Too much time to connect to wifi after starting my iMac

[Tarek sehsah]

i have an iMac 5k
i have a problem since 2 months only
that after starting my mac it takes about one minute and half to connect to my wifi
then it gives a gray exclamation mark then connect
if i turned wifi off after that and opened it again it connects rapidly

I am on elcapitan 10.11.13

 

[roadkill401]

Best of luck getting that solved. I hope for your sake, you don't get Daisy81 or Serban trying to help you. You'd just get some comment like stop complaining, and you are simply an Apple hater, followed by some dumb comment like why are you using WiFi and just plug it into ethernet. or buy a usb wifi addapter

As for your issue. If you end up phoning Apple, they will have you do things like create a test user and see if you have the same issue if you log into the test user from boot.

I would personally take a look at a couple of other things. What sort of router/wifi access point are you connecting into? Is this G, N, AC and are you connecting at 2.4 or 5ghz? If you have another device like an iphone or and ipad, does it have a similar problem? I would take a look at what other wifi is like in your location. In my neighbourhood there are 19 total different wifi signals in the 2.4ghz band, and for me getting and keeping a wifi connection at that setup is horrible. I ended up just turning that frequency off and moved myself to be only in the 5ghz where it seems non of my neighbours have even tried to setup. this fixed my connection issues. if you don't have that option, have you tried moving the iMac to a different location. Wifi is fickle and it could be that where the iMac is, you have a more or less dead zone and it takes a bit for the iMac to find your wifi signal. your picture shows the strength of the signal to be quite low considering you are most likely in the same building as your access point. it could be the walls or some structural component that is blocking your signal.

 

[cerberusss]

I assume the iMac is stationary and doesn't move? I really advise to simply put an Ethernet cable into place.

If you really really cannot put some cable in place, try and see if a set of Homeplug adapters works in your house. These basically create a point-to-point Ethernet network using your wall ports. I've had good luck with a brand named Devolo. They have a 1200 Mbit set, which costs about $120 or so. You actually get about 60 Mbit in an old house with old wiring, but it's very stable.

 

[mroffbeat]

There is not much info to go on, it might as well be the same host names on one network.

Try to figure out
One or all devices, Mac only
Mac/boot camp same problem?
Force AC / b / n, same problem?
Firmware router up2date?
Google router + iMac + issue
Elementary!!!

 

[cyclingplatypus]

Are there a lot of wifi congestion in your area? Slow connection to wifi is a pretty well documented problem (my MBP is slow on the connection, about 30 seconds) - as roadkill said wifi is fickle.

 

[Lankyman]

I assume the iMac is stationary and doesn't move? I really advise to simply put an Ethernet cable into place.

If you really really cannot put some cable in place, try and see if a set of Homeplug adapters works in your house. These basically create a point-to-point Ethernet network using your wall ports. I've had good luck with a brand named Devolo. They have a 1200 Mbit set, which costs about $120 or so. You actually get about 60 Mbit in an old house with old wiring, but it's very stable.

+1 for me - I too have a Devolo network. Cannot understand why you would want to use wifi on a Desktop computer.

 

[cerberusss]

Cannot understand why you would want to use wifi on a Desktop computer.

Heh, me neither. Thing is, we're at the point where some people don't know what an Ethernet cable is. I'm working from a co-working space where you basically rent a desk for a couple of months. First thing I did there was make sure I got a small switch and hook it up to the internal Ethernet.

One girl next to me complains about the wifi two days ago, and calls the in-house network support guy. He hems and haws, clicks around on her laptop and finally I ask them whether she'd be happy to just hook up to my switch. She actually didn't know you could "get internet with a cable"

 

[Tarek sehsah]

thanks for your reply
why when a wifi option is present i leave it
i hate cables
what happened to my wifi on mac is only since one month probably after i installed little snitch and uninstalled it again
this my wireless diagnostics

 

[Fishrrman]

roadkill wrote above:
"...followed by some dumb comment like why are you using WiFi and just plug it into ethernet. or buy a usb wifi addapter"

OK, then, it's time for the dumb comment:
If you have ethernet available, why not plug it in for the moment?
You can still keep wifi activated as well, while you diagnose.

But ethernet is almost always faster.
Sometimes, significantly so.

 

[warvanov]

OK, then, it's time for the dumb comment:
If you have ethernet available, why not plug it in for the moment?
You can still keep wifi activated as well, while you diagnose.

But ethernet is almost always faster.
Sometimes, significantly so.

Because he isn't asking about opinions of whether or not he should use WiFi. He's asking for help getting WiFi to work.

I'm sorry I don't have much help to offer myself. Good luck!

 

[cyclingplatypus]

thanks for your reply
why when a wifi option is present i leave it
i hate cables
what happened to my wifi on mac is only since one month probably after i installed little snitch and uninstalled it again
this my wireless diagnostics

Restart the router and then download and run iStumbler and see if it put you on the same channel as someone nearby. You can always go in and manually choose a channel. The good news is that you may have discovered what your problem is.

 

[DeltaMac]

There's several possible fixes in your post #8.
Which one, if any, of those nearby networks that are listed in your post #8, is the network that YOU use?

Can you change your wireless router configuration so the region setting for your network is using the same country code as your Mac? That is a setting in your wireless router, and NOT a setting in your Mac system.
Is Albania correct?

Have you tried changing the radio channel that your wireless router uses to a channel that is interfering the least with other wireless networks?
A Wifi app, such as Netspot, would help you decide what channels are being used near to you, and what channel might be a better choice for your router.

 

[roadkill401]

roadkill wrote above:
"...followed by some dumb comment like why are you using WiFi and just plug it into ethernet. or buy a usb wifi addapter"

OK, then, it's time for the dumb comment:
If you have ethernet available, why not plug it in for the moment?
You can still keep wifi activated as well, while you diagnose.

But ethernet is almost always faster.
Sometimes, significantly so.

Well. Do you bother to ask why the OP is using WiFi? I have have most of my computer connected via ehternet. it is faster, but I am stuck with a mac mini that is located beside the telephone in the kitchen. There is no ethernet plug near by. To try and fish a new ethernet plug to that location would be far too expensive as it would involve putting holes in 4 finished walls and a custom plastered ceiling. To run the ethernet over electrical cheater you need to be on the same phase at both ends (you do know how electricity is distributed ??). My router switch is on the other phase compared to the plug by that mac mini. Running an ethernet outside of the wall does not get the WAF so it's a no go.

So, you didn't ask the OP if it's an old building with Lath&Plaster or perhaps an historical building that you can't start ripping out walls to run stuff. The electrical might have older knob and tube wiring that doesn't work all that well with some options. There is too much that you just don't know.

So why not start by trying to diagnose the REAL problem rather than create new ones by simply ignoring the issues the OP has at hand.

 

[Fishrrman]

roadkill wrote:
"So, you didn't ask the OP if it's an old building with Lath&Plaster or perhaps an historical building that you can't start ripping out walls to run stuff. The electrical might have older knob and tube wiring that doesn't work all that well with some options. There is too much that you just don't know."

I live in an old house that originally had knob-and-tube wiring and it still has hard plaster walls.

When I needed to run ethernet between floors, I bought a 100' ethernet cable and ran it along the floor, down the stair rails, etc.

It doesn't look pretty.
But it works.

 

[warvanov]

When I needed to run ethernet between floors, I bought a 100' ethernet cable and ran it along the floor, down the stair rails, etc.

It doesn't look pretty.
But it works.

Knowing the extent that some people will go to to hide and disguise wires at their desk, including using the included wireless mouse and keyboard, I doubt the typical iMac user is terribly thrilled about the idea of running ethernet cable around their house.

 

[joema2]

...
But ethernet is almost always faster.
Sometimes, significantly so.

The OP has a retina iMac 27 which has 802.11ac WiFi. Given a good 802.11ac router, than can support over 1,000 megabits/sec in a point-to-point transfer. That is an actual measurement, not a theoretical number: http://www.cnet.com/products/asus-ac2400-rt-ac87u-dual-band-wireless-gigabit-router/2/

There is a lot of 100 megabit ethernet cable installed which cannot easily be upgraded. So there are a lot of cases where WiFi is 10x faster than ethernet, and equals the speed of gigabit ethernet.

This does not explain the reported slow initial connection. I have experienced that myself on my 2015 MacBook Pro. It takes about 30 sec to connect from sleep mode, despite me having an Asus RT-AC87U router 20 feet away.

My suggestion to the OP is try a 5G connection -- experimentally turn off 2.4Ghz on the router, and make sure both router and iMac are connecting only on 5G.