OSX Yosemite Wifi issues

I finally got my wifi straightened out and thought I'd post here to see if it helped anyone else...

My problems started with the first Yosemite Developer Preview. Wifi would just drop randomly and the menu bar wifi icon would go gray. I couldn't just reconnect to my wifi, I had to turn wifi off then back on and it would stay up for a seemingly random amount of time. Sometimes it would seem to be every 10 minutes, sometimes it could go hours without dropping. I filed lots of bug reports with Apple, but they were always closed as duplicates. But whatever, I knew the risks of running betas. The the GM release came and had the same behavior. Then the 10.10.1 beta still had the same problem. I started to research solutions. I tried the least invasive (deleting some files from SystemConfiguration), but no luck. No luck deleting my existing remembered wifi connections either. etc. etc. I was about to give in to nuking my hard drive and re-installing.

But I started thinking about what else was attached to my network, when I remembered that I had an external drive attached to my Airport Extreme (the wireless N, flat one) and I was using it for Time Machine for my MacBook Pro and Mac Mini (but the Mac Mini is hardwired, not wifi). This has always been an officially unsupported use (the newer tower Airport Extremes apparently do support this), but it worked fine in Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks. So I removed it from the Airport Extreme, used the Airport Utility on the Mac to make sure that it didn't think it was still attached. Then on the MacBook Pro, I went into TM Preferences and made it forget the TM Drive. And I've had close to 72 hours of wifi connection without it dropping and going gray. Downside is that I lost my TM backups for both the MacBook Pro and the Mac Mini. I even attached the external drive directly to the Mac Mini and told TM to use that drive, but it wouldn't pick up on the existing backup and insisted on starting a new one. So I just left the external drive attached to the Mini to do its TM backups and pressed another external drive into service to do TM backups for the MacBook Pro. So now, I have to remember to periodically connect the drive to backup my laptop, but my wifi issues are solved.

Are you suggesting that clean Yosemite install will take care of my WiFi issue? Would you be so kind and guide me through this process in steps? By wiping previous WiFi setup and letting Yosemite OSX to generate it's own WiFi setting I was under impression that it should do the trick. Unfortunately it didn't. If you could point these steps out I would greatly appreciate your help. Thanks.

Warszawa wrote:

Are you suggesting that clean Yosemite install will take care of my WiFi issue? Would you be so kind and guide me through this process in steps? By wiping previous WiFi setup and letting Yosemite OSX to generate it's own WiFi setting I was under impression that it should do the trick. Unfortunately it didn't. If you could point these steps out I would greatly appreciate your help. Thanks.

I can personally vouch for the fact that clean-installed Yosemites also exhibit the WIFI (Network) issues.

Could you guide me please in steps how did you clean install Yosemite on your i-Mac? I have a late 2012 i-Mac with a Yosemite installed over Maverick and suffering from random, intermittent WiFi drop off. Do you know a simple way of doing it without restoring my computer to factory settings? Thank you.

Thank you Greg and Good For you ... Good for keeping it simple... I upgraded to Yosemite on the Day it was released and have had NO problems whatsoever... Lucky I guess and Also the only problems in my house is the El CHEAPO Time Warner Belkin Wi Fi Router they gave us... which I sometimes have to unplug for a minute and then plug it back in... after that... always clear sailing for days... My Gripes are with that GD iTunes 12 and its interface which I sent Jony Ive and Email about... what a bunch of BS that App is now!

Yesterday I tried the suggestion to reset the SMC. For almost 24 hours now no more WiFi dropouts. And even Handoff is working now. So I'd give that a try first before doing a clean install or a re-install of Mavericks.

Warszawa wrote:

So what are you suggesting? I was under impression from your earlier reply to my post that a clean Yosemite install will eliminate the WiFi issue.

Well, you said that you had tried anything the past 2 weeks which would include bulldozing the drive and clean-install 10.10. Hence me suggesting you take 2 more hours and install Mavericks. Until Apple get it fixed. Then upgrade to Yosemite. That would save you a lot of writing and time. Time in which you can be happy, productive and enjoy your mac.

...and not a word from Apple... this is looking a little arrogant to me.

Hey Apple, any chance in restoring the functionality of my MBPr, oh and while your at it, can you also send me 2 new pixels to replace the dead ones I have on my replacement retina screen that was installed just before it came off warranty?

2 screens, 2 sets of dead pixels. Unbelievable.

Honestly, Microsoft is starting to look like an attractive proposition again.

What a horrible experience I have had with your 'best laptop ever'.

SeanjaNZ wrote:

...and not a word from Apple... this is looking a little arrogant to me.

Hey Apple, any chance in restoring the functionality of my MBPr, oh and while your at it, can you also send me 2 new pixels to replace the dead ones I have on my replacement retina screen that was installed just before it came off warranty?

2 screens, 2 sets of dead pixels. Unbelievable.

Honestly, Microsoft is starting to look like an attractive proposition again.

To my knowledge Microsoft does not manufacture personal computers. But perhaps DELL and the others are able to make displays like the one in your rMBP that never resolves to dead pixels. But Windows is certainly a very capable software with hardly any bugs and has

an outstanding record of always functioning software and almost no viruses. So yeah, you might be just right !

Anyway, in case you stick with Mac, it is always a good idea to get the extended coverage. I had most parts of my Retina MBP replace early 2014 (MBP from 2012) - Display, Power Adapter, and a bunch of other parts. Free of charge.

PS - I don't think there is a connection between your dead pixels and the WIFI Issue.. But I might be wrong !

I upgraded a 2014 MacBook Air from Mavericks to Yosemite and started having the same issue that others are reporting with WiFi dropping out after a few seconds or minutes. My workaround (until Apple fixes it permanently) is, right after I reboot my machine, I turn off WiFi and then turn it on again, then select my preferred WiFi network. It costs me a minute, but it works flawlessly after that.

Upgraded Maverics to Yosemite on MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012).

No connection ATT ALL to 5GHz Wifi for channels 136 - 153.

Additional question: My AirPort Extreme AC allow me to select on 5GHz very limited range of channels. Why?

I tried widely suggested tricks - remove plists, create custom profiles, run terminal commands to load/load discovery service. Nothing helps!

What is interesting, connection to 5GHz channel 36 is stable.

Any idea how to change Airport Extreme AC 5GHz channel list? Because I have no more trust one day Apple will roll fix for wifi issues.

bodya wrote:

Upgraded Maverics to Yosemite on MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012).

No connection ATT ALL to 5GHz Wifi for channels 136 - 153.

Additional question: My AirPort Extreme AC allow me to select on 5GHz very limited range of channels. Why?

I tried widely suggested tricks - remove plists, create custom profiles, run terminal commands to load/load discovery service. Nothing helps!

What is interesting, connection to 5GHz channel 36 is stable.

Any idea how to change Airport Extreme AC 5GHz channel list? Because I have no more trust one day Apple will roll fix for wifi issues.

Why don't you just leave it at channel 36 & 5GHZ if it is stable ???

Do you have anything against that number ;-)

Thanks for your suggestion. I misunderstood by thinking to clean install Yosemite instead of Maverick. Clean install Maverick on my i-Mac would be a little too complicated for me to perform. My technical ability are not as good as some of you on this forum. I just wish that I didn't trust Apple. Well, I did learn my lesson once again and will never repeat this mistake again. Also by going through Yosemite and more time spent browsing I discover many other bugs or software "disagreements" which could correlate to the WiFi issue. One of them is an automatic renaming of my i-Mac in the Air Port Utility. Before, while running Maverick my computer was under one name now Yosemite adds to my i-Mac name numerical order as 1, 2 and 3. This issue is being discussed in one of forums with no fix found up to date. I did run Macintosh HD "Verify Disc Permission" and "Repair Disc Permission" in Disc Utility and will see if that is going to stabilize my i-Mac renaming and stop WiFi from dropping. What do you thing about replacing my current 3 years old Air Port Extreme with a new one? I read that the new tower shaped Air Port Extreme is much more capable then the old one.

Does anyone experience the following ?

WiFi drops - but menu bar says it is still On

If I turn WiFi Off it then won't turn back on*

If I next make WiFi inactive in Network Preferences and then click Apply, my mac freezes and requires a power off. - every time

????

(tried all the fixes on the thread - none work)

*(only way to reconnect is to restart the mac)

1. To my knowledge MS does in fact manufacture PC's and have done so for many years now. See here:

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msnz/en_NZ/cat/categoryID.65890300?icid=TopN avSurface&tduid=a8a2260c88493319635e980b4b3a40f8

In all the years I used Windows I never had a single virus. But I don't download pirate software, I don't open email attachments from people I don't know and I don't surf dodgy websites. However, I note that OS X & IOS is no longer immune to viruses so you might want to temper your sarcasm there.

2. Yes, Dell does make high-res displays that don't fail just outside of warranty - we have 3 of them in our studio. Congrats, you got that one right but it is spelt Dell and not DELL. It's the surname of Michael (who founded the company); it's not an acronym. The question is, wouldn't you (and shouldn't you) have expected the same from Apple?

I certainly did, and based on the number of failures you have had I think you've just proved my point about the perception that is rapidly dying that 'Apple just works" ... when right now, it clearly doesn't. Thanks for helping to illustrate my point. I think its time Apple focuses a little less on social issues and soft icons, and focuses more on putting the QC back into QC.

Don't you think?

3. The UAE (where I was living at that time) does not sell AppleCare warranties, because as part of the agreement to sell Apple in that region they do not honour AppleCare warranties. This may have changed in the last few months as I see that Apple has or is about to formally open a store. However, because I was in the UAE, I was out of luck, and now I'm out of pocket.

It's disappointing that Apple appears to be unable to supply a screen that can last longer than 7 months without pixels dying.

4. No, I think you have got that one right too, the WIFI issues may not be linked to the dead pixels. You seem to be quite technically informed, so what do you think my chances are, of Apple posting me 2 new pixels to replace the dead ones?

Personally, I'm happy to pay a premium for a premium product but I do expect it to last longer than 1 year. Also, considering Apple writes software for a closed group of hardware (unlike MS who have to write for millions of combinations), is it really that unreasonable to have expected Apple to not screw up the primary I/O for my machine (WIFI) ?

Thanks for your input. It appears your love affair is so strong that you're happy to accept failures, but I'm not.