I defragged and now Wifi won't work

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kirktalon

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I have a first gen MacBook with Snow Leopard loaded on it.

I defragged the hard drive with Drive Genius 2.0 and now my Airport wifi won't work. Airport works fine when I boot my old 10.4 backup drive so it is not the hardware. I also tried reinstalling Snow Leopard which I understand does an automatic archive and install. That did not work either.

In the "Network Diagnostics" panel, I get as far down as "Network Settings"
and get no more green lights for the last three.

Thanks in advance
 

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Sounds like you scrambled a driver or setting. Click on your airport icon click on Open Network Preferences. Select Airport and then click on the minus sign at the bottom of the window.

Reboot your computer. As soon as the screen goes black hold down command/apple + option + p + r until you see the gray screen. This will reset your PRAM. Now when the OS loads back up go back into network preferences, click on the + sign, select the aiport interface and click 'ok'.

Now try to connect to wifi.
 
I usually defrag the hard drive when things get slow and using maintenance software like disk utility and Onyx don't help or have gone as far as they can to get performance back.

Anyway, I did zap the PRAM and that did not help. I have since discovered that the ethernet way of connecting to the internet also does not work.

When using Ethernet or Airport, I get the message in the Network control panel when attempting to use either one that "_______ has a self-assigned IP address 169.xxx. . . .
and will not be able to connect to the internet". Any ideas.

Thanks
 
I asked my question because it appears that you have a problem that is not being addressed by defragging. It bears repeating here that Apple specifically recommends against defragging except under specific circumstances. The OS does that for you. User initiated defragging is a Windows user for Windows problems. You are not running Windows.

Instead, you should:
  • Restart your Mac in Single User Mode.
  • Run File System Check from the command line: At the prompt, type fsck -fy.
  • If any repairs were made, then type fsck -fy again.
  • When File System Check reports that no problems were found, then type exit.
 
I have run into this problem before - I had to delete my network setup and configure a new one.

Go to System Preferences and click on Network.

Click on the padlock at the bottom left and authenticate with your admin account password.

Highlight the first location in the column at the left of the preference pane and click on the minus sign (-) at the bottom - do that for all connections that are listed in the column.

Now click on the plus sign (+) and choose the proper interface and set up your new network configuration.
 

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Last edited:
MisterMe thanks for the response and I noted I got the problem after defragging not before. I will also note that Apple sells third party defragging software online and in their stores. However, I will try your method shortly just to see if it by chance will make a difference.

g/re/p I appreciate the response and that fix you suggest. Unfortunately, that too does not seem to work.

I didn't mention I get an exclamation point "!" on the Apple Wifi icon in the menu bar.
 
kirktalon said:
MisterMe thanks for the response and I noted I got the problem after defragging not before. I will also note that Apple sells third party defragging software online and in their stores. However, I will try your method shortly just to see if it by chance will make a difference.

...
Click to expand...
You are welcome. Make no mistake about Apple's having defragging software on sale in its store. You can buy Fords off the used car lot of virtually every Chevrolet dealership. Stocking a product is not the same thing as endorsing a product.
 
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2315014&tstart=0

I am removing plist items in preferences in the various libraries on the OS like what is recommended by a tech on this MacOSx.com website. I have not succeeded. However in Safe boot mode ethernet connection works fine.

Any suggestions now?

@MisterMe I had thought that Apple would guard against not helpful software for the regular Macs as much as they are apparently reviewing Apps for the iPhone/iPad/iTouch.
 
Use Accounts to create a new user account - then log in as the new user and see if the problem still exists.
 
kirktalon said:
@MisterMe I had thought that Apple would guard against not helpful software for the regular Macs as much as they are apparently reviewing Apps for the iPhone/iPad/iTouch.
Click to expand...

No -- because those are two very different ecosystems.

Mac OS X is a full-fledged microcomputer operating system.

iPhone OS is a tightly-integrated, locked-down, mobile operating system.

They have different rules that apply. In Mac OS X, you can do whatever you want and load whatever you want -- there is no "approval" process for applications. In the iPhone OS, only Apple-approved apps can be installed.

That is why there is no "App Store" for Mac OS X, and never will be (in the same sense as the App Store on the iPhone).
 
I have succeeded in getting my wifi back after savings my preferences from the main hard drive and the one attached to my account to an external hard drive storage.

I then erased both preference folders and restarted the Mac. My wifi returned. Now I will be troubleshooting to see which preferences I can return to get most of my settings back the way they were.

I'm guessing the main preferences were corrupt cause when I created another account, it still had the problem.
 
Returning my original preferences to my account library and all appears to be back to normal:) Mail client has all the email address accounts in it. Dock has all the apps where they were before.
 
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