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Does anyone else's wifi stop working on 2016?

thadoggfather

thadoggfather

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 1, 2007
16,341
17,457
says connected, shows no problem visually, but doesn't load any pages

toggling off and back on fixes it every time,


ugh,

10.12.0, nTB,

I feel like it was ok for a few weeks, now it does it at coffee shops and my AirPort Extreme router too

too afraid to go 10.12.2 unless people are saying its well worth it, I'm dubious

should I try .1?
 
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Im on 10.12.2 and everything is fine, granted it came with that firmware. Anyhow I saw on the internet some usb c devices plugged into your computer cause this. I haven't personally experienced it but the video had a nTB computer while mine is a TB, so idk if it's isolated to those devices or my usb c stuff just plays nice with my computer.
 
Do you have any USB devices plugged in. I saw some YT videos and other chatter about wifi dropping when you plug something into the USB ports
 
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I had the problem when plugging in a USB 3 device with a short and cheap adapter...that somehow interferes with wifi that has a 2.5 gH frequency!
I solved the problem by using the short adapter only with usb 2 or lower devices and buying an apple dongle for my usb 3 sticks...
 
I see some others having wifi issues with the new 2016 Macbook Pro so here's my experience to add to the dialogue. First, I have two of the new 2016 models. A stock 13" with TB (purchased at the Apple store) and a customized 15" (ordered online) with TB.

The 13" model began exhibiting wifi issues almost immediately but it was intermittant. What happens is you're browsing the web, watching a YouTube video, etc., and out of nowhere wifi stops working. Now the crazy thing is if you go to system preferences\network it shows the wifi as connected (green) as if all is good. As well, if the wifi analyzer (hold down option key when clicking the wifi icon in top right then select Open Wireless Diagnostics) was on monitoring the connection and the connection stopped working wifi analyzer would not detect a problem. So the connection stops working but the troubleshooting tools think it's fine.

Now, you might say maybe the connection is there but really slow due to low signal. Well, perhaps that's true but both browsers (both Chrome & Safari) would time out and say "No Connection" before showing any loading of a web page. You might also ask the obvious question, was your wifi router working? Yes, I have 20+ devices using wifi and everything else would be working including the new 15" 2016 MBP w/TB. It was just the 13" that would stop working. The only thing that would fix it would be turning wifi off and then on again. See link to video :

)

So what was causing it? Well, at first I thought it was USB C like others have shared. But I did more troubleshooting and found scenarios where it was not USB C. For example, I had it fail while not using any USB C devices or peripherals, I had it fail while using a 5Ghz wifi network (I believe USB only interferes with 2.4Ghz wifi and not 5Ghz). And the failure was always the same. Wifi just stopped working with no ability to get on my private network as well as get on the web using Safari or Chrome.

In the end, I came to the conclusion there was clearly a hardware problem with the wifi adapter so I took the 13" back in and exchanged it for another. Which by the way, in my opinion Apple customer service is amazing.

Swapping it out with the return period was such a painless process considering how much this thing costs. No asking me a bunch of questions, no making me wait in a long line, no booting it up to check to make sure it was doing what I said or giving me the run around about how it could have been my wifi router causing the problem. I simply explained what it was doing and the guy said "okay, let me get a replacement for you" and out I walked in about 15 minutes It was AWESOME!!!!

So I know we (me included) sometimes complain about the higher cost of Apple products and sure I'd love the price to be lower, but let's face it the service and resale value are in my opinion worth every penny. Oh and quality/longevity are also incredible. This 13" MBP w/TB is replacing an 8 year old iMAC. Think about that. We used that iMac for 8 years and with an SSD in it the last 4 years it still was a great machine.

Now to the good news, the replacement so far after a week has had no problems. Wifi has been rock solid. Hopefully they'll fix whatever it is causing this. I personally think these new laptops are great.

Thanks all,

Steven
 
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I had the same thing with two Retina MacBooks, and the update to 10.12.2 fixed the problem. Wifi connect has been rock solid ever since.
 
thadoggfather said:
On both MacBooks?

Which models are they?

Hmmm wondering if I should update from .1
Click to expand...

I have base model 2015 MacBook, and 2016 M5. I first observed the issue on the M5 MacBook, and even went so far as to leave it with an Apple tech for a couple days of straight testing. It was during this time that I noticed the same behavior on my 2015. Shortly after, 10.12.2 was released, and both machines are running perfectly - not a single wifi drop, and a consistently strong signal.
 
BravoTangoPapa said:
I have base model 2015 MacBook, and 2016 M5. I first observed the issue on the M5 MacBook, and even went so far as to leave it with an Apple tech for a couple days of straight testing. It was during this time that I noticed the same behavior on my 2015. Shortly after, 10.12.2 was released, and both machines are running perfectly - not a single wifi drop, and a consistently strong signal.
Click to expand...

Thanks how long have ya tested them for ?
 
thadoggfather said:
Thanks how long have ya tested them for ?
Click to expand...

Since the release of 10.12.2 (December 13th or 14th?), so right around 4 weeks. Prior to the OS update, I wouldn't make it more than a day or so tops before the wifi would drop. Sometimes I would experience drops as many as 2-3 times a day.
 
BravoTangoPapa said:
Since the release of 10.12.2 (December 13th or 14th?), so right around 4 weeks. Prior to the OS update, I wouldn't make it more than a day or so tops before the wifi would drop. Sometimes I would experience drops as many as 2-3 times a day.
Click to expand...

Thanks that's re assuring

When u say wifi drop do u mean signal and u have to reconnect cause it's greyed out or it looks connected and fine but no internet until turning it off and back on?
 
thadoggfather said:
Thanks that's re assuring

When u say wifi drop do u mean signal and u have to reconnect cause it's greyed out or it looks connected and fine but no internet until turning it off and back on?
Click to expand...
Just as you described. Signal showed that I was connected, but no actual network connectivity. Toggling wifi would always correct the problem, if only temporarily.
 
BravoTangoPapa said:
Just as you described. Signal showed that I was connected, but no actual network connectivity. Toggling wifi would always correct the problem, if only temporarily.
Click to expand...

I'm off to the races to try .2, thanks!

Also backed up battery.menu in menu extras of core services (library something, a post on 10.12.3 beta 3 released first post page)

And going to try to port it to .2 so I don't have to rely on other battery apps to come through on estimate,

I didn't realize/forgot that you can download point updates that aren't latest still and do that manually and they're on apple's site (unlike iPhone situation)

I went to .1 after .2 was the latest, so if I need to go .1 I'll just clone back .0 and do the .1 update (and I think I updated 10.12.1 and re backed up so, whatever)

--

How is .2 on 2015 MB? Mines on 10.11.6 and probably going to stay for battery life and such .0 and .1 were junk on it, IMO
 
.2 works great on the 2015 MacBook. At the risk of information overload, my wifi issues did not clear up until 10.12.2 (the .1 release did not fix the problem).
 
Then for sure something else is going on. Is it repeatable in another wifi environment? If so, either try the update, wait for 10.12.3 soon to be released or take advantage your AppleCare. Use one cable at a time too if you have multiple connections toward a process of elimination . .
 
maflynn said:
Do you have any USB devices plugged in. I saw some YT videos and other chatter about wifi dropping when you plug something into the USB ports
Click to expand...

YES !! Thanks Maflynn, I had occasional Wifi drops and I thought it came from my router, then I saw OP's posts and wodnered.
And I'm pretty sure you're right, because it always happened when I was backing up stuff.
Thanks again :)
 
ihatetoregister said:
YES !! Thanks Maflynn, I had occasional Wifi drops and I thought it came from my router, then I saw OP's posts and wodnered.
And I'm pretty sure you're right, because it always happened when I was backing up stuff.
Thanks again :)
Click to expand...

if you can, use only 5ghz band for wlan.
 
I just had this happen to me for the first time in 5 days since I got it. I'm on 5ghz, this morning I awoke from sleep and no problems, used it for a while then put it back to sleep for few more hrs then I awoke it and it said I was not connected to the internet. I looked at the top and it was grayed out but it was looking for wifi connections to connect to but nothing was connecting. I had to do a re start and then it connected to my 5ghz. That's the first time that has ever happened.
 
I have a 15" mbptb 2.9/460I picked up at the end of December. I'm running 10.12.2.
My workflow involves constant Youtube uploads of 4k footage (each file is typically 5 to 10gbs) and my wifi is constantly going out. I at first thought it was my router but wifi is still functioning perfectly on other computers connected to the network.
 
I've had troublesome wifi connections with new Mac hardware for years now, but it always went away after a few months. I got really fed up this time however, so I replaced my aging AirPort Extreme routers with Netgear's new Orbi system, and everything has been rock solid ever since.
 
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