Tell me more ×
Ask Different is a question and answer site for power users of Apple hardware and software. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 0 down vote favorite
1

I have a 17" Early 2008 Macbook Pro running lion 10.7.2. And about 3 weeks ago, this problem started occurring where my interent would stop working randomly. I go to toggle the Wi-Fi on and off, but when I try to turn Wi-fi on, it does nothing and the wifi icon remains an empty wedge.

Trying to turn Wi-Fi on from System preferences also does nothing - same empty signal.

But if I restart my Mac I can get on Wi-Ffi normally and it will last from a couple hours to a couple minutes till it drops again and I need to restart to get back on.

I searched all over the web for a solution and tried to

  • reordering wifi above the other service in System Preferences
  • deleting 'SystemConfiguration' folder in under library>preferences
  • reinstalling Lion from recovery disk
  • Reset PRAM
  • Reset SMC

Nothing works. And I haven't found anyone on the web with the same problem.

Has anyone seen this problem before? Is it a Lion issue? Or is it hardware, like a messed up airport card?

Any help would be so greatly appreciated.

UPDATE

For anyone else who may stumble upon this issue, I've been dealing with this issue for a couple weeks and took it to the genius bar. After having me completely wipe my harddrive and do a fresh install of the OS and manual install of all my programs, It is conclusively a hardware problem. And the fix is to have your airport card replaced. Which is about $120.

share|improve this question
1  
It's probably hardware, but try running /System/Library/CoreServices/Wi-Fi Diagnostics.app and watch the console log for message indicating an issue with the networking or en1 device. – bmike♦ Nov 15 '11 at 23:54
This problem is definitely hardware as the update to the original post says. I updated from Snow Leopard to Lion thinking that it may have been a software problem, but it persisted well after that. I ordered and installed a replacement Airport card and have not had the problem since. If you're comfortable replacing it yourself, you can get the part for $10-20 online. Powerbookmedic.com has it: powerbookmedic.com/… – rbritton Feb 23 '12 at 22:46

1 Answer

up vote 0 down vote

My macbook (late 2008) refused to get wifi from airport some months ago. I think I have found the solution - I got the MacCleasne app - run "scan and delete" with it (loaded recommended set) and my macbook keeps wi-fi again (several days now, without a single drop). Hope it works for some. Regards, Pawel

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.