No internet connection until renew DHCP lease on Air Port Exreme

I have a cable modem connected to an AirPort Extreme (802.11n) which provides WiFi for my household. My iPads and iPhones all have no problem connecting to the internet. I also have a MacBook Air (2012) running El Capitan. My MacBook has problems connecting to the internet every time it comes out of standby. It connects to my WiFi network fine, and can see my local computers (on 192.168.0.x) but cannot see past my cable modem. I can "fix" the problem by running the AirPort Utility and renewing my DHCP lease. For some reason this then makes my MacBook work (note my other devices work fine without doing this). I've tested this solution by opening a terminal window and pinging google, which fails until I renew the AirPorts DHCP address. If I just leave the MacBook for about 10 minutes eventually it will pick up a connection and work fine.

Has anyone had a similar problem? I don't want to have to run the AirPort utility every time I want to use my MacBook!

I have also noticed that if I go to System Preference and renew my local DHCP lease I get a SINGLE ping go through to google but then it stops again until I renew the AirPorts IP address.

Really annoying as my other devices work, it's clearly not a connectivity problem!

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X El Capitan (10.11.2), null

Posted on Jan 11, 2016 12:32 PM

41 replies

Feb 7, 2016 11:21 PM in response to ThePirate89

No change here. I have hard reset all AP's and routers but still get the same issue. Hopefully a future update will sort the problem.

ackieone

Level 1

0 points

Feb 8, 2016 2:35 AM in response to GordonCopestake

have the same problem - posting to say so and follow for any solutions

ackieone

Level 1

0 points

Feb 10, 2016 2:52 AM in response to GordonCopestake

in case it works for you.

Only solution I have found it to download airport utility 5.6.1 - google will help: add launcher to the search query.

seems to resolve whatever the software problem I had and failure to connect to internet.

Feb 10, 2016 10:06 AM in response to ackieone

I can't install version 5.6.1 in El El Capitan as it says the version is not supported.

One more thing I've tried though is to borrow a TP-Link access point from work and connect my MacBook to that SSID but I get the same problem. And the kicker is if I then renew the AirPort DHCP address the internet works (even the the MacBook isn't attached to the AirPort SSID. So it's nothing to do with the actual connection, more likely something to do with something the AirPort utility is doing.

ackieone

Level 1

0 points

Feb 11, 2016 2:10 AM in response to GordonCopestake

Hi Gordon,

I am using El Cap latest update. so not sure why you cant open.

this may help:

I dont know what the rule is about linking to other websites so I wont put one in here. But if you type in to google: airport utility 5.6.1 launcher - it shoudl be the first link that you want: to a website by corey. Near the bottom of the page is a link to a dmg file. Open and drag the folder to the application folder.

Inside the folder you will have the uility icon greyed out with a ban sign on it and a launcher icon. You use the launcher icon to open the utility.

I use that and did a hard reset of the AE so I could restore my second LAN settings which stopped working (couldnt change number ranges) as well.

(Do not press update uitlity software.)

Feb 11, 2016 2:47 AM in response to GordonCopestake

GordonCopestake wrote:

I can't install version 5.6.1 in El El Capitan as it says the version is not supported.

One more thing I've tried though is to borrow a TP-Link access point from work and connect my MacBook to that SSID but I get the same problem. And the kicker is if I then renew the AirPort DHCP address the internet works (even the the MacBook isn't attached to the AirPort SSID. So it's nothing to do with the actual connection, more likely something to do with something the AirPort utility is doing.

There is a workaround to use Airport Utility 5.6.1 on El Capitan.

I am using it to manage my old Airport Express.

Follow the instructions here: http://stickyworknotes.blogspot.it/2016/01/apple-airport-utility-561-on-el-capit an.html

Feb 11, 2016 9:53 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I installed AirPort Utility 5.6.1 but it didn't seem to make any difference. Got the same issue with having to renew the AirPort DHCP lease (even though I'm on a different SSID on a different access point). No clue what the AirPort utility is doing to my TCP/IP configuration but it sure is annoying to have to renew every time I open my MacBook.

geki

Level 1

0 points

Feb 14, 2016 4:58 AM in response to GordonCopestake

Same exact problem. I had this problem since November (three months ago), six trips to the apple store and a couple of phone support calls have not helped yet. I also reinstalled my OS three times, two of those without Time Machine restore.

I am desperate, and would love for a solution to be found.

My MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2014, 1.4 GHz Intel Core i5) drops connection on random (but frequent) intervals.

I tried changing Router (to two different brands), I even got an airport express,and the connection still fails. Fun fact: with the Airport, I did not even need to renew the lease or restart wifi, I just needed to OPEN the airport utility for my stupid computer to realize that yeah, internet is actually there.

Sadness

Giacomo

moheny

Level 1

4 points

Feb 26, 2016 8:42 AM in response to geki

All those stupid fixes NOT working... they said remove your location and start a new location but it's all ending the same results, connection drops. did someone find a fix ?!?!

Nov 15, 2016 7:10 PM in response to GordonCopestake

Same issue with a different modem/router (Zoom). Periodically happens and the only solution is to wait it out or renew DHCP lease. Restarting computer, modem, clearing SMC, firmware push, newer version of O/S - nothing has solved the issue. Affects two different MBP Retinas (2013 model), so not tied to just my computer. Other wireless devices (iPhone and Windows Laptops) do not experience the issue.

Brianfit

Level 1

14 points

Jan 23, 2017 7:10 AM in response to geki

This is interesting: opening Airport Utility wakes up the connection? Do you use the Airport as your DHCP server? I'll try to replicate this.

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No internet connection until renew DHCP lease on Air Port Exreme