Tired of wireless issues in El Capitan

Question

Tired of wireless issues in El Capitan

Now before I type this I had the EXACT same issues with my 11" Macbook Air and now they are occurring on my 15" Macbook Pro Retina, so it's not the hardware it is an OS issue because wireless worked fine on Snow Leopard and then started occurring on Mavericks and continued on El Capitan.

The wireless cuts out on my Macbook Pro constantly...it shows as connected, but then you will lose the ability to connect to websites, email, etc..and the only way to bring it back is to turn wireless off and back on. If it gets too bad then I have to do the old SMC controller reset (turn off laptop, then shift+ctrl+option+power for five seconds, then power back up) which fixes the issues for a day or two and then it happens all over again. My other devices (iPhone, iPad) don't have this issue and are always connected to wireless without an issue.

As I said I had the same issues on my Macbook Air and thought maybe the Macbook Pro would be different but obviously it hasn't been remedied in Mavericks or El Capitan. I certainly hope that Sierra fixes this once and for all because I know there are a lot of other people in the same boat as I am. I love my Mac and you'd have to saw my arm off to get me to get a Windows laptop.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Aug 16, 2016 1:37 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Aug 16, 2016 1:42 PM in response to Locutus of Apple

Bettier to not expect an OS upgrade to fix a current problem. I for one am not having any problems with Wi-Fi on El Capitan.

If you haven't tried yet, restart your internet modem and Wi-Fi router then restart your Mac(s) to test.

If that doesn't help, it may be that the network preferences are corrupted.

Open the Finder. From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder

Type or copy paste the following:

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

Click Go then move all the files in the SystemConfiguration folder to the Trash.

Restart your Mac. See if that makes a difference.

Your Mac will generate a new SystemConfiguration folder for you.

Reply

Answer 2

Aug 16, 2016 5:24 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

I can delete everything but com.Apple.boot.plist

Reply

Answer 3

Aug 17, 2016 8:56 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

I am having . . . WAS having

'Just updated El Capitan to 10.11.6 now Airport Time Capsule keeps disconnecting' and today 'I'll add today 'connection failed' to this post. Even with unplugging and many attempts. 'Connection Failed.''

problems and had posted the question in Airport but finally came here today looking for answers. So far this has solved my problem. Thank you, Carolyn!

Reply

Answer 4

Aug 17, 2016 9:08 AM in response to evafrombisbee

THANKS SO MUCH, Carolyn. This has been a nuisance for many days now and no help anywhere else. I'm not at all knowledgeable about using Communities. If there's somewhere I can go to give you credit for solving this problem, please let me know.

Reply

Answer 5

keg55

Level 6

11,755 points

Aug 17, 2016 9:08 AM in response to Locutus of Apple

Are you using an Apple router (i.e. Airport Extreme Base Station)?

If so, have you tried powering it off then back on again?

If you have done the above, do you have to keep powering it off an on several times a day?

Reply

Answer 6

Aug 18, 2016 9:17 AM in response to keg55

I solved the problem! Did as instructed and went to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

Deleted all the files (com.Apple.boot.plist won't delete).

Shut down the computer..reset the SMC controller, powered back up and haven't had a problem since.

Makes me wonder why those files get corrupt from time to time.

Reply

Answer 7

Aug 24, 2016 12:15 PM in response to Locutus of Apple

Well apparently it didn't solve the problem except for a few days....

So deleting all the files in /Library/Preferences/Systemconfiguration and resetting the SMC controller and making sure the Airport router is up to date and restarted doesn't solve the issue permanently because I'm dropping wifi again (shows connected but not able to hit anything unless I turn wireless off and back on). Again I'm an IT guy I covered all the bases before posting here and all my other devices have no issues with wifi nor does my wife's Windows laptop..so it's the OS not the network.

This has been reported other times by Maverick/El Capitan users and Apple definitely needs to figure out why this happened since Mountain Lion because I had zero issues with that and wireless.

Reply

Answer 8

Aug 24, 2016 4:21 PM in response to Locutus of Apple

Also this same thing has happened connected to public wifi at airports and coffee shops..will suddenly lose connection while showing I'm connected, turn wifi off and on works again for a few minutes.

To remind everyone this happened on my 11" Macbook Air and is happening on a brand new 15" Macbook Pro.

Reply