Help! Internet works, but only before I launch MacOS, what to do?

[Pangalactic]

Basically the topic. Out of the blue, all the internet on my 16”” MBP stopped working. Neither Wi-Fi (any Wi-Fi) nor tethering, nothing. It shows that it is connected, but there is no internet. I’ve checked on other devices and they all work fine.

Now the weird thing is, Wi-Fi works perfectly in recovery mode. I can even download and reinstall MacOS, and so far this seems to be the only thing fixing it… for a couple of days, and then it happens again.

Does anyone know what to do with it?

 

[Fishrrman]

I will -guess- that this is a software setting (not "hardware"). If it was hardware, it wouldn't work in recovery mode.

I'd go to home/library/preferences, and delete anything I could find relating to networking. Then, reboot, empty the trash, and work on connecting again.

And one thing always worth trying -- did you power-off, and then power-back-on, your internet hardware? (modem, router, etc.)

 

[MarkC426]

Do you have Intego products installed....?
I read another post where someone couldn't connect on a Mac Studio with Netbarrier running (apparently a known issue from Intego).

 

[chown33]

Try booting in Safe Mode:

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

To help determine whether an issue is caused by software that loads as your Mac starts up, you can start up your Mac in safe mode.

support.apple.com

While in safe mode, wifi won't work (see under heading "Learn more"), so then reboot into normal mode, and see if the removal of some cached files during Safe Mode boot has fixed the problem.

 

[MarineBand5524]

Are you using a VPN?

1. Turn off Wi-Fi from the menu bar.
2. Navigate to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ in Finder by pressing ⌘ + Shift + G.
3. Select the following files:
   • com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
   • com.apple.network.identification.plist
   • com.apple.wifi.message-tracer.plist
   • NetworkInterfaces.plist
   • preferences.plist
4. Copy these files in a safe location so that if anything gets messed up, you can easily restore them.
5. Delete the files (from the original location).
6. Reboot your Mac and enable Wi-Fi again.

 

[applefanboysince93]

I tried all of these suggestions but nothing worked for me but a clean install... Weird that safe mode didn't even work!