Internet Recovery Won't Detect my WiFi

[tardman91]

I erased the Macintosh HD partition and went to do an Internet reovery to wipe the computer clean. It went as planned, but now when I start Internet revoery it won't detect my WiFi. I get the X, or the three little dots. My phone support is expired. I don't want to go to the Genius Bar if I don't have to. Help!

 

[Peace]

Is your WiFi a closed or hidden network ? If it is it won't show up.

 

[tardman91]

Is your WiFi a closed or hidden network ? If it is it won't show up.

Its got a password, but it's not hidden or anything. I can see my neighbors locked network, but not mine. I just came over to my parents house and I can't find theirs either. I wonder if it has something to do with the Verizon FIOS service?

 

[scrod]

How long did you wait before giving up? I've noticed that certain combinations of routers and authentication schemes (especially when WEP is involved) can sometimes take up to several minutes to be detected.

 

[falterego]

I did an internet recovery on my MBA a few months ago. Took a couple restarts before it detected my WiFi. I gave it about 5 minutes each time and on the 3rd try it popped up after about 2 minutes. Funny part is, I'm running an Airport Extreme. Can't get much more compatible than that.

BTW, I'm running WPA for security if that makes any difference.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I wonder if it has something to do with the Verizon FIOS service?

Are you using the standard Verizon FIOS router/modem unit with default settings? I think by default the Wifi is secured with an odd form of WEP. In any case, I know from other forums people often have issues with that default setup. Try turning off the security for the duration of your install. Otherwise, try setting it something more standard like WPA.

 

[tardman91]

I was able to get it to work by creating a Lion recovery USB stick with my MacBook Pro. No problems. I don't know what the issue was with my wifi, but I tried 5 different places and it only detected one of the networks, and in that one instance it wouldn't accept the password that I knew was correct. It was very puzzling, but it's solved now.