20

I'm really hoping someone here can help me, as I'm getting pretty frustrated with my macbook now.
I have a late 2011 model 15" macbook pro running OSX 10.9.5 that refuses to connect to Internet on my home network. I have the same problem whether it's WiFi or through ethernet cable, I have full signal but not getting online. Every other device connects fine; android phones and tablets,xbox one, iPhone and other macbooks, all online and browsing the net.
I have had no problems connecting to other networks with my macbook pro before and I just tried at a friend's house to check, with no problems.
A little something, that may be a clue to someone: when I open network diagnostic tool, my macbook pro connects for something that seems like a microsecond and it tells me I'm connected to Internet and everything seems fine.
My IP is 192.168.0.5 subnet mask 255.255.255.0 and IPv6 is set to automatic. None of the options are checked under the proxies tab.
Now I've tried the following, in different order and a number of times, to no avail:

  1. Renewing/turning off&on/inputting manually DHCP.
  2. Restarting/resetting the router and the macbook.
  3. Turning WiFi on/off.
  4. Remove & add services (WiFi & ethernet).
  5. Checked and copied all network settings from another macbook pro that's connected and online on my network.
  6. Ran network diagnostic and assistant tools
  7. Duplicated/removed/added location
  8. Removed the /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration folder.
  9. Removed network password from keychain.

I've tried other things too, but can't remember what else right now.

Response from ifconfig en1:

en1: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,SMART,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500     
        ether 28:cf:da:e6:95:0a     
        inet6 fe80::2acf:daff:fee6:950a%en1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x5      
        inet 192.168.0.5 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255     
        nd6 options=1<PERFORMNUD>     
        media: autoselect      
        status: active

I'm praying that someone out there has the magic words or the 2-click solution for me, but I would be grateful for a long thorough guidelines to solve it too! <3

Regards Trond

Improve this question
18
  • I've also reset the SMC and pram! :-)
    – Trond
    Mar 23, 2015 at 2:01
  • I just noticed I could browse the net while in recovery mode, meaning there must be some kind of program, app or setting that is interfering/blocking in some way.
    – Trond
    Mar 23, 2015 at 2:13
  • Welcome to Ask Different! +1 for a nicely structured question.
    – Tetsujin
    Mar 23, 2015 at 7:45
  • There is a way for us/me to do a bit more debugging, but this requires some additional information. If you are willing to try this, a system diagnostics file needs to be made and uploaded. This file can be created on the problematic Mac using this key combination while logged in: Command-Option(alt)-Control-Shift-. (yes, the period needs to be held too). Screen will flash, and after a few minutes a window will pop up containing a sysdiagnose file. It's 99% system information, but there might be some personal information leaking in there as well. But it contains every important hardware log!
    – John Keates
    Mar 23, 2015 at 13:33
  • Hit the keys while logged in. For example when you have a Finder window open.
    – John Keates
    Mar 23, 2015 at 14:15

11 Answers 11

Reset to default
13

Here is a step-by-step guide for you:

  1. Temporarily disable any Firewall/Internet Security solution/packet filter on your Mac (like LittleSnitch/Hands Off!/Kaspersky Internet Security etc.)
  2. Connect to the administrative interface of your router with a working Mac.
  3. Make a note of the internal interface (probably 192.168.0.1 in your case)
  4. If your router uses MAC-filters to control access, check that the Mac in question isn't blacklisted or is whitelisted if you use whitelists. To get the MAC-address of a Wi-fi interface, open System Preferences -> Network -> Choose "Wi-fi" -> Advanced -> Hardware -> MAC Address on the Mac without internet access.
  5. On the Mac without internet access disable all interfaces in the network preferences pane except the Wi-fi interface by choosing the interface and clicking on the little gear -> "Make Service Inactive". You might have to unlock the lock in the left bottom corner first.
  6. Choose the Wi-fi interface and click 'Advanced'
  7. Choose the TCP/IP settings, choose to configure IPv4 manually and enter the proper IP-address, netmask and gateway address (enter the IP-address found in step 2 as gateway address). In your example this should be any address not already in use in the range of 192.168.0.2-192.168.0.254 as IP-address, 255.255.255.0 as netmask and 192.168.0.1 as gareway.
  8. Choose the DNS tab next to the TCP-IP settings.
  9. Enter 8.8.8.8 as DNS server. This DNS server is a public one from Google.
  10. Save/apply the settings
  11. Open Terminal.app
  12. Flush any existing routes by entering route -n flush several times.
  13. Flush DNS cache with dscacheutil -flushcache;sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder. You have to enter your admin password to complete the task. This works with Mac OS X 10.9 (Mavericks) only. If another OS X is installed use the appropriate command.
  14. Now ping the gateway address and the DNS server with ping -c 5 192.168.0.1 and ping -c 5 8.8.8.8. The command sends 5 pings to the specified address. To stop pinging - if you didn't include the -c option - just enter ctrlC.
  15. If you get a successful answer, quit Terminal. If you didn't get an answer, enter ifconfig en1 and re-check the proper settings of your Wi-fi interface. en1 should be your Wi-fi interface.
  16. Return to the network preferences and reenable all other interfaces. Check that the Wi-fi interface is on top of the list. To reorder the list click on the little gear -> "Set Service Order..." and rearrange the interfaces.
  17. Now open a browser of your choice and try to connect to an arbitrary site.
  18. If you have internet access now, you may replace the Google DNS server with DNS-servers of your ISP or simply add them.

This guide didn't solve the problem.

After some very deep investigations (kudos also to John Keates) we found out that a misconfigured dnscrypt/dnscrypt-proxy was the culprit.

Improve this answer
12
  • Hello klanomath. Thanks for a nice guide, but I still cannot get online.. i get response when pinging, but it still won't let me browse the net or update apps. Any other thoughts on this issue?
    – Trond
    Mar 23, 2015 at 10:52
  • I have tried both LittleSnitch and Hands Off!, but they have been uninstalled. I did ifconfig -a and got a long answer, anything particular you want me to look for? I'm writing this on a tablet, so it would take me the whole day to copy the response from ifconfig -a
    – Trond
    Mar 23, 2015 at 12:40
  • I have edited the original post with the output of ifconfig -a. :-)
    – Trond
    Mar 23, 2015 at 13:11
  • Unfortunately the other macbook belongs to a friend who is not here at the moment :s Thank you so much for trying to help me. Should I maybe do a search on my computer for any remains of LS and HO? If so, how do I do it? :P
    – Trond
    Mar 23, 2015 at 13:25
  • It takes approximately a minute to get a response, then I get this: HTTP/1.0 400 Bad Request Content-Length: 54 Content-Type: text/html; charges=UTF-8 Dat: Mon, 23 Mars 2015 14:06:20 GMT Server: GFE/2.0
    – Trond
    Mar 23, 2015 at 14:09
10

After inspecting your configuration, it seems two factors might be in play here:

  • DNS
  • Firewall

A quick way to confirm a working internet connection but bad DNS is going to a website by using it's IP address rather than it's domain name. For example: http://91.198.174.192 which is a WikiMedia Foundation address. It should say something like "unconfigured domain name".

First, let's fix DNS. Go to System Preferences, Network and click the lock in case the panel is still locked. Next, go to your active network interface (probably Wi-Fi or AirPort), click Advanced and then the DNS tab. Clear out everything in there. The light-grey items are not mutable and you can just leave them in there, they are supplied via DHCP. Press OK and then Apply.

Internet could work at this point. If so: yay! If not, continue.

First, we need to know if DNS is now set correctly. The easiest way to do this is by opening a Terminal window (yep, the spooky app with letters only), and typing: cat /etc/resolv.conf

This should produce an output similar to this:

#
# Mac OS X Notice
#
# This file is not used by the host name and address resolution
# or the DNS query routing mechanisms used by most processes on
# this Mac OS X system.
#
# This file is automatically generated.
#
domain something
nameserver 192.168.123.1

The numbers after name server and the name after domain may vary. It is, however, important that nameserver does not get the number '127.0.0.1', because that won't work. If the number there is not 127.0.0.1, it's fine, and DNS is now set correctly.

Next, delete any extensions that no longer have their apps installed, such as the Handsoff extension that controls network traffic. I'm not sure what the exact name is, but it's located in either /System/Library/Extensions or /Library/Extensions. The first dash " / " means the root, or beginning of your hard drive. In most cases that's "Macintosh HD". If you are not sure how to get to the begin "/", use Finder -> Go -> Go To Folder form the top menu in Finder. Clear out the box, type a single slash (" / "), and press Go.

The extension might be called something like "com.metakine.handsoff.driver". Deleting that extension and then rebooting will clear out that problem. Internet should work after that.

Improve this answer
11
  • IMO it's the dns-crypt-proxy/dns-crypt which probably redirects every dns request. That's the reason why resolve.conf contains the 127.0.0.1 though the network prefs contain the google DNS-server (8.8.8.8) (in SystemConfiguration/preferences.list->NetworkServices->8516C....->DNS
    – klanomath
    Mar 23, 2015 at 17:58
  • Yeah, you are right. But still, it shouldn't kill DNS. For now, to diagnose the problem, getting dnscrypt out of the way would be a wise step.
    – John Keates
    Mar 23, 2015 at 17:59
  • Hey and thanks for another well-explained answer. So here we go; I opened network preferences and removed everything in the dns pane. Funny thing is though that 127.0.0.1 automatically pops up in grey..? Then I opened terminal and typed cat /etc/resolve.conference and got the reply as you said. My two last lines reads: search home and nameserver (guess what) 127.0.0.1.. I searched through both of the folders, but could only find "handsoff.kext" in the System/Library/Extensions folder which I deleted. Now I will uninstall/delete dnscrypt, be right back with results! :-)
    – Trond
    Mar 23, 2015 at 18:11
  • @Trond You don't have to uninstall dnscrypt, just configure it properly
    – klanomath
    Mar 23, 2015 at 18:18
  • WOOOOHOOO!!!! :D I am finally online! Deleted DNSCrypt (I wasn't using it anyway) and now I am browsing the Web. THANK YOU SO MUCH @klanomath & John Keates, I would have gone mad without your super help!
    – Trond
    Mar 23, 2015 at 18:26
2

I fixed a similar problem (connect to router but no internet) by changing the DNS address in network preferences: It was 192.168.0.1 (which is the router ip for changing router settings) I changed it to 192.168.0.5 and my internet connection was fixed in seconds. Hope it works for you

Improve this answer
1

hey ive found out to fix mine. someone put a parental control on my router, if you unblock your device it should fix it!

Improve this answer
0
0

Check if the date in your computer is correct. This worked for me. Somehow it changed, and after i fixed it, the problem was solved. Cheers!

Improve this answer
0

My customer's MacBook Pro 6,1 got this symptom when it was updated to Sierra 10.12.4. After trying almost all steps above, and failing to fix after a 3-1/2 hour reinstall ('remaining' timer counted down from 5 minutes!) there was still connectivity with pings but no traffic getting through to Firefox, Safari, Mail or system connections (no App Store or updates).

The discussion of Extensions led me to the System>Library>Extensions folder where I found a 2010 copy of the AppleAirPort2.kext file. All I had to do to regain full connectivity was delete this file (backed it up of course) and reboot the machine! NOTHING ELSE WORKED. This fix worked first time. HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE...

Improve this answer
0

I had the same lost internet problem when upgrading to Sierra. Could connect to my router but not the internet after upgrading to Sierra.

I checked cat /etc/resolv.conf in the terminal and the reply said there was no such file. Checked the etc folder and sure enough, no file. I checked another laptop of mine and it was there. (Actually it is an alias that leads to private/var/run/resolv.conf

I simply copied the resolve.conf file from my working laptop, placed it the /run folder and created an alias. I copied the alias to /etc/ and rebooted the computer. Then added a DNS server in the Network Prefs and did a terminal check with cat /etc/resolv.conf and Bingo! everything checked out.

Booted Safari and was online for the first time in days. I have upgraded a plethora of macs from El Capitan to Sierra with no problem until this little Macbook Air.

Improve this answer
0

Reset network settings -> Delete and add WiFi back https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3446001

Improve this answer
-1

Try turning off any anti-virus software you have on your computer. That worked for me.

Improve this answer
-1

Problem solved TCP/IP DCHP was in manual mode (why? I don't know) Changed to automatic Voilà!

Improve this answer
1
  • Welcome to Ask Different. We like answers to be more than just a single line. Ideally, you want to explain why your answer is *right." It also helps to provide links, citations, and/or screen shots. Please review our help section How to Answer on writing good answers to questions
    – Allan
    Sep 23, 2016 at 20:50
-1

I had the same problem and somehow I fixed it by turning a VPN service on and off. It might sound weird but nothing else worked for me.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .