Mid-2020 iMac WiFi connection problems

[Peet_B]

I've been having a lot of issues with the WiFi connection on my mid-2020 iMac. It randomly disconnects, and I have to restart the whole iMac before I can reconnect to any WiFi. My GF has a 2017 iMac (on the same WiFi network) and doesn't have these problems. Once the WiFi disconnects I can't even connect to any other network, it's just like the AirPort card fails. Do any of you have these same issues?

 

[wilberforce]

I have had no WiFi issues with my 2020 iMac.
Did you try Wireless Diagnostics?

If your Mac isn't connecting to the internet over Wi-Fi - Apple Support

If your Mac is connected to a Wi-Fi network but can't get online to connect to websites, email, and all other internet services, try these solutions.

support.apple.com

How to fix common Wi-Fi problems with the macOS built-in Wireless Diagnostics app | TechRepublic

There's no reason to turn to third-party tools for solutions to your Wi-Fi woes. macOS has a built-in tool that can scan your wireless network and make all the recommendations that a paid tool does.

www.techrepublic.com

 

[Peet_B]

I have had no WiFi issues with my 2020 iMac.
Did you try Wireless Diagnostics?

If your Mac isn't connecting to the internet over Wi-Fi - Apple Support

If your Mac is connected to a Wi-Fi network but can't get online to connect to websites, email, and all other internet services, try these solutions.

support.apple.com

How to fix common Wi-Fi problems with the macOS built-in Wireless Diagnostics app | TechRepublic

There's no reason to turn to third-party tools for solutions to your Wi-Fi woes. macOS has a built-in tool that can scan your wireless network and make all the recommendations that a paid tool does.

www.techrepublic.com

I haven't yet. I've got a Ubiquiti Unifi access point, which does channel switching etc. automatically to give the best connection possible. My iMac is the only device (of the more than 10 WiFi devices in my house) that has these issues. I read that since the last couple of updates Apple has worked with Ubiquiti to share data to improve the signal quality even more. I'm starting to think that there are some software- or hardware related issues on my iMac, since it does the same thing in BootCamp. I'm going to run diagnostics when it does it again, otherwise I'm going to give Apple Support a call since my machine is just over a month old...

 

[IowaLynn]

I've been having a lot of issues with the WiFi connection on my mid-2020 iMac. It randomly disconnects, and I have to restart the whole iMac before I can reconnect to any WiFi. My GF has a 2017 iMac (on the same WiFi network) and doesn't have these problems. Once the WiFi disconnects I can't even connect to any other network, it's just like the AirPort card fails. Do any of you have these same issues?

Multiple network routers?
Not a cure, but does toggling wifi off/on help?
Rebooting router? Likely also temp fix.
I had years of dropped wifi connections.
Channel interference, would happen with iphone but not Android, or vis versa.
Rebooting modem and router helped but only for a week usually.
In the end, stopped having issues with Wifi6 router. Zero dropped connections - from BlackBerry to Samsung to Apple, Windows.
Windows was really having constantly having trouble maintaining wifi connection so i used Ethernet when possible.
At one point i reran coax and replaced a couple RJ45 cables one if which was causing trouble for the whole network.

I would turn off automatic channel selection and manually set it to the strongest and that isn't being used by other routers.

The articles on troubleshooting & wifi diagnostics sounds promising, and start the monitoring before you have a problem again.

I wouldn't rule out anything until tested, even a disk drive placement it seems.

 

[Peet_B]

Update: I contacted Apple several times in the last few weeks. I did a fresh install of MacOS (via recovery mode, and with a formatted HDD) but the problems still remained. After doing a lot of troubleshooting with Apple (about 4 hours on the phone in total), they think it's a hardware issue.

I also noticed my Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad sometimes stutter and lag. Is the network card still the same principle where WiFi and Bluetooth use the same mini PCIe network card, like my mid-2014 MacBook Pro? Or is it soldered to the motherboard like the SSD?

Anyway, I'll have to send my iMac in for repairs soon... So sad

 

[MrBlomo]

Exact same problem with my iMac 2020 here. Did the repair help? Did they just replace a network card or the whole logic board?

 

[MrBlomo]

Update: I contacted Apple several times in the last few weeks. I did a fresh install of MacOS (via recovery mode, and with a formatted HDD) but the problems still remained. After doing a lot of troubleshooting with Apple (about 4 hours on the phone in total), they think it's a hardware issue.

I also noticed my Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad sometimes stutter and lag. Is the network card still the same principle where WiFi and Bluetooth use the same mini PCIe network card, like my mid-2014 MacBook Pro? Or is it soldered to the motherboard like the SSD?

Anyway, I'll have to send my iMac in for repairs soon... So sad

Exact same problem with my iMac 2020 here. Did the repair help? Did they just replace a network card or the whole logic board?

 

[Fishrrman]

Is an ethernet connection possible?
If so, have you tried it?

 

[Peet_B]

Exact same problem with my iMac 2020 here. Did the repair help? Did they just replace a network card or the whole logic board?

The network card is soldered to the motherboard, so yeah, they replaced the whole motherboard (twice actually), and the problems were solved. The reason they replaced the motherboard was also due to graphical glitches I was experiencing.

Are you perhaps using a standalone unify access point for your WiFi? I read somewhere that some network cards had trouble with some hardware revisions of Unify devices (and their data-sharing capabilities to improve WiFi coverage etc.)

Is an ethernet connection possible?
If so, have you tried it?

I was able to run an ethernet cable to my iMac, and that solved all issues. To say it was convenient, it wasn't

 

[MrBlomo]

Are you perhaps using a standalone unify access point for your WiFi? I read somewhere that some network cards had trouble with some hardware revisions of Unify devices (and their data-sharing capabilities to improve WiFi coverage etc.)
I was able to run an ethernet cable to my iMac, and that solved all issues. To say it was convenient, it wasn't

I turned of Bluetooth completly on the Mac and connected the Bluetooth Keyboard and TouchPad via Lightning Kabels to the Mac. With this the "unlock iMac with AppleWatch" was of course disabled too. The stability of macOS increased from one crash in 36h to 5-7 days. Then I switched of 5GHz on my Access points and was nailing the Mac to one Accesspoint only (UniFi roaming setup). And I switched of all these bell's and whistles coming with UniFi (I have a multi AP installation), like roaming, power management, band steering, etc. I was running the system for a few weeks in this setup and it showed pretty stable.

After all I guess it has something to do with the RF-Chip/Firmware or macOS driver of this Chip. UniFi is just triggering some bugs in it. I wasn't hunting it down in detail, maybe it is just a strange problem with a weak 5GHz Signal and a competing 2,4GHz signal on the chip circuits. After the system got much more stable with the measures described above i was reinstalling macOS, cleaned up some kernel extensions and so on. Today I have a stable system with keyboard and touch pad connected via Bluetooth. Still disabled 5GHz and all the UniFi features, still didn't tried to reenable "unlock with AppleWatch". Currently I have an uptime of 22 days.