gang...


Upgraded my 2009 MacBook Pro to Yosemite 10.10. WiFi now useless:


  • Drops connection
  • Requests password all the time
  • Correct password rejected as invalid


This is a problem with WPA2 Personal. If I log on using the wifi hotspot on my BT5HH, with no security, it connects with no problem.


I've seen other threads on this. How do we seek a fix from Apple?


MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Nov 9, 2014 8:14 AM in response to Chutley

I to am having intermittent loss of the wi-fi adapter on my iMac. The quick method for me to get it working again is to turn Wi-Fi Off and then back on again.


We have several iMacs in our home all running with Yosemite and mine is the only one that has had this issue.


I am certain that Apple is working on a fix as there are quite a few customers expressing the concern.

Nov 9, 2014 1:57 PM in response to Peekay

update: my culprit was Handoff.


disabling it on all my devices (Mac, iPhone, iPad, all of which are in the same room when not in active use) solved the issue. I think the Bluetooth was so noisy it was simply drowning out my WiFi signal entirely.


of note: this only worked after disabling handoff on all the devices. if one was left active, the problem resurfaced.


to disable Handoff on your Mac: open System Preferences, choose General, and uncheck "Allow Handoff between your Mac and your iCloud devices" at the bottom.


to disable Handoff on iOS: open Settings, scroll down to General, the click "Handoff & Suggested Apps." click that—you can then turn it off.

Nov 9, 2014 9:29 PM in response to mattormond

Having intermittent wifi drops on 2013 Mac Pro since upgrading to Yosemite today. Never happened before on Mavericks. Corrected by switching wi fi off then on. Using Mac wi fi router Airport Extreme: last generation. No problems until Yosemite. Hope Apple recognize that this is linked to Yosemite. Not wasting time or risking corruptions...hopefully will correct soon with update. I will put my wifi monitor on and send them the report after it drops next time.

wifi keeps dropping since Yosemite upgrade

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