You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

sidsden Author

Level 1

2 points

WiFi issues on Windows 10 using bootcamp

After installing Windows 10 via bootcamp, initially I did not have the WiFi drivers installed automatically, however, installing the legacy WiFi driver from the bootcamp driver package resolved the issue. Recently, Apple pushed bootcamp 6 to my machine and I thought all my woes would be gone, but I was wrong.

As of now, I do not have any other issues using Windows on my mid 2012 Macbook Pro (non-retina, which also runs the latest OSX 10.11 El Capitan) except for the WiFi. My WiFi keeps on disconnecting/reconnecting in intervals of 5-10 minutes. To be very clear this is an issue only while using Windows (means my hardware is perfectly OK). Also, I have noticed that this happens only when I am home using my home WiFi. When I am at school using Windows 10 on my mac, there is no disconnection of the WiFi. It is also worthwhile to note that my other devices, which include 2 Samsung smartphones, and my roommate's devices including his laptop and his smartphone, do not have any drops on their WiFi connection.

So, is it possible that the same WiFi receiver which is in my Macbook uses a different frequency to connect to WiFi when booted with Windows, and all the other devices use a different frequency? I am not sure of this, but have read that most smartphones and laptops use the 5 GHz frequency, is it possible that Windows uses, or rather Apple makes Windows to use the 2.4 GHz band for its bootcamped devices? Will using a different WiFi switch/router/transmitter solve my problem? Are there any software tweaks that I can make to resolve this? Or perhaps a different driver? Any help will be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if you need any extra information. My current router at home is from Cisco (Model: DPQ3925, the stock router from the ISP) and my ISP is Cox Communications.

Sid

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), null

Posted on Oct 26, 2015 8:26 PM

45 replies

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Dec 7, 2015 3:28 PM in response to Pwham

From Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5621, W7/W8+ driver. W10 is using it in compatibility mode.

Post Date: Feb 11, 2014

File Size: 924.9 MB

System Requirements

MacBook Air (11-inch & 13-inch, Mid 2011)
MacBook Air (11-inch & 13-inch, Mid 2012)
MacBook Pro (15-inch & 17-inch, Mid 2010)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, & 15-inch, Early 2011)
MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2011)
MacBook Pro (13-inch,15-inch & 17-inch Late 2011)
MacBook Pro (13-inch & 15-inch, Mid 2012)
MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012)
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012)
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch and 15-inch, Early 2013)
Mac Pro (Early 2009)
Mac Pro (Mid 2010)
Mac Pro (Mid 2012)
Mac mini (Mid 2011)
Mac mini (Late 2012)
iMac (27-inch, Mid 2010)
iMac (21.5-inch & 27-inch, Mid 2011)
iMac (21.5-inch & 27-inch, Late 2012)
iMac (21.5-inch) Early 2013
Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1, 64 bit

Can you find a BC6 W10 driver (use El Capitan's BC Assistant to download the full package to a USB) and test?

Pwham

Level 1

0 points

Dec 7, 2015 3:59 PM in response to Loner T

I'm afraid I do not know how to do that. I can install a driver if I can download one.

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Dec 7, 2015 4:06 PM in response to Pwham

From the OSX side download to a USB and then switch to Windows. Go to the Bootcamp -> Drivers folder and look for a Broadcom folder which should have the drivers. You can try the legacy drivers first.

Pwham

Level 1

0 points

Dec 8, 2015 4:38 AM in response to Loner T

Thanks so much for all your help. So, I went through all that, but the drivers I ended up with were the same Windows 7 & 8 Drivers I have. Not something new for Windows 10. And not for nothing, that is a crazy way to go about getting 1 new driver in the first place!

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Dec 8, 2015 5:49 AM in response to Pwham

I have the same 13 2012 MBP and ELC. Let me verify the version that BCA downloads.

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Dec 8, 2015 7:37 AM in response to Pwham

I downloaded the drivers using brigadier.

./brigadier -m Mac10,2 -o Bootcamp-Mac10.2

Using Mac model: Mac10,2.

Couldn't find a Boot Camp ESD for the model Mac10,2 in the given software update catalog.

Tushar-rMBP:brigadier-master sharma_tu$ ./brigadier -m MacBookPro10,2 -o Bootcamp-Mac10.2

Using Mac model: MacBookPro10,2.

Model supported in package distribution file at http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/05/34/031-12187/t614kl532jwk6pqkri5uzvm v3rmsnfcb3r/BootCampESD.dst/031-12187.English.dist.

Distribution 031-12187 supports the following models: Macmini6,1, Macmini6,2, iMac13,1, iMac13,2.

Model supported in package distribution file at http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/28/26/031-24514/qx7ph7k6mewtcf4eyhxmiil gc7r2ikjgud/031-24514.English.dist.

Distribution 031-24514 supports the following models: MacBook8,1, MacBookAir5,1, MacBookAir5,2, MacBookAir6,1, MacBookAir6,2, MacBookAir7,1, MacBookAir7,2, MacBookPro9,1, MacBookPro9,2, MacBookPro11,1, MacBookPro11,2, MacBookPro11,3, MacBookPro11,4, MacBookPro11,5, MacBookPro12,1, MacPro6,1, Macmini6,1, Macmini6,2, Macmini7,1, iMac13,1, iMac13,2, iMac13,3, iMac14,1, iMac14,2, iMac14,3, iMac14,4, iMac15,1.

Model supported in package distribution file at http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/53/19/031-0787/e59hg9xe761b8zzeyrffkjo2 i2zuogqd9g/031-0787.English.dist.

Distribution 031-0787 supports the following models: MacBookAir4,1, MacBookAir4,2, MacBookAir5,1, MacBookAir5,2, MacBookPro6,1, MacBookPro6,2, MacBookPro8,1, MacBookPro8,2, MacBookPro8,3, MacBookPro9,1, MacBookPro9,2, MacPro4,1, MacPro5,1, Macmini5,1, Macmini5,2, Macmini5,3, Macmini6,1, Macmini6,2, iMac11,3, iMac12,1, iMac12,2, iMac13,1, iMac13,2, iMac13,3.

There is more than one ESD product available for this model:

031-12187: PostDate 2015-02-09 18:42:37

031-24514: PostDate 2015-08-13 02:09:18

031-0787: PostDate 2014-02-11 21:35:32

Selecting 031-24514 as it's the most recently posted.

Making directory Bootcamp-Mac10.2/BootCamp-031-24514..

Fetching Boot Camp product at URL http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/28/26/031-24514/qx7ph7k6mewtcf4eyhxmiil gc7r2ikjgud/BootCampESD.pkg.

100.0% 1633591296 / 1633586781 bytes

Expanding flat package...

Extracting Payload...

Extracted to Bootcamp-Mac10.2/BootCamp-031-24514/WindowsSupport.dmg.

Done.

The driver package I get has the following Product Version.

<ProductManufacturer>Apple Inc.</ProductManufacturer>

<ProductVersion>6.0.6133</ProductVersion>

<ProductCode>{FCFFE6B6-BAE8-490E-88D0-097A9DA1C43D}</ProductCode>

Dec 12, 2015 3:15 PM in response to Pwham

I am having this problem as well for the last few weeks, making the Windows side virtually unusable. WiFi works fine for about 15 mins, then crashes and cannot reconnect until I restart. Windows, OSX, and Boot Camp software/drivers are both the very latest versions with all updates installed.

Looking at the Windows Event Viewer, there are a bunch of services which all crash at the same time, including Wifi and many other things.

Apple, please escalate at an urgent level of priority to the team working on such bug fixes. I can provide any information or event logs that you need to investigate.

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Dec 12, 2015 3:44 PM in response to Pandemonical

Is your W10 and upgrade from W7? A clean install can address some issues.

Dec 12, 2015 4:38 PM in response to Loner T

It is indeed an upgrade from Windows 7, but everything was working perfectly for several months, and stopped working around Thanksgiving. There is clearly a problem with a recent update on either the Mac or Windows side that is causing a bunch of services to crash. I am not going to do a clean install just for the heck of it--many, many people are having these problems and it is likely that a bug fix is needed to address this. Please let me know what kind of system info I can provide.

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Dec 12, 2015 4:43 PM in response to Pandemonical

If you have Windows Automatic Updates enabled, it is an invitation to pain and grief.

zeburr

Level 1

5 points

Dec 13, 2015 7:18 AM in response to sidsden

I've had very similar problems. I'm on a macbook pro 2014 retina. I did notice however that my wifi in windows 10 only starts disconnecting every 15-20 minutes when I'm plugged in to my power cable to charge. If I'm unplugged then I don't have any wifi problems. As soon as I plugin to charge my laptop my wifi will drop, I then repair it by going into services and manually restarting windows connection manager and wlan autoconfig. However if I'm still plugged into to an outlet then the wifi will drop in 15-20 minutes. So far that's my only solution - stay unplugged. Have you noticed that you've been plugged in to a power source when your wifi drops?

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Dec 13, 2015 8:07 AM in response to zeburr

When connected via power adapter, shutdown your Mac, run SMC and NVRAM Reset and power it back up into Windows with the power connected. Test and report back results.

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

How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support