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I'm having issues with my macbook pro OS X 10.7.5. It used to connect to the wifi router (D-Link N300, DIR=615) no problems. But for the past several weeks, I haven't been able to at all.

What pops up when I select my wifi network from the list:

  • "Failed to join "network" A connection timeout occured".

What happens when I try to enter my password manually:

  • "Connection timeout"

What I've tried to do as solutions:

  • Google
  • Restart router by pressing reset & refresh button
  • Delete System & User (Login) Keychain access
  • Network > Gear symbol by the + and - bottom left of the screen > Set Service Order > Drag Wifi to the top
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    Have you updated your OS or any other software recently? Also, can any other devices connect to the router, e.g. iPhone, iPad, or another computer?
    – jbharper2
    Commented Dec 10, 2012 at 9:17
  • are you sure the router is actually working? did you test it with a different device? Because routers do actually break from time to time (mine just did and I had to replace it)
    – user1256923
    Commented Dec 10, 2012 at 10:31

9 Answers 9

Reset to default
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Been there, done that. I found the source to my problem, but not something that might be a general answer for all with this problem.

After exhausting the other answers here, I just started trying anything. What I discovered was that I have an external HD connected by firewire, and had it running when I rebooted after installing software. With the drive running, no connection. I shut off the drive and it immediately connected. Go figure! It runs fine of I start the drive after startup, but not during. (Mac Mini C2D 2.54, OS X 10.8.3)

Perhaps the wires acted as antenna or otherwise changed the power available to the Wi-Fi chipset, but I'm not seeing these timeouts after changing my connected devices and cables.

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    Solved my problem. Went to preferences, network and eliminated firewire as a protocol and it works fine, now. Hope this helps!
    – Stephen
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 2:23
  • Just worked for me too. I had a USB flash drive plugged in, changed the USB port, and it magically connects again!
    – Nathanael Schulte
    Commented Jun 19, 2015 at 20:59
  • I reconnected my wired mouse and it worked ! It seems mac was unable to distinguish between my mouse and my wifi.
    – Salman Muhammad Ayub
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 7:12
  • I spent two hours trying to sort out why my iMac 5K wouldn't connect to my home wifi suddenly after re-booting from BootCamp. After trying everything short of re-installing OS X, I came across this. I had plugged in a USB thumb drive while in my Windows partition and not unplugged it when rebooting into OS X. Unplugged the USB thumb drive, rebooted, wifi issues gone! Unbelievable! Thank you!
    – Greg R.
    Commented Apr 19, 2016 at 17:13
  • This solved it for me! WTF!
    – Nyxynyx
    Commented Aug 17, 2016 at 2:04
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A common fix for this is to make a new location under the Network pane in System Preferences.

Open System Preferences. Click on Network. In the window that loads after that, near the top, is a drop-down menu labelled "Location:" Click on the drop-down menu and choose "Edit Locations..." In the next window that slides down click the + sign. A new line will appear ready to be given a name. I usually enter the date to help me keep track of when I made the new location, and to help prompt my memory why I did it. Give it a name. When you click ok that new location will load automatically. You may have to delete the extra connections you don't use, such as Bluetooth PAN, or Firewire, just to keep the side pane clean. In that side pane choose Wi-Fi, wait for it to automatically locate and attempt to connect to your wireless network, enter your password (and/or whatever steps you do, if you manually have to enter the wi-fi name if it is hidden, for example), and voila, connected again.

But no one really knows why it lost the connection in the first place. Just a weird bit about OS X.

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  • I tried all this and a pop up saying "Connection timeout" still happened. Thanks for the advice though.
    – Lisa
    Commented Dec 11, 2012 at 17:40
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    It might be worth checking whether other devices can connect or not. Perhaps the D-Link is actually busted. If other devices can connect let us know.
    – Shane
    Commented Dec 19, 2012 at 18:29
  • Having the same problem. I have four Android devices in the home that all work fine. The cable guy came over for an unrelated upgrade, and I got a new router and my street has just had it's power levels tweaked. Still no change. OS X still drops the WiFi connection every ten minutes. Switching WiFi off and on again fixes it, for about ten minutes. [MBA mid13 - OS X 10.9.3]
    – Carl Smith
    Commented Jun 25, 2014 at 23:38
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    Thank you so much! This worked beautifully for me even when tons of other things didn't.
    – Spike
    Commented Feb 16, 2016 at 17:08
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    Great! @Spike glad to hear this still helps ppl.
    – Shane
    Commented Feb 23, 2016 at 15:09
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Going into keychain and deleting the entry for the wifi network solved it. Just connected to the network again and entered my credentials.

There was something wrong with either the password (I doubt this) or the authentication mechanism that was somehow paired with the keychain entry.

Anyway, this also means that going the manual way, as suggested by drovnik will also work, though I have not tried it.

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Usually when connection timeout occurs, you can attempt the following common solutions.

  1. Turn off WiFi and turn it back on.

You can try resetting the connection information for your router by "forgetting" the router information:

  1. Go to System Preferences > Network: Wifi -> Advanced.
  2. Remove your Preferred Network.
  3. Rejoin network.

You can try resetting your router:

  1. Unplug your router and plug it back in after 10-20 seconds.

You can't transmit on the same channel as other wifi networks. If there is a conflicting router, it may be taking precedence over your router.

  1. Go to About this Mac -> More Info... -> System Report -> Network: Wi-Fi
  2. If your router is running on the same channel as other networks, try changing that:
  3. Plug in via ethernet or try getting closer to your router...
  4. Connect to your router (IP is located in the connection information in your Network preferences)
  5. Change the Router channel to a channel that's not being used by other networks around you.
  6. Restart your router.

If the above still doesn't work, a corrupt entry in your keychain may be the culprit:

  1. Go to Keychain Access
  2. Find all the entries that match your router.
  3. Highlight all matching entries and delete them.

If the above still doesn't work, try some of the troubleshooting tips from here: Wifi Dropping in OSX Lion - Fixes

If all else fails, upgrade to Mountain Lion. That will solve everything. :)

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From my experience, the easiest solution is to MANUALLY join the wifi network. Open the wifi menu and click "Join Other Network...". In pop-up dialog explicitly enter the network name, encryption method and password. That's it. Works every time in these situations.

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  • No, not every time....
    – XXX
    Commented Jun 7, 2015 at 5:20
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Shane's Answer above is very good but would probably be my 4th step. Prior to that, I would first try turning off and on wifi, followed by power cycling the router (physically disconnect the power, wait 1 min then restore power), and then re-starting the computer. These are all very simple steps but are good things to try before you begin changing settings and re-building connections.

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I too had the same problem. Really easy solution. Turn off WiFi on your iPad as it may have chosen the same IP address as your Mac. Then your Mac may well join. Restart your iPad, it will choose a different IP.

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My problem was the Keychain Access, I cleared the Belkin chains from the System and it fixed it instantly. I was racking my brain.

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  • Hmm - entering the wrong passwords in a network might cause a timeout if the noise were high or there were other overloads - good thing to check and not intuitive from the error message provided.
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Sep 11, 2013 at 19:12
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Tried everything suggested here. Nothing works.

Until I removed my USB flash drive. It worked immediately.

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