no wifi: No hardware installed

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Level 1

10 points

no wifi: No hardware installed

I have a 2009 Mac Pro running Yosemite and under Assist Me in Network the wi-fi option is greyed out. I bought a Hornettek HT-M802n wireless N150 USB adapter and it installs but won't launch the wireless utility or initiate internet sharing. I'm thinking the missing wi-fi option is the culprit. I get the Small X at the top right of my desktop that says, "Wi-Fi:No hardware installed." But I bought the USB wireless as a work around. How do I get Wi-Fi back as an option under Network settings so I can get this USB adapter to work?

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.4), FCPX 10.2.1-32GB RAM-2xRadeon 5770

Posted on Oct 23, 2015 3:04 PM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Oct 23, 2015 3:21 PM in response to tedtv

You said "it installs but won't launch the wireless utility"

You have to do that to setup the hardware.

Is the hardware compatible with Yosemite? What does the manufacturer say?

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Answer 2

Johnb-one

Level 6

9,156 points

Oct 23, 2015 5:17 PM in response to tedtv

what IIIIaasss said: . The adapter should show up under system report/USB. You can try launching Airport Utility. Also the chip in it is probably a Realtek/Ralink which requires its own Mac driver. try here for that

http://www.premiertek.net/top/download.html

I suspect the wifi adapter you bought is a rebadged generic one. I've checked the HornetTek website but they don't seem to offer much in the way of support, eg drivers/software. You might have had a cd with the wifi USB adapter when you bought it. You could try emailing them, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. Says it's compatible with Mac, Windows etc, but I can't seem to find a manual of any kind

sorry....

JB

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Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Oct 24, 2015 2:06 AM in response to tedtv

If you look at the install CD that came with the dongle there should be a file that says what versions of OSX are supported. It may be in a ReadMe file

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Answer 4

Oct 24, 2015 8:49 AM in response to tedtv

Your second screen shot, showing the menubar, shows a faint WiFi-like Icon with the word Ralink next to it in Red. Railink makes the most popular third-party chips and you may have already installed the driver you need. This driver has been around for a long time.

What happens when you click that Icon on the MenuBar?

Long before Mac OS X, when the old Ralink drivers were run, they added a new "ethernet" device to your Hardware configuration, and when you proceeded to set up that mystery 'ethernet', your aftermarket Wi-Fi started to work.

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Answer 5

Oct 26, 2015 3:02 PM in response to tedtv

try this...

My Setup: MacBook pro (2015) & OS: El Capitan

Did the OS update for El Capitan and restarted and then my Wi-Fi stopped working and gave the "Wifi: No hardware installed" error.

Here is what they recommended that worked for me:

1) Shut down all applications (except for Finder - leave this open). To do this press Option + Command + Esc at the same time. Then close all apps.

2) Completely shut down your computer

3) While its off, press all of these at the same time Ctrl+option+shift+power and hold this down for a good 5 seconds. Then release at the same time.

4) power on your device normally using the power button. Hope this helps.

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Answer 6

Oct 26, 2015 3:14 PM in response to chilelime7

chilelime7--

That is a great procedure for an SMC reset. But it depends on the computer being a MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air, with built-in keyboard.

Since this post is about the Mac Pro 2009 42 lb silver tower, there is no built-in keyboard, and that procedure does nothing. It would be better to use the procedure from this article:

Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

.

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