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Lion doesn't automatically connect to internet

I was finding that when I was at work, my MBA running Lion would connect automatically to our wireless network. At home, however, I had to manually reconnect every time I closed the lid or the computer went into sleep mode.

I just upgraded to 10.7.1 and now my computer seems to reconnect after sleeping or closing the lid just fine.
 
Back on... Leopard I think, I had encountered something similar to this, where my MacBook wouldn't connect automatically to my home network from sleep mode (lid closed). I wouldn't need to type in my password, but I did have to click the wifi icon and select my network from the list, then it would connect.

I tracked it down to that I had organized my whole Applications folder, and had moved the Settings.app into a folder. Once I moved it back into /Applications/, everything went back to normal for connecting to wifi from sleep.

-Randall
 
what seemed to work for me was....

.. go in to network pref... in advance tab, delete all your known networks.. worked like a charm for me .. It was getting really annoying to have to reconnect every time I closed my mbp!
 
any luck?

none of these fixes are working for me. it's so frustrating.

my problem was described exactly by someone else on page 1:

my computer (brand new macbook air w/ lion) will never connect automatically to any network. first you connect and it times out, then you connect again and it times out and 3rd time it connects. this is the same for any network, new or old. i've tried deleting all of the known networks upwards of a dozen times and no dice.

please help if anyone finds a real working solution for this. i'm assuming it's just a bug and will be updated in the next revision of lion, but i've been thinking that for a LONG time now.
thx
 
mattsutte said:
none of these fixes are working for me. it's so frustrating.

my problem was described exactly by someone else on page 1:

my computer (brand new macbook air w/ lion) will never connect automatically to any network. first you connect and it times out, then you connect again and it times out and 3rd time it connects. this is the same for any network, new or old. i've tried deleting all of the known networks upwards of a dozen times and no dice.

please help if anyone finds a real working solution for this. i'm assuming it's just a bug and will be updated in the next revision of lion, but i've been thinking that for a LONG time now.
thx
Click to expand...

The really solution is that Apple needs to fix it. It is a bug and we have been waiting since the release for them to fix it. All they have done is released iCloud crap instead of fixing their code. If that is the only bug you have feel lucky, my machine crashes daily on Lion and was rock solid on SL.
 
I noticed I only had this problem after I started using a password on my wifi. I noticed in network - advanced, the network i used still said "security - none," so i deleted it and wrote it back in w/ security.

i didn't know what kind so i guessed wep. it still didn't work. i went into network - advanced again, deleted the network again, and added it again, only this time i clicked "choose network." when i chose my network it popped up and i had to enter the password, only this time it was automatically labelled WPA 2 Personal. I hit apply, sleep, woke it up -- now it works.

So my advice for anyone still having this problem is delete all the networks from "preferred networks" (system pref - network - advanced - wifi tab), then add yours back, add it by "choose network," make sure it shows up w/ security as needed, and it should work.

good luck!
 
Deleting and re-adding the settings is only a temporary fix to be honest. What you guys are having is a driver related issue that needs to be resolved by Apple. We can only hope that they will fix it in the next patch. However, there is a way to shoehorn the SL drivers on the the Lion system and that fixes the problem. I wouldn't use it as a permanent fix but it will work until Apple fixes it.
 
I just want to add that I am also having problems connecting to my wifi network after waking from sleep.

The strange thing is, I can connect to my 2.4Ghz wireless network fine after a wake. It is only when I try to connect to the 5Ghz network on the same router that it will not connect automatically after waking from sleep. When I select the connection from the drop down menu it connects fine.

I have tried numerous fixes and nothing has worked at all.

This problem occurs with my 2011 MBP and a 2009 MacBook which leads me to believe it is a Lion bug.
 
Does not reconect to preferred network Brand New MBA

My computer (brand new macbook air mid 2011 w/ lion) will never connect automatically to any network. first you connect and it times out, then you connect again and it times out and 3rd time it connects. this is the same for any network, new or old. i've tried deleting all of the known networks and works until i move to my work or somewhere else, then when i am back the issue is back.

It is really irritating my cheap Chinaware laptop does it better, and 6 yes SIX months since the original post and Apple cant release a patch?
 
I came here with the same problems and walked away with a fix. Make sure you delete all your preferred networks then click the + and click choose network and it should just work from now on.
 
I found an effective solution for both dropped WiFi connections as well as network connection failure on wakeup. The drops were an issue right out of the box, and the connection failure didn't start happening until I reset my router in an attempt to fix the drops (which didn't work).

For drop issues, try this. For wakeup connection failure, I disabled Wi-Fi, opened System Preferences... > Network, selected Wi-Fi on the left, clicked the Advanced... button on the bottom right, and removed all of my saved networks by clicking the minus sign (including the one I was trying to work on). Then I clicked the plus sign to re-add my home network and things have been running fine since.

Hope this helps.
 
Droymac said:
I found an effective solution for both dropped WiFi connections as well as network connection failure on wakeup. The drops were an issue right out of the box, and the connection failure didn't start happening until I reset my router in an attempt to fix the drops (which didn't work).

For drop issues, try this. For wakeup connection failure, I disabled Wi-Fi, opened System Preferences... > Network, selected Wi-Fi on the left, clicked the Advanced... button on the bottom right, and removed all of my saved networks by clicking the minus sign (including the one I was trying to work on). Then I clicked the plus sign to re-add my home network and things have been running fine since.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

This solution also worked for me. Delete the problem network from "Preferred Networks" and then reconnect; let it rebuild itself in Preferred Networks again. I do not believe it is a driver-related issue or bug in Lion, but rather a result of modifying the router. In my case, the wifi not connecting automatically started after I had restored my router to factory settings. (prior to that, it was auto connecting after sleep/startup just fine). Router password and all settings remained the same, so I didn't think I would need to rebuild the Preferred Networks until I read this and connected the dots. Thanks, Droymac!
 
Droymac said:
I found an effective solution for both dropped WiFi connections as well as network connection failure on wakeup. The drops were an issue right out of the box, and the connection failure didn't start happening until I reset my router in an attempt to fix the drops (which didn't work).

For drop issues, try this. For wakeup connection failure, I disabled Wi-Fi, opened System Preferences... > Network, selected Wi-Fi on the left, clicked the Advanced... button on the bottom right, and removed all of my saved networks by clicking the minus sign (including the one I was trying to work on). Then I clicked the plus sign to re-add my home network and things have been running fine since.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

thanks for this, it works perfectly, connects immediately from sleep.
 
automatic wifi connection not working

same as many on this thread, i have a MacBook Pro 15" from 2010 now on Lion OS. My doesn't even connect when I first start my mac.

Interestingly I have a wifi router and wifi access point. It automatically connects to the router but not the access point..... i have deleted the router from the preferred networks.

Does anyone know if there is a bug fixes i can download?

UPDATE: I tried Droymac's advice but still the same issues.
 
Last edited:
Hmmm I was at an Airport waiting for my flight. When I had Snow Leopard installed on my Macbook, using the free internet at that airport wirelessly wasn't a problem. I just sat back and selected it and surfed the net while waiting for my flight.

I went back with Lion installed about 6 months later. I went to my Airport icon , now its called wireless :( and oh joy. "There was a problem connecting to the selected network." It didn't matter what I did it wouldn't connect. I have had other wireless issues since downgrading to Lion in many other places.

Who thought Lion would suck so badly?
 
tug said:
sadly, it didn't last, still stuck with the same problem.

maybe by the time apple puts the 10.9.4 update out they might have sorted it. :eek:
Click to expand...

If it weren't for the fact that I've made the mistake and moved my MobileMe to iCloud I'd upgrade from Lion to Snow Leopard in a heartbeat. I never had a problem with SL automatically reconnecting my wifi from sleep, yet with Lion I have to manually do it nearly every time.
 
Just my glitch that is slightly different than most of yours using the sleep mode....

Mine will not connect (Not using sleep mode) when I first turn on the cable modem, and boot up. I have to click on the WiFi icon each time. However, if I turn on the modem first, and wait a few seconds (10/15) then turn on the Mac, the WiFi turns on without issues or any more hands on my me. I guess for me its just a timing issue and not really Lion per se.
 
I have the solution!

This has been so annoying. But it was only my home wireless that my July 2011 MBP wouldn't join automatically - would log on straight away to the wifi at my studio, and the offices of others I regularly visit.

I did all of the fixes suggested. Deleted the WiFi profile. Deleted other profiles from my travels. Making other profiles top of the list, then mine again. Deleted the plist. Rebooted a gazillion times. Poked inside the router settings, changed the password there.

Finally, after I not only changed the password, but changed the type of security to WPA/WPA2 instead of WEP, did it work. Now it connects automatically like it used to.

Presumably this is a more modern or preferred standard and Lion deals with it more easily...

Hope this helps. Send me flowers if so.
 
harleystumm said:
This has been so annoying. But it was only my home wireless that my July 2011 MBP wouldn't join automatically - would log on straight away to the wifi at my studio, and the offices of others I regularly visit.

I did all of the fixes suggested. Deleted the WiFi profile. Deleted other profiles from my travels. Making other profiles top of the list, then mine again. Deleted the plist. Rebooted a gazillion times. Poked inside the router settings, changed the password there.

Finally, after I not only changed the password, but changed the type of security to WPA/WPA2 instead of WEP, did it work. Now it connects automatically like it used to.

Presumably this is a more modern or preferred standard and Lion deals with it more easily...

Hope this helps. Send me flowers if so.
Click to expand...

nope! didn't work for me, so here you are; rbvs0021013.jpg thanks for the idea though. :)
 
wifi reconnect solved...

I had the same issues as everyone on this thread. Macpro laptop goes to sleep. Wakes up. Need to manually reconnect to home wifi network.

The alert that pops up appears to have my wifi network on name on it XXX_XXX_XXXX (actual network hidden to protect the innocent) so I click on that and then I'm linked back up.

Upon reading the pop-up more closely it says "preferred networks not found"...

which is odd because it appears that the preferred network is found.

The difference is that my preferred network name is XXX XXX XXXX with no "_" space characters....

My unproven theory is that when I upgraded it somehow patched "_" into my network names.

Simply updating my preferred network to reflect the correct network name (no "_" for spaces) it is now reconnecting like a charm on waking up from sleep.

This might not affect others, but it solved my problem....

Cheers,
Andrew
 
You are not alone!

goombamd said:
Not sure if this is a "security feature" but when I turn on my mac, it doesn't automatically connect to the internet. I have to type in my keychain password and it still doesn't connect. Once I go to the wifi menu bar at the top right and click on my wireless network, then it connects. Kinda annoying. Any way to make it connect automatically on the HOME network?
Click to expand...

I am experiencing the exact same thing! It is rather annoying and I do believe it is not operator error but an issue with Lion 10.7.4. I have read about those with far worst issues than this so I feel fortunate that it is a rather simple step to log onto the internet but none the less, annoying. I have sought answers from some who are far more experienced with macs than I and receive the same answer, it's the operating system, NOT the user. Have not found the answer to this issue, other than that Lion seems to working fine on my MBP.
 
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