Wifi works in recovery, but not fully booted?

[Rantipole]

Hi. I'm actually having problems with both bluetooth and wifi. I "fixed" the wifi problem several months ago by simply buying an external USB antenna.

Now it appears my bluetooth has crapped out. It simply won't turn on. Here's the weird part: as part of my troubleshooting for the bluetooth, I went to do hardware diagnostics in recovery mode. As part of that, you're supposed to disconnect everything except your keyboard. So, I disconnected my antenna and went ahead into recovery mode. Get this: somehow my in-computer wifi works when I'm in recovery mode???? How is that even possible?

Oh and of course: diagnostics found nothing wrong with my computer.

Thanks.

 

[B S Magnet]

Hi. I'm actually having problems with both bluetooth and wifi. I "fixed" the wifi problem several months ago by simply buying an external USB antenna.

Now it appears my bluetooth has crapped out. It simply won't turn on. Here's the weird part: as part of my troubleshooting for the bluetooth, I went to do hardware diagnostics in recovery mode. As part of that, you're supposed to disconnect everything except your keyboard. So, I disconnected my antenna and went ahead into recovery mode. Get this: somehow my in-computer wifi works when I'm in recovery mode???? How is that even possible?

Oh and of course: diagnostics found nothing wrong with my computer.

Thanks.

Let’s start with what you’re running (the OS) and the specifics of the computer you have. That will probably help with support. Cheers.

 

[Rantipole]

Oh, sure. 2017 3.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 iMac running Ventura 13.1.

 

[Rantipole]

The reason I didn't give all my system info at first was because, if there is some sort of "hidden" wifi card, I doubt it is exclusive to my computer model or OS.

 

[Rantipole]

I wonder if there is a more technical forum for this question? Because, I'm not actually asking about fixing my bluetooth and/or wifi card, though I do want to do that. The core question is "how can wifi work in recovery mode, but not in ordinary use mode?"

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:
The core question is "how can wifi work in recovery mode, but not in ordinary use mode?"

I'm thinking:
Something is set wrong in your user account.

What I would try:
(this won't hurt anything)
Log into your account (even if wifi doesn't work)
Go to "users and groups".
Click the lock at the bottom and enter your password.

Now... click the "+" to add a NEW USER ACCOUNT.
Give it administrative privileges.
All you need is a username and password -- don't bother with anything else.
This is a "test account" and can be deleted later on without any problems at all.

Now...
LOG OUT of your "regular" user account.
Log INTO the new account you just created.
Try setting up wifi now.
Does it work in the new user account?

If it DOES, then (again) there's something in your regular user account that needs attention, somewhere.

 

[Rantipole]

Guess what? I ran network diagnostics just for the heck of it. I'm pretty sure I ran it before, when originally trying to fix my Wifi problem, so I didn't expect much. But now my wifi works again!

But still no Bluetooth, though. Is there something similar to network diagnostics I can run for Bluetooth? I clicked Option-Bluetooth on the menu bar, but it only gave me the option of going directly to settings. (When you click Option-Wifi on the menu bar, you get a whole menu, including diagnostics.) Thanks.

 

[Fishrrman]

Try using ethernet to connect, instead of wifi.
Does that get BT working again?

 

[Rantipole]

Try using ethernet to connect, instead of wifi.
Does that get BT working again?

I've been going crazy so haven't gotten back to this until now. Regarding your suggestion: I can't reach an ethernet cable from the source down here, HOWEVER, I could run an ethernet cable from a WiFi pod. Would that have the same possible effect on my mac? Still worth a shot, or don't bother? I would just try it anyway, but it is a bit of a pain to move the stuff around to do this. Thanks.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I could run an ethernet cable from a WiFi pod. Would that have the same possible effect on my mac?"

I don't think that's going to help.

If the built-in wifi is working, use that.
If not...
...If the plug-in wifi dongle works, use that.

As far as bluetooth goes -- it's a "weak radio" technology. Works for some users, for others, well, they have problems.

If you can't get the built in bt working, there are also USB/bt dongles. I have no experience with them, but they are "out there".

I don't use bt -- AT ALL.

If you can't get it working, my best suggestion is... "go wired, that works"...