Safari doesn't connect to certain websites in Sierra

Question

Safari doesn't connect to certain websites in Sierra

Ever since I upgraded to macOS 10.12 (Sierra) on my late 2015 iMac , sometimes I am not able to connect to certain websites in Safari. I am connected via WiFi, and other browsers like Firefox and Chrome work fine, and other connected apps like Mail work fine. But Safari returns an error: "The certificate for this server is invalid". This would happen when I try to connect to yahoo.com, while something like cnn.com works.

Sometimes, I can logout the user account which has the issue, then log back in, and then everything works. If I reboot the iMac, and log back into the same user account, it works every time.

It seems that I start seeing this issue after the iMac wakes from sleep (for example, usually in the morning or after a long period not using the computer).

I even did a clean install of Sierra this past weekend, but the issue still persists. Help!

thanks,

James

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2015), macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Oct 19, 2016 7:44 PM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

141,162 points

Oct 19, 2016 8:06 PM in response to James Doublesin

I even did a clean install of Sierra

Please describe what that means. Obviously if you have an unaltered Sierra installation the cause lies elsewhere, either with your router or your ISP, and I don't want to cause any unnecessary duplication of effort.

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Answer 2

Oct 19, 2016 8:16 PM in response to John Galt

Thanks John. I completely formatted my drive and installed Sierra from a USB thumb drive. I thought maybe the upgrade from Yosemite left something behind that was causing the errors. I didn't have any of these issues with Yosemite with the same router and ISP.

I will try to power cycle the router and see if I hit the problem tomorrow.

Thanks,

James

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Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

141,162 points

Oct 19, 2016 8:22 PM in response to James Doublesin

Try that, and if you still encounter trouble the following will help isolate the cause.

Use the following procedure to determine if the problem is isolated to your Mac, or lies elsewhere.

Shut down your Mac.
Load macOS Recovery by holding ⌘ and r (two fingers) while you start your Mac with a third finger.
At the macOS Utilities screen, release those two fingers.
Choose Get Help Online.
Safari will launch, but it will lack your bookmarks, favorites, history and other preferences.

Determine if you can open the websites that have been giving you trouble.

Restart your Mac normally and describe your results.

If the problem does not occur in Recovery mode, but returns after restarting your Mac normally, please read If Safari is slow, stops responding, quits unexpectedly, or has other issues - Apple Support. The applicable section is "Remove Internet plug-ins and other add-ons" and the Support documents that follow "Learn more".

If the problem remains in Recovery mode, write back for instructions.

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Answer 4

Oct 24, 2016 6:04 AM in response to John Galt

Thanks for the help. I've done what you suggest, but the problem still persists. I also started having other issues, such as getting a "ctkahp quit unexpectedly" error, plus sometime it asks to reset my keychain. Note this is occurring on an iMac with multiple user accounts. When I log into an account (mainly after wake from sleep), some accounts have this issue.

I did some searching and it looks like I'm having the same issues as discussed in this forum: https://www.jamf.com/jamf-nation/discussions/21320/sierra-ad-account-lockout-whe n-setting-up-icloud

Looks like this may be a bug that others are hitting. Hopefully an update to Sierra will come soon

Thanks,

James

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Answer 5

John Galt

Level 10

141,162 points

Oct 24, 2016 8:41 AM in response to James Doublesin

I've done what you suggest, but the problem still persists.

Does that mean it persists while operating in "Safe Mode"?

Are you using Jamf software, such as in a corporate deployment?

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Answer 6

Oct 24, 2016 3:20 PM in response to John Galt

Sorry, I wasn't clear. The problem doesn't exist in safe mode, i.e., I can access the internet using Safari. However, the problem seems to clear itself after a reboot anyway. The problem now seems to be related to the fact that I have multiple user accounts logged in on the same iMac, and every once in awhile (especially after wake from sleep), one of the user accounts will have one or more of the following errors:

"ctkahp quit unexpectedly" error pops up constantly

-asks me to reset my keychain

-Safari doesn't connect to the internet (other apps, like Microsoft Office can't connect to the internet)

-it asks me for my iCloud password

I've seen this on several of the user accounts, but not always at the same time. And when it occurs on a user account, it doesn't occur on others. If I do a complete reboot, all user account are work (usually until the next wake from sleep a day or two later)

This is just occurring on my personal home iMac, I'm not using any Jamf software and not in any corporate setting. But the problems and errors they are experiencing seem to be very similar to mine.

Thanks,

James

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Answer 7

John Galt

Level 10

141,162 points

Oct 24, 2016 3:57 PM in response to James Doublesin

The update you were expecting was released today. Check the App Store > Updates.

ctkahp itself is a normal macOS process, so I have no explanation for it crashing. I don't have anything else to suggest, other than to update Sierra.

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Answer 8

Oct 24, 2016 7:09 PM in response to John Galt

I did upgrade today to 10.12.1. I still see the same issues, but now I think I may have it narrowed down a bit. I have 5 user accounts on my iMac, each for a family member. If all are logged in, I can see the problems start occurring on the last user account that I logged into (can't access internet with Safari, asks me to reset my keychain, etc). If I log out of one of the other user accounts, the account that originally had the problems is magically fixed (Safari can connect to internet, and I don't get other pop up errors). It's almost as if Sierra can't handle all user accounts logged in at the same time. Very strange.

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Answer 9

John Galt

Level 10

141,162 points

Oct 24, 2016 7:36 PM in response to James Doublesin

That is interesting information that could be very useful to Apple. Although I have multiple users on some Macs I don't do nearly as much testing in that environment as I would like to. There ought to be no problem with a multiple user Mac, each having its own iCloud Account, but one Mac and one iCloud Account per user is confusing enough for me.

If you are so motivated, I encourage you to contact AppleCare and tell them. If they take an interest, their engineers can collect data from your Mac (depersonalized of course, and with your consent) that might be used to address the problem in a future update.

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