Beacon Lost

Question

Level 1

56 points

Beacon Lost

I've been noticing a pattern ever since I've downloaded El Capitan. I now have over a dozen folders in the crash reporter folder that have beacon lost as the last two words in the header. Our home has experienced many power outages the last two months due severe storms that knock out electrical service. As a result, the Xfinity gateway router that provides all phone, internet and wifi service to our house looses power. I have the mid 2012 MBP and it works fine. No freezes, no slowness, etc. I just see these folders under Macintosh HD, Library, Logs, Crash Reporter, Core Capture. I live in a rural area and storms can occur any time of year around here with a power outage. I've never seen any log like this in Mavericks or Yosemite.

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on Jun 23, 2016 2:54 PM

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Answer 1

lkpolovchik Author

Level 1

56 points

Jan 30, 2017 11:55 AM in response to Calby

I haven't had the problem in months. The reports matched closely with power failures that lasted only a minute but long enough for my Gateway to loose internet connectivity. I called my power company and matched up the times. Our power lines are set up in rural areas to shut and switch to another line when a branch rubs the line or a squirrel walks across the line. The power company would know what happened but residents most likely wouldn't even notice it. This was happening apparently. I was told that it cannot be prevented and that I am probably the only person on my rural road that noticed it. I was always at work when it occurred so I didn't experience the loss of power. I only started checking the log when it happened on the weekend and looked back thru the dates and times in the log. That is how I was able to match up the loss of power with the utility company. Mystery solved for me.

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Answer 2

Calby

Level 1

30 points

Jan 30, 2017 11:59 AM in response to lkpolovchik

Ok I see, thanks. Now when your mention it my router did go down and more or less is broke now very unstable wifi after the downtime today.

I have deleted the log file and I'll see if it appear again, I have order a new router so I'm hoping the new one is better.
Thanks again.

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,318 points

Jun 24, 2016 5:01 AM in response to lkpolovchik

Log files are not meant for the user. They are meant for developers. They can sometimes be used to interpret problems, but their existence usually doesn't indicate any problem.

The only thing I can link to Beacon and your description is the WiFi Beacon which it must find in order to determine the WiFi parameters it is allowed to use. The beacon is sent out by WiFi Access Points to indicate the country in which the AP operates (or is supposed to operate). Computers using WiFi can use that code to set their performance parameters to comply with national rules (channels, power, etc.).

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Answer 4

Calby

Level 1

30 points

Jan 30, 2017 11:28 AM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks, I have the same issue for Sierra. But my folders name in console is: [2017-01-30_15,11,36.867115]=BeaconLost

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