Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Resolved Wifi problems on Catalina 10.15.5 and new Macbook Pro
- Thread starter KatPR
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I'm sorry I don't have a solution but I'm so pleased to have found this thread!
I'm having similar issues with wifi randomly dropping unfortunately it won't reconnect to the network. I predominantly use my laptop (brand new MacBook Pro 13") at work and have no control over the wifi network (5GHz and 2.4GHz both with the same SSID) but have the same issue at home. As with the above no issues with any other device (iPhone, iPad, 2015 MacBook Pro 15"). I've tried all the suggestions too... fingers crossed someone on here can come up with some magic because this is driving me nuts!
Hi all,
I have been battling with a similar issue the last few days and found a fix that worked for me, so I thought I’d share. I apologize in advance if this has already been suggested as I skimmed through the forum. Here was my situation: MacBook Pro 15” model (I believe it’s the 2018 model), ASUS GT-AX11000 router. Recently MacBook started dropping WiFi on 5GHz randomly, which also oddly caused my iPhone to drop as well. When MacBook was off, no drop in iPhone WiFi. Here are the things I tried that failed:
1. Factory reset router (multiple times)
2. “Forgot” network
3. Changed location settings for WiFi on mac
4. Deleted WiFi protocol, restarted and added it again
5. Reset SMC and PRAM/NVRAM
6. Disabled IPV6, then IPV4
7. Disabled smart connect on router
8. Reset iPhone network settings and then all settings (since iPhone dropped too, I figured maybe they were connected)
9. Signed out and back in from Apple ID on mac
10. Manually deleted system config files in /Library/Preferences for mac
11. DHCP lease renewal (although this technically automatically happens every 24 hours anyways)
I feel like I might be missing one or two more things I tried, but regardless, nothing worked and I was hitting the end of my rope. Oddly, the 2.4GHz band didn’t have any issues. The only thing that worked (at least so far) was to reinstall macOS Catalina, without wiping the hard-drive. Here is a guide by Apple on how to do this; I used the command+R option:
How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support
You can use macOS Recovery, your computer's built-in recovery system, to reinstall the Mac operating system. Reinstalling macOS doesn't remove your personal data.
I hope this helps. Take care all and good luck!
Ok... I've been away but back at it now and still having trouble.
Can anyone help out?
I tried taking my Mac to work, and it would not connect to the guest network either.
Below is the message I get.
I've even tried a complete new install using Time Machine as the restore, and still..... no dice.
At this point maybe I need to find a computer service store to fix???
Any help is very much appreciated!
Can anyone help out?
I tried taking my Mac to work, and it would not connect to the guest network either.
Below is the message I get.
I've even tried a complete new install using Time Machine as the restore, and still..... no dice.
At this point maybe I need to find a computer service store to fix???
Any help is very much appreciated!
What year and model computer are you using?
Try doing a clean install again but this time don’t migrate anything from your backup. Setup the computer as if it were brand new and create an admin account and configure your WiFi. Want to see if the issue happens on a completely clean system. This will tell you if it is something you have installed that might be contributing to the issue.
Try my suggestion in post #53; a time machine restore is not a clean installation of OS. To do a clean OS install, you have to do it through recovery mode, and you don’t have to erase your files.
You have tried booting in Safe Mode? Doing an clean install (erase and reinstall)?
Try removing the password from your WiFi network. See if it connects.
Maybe this might help.
Mac Catalina Wi-Fi Problems, Fix • macReports
Several users said that wireless internet is not working properly after updating to macOS Catalina. More specifically, users stated that their browsers
macreports.com
Last edited:
I could not figure out how to remove the password from my AirPort Time Capsule but I enabled a guest network and that still did not work.
I think I did the clean install correctly. But I'm not sure.....
I now restored from Time Machine which I know is not a clean install but, I'm not sure what else to do.
I would try a clean install again perhaps with suggested instructions.
Thanks for all you help.
[automerge]1594523742[/automerge]
As far as the password for the wifi on the Airport Time Capsule, when I deleted it, it gave me a invalid password error and would not let me update it.
I think I did the clean install correctly. But I'm not sure.....
I now restored from Time Machine which I know is not a clean install but, I'm not sure what else to do.
I would try a clean install again perhaps with suggested instructions.
Thanks for all you help.
[automerge]1594523742[/automerge]
As far as the password for the wifi on the Airport Time Capsule, when I deleted it, it gave me a invalid password error and would not let me update it.
If you haven't already, you might try deleting the WiFi preference files. Instructions here:
https://www.igeeksblog.com/how-to-fix-wi-fi-issues-on-mac/
I'm just noticing that you (Weekleyba) and I both have the same generation MacBooks.
I have a Mid 2014 15" MacBook Pro Retina, and I've been noticing WiFi flaking out considerably with both macOS Catalina 10.15.5 and 10.15.6, since I installed those updates. I think it first became an issue under 10.15.5, and was not fixed by 10.15.6
I have to disconnect and reconnect frequently as the Internet sometimes hangs, and then drags on forever loading something.
I wonder if those update(s) may have introduced issues, possibly they made changes to the firmware or the WiFi/Airport drivers for the Late 2013/Mid 2014 and possibly Mid 2015 generation of MacBook Pros. Just my guess. Or could be my and your Airport cards are dying. But when mine is working, it does seem to work just fine speed wise, just not for terribly long. In any case, it's quite annoying.
I don't use a Time Capsule for backups, so I don't have the issue of corrupting backups, etc. due to dropped connection, just the annoyance of slow internet, when it shouldn't be slow at all.
https://www.igeeksblog.com/how-to-fix-wi-fi-issues-on-mac/
I'm just noticing that you (Weekleyba) and I both have the same generation MacBooks.
I have a Mid 2014 15" MacBook Pro Retina, and I've been noticing WiFi flaking out considerably with both macOS Catalina 10.15.5 and 10.15.6, since I installed those updates. I think it first became an issue under 10.15.5, and was not fixed by 10.15.6
I have to disconnect and reconnect frequently as the Internet sometimes hangs, and then drags on forever loading something.
I wonder if those update(s) may have introduced issues, possibly they made changes to the firmware or the WiFi/Airport drivers for the Late 2013/Mid 2014 and possibly Mid 2015 generation of MacBook Pros. Just my guess. Or could be my and your Airport cards are dying. But when mine is working, it does seem to work just fine speed wise, just not for terribly long. In any case, it's quite annoying.
I don't use a Time Capsule for backups, so I don't have the issue of corrupting backups, etc. due to dropped connection, just the annoyance of slow internet, when it shouldn't be slow at all.
I gave up trying things myself. Right now my Mac is at Best Buy and they are trying to fix it. This specific Best Buy cannot repair any hardware but can work on the software.
I do suspect it’s the Airport card though but we’ll see what they come up with.
ill let you guys know the outcome.
I do suspect it’s the Airport card though but we’ll see what they come up with.
ill let you guys know the outcome.
No issue with WiFi on either of my 2 2015 13” MacBook Pro computers. No issue with WiFi on 10.15.5 or 10.15.6.
As i suspected, Best Buy could not fix. They believe it is the wifi card. So, here it goes...found some YouTube’s and opened my MacBook Pro And found the wifi card. Ordered a new one and should have it this week. I sure hope this fixes it.
more to come.
more to come.
Attachments
Ok....I have the wifi card on order and waiting for it to be delivered. I decided to power on my Mac to confirm the serial number. I saw the wifi icon at the top of the screen and thought ... why not... so click the icon and selected my wifi internet and .... it connected! I'm using it as I type this response. I'm so confused. After dozens of attempts over a period of many days and having Best Buy's Geek squad try and fail, now it works???
The only thing I did was opened the back cover and blow out all the dust from 7 years of use.
I guess I'll see if this is continues to work.
Very strange but maybe a loose connection under the cover??
I don't know but it's working at the moment.
The only thing I did was opened the back cover and blow out all the dust from 7 years of use.
I guess I'll see if this is continues to work.
Very strange but maybe a loose connection under the cover??
I don't know but it's working at the moment.
Final post for me on this....
The original wifi care did NOT continue to work.
I brought my Mac to a computer repair store where they had a used wifi card. Parts & Labor $80.
The other wifi card that I ordered continues to get back ordered. Once I have it, I'll probably hang on to it.
As of today all systems working properly again. "And there was much rejoicing in the land!"
Thanks for all who helped me with diagnosing the problem.
The original wifi care did NOT continue to work.
I brought my Mac to a computer repair store where they had a used wifi card. Parts & Labor $80.
The other wifi card that I ordered continues to get back ordered. Once I have it, I'll probably hang on to it.
As of today all systems working properly again. "And there was much rejoicing in the land!"
Thanks for all who helped me with diagnosing the problem.
Hi all,
I don't know if this thread is still being watched, but it's the best one I've found, so here goes. I'm having the same issue whereby my wireless drops intermittently. The wifi icon will scroll for about 3-10 seconds, but will then usually reconnect at that point. I'm have the latest 13-inch MacBook Air running Catalina 10.15.6. I've tried all of the standard stuff on fix-it lists: set new location, reset PRAM and SMC, check country code, reconfig wifi, nuke preference files, etc; nothing works. Here are some salient facts:
1. It only happens when there is some load. I can reliably recreate the problem by running Zoom and 1-2 videos through YouTube. But even just running Zoom will eventually cause the problem. Websites with embedded video create it too.
2. My older laptop -- a mid-2013 MacBook Air running El Capitan (10.11.6) -- works fine. (Ironically, I bought the new one earlier this year figuring it would be better to teach over Zoom with, but it's the new one that's unusable and the old one is just fine.)
3. I recently stayed at an AirBnB and tried to recreate the problem on the network there. Couldn't do it; all worked fine no matter how much load I put on.
4. No other computers or phones in my house are affected as far as I can tell, although sometimes my printer will blink when my laptop goes out, apparently briefly losing connection (but not always).
5. I've tried the router provided by my cable company and a new Linksys router; same problem.
6. I downloaded Wifi Explorer Lite as suggested earlier, and there is overlap with other networks, but not any more than others (usually 1-2).
I also notice that when the problem occurs, the process wifivelocityd starts using CPU. I'm not sure exactly what this process does, so I don't know if it's a cause or an effect. My older laptop doesn't have this process.
Sorry for the long post -- any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I don't know if this thread is still being watched, but it's the best one I've found, so here goes. I'm having the same issue whereby my wireless drops intermittently. The wifi icon will scroll for about 3-10 seconds, but will then usually reconnect at that point. I'm have the latest 13-inch MacBook Air running Catalina 10.15.6. I've tried all of the standard stuff on fix-it lists: set new location, reset PRAM and SMC, check country code, reconfig wifi, nuke preference files, etc; nothing works. Here are some salient facts:
1. It only happens when there is some load. I can reliably recreate the problem by running Zoom and 1-2 videos through YouTube. But even just running Zoom will eventually cause the problem. Websites with embedded video create it too.
2. My older laptop -- a mid-2013 MacBook Air running El Capitan (10.11.6) -- works fine. (Ironically, I bought the new one earlier this year figuring it would be better to teach over Zoom with, but it's the new one that's unusable and the old one is just fine.)
3. I recently stayed at an AirBnB and tried to recreate the problem on the network there. Couldn't do it; all worked fine no matter how much load I put on.
4. No other computers or phones in my house are affected as far as I can tell, although sometimes my printer will blink when my laptop goes out, apparently briefly losing connection (but not always).
5. I've tried the router provided by my cable company and a new Linksys router; same problem.
6. I downloaded Wifi Explorer Lite as suggested earlier, and there is overlap with other networks, but not any more than others (usually 1-2).
I also notice that when the problem occurs, the process wifivelocityd starts using CPU. I'm not sure exactly what this process does, so I don't know if it's a cause or an effect. My older laptop doesn't have this process.
Sorry for the long post -- any advice would be greatly appreciated!
I had wifi dropping problems with new M1 MacBook Air. WiFi connects for 2 seconds, then drops, then reconnects for 2 seconds, then drops, etc. Went for hours with AppleCare doing all the things mentioned in this thread until they just said to return and replace. Got replacement today; same problem. This time, though, I noticed a flash of the words “internet sharing” in the wifi window during one of the reconnect cycles. A quick web search alerted me to an internet sharing option in the “Sharing” section of System Preferences. I unchecked that box and problem solved immediately (on both machines- waited to receive new before sending in return). Woo hoo!
