Fix for Wireless Networks Not Recognized in Leopard
Since I installed Leopard, I’ve been noticing some strange behavior with my wireless networks. When my Macbook Pro wakes from sleep, I get a window warning that none of my preferred wireless networks can be found, and offering me a choice of the various ones it can see.
One of these, oddly, is my house network. I have a WPA2 encrypted network, so I enter the key, check ‘remember this network’ and click join. So far so good - except that this happens every time my laptop wakes up. (This all wouldn’t be nearly so annoying if my WPA key weren’t twenty or so mostly-random characters long, but I digress.) I have rebuilt and repaired my keychain, deleted and recreated the key for my wireless network, and deleted all the associated preference files, all to no avail. Every time it wakes up, there’s the window again.
Frustrated, the other day I chose ‘cancel’ instead. The window vanished and, on a lark, I tried connecting to my network from the normal airport menu. Surprisingly, that worked without a blink. Evidently, the key is being remembered somewhere, it just hasn’t reached whatever process is responsible for this little box.
The support.apple.com forums lead me to believe that I am not alone in this strange forgetfulness; that’s where I got the above fixes, in fact. While this little workaround doesn’t fix anything permanently, others may find it useful. And who knows - perhaps 10.5.1, supposedly rolling later this week, will fix this.
#1 DJCarbon43 says:I’ve run into the same problem. I’ve developed two solutions. Either close the lid, and re-open, or turn airport off and then back on. Either of these “solutions’ will work. Suddenly… there is my network.
FYI: MBP 2.0ghz, WEP non-broadcast SDID network.
This, along with the mirrored display issue in Front-Row, had better get fixed in .1 I’ve heard that the FR bug did get fixed (its actually a QT bug)…we’ll seee.
#2 Hotspur says:Have you repaired permissions?
#3 DJCarbon43 says:@hotspur. To my knowledge this particular bug is not permissions related, but instead is related to the way the wireless software handles connections when waking from sleep.
It seems to disregard the last network it was connected to, instead of trying to re-connect to it.
What I haven’t tested is whether this is also the case if the network is unsecured…though I suspect it might.
I’m hoping that the bug-fix will work when the ssid isnt broadcast.
#4 Dan says:Strangely enough, I had this exact same problem with my WPA network at work on Tiger, and the problem magically went away when I upgraded to Leopard. I know that’s not a lot of help, but it seems to indicate some deeper architectural issue to me.
#5 DJCarbon43 says:@ Dan
Bizarre!
I was having hella trouble on UPenn’s wireless network on Tuesday…it would connect, but the second it authenticated, it would drop the network….
Maybe they just want us to buy Airport base stations…
#6 Chris says:I am using an Airport Extreme and I am currently having this issue with my MBP.
#7 Scott says:Nice to see somebody writing about UPenn :-). The 802.1X authentication that Penn uses worked ok in Tiger, but now if you select the network from that box that opens up, it’ll create a new entry for the AirPennNet SSID saying that it uses WEP. It then becomes impossible to join that network, since the latest entry is trying WEP and not 802.1X, the fix is to just click cancel on that box and select the network from the menubar. That way, it’ll use 802.1X like it’s supposed to.
#8 Bob says:odd. I had this problem after getting one of the 10.4 updates. Since going 10.5 the problem has been fixed for me.
#9 DJCarbon43 says:@ Scott
Thanks for the heads up. This isnt McN is it?
#10 Scott says:@ DJCarbon43
McN? I’m Scott, a senior in Engineering. Are you a student also?
#11 OM says:i had this same problem the first few days of leopard.
my solution was so simple, set the channel on the router to a specific channel number instead of auto.
it’s worked ever since.
OM
#12 DJCarbon43 says:I thought you might be Scott Mcnulty, who is part of Wharton, and writes for tuaw. I don’t right now, no. I might go back, but I’m thinking MIT or Brown…though I guess I should do Wharton since Im looking at something financial…
#13 DJCarbon43 says:@ OM
I’m not sure what “auto” function you are refering to. Do you mean default, or does the Airport Extreme look for open channels?
Anyhow, I’ve had this problem on 1 and 11, and I don’t think any other waps in the area use those channels, but I’ll check with istumbler tonight…that would be a much more satisfactory quick fix if it did work.
@scott
btw, you arent the reason they called out the hazmat on 34th st. last night are you?
#14 Scott says:@ DJCarbon43
Nope sorry, that wasn’t me :-). I wasn’t even aware of that incident. And nope, unfortunately I don’t write for TUAW (unfortunately for me, maybe not for everybody else). I didn’t know McNulty was from Penn.
#15 Stephanie Guertin says:@OM - My router is set to a specific channel (7, I believe.) I’m having the suspicion that all these fixes just poke the wireless manager bit enough that it stops being difficult. Frustrating, altogether.
#16 DJCarbon43 says:@Steph
Routers are always set to a specific channel (although with the N spec you can make the router bridge two channels). The usual “specific channel (known as the default) happens to be 6.
@OM
I tested switching channels, but had no luck with the wireless bug on my MBP I’m sorry to say.
If anyone is interested I’d recommend downloading istumbler, which is a fantastic network sniffing tool. Run it to see what channels in your area are being used, and how strong they are v. your wap’s signal. The farther away (channel wise) your wap is from the other waps (taking signal strength into account) the less interference your connection will suffer. This can result in increased bandwidth (especially noticeable when moving large ammounts of data) and extended wireless range.
Anyhow, food for thought…sorry for the tangent, and hope this helps folks. Like I said, I tried the solution OM mentioned, but didn’t have any luck….your mileage may vary.
cheers!
#17 Brian says:I started having this problem on my new iMac after the Leopard upgrade. I finally got it to stop by not using Safari. When using Safari, things would be fine for a bit, then the connection would drop. Since I’ve switched over to Camino, not a single drop. I’m hoping 10.5.1 will straighten this out!
#18 John F. says:I had this problem. And we’ve also had the fading wifi signal problem too. We managed to fix both in one fell swoop, but you’re not going to like it…
Turn off both WEP and WPA.
Instead, using MAC addressing and a permission list for associated devices (easier to do then it sounds, if you haven’t done it. Google “How to use MAC address security os x”)
We no longer have dropped signals at all. In fact, the signal is much stronger than when we even were getting a connection, prior to this.
We also don’t have any “use this network” or “WPA password not valid” warnings either. And yes, prior to doing this we tried everything else, from the keychain fix to the “RWIN” fix in terminal that’s mentioned in the Apple Discussions under Support.
But this is the only thing that has definitively worked.
#19 oxygene says:Just to let everyone know, who is having the same problem, the authors solution worked for me.
In other words
Turn airport off
Turn airport on
If airport doesn’t pop the window “Which network do you wanna join” automatically then
Open system preferences
Network
Airport
“Ask to join new networks” should be clicked in
Apply
Turn airport off
Turn airport on
When asked to join a new network cancel
Now click on the airport logo in the menu bar
Select your home network
Enter information to join
Once you’ve joined the network you should be set
Turn airport off and then on to test
It should work and join automatically
Thanks for the solution posted here!
#20 Jason says:My inlaws got a new MacBook recently and a NetGear WGR614.
They’re a bit tech challenged, so we just set it up as an open network (no one really lives close by, rural area …).
Anyway, the MacBook (running Leopard) would sometimes connect to the wireless, sometimes not. My old PowerBook G4 running latest v of Tiger had no trouble.
When the MacBook had trouble, it would say “an error occurred joining the wireless network X” and wouldn’t join. It also showed the open network in the Airport menu with a lock beside (which shouldn’t be there, since it’s open).
Found a solution that seems to be working:
* Set the channel to a specific channel (10, in their case) based on some info on this page.
* Went into Net Prefs, clicked on the 802.1x tab, enabled it, then disabled it.
After that, I was able to join the net, and it hasn’t asked me to re-join it yet, nor does it show with a lock symbol anymore.
Not sure why this helped. But it seems to have. Maybe it’ll help someone else, too.
Good luck!
#21 KGarzo says:If you have run into Airport wireless connection problems after installing the Leopard 10.5.2 update, and you have a D-Link wireless router, here is your solution:
1. Go to your D-Link router’s administrative page
2. Click on “Set-up,” then click on “Wireless Settings”
3. Then for 802.11 mode, choose Mixed 802.11g,,802.11b
4. DO NOT choose Mixed 802.11n, 802.11g,,802.11b
That will eliminate Airport internet connection problems.
#22 Jose says:This problem was driving me crazy and the others solution posted here did not work for me. Here is what worked out:
Go to System Preferences > Network > Airport and uncheck the box “Ask to join new networks”. The only problem is that you will have to join manually others network, but that’s okay for me.
I hope it helps, good luck!
#23 JSweeny says:I have been searching high and low for a fix to this and none have worked…until now!
I found a fix that referred to the specific location of the “System Preferences.app”, if other than the standard location of the root of the “Applications” folder. I had in fact moved mine. Hmmm!
If you have moved the System Preferences application (not alias, actual app) to any other location for any reason, your newly joined network will NOT be properly remembered and will NEVER be properly rejoined. Apparently one of the multi-step procedures involved in properly saving a preferred network assumes the location of System Preferences to be the standard location.
FIX: 1) Move “System Preferences.app” back to “Applications\”.
2) Delete all instances of “Preferred Networks” in “Network Preferences”.
3) Delete all “Airport network password” instances in “Keychain Access”.
4) Restart your Mac.
5) Add/Join applicable preferred network using the Airport pulldown menu or in Network Preferences (as if for the first time). Use “Advanced” in “Network Preferences” to confirm the existence of your preferred network and the correct settings. Use “Keychain Access” to confirm the existence of the applicable “Airport network password” instance and the correct settings.
6) Restart your Mac. The OS should now find your preferred network and join it on its own. Good Luck!
NOTE: Simply moving back System Preferences will NOT suffice. Deleting and re-adding/joining the preferred network is a must after the app has been moved.
#24 Chris says:Thank you so much, JSweeny !!!!
Post #23 solved it. I had this problem since Tiger and I’ve been looking everywhere to sove this problem !
Thanks !!!!!
#25 Chris says:JSweeny - you are a STAR!!! I am one of those muppets who tidied their apps folder and put system prefs in utilities….all worked fine until I got a new wireless router and the thing asked for a password EVERY time I booted. MUCH searching, faffing etc. etc. until I came across your post. WONDERFUL - it sorted it…have a virtual beer.
#26 Nathan says:JSweeny’s fix worked for me too! Thank you!!!
#27 Colleen Coble says:Jose, you’re a genius! It worked for me and I’d tried everything.
#28 Adam Burstein says:JSweeney… You rock!!! You should let Apple in on this little secret, because my case is still open with them. Thanks so much!!!!!
#29 brandon says:#23 Worked!!!
thank you SOOOO much JSweeny!!!