Wifi interface missing

Question

Level 1

13 points

Wifi interface missing

Hello,

My first post in Apple Communities.

I've a Macbook Pro 13" Late 2011 model, and it has been working perfectly. I've been using it for almost 3.5 years now, and kept it up to date. It has been running El Capitan for the last two months.

Two days ago, the wifi icon stopped working as it should. The on/off functions weren't happening, and I did a reboot. After the reboot, the wifi icon reads: "Wifi: no hardware installed".

I tried the following things:

Reboot
Reset PRAM
Reset SMC

The wifi started working again, for about 1 day and the same thing happened all over. Repeating the above, no luck. The wifi is still out. I have also tried a clean-install of El Capitan, and the wifi interface does not show up.

PS: Bluetooth is working fine, I'm currently using a magic mouse and keyboard... so I doubt it can be a wifi card issue.

Here's a screenshot... Any ideas?

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), 13" Late 2011

Posted on Nov 13, 2015 12:50 AM

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Answer 1

Nubz N.

Community Moderator

Nov 14, 2015 12:40 PM in response to mohsinstz

Hello mohsinstz,

Thanks for the troubleshooting you have done so far and the screen shot for when adding a network service. It does make it look like your system is not seeing the Wi-Fi hardware.

The next place to check is in the System Information (app). That is in your Application > Utilites folder or you can get to it from the Apple Menu > About This Mac > [ System Report ].

See System Information (El Capitan): Get system information for your Mac

When you open System Information, you see a system report containing detailed information about your Mac, including:

The hardware that is installed on or connected to it.

Your computer’s network connections, including the active services, its Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and the type and speed of the network connections.

You should see Wi-Fi under Hardware, Network.

( from OS X: About System Information and System Profiler - Apple Support )

If you don't see Wi-Fi there then your computer doesn't think it has Wi-Fi hardware and you need it checked out.

Apple - Support - Service Answer Center

Let us know how it goes.

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Answer 2

mohsinstz Author

Level 1

13 points

Nov 14, 2015 4:08 PM in response to mohsinstz

Hi Nubz N and Leroydouglas,

Thank you for your feedback, very much appreciated.

Under system report > network > wifi, I was only seeing software information.

Despite all my attempts, I figured that the wifi card must have gone haywire. I took my Macbook to Apple Authorised Reseller, and the technician at the service centre diagnosed it and said that the wifi card needs to be replaced. Usually, they need to order the parts which can take 3-4 weeks, but luckily they had one available. I had it replaced, and the wifi is working normally.

I'll try the power cycle of the airport card next time I run into a similar issue, hoping it to be not anytime soon! Maybe, someone else with a similar issue can try the airport power cycle and update this thread if it helped them.

Thanks again for your feedback!

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