Strange Wifi Issue - Macbook Unibody 08

[jmaquarry]

edit: SOLVED :- problem with LittleSnitch. Disabled and all is well.


Hi, having some really weird/annoying issues with my macbooks Wifi & need help!

OS: Mountain Lion (latest update)
Macbook Unibody late 2008/early 2009

Problem:
Everytime I connect to any wifi hotspot, at home, cafe, 3g tether etc my wifi connection will refuse to load any webpages ('connection was reset error'). Affects the whole laptop & also appears to be the case for ethernet connection as well.

However the strange part is that if I connect to hotspotshield VPN, my connection suddenly works fine! Also booting into windows I can connect to wifi connections without use of a VPN & everything works perfectly. When i turn off Hotspot VPN however or boot back into OS10.8 I can no longer connect to anything

This led me to believe it may be a software issue, however looking at various solutions none of the following has resolved my problem:

1) Reset PRAM/SMC
2) Delete Network and Airport preference files from /Library/Preferences/Systemconfig..
3) Diasble Hotspot shield and DNS Crypt
4) Reset router/changed password to WPSA-PSK2
5) Deleted and readded wifi connection in network preferences
6) Changed network 'location' /renewed DHCP Lease
7) edit; Uninstalled hotspot shield and dnscrypt
​

The only thing i havent tried and would prefer not to (no disk /time machine handy) is a full system restore :/

Any help much appreciated!

 

[justperry]

Have you thought about that maybe HotSpotShield is the problem, like it does not reset the network to it's defaults.
Why even use HotSpotShield, this software does NOT add anything to OS X, VPN is build into OS X by default, if you want to add a VPN, go to Network preferences, click on the +, then from the drop down menu select VPN and configure it.
You can also add the VPN Menu to the Menu Bar For convenience, just check the box after setting it up.

 

[jmaquarry]

Have you thought about that maybe HotSpotShield is the problem, like it does not reset the network to it's defaults.
Why even use HotSpotShield, this software does NOT add anything to OS X, VPN is build into OS X by default, if you want to add a VPN, go to Network preferences, click on the +, then from the drop down menu select VPN and configure it.
You can also add the VPN Menu to the Menu Bar For convenience, just check the box after setting it up.

Thanks for the suggestion - uninstalled Hotspotshield VPN and DNSCrypt a+reset network settings but to no avail - still wont connect, just says 'connection was reset while try to access...'...

PS I use hotspot shield as they recently started giving free student accounts + they only seem to support use of their dedicated app rather than using the apple VPN networking tool

 

[justperry]

Thanks for the suggestion - uninstalled Hotspotshield VPN and DNSCrypt a+reset network settings but to no avail - still wont connect, just says 'connection was reset while try to access...'...

PS I use hotspot shield as they recently started giving free student accounts + they only seem to support use of their dedicated app rather than using the apple VPN networking tool

Ah, a poor student.

Kidding aside, there are free VPN's without using 3rd party software, JustFreeVPN and VPNBook are just 2 of them.

Did you try to delete the systemconfiguration folder afterwards and restart?

I think OS X wifi is a bit flaky lately, so it might be a bug in the OS.

 

[jmaquarry]

Ah, a poor student.

Kidding aside, there are free VPN's without using 3rd party software, JustFreeVPN and VPNBook are just 2 of them.

Did you try to delete the systemconfiguration folder afterwards and restart?

I think OS X wifi is a bit flaky lately, so it might be a bug in the OS.

Yep. Deleted the entire folder and restarted but still no luck - I've heard a few whispers about the latest update having some wifi issues, but all of those were solved using one of the methods above

Oddly after restarting my Dropbox started uploading files and network monitor shows receiving/sending packets.... But all my browsers are still showing the blasted 'connection was reset error' :/

Also freevpn seems a bit of a pain as need to manually enter new passwords periodically - I might consider paying for a decent one eventually though

Thanks for the help

 

[justperry]

Yep. Deleted the entire folder and restarted but still no luck - I've heard a few whispers about the latest update having some wifi issues, but all of those were solved using one of the methods above

Oddly after restarting my Dropbox started uploading files and network monitor shows receiving/sending packets.... But all my browsers are still showing the blasted 'connection was reset error' :/

Also freevpn seems a bit of a pain as need to manually enter new passwords periodically - I might consider paying for a decent one eventually though

Thanks for the help

If you make a new user and login into that account you can see what happens there, if it is not having these issues you know it is your normal account which is the problem, a new user can always be deleted after diagnosing the problem.

 

[jmaquarry]

If you make a new user and login into that account you can see what happens there, if it is not having these issues you know it is your normal account which is the problem, a new user can always be deleted after diagnosing the problem.

SOLVED. Thanks for your help!

I created a new login account & the problem persisted - however I noticed my LittleSnitch client (which, stupidly, I hadnt even considered) was still showing up/down connections. disabled little snitch and all back to normal

Now I just need to find which rule was blocking connections :S

 

[justperry]

SOLVED. Thanks for your help!

I created a new login account & the problem persisted - however I noticed my LittleSnitch client (which, stupidly, I hadnt even considered) was still showing up/down connections. disabled little snitch and all back to normal

Now I just need to find which rule was blocking connections :S

Yeah, be careful with little snitch.

The rules are most likely the rules you set in any browser you use, example, if you use Safari delete that rule.