[HOWTO] Reset the wireless Airport Card settings in OS X (10.7.x + 10.8.x)

[Satcomer]

1. Reset NVRAM / PRAMM.


2. Turn off wireless. Go into the application /Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access and find the entry for your non-working setting and delete it. Then turn your Airport card back on and rejoin your wireless network.


3. Open System preferences->Network pane, Advanced button and click on the 'Renew DHCP Lease' and see if you get all the network settings, including the 'DNS' mini-tab. If you get no DNS settings use either OpenDNS or Google Public DNS and put those IPS in the DNS mini-tab.


4. Staying in the System Preferences->Network pane, at the top of that pane is the 'Location' pull-down. Use that to select 'EditLocations …' and in the pop-out click on the + symbol to add a new custom named Location (calling it what you like) and then saving that in the pop-out, Network main page. Don't worry because it will act the same as 'Automatic', you just giving it a custom name. Then Use the System Preferences->Network pane, Airport card to rejoin your wireless network.


5. Turn off the wireless card. Then open Finder window and go to the folder /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ and move the files com.apple.airport.preferences.plist & NetworkInterfaces.plist to your desktop. Then IMMEDIATELY REBOOT!!!


This reboot will rebuild fresh Preferences in that folder. Upon the reboot go back into System Preferences->Network page and male sure all you networking devices are put back in. If any are missing network port you can use the + button, in the Network System Preferences pane, and add the port back into your Macs Network setup. Then from that pane select you Airport card and from there use that Network pane to rejoin your wireless network. Lastly if everything is working, throw out those files you moved to the desktop out.


6. In your wireless router go back to System Preferences->Network pane and click on the 'Advanced' button, Hardware ini-tab and set your MTU settings back down from 1500 to 1453. Some older wireless routers seem not to be able to do Jumbo frames (the 1500 MTU settings). It is hit or miss in the hint.


7. Reset your wireless router. If you never been in your wireless router, get the default router password visit the web site Router passwords.com to get the default username/password. This way you can reset your wireless router.


If anyone else has a suggestion feel free to to add other wireless reset hint.

 

[Satcomer]

Does this help anybody?

 

[DeltaMac]

It helps me understand why I shouldn't try to correct every error that I see.

Step 7 (reset wireless router) - you don't need to go to the configuration page just to reset the router. First step would be a simple power cycle of the router. A router can usually be completely hardware reset by pressing a reset button somewhere on the outside of the case. The configuration page would be a good choice, if you want to use the router itself to do that reset (to factory defaults).
Then you need to add the REST of that reset step, which would be to re-enter your router settings (whatever they may be), assuming you did a full reset, and not just a power-cycle.

Also, your title "Reset the wireless Airport Card settings in OS X (10.7.x + 10.8.x)" is inaccurate, as those OS X versions mostly call those Wi-Fi settings. Airport usually refers to an Airport Base Station now.
A decent Howto, in my admittedly weak mind, should lead from the first (usually the simplest) thing to try, to last resorts.
So, a suggestion is to imagine what sequence you might attempt your steps. Perhaps you didn't intend a sequence, but your steps suggest a 1st to last which, if followed to the letter, may be counter-productive. A good first step might be to turn off, then immediately turn on the Wi-Fi card.
etc...

 

[Satcomer]

Like I said in step 7 the way i did was because IMHO cheap wireless routers (that one would buy in a big box store) seem to go 'wonky' and need constant "firmware" upgrades. Plus these cheap routers seem to start having fits after a couple of years and needs replacing. Having access to their router then one can "upgrade firmware" for their router and maybe learn something about their cheap gear.

Lastly maybe these people can also learn about the way they get their internet and how they get an IP from their ISP.

 

[DeltaMac]

Like I said in step 7 the way i did was because IMHO cheap wireless routers (etc...)

Yes?
I didn't know you said that, because, well, you _didn't_ say that in step 7
It's always a good idea to provide a brief explanatory bit that will tell someone WHY you feel it's an important step.
(Maybe something like "because IMHO cheap wireless routers seem to go 'wonky' and need constant "firmware" upgrades, and may need replacing every couple of years."
I don't necessarily agree with how you express that (it's your opinion, after all), but device age can easily be a factor in reliability.

Lastly maybe these people can also learn about the way they get their internet and how they get an IP from their ISP.

I have no clear idea what you mean by that. Can you expand on that just a little?

 

[Satcomer]

i mean people have seem to oblivious to simple things like DNS or IP scheme and actually how DHCP actually works (things like the dreaded "Double NAT" error that Apple gives up some time. people seem to think it's all magic and it all goes through pipes or something along that way.

If geeks would just use the old fashion Mail (snail mail) analogy when trying to explain basic IP layout. I have always use explaining IPs such as a person, living at a house but could move (getting a new address) but have a steady (american) Social Security number when explaining MAC addresses (how when a person's IP address might change but their MAC address doesn't change), Then I say to them explaining what they do to send a postcard to a friend in a different city, and so on on every step od the Mail getting to the friend 9postman, postoffice, regional postoffice to another regional postoffice down to that remote friend's house (via another postman).

I know this is a very simple way of explain IP routing to people but it seems to work in getting them to basically understand how how IP routing works. IMHO a real dumbing down is happening to people and in writing this 'guide' I hope to give out some common fixes for wireless problems seen in OS X.

I wanted people to add other fixes that have worked for them. I also think people should really take a good look at their wireless network really hard and make sure everything is setup properly. Lastly people should replace their wireless cheap routers about once every three years, to be safe.

 

[DeltaMac]

I've been around internet stuff for nearly 20 years, and I really don't fully understand the details about how DNS, or IP routing all operate, except in a general way. I don't even care, as long as it all works. I DO know what to look for when things stop working, or become unreliable, or slow.

Were you going to mention some of those things in your "guide"? So far, you've put nothing in there about that.

In my opinion, a "wireless settings reset" doesn't need to have ANY info about the technical, "networky" things going on the background.
The wireless/wifi setup just needs a little attention, such as card resets, a little bit of software attention, maybe a reset of the router, etc. Not many folks need to know how the ISP supplies their IP address, or, why the MAC address is constant. It's all part of the "magic", isn't it? It's nice to know some of those technical details, but not often needed to fix a balky internet connection, as it's fairly easy to dig up hints on the 'net for help.

Howto - Fix your wireless: That should be a series of steps, starting with the easiest, or most likely fix, then progressing to other, more involved steps, when the easy steps don't help. Maybe you could re-order your steps to try to get to that point - easy (first thing to try), to complex (after the rest fail to help).

I don't quite agree with your impression that users should replace a wireless router every three years, "to be safe".
I think one should replace the router if you have problems with it, and at a time when replacing is likely a good option. I don't have to wait three years to decide if my router is at fault.

Looking back at your step 4, you made a statement that the Automatic location works the same as a user-named location. It does not. You can set up a variety of named Locations, with its own settings (depending on your needs), so you can easily move from one network location to another (say "home" or "work" or "school"), simply by choosing the location that you have already set up (which has a network setup for each location. I often need that because of a variety of proxy servers in the schools that I work with. You can have different proxy settings for each location, for example. You can't do that easily with "Automatic"

 

[Satcomer]

One more tip:

Go your Mac's System Preferences->Network pane, Wi-Fi connection, Advanced button (in the right hand of the pane) and use the - button to delete all the networks you are NOT connecting to.

See if this helps.

 

[Satcomer]

Also I want to say today with the proliferation of wireless routers using the 2.4 GHz frequencies I see a lot of people using wireless N but still using the 2.4 channels. If you doing this you are not getting the true 5GHz speed! You have to use the 5 GHz channels (the higher channel number usually in the 100s of ranges) to get the true 5 GHz speed!

 

[Elizabeth001]

it helps me,thank you for share.and useful information.

 

[redbuckLa]

4. Staying in the System Preferences->Network pane, at the top of that pane is the 'Location' pull-down. Use that to select 'EditLocations …' and in the pop-out click on the + symbol to add a new custom named Location (calling it what you like) and then saving that in the pop-out, Network main page. Don't worry because it will act the same as 'Automatic', you just giving it a custom name. Then Use the System Preferences->Network pane, Airport card to rejoin your wireless network.


5. Turn off the wireless card. Then open Finder window and go to the folder /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ and move the files com.apple.airport.preferences.plist & NetworkInterfaces.plist to your desktop. Then IMMEDIATELY REBOOT!!!

This reboot will rebuild fresh Preferences in that folder. Upon the reboot go back into System Preferences->Network page and male sure all you networking devices are put back in. If any are missing network port you can use the + button, in the Network System Preferences pane, and add the port back into your Macs Network setup. Then from that pane select you Airport card and from there use that Network pane to rejoin your wireless network. Lastly if everything is working, throw out those files you moved to the desktop out.

6. In your wireless router go back to System Preferences->Network pane and click on the 'Advanced' button, Hardware ini-tab and set your MTU settings back down from 1500 to 1453. Some older wireless routers seem not to be able to do Jumbo frames (the 1500 MTU settings). It is hit or miss in the hint.

thanks for pointing out, it does help me a lot on setting my first wireless airport card.

 

[claireay]

This reboot will rebuild fresh Preferences in that folder. Upon the reboot go back into System Preferences->Network page and male sure all you networking devices are put back in. If any are missing network port you can use the + button, in the Network System Preferences pane, and add the port back into your Macs Network setup. Then from that pane select you Airport card and from there use that Network pane to rejoin your wireless network. Lastly if everything is working, throw out those files you moved to the desktop out.


6. In your wireless router go back to System Preferences->Network pane and click on the 'Advanced' button, Hardware ini-tab and set your MTU settings back down from 1500 to 1453. Some older wireless routers seem not to be able to do Jumbo frames (the 1500 MTU settings). It is hit or miss in the hint.

Very in detailed, it is helpful. Thanks for sharing.