Mac OS X Wireless Problems

I have fewer issues when running Windows XP on my Mac hardware using bootcamp compared to Mac OS X so I know the hardware is OK. Below are several troubleshooting techniques I use when I have connectivity issues.

First, confirm you have the latest airport client software! The Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.2 AirPort client update is suppose to fix the following issues.

This update is recommended for all Macintosh computers running Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.2 and includes fixes for the following:

• Inability to turn AirPort on or off in some cases after upgrading from Mac OS X Leopard
• An occasional loss of network connection when using Wake on Demand
• Inability to create a computer-to-computer network, or share the Internet connection on some MacBook, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini computers

Troubleshooting Mac OS X Wireless

I applied the Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.2 AirPort client update a few days ago but still have occasional wireless issues connecting/reconnecting to my WiFi network. I usually take actions below when troubleshooting Mac OS X wireless problems.

Use airport utility to confirm proper signal strength and make sure the SSID and channel you are using for your network isn’t the same as your neighbors.

If you have Snow Leopard, use a free Snow Leopard wifi scanner to confirm proper signal strength and channel.

Once connected turn off the Airport status by holding “command” and “clicking mouse” and dragging icon to the desktop or by unchecking “Show airport status in menu bar” in Network Preferences. I believe this stops the background scans used by airport to track available networks and should make wireless more reliable [source].

Delete Mac OS X Preferred Networks

Delete all “Preferred Network” listings then re-enter into Network Preferences.

1. Open System Preferences and select the “Network” pane
2. Select “AirPort” and click “Configure”
3. In the “By default, join:” pull-down menu, select “Preferred networks”
4. Delete the network(s) you regularly use from the list
5. Launch the “Keychain Access” application located in Applications/Utilities.
6. Click on the “Kind” filter at the top, and look for “AirPort network password” entries. Delete them.
7. Restart, or log out then back in.
8. Repeat steps 1-3, this time re-adding your regularly used AirPort networks to the list.
9. Restart or log out then back in.

[source]

Resetting Mac OS X Wireless

If all else fails and you still are having issues connecting your wireless network, try resetting your wireless network preferences.

1. Network preferences are stored in the ‘System’ file space (/Library) and the ‘User’ file space (~/Library) in the following files:
   System files (network and wireless): /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.network.identification.plist
   /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
   System Files (General configurations) /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist
   802.1x Profiles: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.eap.profiles.plist
2. To reset default network settings, remove (or make copy and remove) all of the above files. You need to be in command line/terminal mode, to do that: Launch ‘Terminal’: Finder -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal From the UNIX Shell, create a directory to store old preferences:
3. cd ~
mkdir saved-preferences
Then, move all network preferences files to this backup folder:
4. mv ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.eap.profiles.plist ~/saved-preferences
cd /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration
5. sudo mv * ~/saved-preferences

The “sudo” command will prompt for admin password to proceed and a reboot should be performed. [source]

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Filed under: How To Guides, WLAN Troubleshooting