The OSX/Apple support thread

[whoami]

Tonsko said:

Energy settings are listed above.

With regards editing the Boot.plisst, you could try setting darkwake to 0. It's not dangerous, and easily reversible if you notice no difference.

Open terminal.

Make a backup of the plist file in SystemConfiguration (omit the '$' as well, as that is the prompt):

$ sudo cp /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist com.apple.Boot.plist.bck

//Then edit the plist file

$sudo nano /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.Boot.plist

//When nano opens, move cursor to the <string> element associated with <Kernel Flags>, and insert the following between the string tags:

darkwake=0

then exit nano (CTRL-X, will ask you to save, yes).

Reboot system. See how you get on. If you don't notice any difference, just either re-edit the plist file, or restore the copy you have made. You will need to use sudo for anything you do in that directory.

Edited by Tonsko on Tuesday 19th August 12:59

Just tried that but still no change.

Thanks for helping though.

[whoami]

nyt said:

whoami said:

However, a quick call to my nearest store reveals that they are aware of the issue but have no real lead on how to resolve it.

How old is it?
If it's not too far, I'd be tempted to make an appointment, take it in and politely as for a fix/refund/replacement.

If they say that it's a known issue then as far as I can see it's a fault present at time of sale and you are due a refund.

I see that upgraded and cheaper MacBooks have been announced today should you need to replace your macbook after a refund.

One of the reasons that we pay the apple tax is not to have this kind of problem. Apple control the hardware and software so there is no excuse. Perhaps a few people receiving refunds will make the issue more of a priority.

It's well out of warranty, I'm afraid.

It's a bit of a mystery why it can just suddenly happen.

No upgrades to software, no config changes, etc. It just suddenly stops automatically connecting to your wifi network when you open it.

Plenty of folk getting the problem but no solutions forthcoming from Apple.

[nyt]

whoami said:

It's well out of warranty, I'm afraid.

Your statutory rights (sales of goods act) are much longer than just the warranty period.
For a big ticket item like a laptop a reasonable lifetime should be 6 years or so.

Really, go to the store, make a polite fuss. Ask in a legal forum for more detailed/knowledgable advice and go in armed.

[marshalla]

nyt said:

Your statutory rights (sales of goods act) are much longer than just the warranty period.
For a big ticket item like a laptop a reasonable lifetime should be 6 years or so.

But, after the first 6 months from date of purchase, the onus is on you to prove that the defect was present at time of sale.

[nyt]

marshalla said:

But, after the first 6 months from date of purchase, the onus is on you to prove that the defect was present at time of sale.

That's why I mentioned earlier that Apple say they know about this issue in a (large) number of cases. AFAICS that points to a defect present (if not visible) at point of sale.

As I said - a legal forum would probably help the OP.

[Tonsko]

Hm, ok. When it breaks, can you try this command?

$sudo ln -s /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport /usr/sbin/airport

//sets up airport command in the system path with a symlink to make it easier to call it
//then:

$airport -S

//scans the nearby networks, should list nearby wireless
//then

$airport -I

//gives full info about your wireless card. Can be used to help troubleshoot. Is a capital 'i'.

Post results.

[whoami]

Configuring preferences (requires admin privileges)
sudo airport en1 prefs JoinMode=Preferred RememberRecentNetworks=NO RequireAdmin=YES

Sniffing on channel 1:
airport en1 sniff 1


LEGACY COMMANDS:
Supported arguments:
-c[<arg>] --channel=[<arg>] Set arbitrary channel on the card
-z --disassociate Disassociate from any network
-I --getinfo Print current wireless status, e.g. signal info, BSSID, port type etc.
-s[<arg>] --scan=[<arg>] Perform a wireless broadcast scan.
Will perform a directed scan if the optional <arg> is provided
-x --xml Print info as XML
-P --psk Create PSK from specified pass phrase and SSID.
The following additional arguments must be specified with this command:
--password=<arg> Specify a WPA password
--ssid=<arg> Specify SSID when creating a PSK
-h --help Show this help
$ airport -I
agrCtlRSSI: 0
agrExtRSSI: 0
agrCtlNoise: 0
agrExtNoise: 0
state: init
op mode:
lastTxRate: 0
maxRate: 0
lastAssocStatus: 65535
802.11 auth: open
link auth: wpa2-psk
BSSID: 0:0:0:0:0:0
SSID:
MCS: -1
channel: 1

[Tonsko]

Ah, I ballsed up the switch.

Try: (when it's broken):

$airport -s

[Suspect there will be no result, 'cos your card's state is showing as 'init'. Whilst I can't find exactly what it means, when it shows 'running' that means that it's working. Init points to 'initialising'.]

Edited by Tonsko on Tuesday 19th August 18:28

[Tonsko]

Can you also try:

$sudo tail /var/log/wifi.log

[NDA]

My relatively new MacBook Air prompts me update iTunes pretty much daily.... which I do.

It's iTunes 11.3.1 and I've probably updated it 60 times I should think.

Is there a way I can stop this?

[whoami]

Tonsko said:

Hm, ok. When it breaks, can you try this command?

$sudo ln -s /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Apple80211.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/airport /usr/sbin/airport

//sets up airport command in the system path with a symlink to make it easier to call it
//then:

$airport -S

//scans the nearby networks, should list nearby wireless
//then

$airport -I

//gives full info about your wireless card. Can be used to help troubleshoot. Is a capital 'i'.

Post results.

SSID BSSID RSSI CHANNEL HT CC SECURITY (auth/unicast/group)
wlan-ap 00:04:ed:c9:f9:2b -53 1,+1 Y EU WPA2(PSK/AES/AES)

$ airport -I
agrCtlRSSI: 0
agrExtRSSI: 0
agrCtlNoise: 0
agrExtNoise: 0
state: init
op mode:
lastTxRate: 0
maxRate: 0
lastAssocStatus: 65535
802.11 auth: open
link auth: wpa2-psk
BSSID: 0:0:0:0:0:0
SSID:
MCS: -1
channel: 1

[whoami]

Tonsko said:

Can you also try:

$sudo tail /var/log/wifi.log

When should I do this?

When, I've tried to input it I get an error message, " No such file or directory".

By the way, thanks for your continued help.

[Tonsko]

No worries - I'm beginning to run out of ideas tbh.

I have a few more. 1 is to run caffeinate to stop your mac from sleeping. This is not ideal, obvs.

How do you normally 'fix' the wifi when it breaks?

[NDA]

Tonsko said:

How do you normally 'fix' the wifi when it breaks?

I use the wifi scanner app - and then hit 'join'.

My MacBook is a bit cranky on rejoining the wifi after a sleep. I guess one out of twenty times it refuses to join - so I use the app.

[whoami]

Tonsko said:

No worries - I'm beginning to run out of ideas tbh.

I have a few more. 1 is to run caffeinate to stop your mac from sleeping. This is not ideal, obvs.

How do you normally 'fix' the wifi when it breaks?

I just click on the greyed out wifi icon, select the appropriate network and rejoin it.

[Tonsko]

Ok, well there is one workaround that I can think of. Basically what you do there with the wifi icon, you can do via the terminal.

If you're not averse, you can get some 3rd party software which can run applescript/terminal commands on certain system events, such as when when the mac wakes. It doesn't do this natively for some reason.

So you get that bit of software (Scenario is 2.99 on app store, or Sleepwatcher is free), and set the command to trigger when you open the lid. That should give the wifi card the kick that's needed - but it may very well be bum hardware. I dunno.

Anyway, you could try running this command when you open the lid to see if it works at least, before progressing:

networksetup -setairportnetwork <device name> <network> [password]

Where device name is 'en1' or similar.

[whoami]

Mmm.

It doesn't seem to like that.

I get a timeout error and, "failed to join network" message.

Edit - ignore that. It does work.

Edited by whoami on Tuesday 19th August 21:46

[Tonsko]

Ok, so I guess you could set that command to trigger when you open the lid via the aforementioned software, which would workaround the issue. Apart from that, I got nuthin'.

Still, I learned something, hopefully you did too

Edited by Tonsko on Tuesday 19th August 22:00

[whoami]

Yes, thanks very much for your help.

Most appreciated.

[qube_TA]

NDA said:

My relatively new MacBook Air prompts me update iTunes pretty much daily.... which I do.

It's iTunes 11.3.1 and I've probably updated it 60 times I should think.

Is there a way I can stop this?

Hi, if the updated file or list gets corrupted for what ever reason it can cause a loop like this.

follow this guide to resolve the issue.

http://www.cnet.com/news/tackle-a-hung-app-store-u...