JosePorto

Q: Mac Mini unreachable via Wi-Fi

Fellows

 

My mac mini does not answer to PING or nay other incoming connections if I´m using Wi-Fi. However it works like a charm if I use ethernet.

 

Any ideas of what is happening?

 

BR´s

 

Jose Porto

Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)

Posted on Jun 19, 2016 8:53 PM

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Q: Mac Mini unreachable via Wi-Fi

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  • by ManSinha,

    ManSinha ManSinha Jun 19, 2016 10:54 PM in response to JosePorto
    Level 6 (10,250 points)
    iPhone
    Jun 19, 2016 10:54 PM in response to JosePorto

    Hold Option key down and click on WiFi icon

    Run the trouble shooter and see what is found / suggested

    Also please tell us if you have this problem at another place with a public wifi

  • by JosePorto,

    JosePorto JosePorto Jul 23, 2016 6:05 AM in response to ManSinha
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 23, 2016 6:05 AM in response to ManSinha

    Sorry for the late response. Out to vacations.

     

    I think you did not understood my question. I can ping anyone from my mac-mini. However, no one can ping the mac. Looks like the firewall is turned on, but it is not. Some additional weird facts:

     

    1) It happens only when I use WiFi. It is cabled, it's fine.

    2) It's not only for PING. It does not answer PING, VNC requests, etc.

    3) I have VIRTUALBOX installed and some VM's running. If I bridge the VM through en0 (cable ethernet) the bridge works perfectly and gets the IP from my router with no problem. But, if I use en1 (WiFi Airport) it doesn't work.

     

    It's clear that I have something blocking or "firewalling" the wifi even with the firewall turned off. But no idea of how or why.

     

    I'm not a guru of "ifconfig" hacks, but here is the report for en1 if helps:

     

    en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

      ether 20:c9:d0:xx:xx:xx

      inet 192.168.1.139 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255

      nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>

      media: autoselect

      status: active

      status: inactive

     

    Any idea?

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Jul 23, 2016 6:35 AM in response to JosePorto
    Level 10 (187,759 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 23, 2016 6:35 AM in response to JosePorto

    As asked before, does this happen when connect to another wifi network?

  • by Tesserax,Helpful

    Tesserax Tesserax Jul 23, 2016 1:42 PM in response to JosePorto
    Level 9 (53,940 points)
    Wireless
    Jul 23, 2016 1:42 PM in response to JosePorto

    If is possible that some application on your Mac mini has enabled the OS X network level software firewall, called PF. It is normally disabled by default and would otherwise require using Terminal commands or third-party applications, like Murus to enable it. Since this type of firewall filters system process, as opposed to application processes, it would be the most likely culprit in blocking inbound pings.

     

    To disable it, you would use the following command in Terminal: sudo pfctl -d

  • by JosePorto,

    JosePorto JosePorto Jul 23, 2016 1:44 PM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 23, 2016 1:44 PM in response to lllaass

    Illaass...

     

    It's a Mac Mini... Not a MacBook... Unless I carry it somewhere else, I'm unable to test on another WiFi network... :-)

  • by JosePorto,

    JosePorto JosePorto Jul 23, 2016 1:45 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 23, 2016 1:45 PM in response to Tesserax

    Worked like a charm. Thanks a lot.

     

    However, just to avoid this again, is it possible to check what application has set it up in the past? I don't think so but...

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Jul 23, 2016 2:47 PM in response to JosePorto
    Level 9 (53,940 points)
    Wireless
    Jul 23, 2016 2:47 PM in response to JosePorto

    Well, we know it can't be OS X itself as not only does it default to have pf disabled, but the configuration file (/etc/pf.conf) that pf reads to set filter rules is just an empty placeholder shell.

     

    Someone would have to manually enter the information in that file to filter for inbound pings when when pf starts up ... so that would leave some third-party application, but which one would be difficult to say. Sorry!

     

    One thing for a quick check. If pf.conf has been modified, the next time you start up your Mac the filter will apply and you should lose inbound pings again. If this doesn't happen then the file is not modified and all is good. Be careful with this file. You don't want to manually modify it as it could prevent your system from starting up properly.

     

    OS X's Activity Monitor may offer a clue to the culprit, but I'm guessing that since it can only monitor processes after system startup, it may not help much.