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5Ghz wi-fi stopped working

ashleykaryl

ashleykaryl

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 22, 2011
491
218
UK
I've had this 2018 Mac mini in the same location for over three years and never had any wi-fi issues, until yesterday when 5GHz started failing. After a lot of testing I found it was working fine with all other devices around the house, except this mini. As a further test I've just pulled an old 2012 mini out of a cupboard and that connected to 5GHz wi-fi in the same room with no problem at all.

From the same router I'm having no difficulty connecting to 2.4Ghz on this 2018 mini, but when I try to connect to 5GHz wi-fi a message pops up saying it could not be joined, yet the iPhone nearby is fine. I've tried removing all the peripherals to no avail, then reset the SMC and NVRAM, but this has been consistent now for about 24 hours. I don't think it is the router, because other devices are OK.

It's starting to feel like this is a hardware issue on the 2018 mini, unless Sonoma is the culprit or somebody knows of another way to troubleshoot this. It seems strange that the wi-fi might fail partially like this, while still working in 2.4Ghz.
 
Another "Fishrrman stupid question™":
Have you tried powering off the Mini, and then rebooting?
 
And you restarted the router too (even if other things are connecting fine)?

And if that doesn't do it, can you boot back into a backup macOS copy pre-Sonoma to narrow in on coincidental hardware failure or if Sonoma is more likely to blame? If so, you'll quickly figure out if it is Mini hardware or Sonoma and then can make decisions from there.

If Sonoma, consider deleting your network wifi connections to that router and then re-connect to them in Sonoma?

And if all good options fail, maybe it's just a bug in Sonoma that gets fixed out in the .3, .4, .5 or later updates? Some people wait on macOS upgrades for these kinds of reasons. Some complain that .0-.2 are basically broad beta testers.
 
Yes I've restarted the router a couple times as well. I no longer have a pre-Sonoma backup, but I have deleted wi-fi settings on the mini and added them again. Just a minute ago I was able to connect via 5GHz and had a full strength signal, but Safari still said I was off-line. Now I cannot even connect again.

Screenshot 2023-10-10 at 15.23.06.png


Yesterday I wondered if iCloud relay was causing problems, so I switched it off, however it made no difference and it's the same with Brave.

You may well be right that this is just a Sonoma bug that will be fixed, however I wanted to raise this partly to see if others have encountered something similar. It would be easy to assume some kind of interference, however I think I have eliminated the various possibilities.

I made a point of separating 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz on the router, which at least allowed me to have internet access on 2.4GHz. Previously it was set to smart connect and I was blocked completely. I've been using Macs for nearly 25 years, but this one has me confused.
 
Can anything else you have connect at 5Ghz and access stuff on the Internet? Or is only that Mac Mini having trouble?

Being able to connect to router at 5Ghz probably rules out a Mini hardware issue.

I'm still suspecting router/cable modem based on post #5. An iPad or iPhone (or another Mac) to try connecting at 5Ghz succeeding or not (in loading something) would further narrow in on the potential problem.

Did you separate 2.4Ghz from 5Ghz at the same time that this problem seemed to pop up? If so, settings to make each band work may be something to check & recheck... and or merge them back together vs. separating (but only if the timing is about the same).

However, I'll also suspect Sonoma as the new obvious variable change. Might want to scrounge up a small blank disc or USB drive, install macOS BEFORE Sonoma and boot up and see if Mini connects just fine on macOS before Sonoma at 5Ghz again. If so, Sonoma gets the blame. Use 2.4 and re-check with each point update in Sonoma to hopefully reach a point where a probable bug is fixed.

Update: just did a search for macOS Sonoma 5Ghz wifi issues and there are already a number of articles. So it would appear you are not alone here. You might want to do the same search and start reading the articles. There are many suggestions in them.
 
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It's only this mini that is having problems. Everything else from the TV to my iPhone and an older mini running Catalina is able to connect easily.

Initially 2.4GHz and 5Ghz were tied using smart connect in the router, but soon after the problem started I separated them and at least I can now connect via 2.4Ghz. I just tried re-enabling smart connect, but it will only connect to 2.4Ghz. Right now it's still not clear if this is Sonoma, hardware or some very strange interference that is only affecting this 2018 mini.
 
Move the Mini around to try to rule out the interference.

I'm doubting the hardware since it just reconnected at 5Ghz.

The big variable that changed is Sonoma. If you create a boot disc with pre-Sonoma macOS, boot into it and attempt to connect at 5Ghz, I bet it will connect just fine... which would also point the finger squarely at Sonoma.
 
I've tried these things with no change. After doing some research on Google I found various threads and it seems quite a few people have experienced this on the mini with the new M2 in particular and it predates Sonoma.


https://www.reddit.com/r/macmini/comments/10kn5fu


Some found it related to HDMI cables, while one found he had to disable AWDL to make 5GHz work, but at the cost of disabling AirDrop, which I use several times a day.

There is too much guess work here though. My thought is that the mini case design is inherently prone to wi-fi and bluetooth issues that we may avoid if lucky, but in some cases can become a real nuisance. When I first had this mini it even managed to mess with the bluetooth mouse on a nearby Mac Pro, until I added a USB hub that created some distance.

I shall keep trying, but it has made me question whether the next Mac should be a mini, unless they change the basic design. I don't know if the Mac Studio is any better in this regard.
 
OP wrote:
"I shall keep trying, but it has made me question whether the next Mac should be a mini, unless they change the basic design."

Fishrrman "fairly fearless"™ prediction:
The current form factor of the Mini won't be changing any time soon.
 
That's probably true for all sorts of reasons. On the whole I really like the mini. It's just these silly issues with wi-fi and bluetooth that have been reported far too often over several years and Apple has never really fixed them.
 
I have a Mac Studio but connect with ethernet. However, for bluetooth, I've seen much of the same kinds of information about how poor Bluetooth can be due to signals vs. all-aluminum shell. Whether that's true or false, I opted to mount mine vertically (on its side) on the wall with antennas facing out and have never noticed any bluetooth connection issues in nearly 2 years now. There are many desktop brackets and wall mounts for Mac Mini too if you want to try the same.

Another option: if you keep buying that it's maybe hardware failures or hardware issues, you could allocate a USB port to an EXTERNAL wifi option. Yes, these are not "pretty" but they are outside the all-aluminium-everywhere case and have their own wifi tech inside. On the plus side, that Mini is Wifi 5 (ac), so going Wifi 6, 6E or 7 (if available yet) will also deliver a big wifi speed boost if your router is also capable of better-than-ac speed.

However, if you have ANY way to get it connected with ethernet, you will generally have fastest internet and least interruptions of signals. If your router is mesh, perhaps put a satt unit near Mac Mini and ethernet connect to that. That will shift the wifi link from main to satt instead of main or satt to Mini.
 
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I have just moved the 2018 mini to the exact same position I had the older 2012 mini for testing and now I have 5Ghz again, but I have no idea what is suddenly causing the issue at the other end of the table. The question now is whether to live with 2.4Ghz or work out how to reconfigure the whole work space. I had it all very neatly worked out before now, so this creates a headache.
 
I thought that was the solution, but then I plugged in all the drives at the other end and it stopped working again, so with a lot of effort I moved it piece by piece to the original location, scratching a lot of wall paint in the process and so far it is OK again with 5GHz.

There are still a few items that need to be added on the side table where all the external drives sit and I'm wondering if something there will trigger it. If this happens again I'll look at possibly wall mounting the mini. I had an external USB wi-fi on my first Mac Pro back in 2009 and it worked, however it was always temperamental with Mac updates.

I know Ethernet would be the obvious choice, but I don't think it would be practical here. I'm on FTTC fibre, which still requires a modem, so that is plugged into the master socket downstairs and I am working upstairs on the other side of the house. There is no way to run a cable that distance without some major upheaval and while it might be possible to run the modem and router from this room using a micro-filter I gather that would not be ideal either.
 
If you continue to have troubles with wifi, one option that might be worth trying is ethernet over power line like this one. Basically that's ethernet from router into one power line module plugged in near router TO power line module plugged in around your Mac mini location. Run a short ethernet cable from that module to Mac or ethernet switch if you have more than one thing that could be connected by wire and you MIGHT get some great wired internet without having to run actual ethernet cable. It's basically using the home wiring as if you've got ethernet from one end to the other.

While I've done exactly this for some family in a similar circumstance and it works great for them, this option doesn't always work for any home. But trying is easy enough if it gets to that.

Another for a little more but much faster ethernet is ethernet over RG6 like this product. If you have a cable connection near the router and another near the Mac, you can put those boxes on each end and send the signal through the cable connection.
 
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Well that lasted about half an hour. I can connect to 5Ghz now, but WhatsApp immediately says I am offline and running a speed test shows speeds of around 1mbps. It's possible a new neighbour has started doing something that is interfering with the connection and while I can use 2.4Ghz it's generally around 25mbps slower than I always had with 5Ghz previously. It's strange though when I can have an iPhone right next to it with no problems at all.

I'll have a look at the power line options this morning and take it from there. When I tried it a some years ago it actually made the connection slower, but that was a cheap unit supplied by my ISP and things may be improved. In theory we should be getting full fibre here in the next 12 months, so that would certainly help, but it wouldn't solve wi-fi issues. There is of course still the possibility that this is all caused by Sonoma.
 
another option is to get a W-fi extender and connect to that via ethernet. A least you avoid power line problems originating from e.g. your fridge or laundry machine running connected to the same powerline than your power line data.
 
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That's another option I guess. One strange upside of this is that effectively losing 5Ghz on the mini has coincided with an unexpected resolution of FaceTime issues using the iPhone. Prior to this I regularly saw messages that the connection was unstable, so there was no picture. Suddenly that has gone and the iPhone continues on 5Ghz with no FaceTime issues. I had wondered previously why it had been fine when using mobile data.
 
The "solution" is .... ethernet.
Accept that and deal with it.

Hmmm... do you happen to have coax cable running between the rooms?
(thinking of "MOCA", I believe that's what they call it).
 
I have ordered a couple power line adaptors, plus two high quality Ethernet cables that should be here tomorrow and I'll give that a go. Having a direct Ethernet connection would obviously be best but it would also involve going up a floor and then diagonally across the house, so I'll try it the easy way first.
 
If they don't work or are not fast enough, the MOCA type of the same is likely to be much faster than power line. That's basically cable jack to cable jack instead of through the electrical system... like sending video but you are sending "ethernet" over that same RG6. See the example referenced in the last paragraph of my prior post. That one was 1Gbps and here's a 2.5Gbps version.
 
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I should know later today after the power lines arrive. As a curious tidbit of information I'm in touch with a web designer in New Zealand who has an m2 mini pro as his main machine, but this evening he updated his intel laptop to Sonoma and suddenly has no wi-fi. It shows as connected, but nothing happening much as I found. Maybe the OS really is at fault here on some intel machines.
 
ashleykaryl said:
I've had this 2018 Mac mini in the same location for over three years and never had any wi-fi issues, until yesterday when 5GHz started failing. After a lot of testing I found it was working fine with all other devices around the house, except this mini. As a further test I've just pulled an old 2012 mini out of a cupboard and that connected to 5GHz wi-fi in the same room with no problem at all.

From the same router I'm having no difficulty connecting to 2.4Ghz on this 2018 mini, but when I try to connect to 5GHz wi-fi a message pops up saying it could not be joined, yet the iPhone nearby is fine. I've tried removing all the peripherals to no avail, then reset the SMC and NVRAM, but this has been consistent now for about 24 hours. I don't think it is the router, because other devices are OK.

It's starting to feel like this is a hardware issue on the 2018 mini, unless Sonoma is the culprit or somebody knows of another way to troubleshoot this. It seems strange that the wi-fi might fail partially like this, while still working in 2.4Ghz.
Click to expand...
Hi! It's been a couple of weeks since I started noticing suspicious WiFi behaviour. But TODAY I realised my 5GHz connection is not properly working so I started running some tests.

From my end I can tell the issue comes with Sonoma Update, all my devices running on earlier OS kept running smoothly on 5GHz, so I decided to update one of them and BOOM! the 5GHz issue immediately prompted.

Starlink router keeps working just fine on 2.4

I am currently trying to get help from Apple, I'll let you know if something comes up.
 
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ashleykaryl said:
It's possible a new neighbour has started doing something that is interfering with the connection
Click to expand...

1. Check how many other 5 GHz networks there are with a program such as WiFi Explorer.

2. If there is congestion on the channel you are using try changing your router to a different channel

Screenshot 2023-10-13 at 20.26.31.png
 
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