# 13" MacBook Pro airport card/wireless hardware problems



## chirpmire (Jun 10, 2011)

Last April my boyfriend bought me a 13" unibody MacBook Pro and he bought a 15" MacBook Pro for himself. I absolutely love this computer more than anything else and it has treated me well. Almost EXACTLY to the date of my warranty expiring I started having problems with my wireless. It would work for about 5-10 minutes and then it would drop the signal. I kept restarting, or shutting it down, or unplugging my wireless router and modem and nothing was being fixed. I asked a friend to take a look at it and he said that my airport card is messed up. He said a lot of people with the same computer from last year are having the same problem. He installed something that is called "insomnia" on my computer to keep it from going to sleep which was supposed to fix it temporarily fix it but it hasn't. The only way I can use the internet on my computer is by plugging in an ethernet cord. What is the point of having a laptop if I can't bring it anywhere?

My friend said that my one year warranty would fix the problem and they would send me a whole new computer - BUT my warranty is done. What should I do? Does anyone know how much it will cost for my to send it to apple to fix? I can not afford to buy a whole new laptop and I think it is pretty ridiculous that since it is a hardware problem - it should be fixed free of charge. 
Do I have to go through apple to get it fixed or can I buy a specific airport card and put it in myself?


Thank you for reading my ramblings! I tried to keep it short and free of foul language (I'm super bummed about this). 

Any advice/information is greatly appreciated! Thank you!


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## Satcomer (Jun 10, 2011)

Please don't panic. 

Follow these steps to try to fix your wireless. 

1. Open System Preferences->Network and highlight your Airport card. Then turn OFF your Airport card!!!  DON'T SKIP THIS STEP!

2. Navigate to the folder /YourHardDrive/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ and move the files to the TrashCan, but don't empty the Trash just yet.

Note: This is the Main Library/Preferences/ not your username/Library/Preferences/

3. Immediately reboot so OS x can rebuild those files you put in the TrashCan.

4. Upon the reboot go back into System Preferences->Network and turn your Airport card back on the rejoin your wireless network.

See if theses steps help.


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## icemanjc (Jun 10, 2011)

I'm not sure what the idea of InsomniaX was, after all the signal dropped when the computer was awake anyways. What tells your friend that the Wi-Fi card is screwed up? Also, they were correct that in that Apple would fix your Wi-Fi card if it was under warranty and was a hardware problem, but they would definitely not give you a new laptop.

I've also heard about this problem a lot, and it's been both hardware and software.

Have you also been installing the latest updates? There has been a couple of Airport fixes throughout Snow Leopard releases.

Try this:
http://michaelhyatt.com/fix-for-wireless-connection-problems-on-macbook-pro.html


If all else fails, try this:
If you have some external drive with Mac OS X on it, then you could boot of that and then you'll find out if it's the operating system. Or you if you have a firewire cable then could go into target mode on your boyfriends laptop by holding down the "T" key on his keyboard. Once his computer is in target mode (which you can tell by the firewire icon that will show), you can then boot off of his hard drive by starting up you computer and holding down the "option" key and waiting till a list of drives show up. His drive will be an orange icon.


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## djackmac (Jun 11, 2011)

Just the most common sense question that nobody has asked yet. Just so we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, have you tried the computer on other wireless networks besides your own?


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## chirpmire (Jun 12, 2011)

Yes I have tried other wireless networks. 

I just tried your directions icemanjc and so far so good! Thanks so much for dealing with a clueless mac lover! Have a great day!


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