Lawrence Lessig
Level 1 (33 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Wifi goes off then won't go back on

I have a new (30 day) Macbook Air, but am increasingly suffering the following problem: For reasons I can't determine, the Wifi turns off. When I try to turn it back on, it won't go back on. The only way to get it to go back on is to restart the Mac. Sometimes when I restart it, it takes a long time to restart, sometimes not. But once it restarts, Wifi is back.

 

Thoughts?

Posted on Sep 11, 2016 4:21 PM

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Lawrence Lessig

Q: Wifi goes off then won't go back on

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  • by John Galt,Helpful

    John Galt John Galt Sep 11, 2016 9:19 PM in response to Lawrence Lessig
    Level 8 (48,633 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 11, 2016 9:19 PM in response to Lawrence Lessig

    Wi-Fi is really turning itself off?

     

    If that's the case the Wi-Fi icon in your Mac's menu bar will look like this

     

    yosemite-airport_off_icon-public.png

     

    Confirm that's what you are experiencing. If so please contact AppleCare. Use the Support link above.

  • by Lawrence Lessig,

    Lawrence Lessig Lawrence Lessig Sep 11, 2016 9:21 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (33 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 11, 2016 9:21 PM in response to John Galt

    That's the icon. All's fine. Then the wifi is gone and the empty wifi icon is what I see.

     

    What's weird about this is I had the same problem with my last Macbook Air, just as I was replacing it. Could there be something that was corrupted that migrated to the new Mac? At first I used the Migration Assistant, but then I blew that away and only migrated the Apps.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Sep 12, 2016 1:43 PM in response to Lawrence Lessig
    Level 8 (48,633 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 12, 2016 1:43 PM in response to Lawrence Lessig

    If software corruption can cause that to occur, I don't know what it could be. It's certainly possible though. The only way to definitively rule out that possibility would be to start your Mac in "Safe Mode", and use it in that mode long enough to draw a conclusion regarding the Wi-Fi behavior:

     

    Try safe mode if your Mac doesn't finish starting up - Apple Support

     

    It is not particularly pleasant to work with a Mac while in "Safe Mode", but if your Wi-Fi turns itself off in that mode, even once, it would support concluding defective hardware is the cause.

     

    Ill-conceived "anti-virus" and / or "cleaning" products can cause a seemingly endless variety of problems, though I have never heard of any such product causing what you describe. Needless to say nothing like that should ever be installed on any Mac.