Internet down for one user but not another

[nickwalters]

Hi,

I'm running an iMac 27" Late 2009 2.66 GHz Intel Core i5 on macOS High Sierra.

My wife's internet kept dropping earlier today and now won't connect at all. It works on our iPhones, MacBook Pros and on my user account on the iMac, but not her user account on the iMac. I have reset the router and restarted the iMac many times. I have checked internet settings and nothing seems to differ between user accounts. This applies to ethernet, WiFi and even Personal Hotspot – I just can't get her user account to connect by any means.

I have run First Aid on her user account and nothing major seemed to be wrong, and what was wrong got sorted. I have reset the DNS cache using Terminal. Still not working.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Like I said, it's not the internet connection or router, as it works on all other devices and on my user account – it seems to be specific to her account.

Thanks in advance.

Nick

 

[BLUEDOG314]

I would say go into her user account, then go to ~/Library and delete any plist files related to airport and wifi. Better option is to just move them to a folder on the desktop, then reboot machine and log back in. If this doesn't work and you don't mind re entering wifi passwords and basically losing all saved connection data, go to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration and delete (or move) everything but the plist file that has "Boot" in its name, then reboot, and try again.

 

[superscape]

I'd be tempted to create a new user on your wife's Mac, log in as that and see if you can connect. If everything works from the new account then it's *something* to do with your wife's user setup. If not, then it ain't. At least you can narrow down where the problem is.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"I have reset the router and restarted the iMac many times."

This will accomplish nothing -- not worth trying anymore.

You already wrote that the internet works properly for your account on the iMac.
To me, that indicates that:
1. The OS install is good
and
2. Your account is good
but
3. There is -something wrong- in your wife's account (and the problem is localized there).

I would first try going into your wife's account and doing the following:
- trash the "com.apple.preference.internet.plist" file
- trash both airport ".plist" files (as mentioned above)
- delete any "internet related" items in her keychain.
- go to her Network preference pane and delete the entries there, then
- reboot and then go back into her account, and...
- re-enter things in the Network pref pane.

If that doesn't work, and if nothing else you try seems to help...
I would consider creating a NEW account for your wife.
At first, leave it "bare bones" -- don't migrate anything into it from the old account.
See if she can connect and STAY connected using this new account.

IF that works, you can begin "migrating her stuff" from the old account into the new one.
Yes, this takes some time.
But sometimes it's actually easier than tracking down a problem that resists solutions otherwise.