Apple portables: "Wifi: no hardware installed" fix

[matthew1]

For two weeks my 2011 MacBook Pro would disconnect from any wifi router after about 20 minutes. The only fix was rebooting.

Other symptoms: slow CPU without showing anything taking an inordinate amount of cycles, or 600%+ cycles taken by kernel_task, as measured by Activity Monitor.

I tracked down the origin of the problem: the $8 hard drive caddy was a little too thick, and it was causing the wifi connector to come off. (Backstory: I took out the optical drive a few months ago and added a 1TB HDD using this caddy.)

So now my 1TB drive is back out of my MBP, grrr. I'll use it externally until I find a remedy. I'm thinking just tape to keep that connection down.

[abscate]

I wonder how rebooting fixed it???

[matthew1]

I should have been more clear

Rebooting re-acquired a wifi signal... "fixed". Not fixed as in the steps I wrote above.

Funny that you bring this up... even that fix turned out not to have been a fix. Either the above problems were children symptoms of a sensor problem, or I had dual, coincidental problems with this MBP.

Since I wrote that post, the problem has returned, and it's running at a "safe mode" speed. Very slowly. It's probably a fan or temp. sensor. I'm going to give a few more shots at DIY, like a clean OS install, then it's the Apple Store.

[abscate]

I had to do dual visits for two of the kids MBA computers.

One hard drive fail, one logic board fail

One was on warranty, one one month past warranty...they gave me half price repair of 125 bucks.

I'm still way ahead of buying AppleCare, so I'm

The Admirals MBP 2009 needs a trackpad replacement but I can do that one with the help of Ifixit .

[abscate]

Actually realised the SWMBOs MBP13 (2009) is 5 years old and hard drive is 95% full.

I consider a 5 year old HD near EOL so I put in a 500 GB drive for something ridiculous like 60 USD.

Put in 8 Gb RAm while I had the case open.

There are a couple of prop. Screws in the apple case, but nothing a jeweler screwdriver can't open if you are careful.

I had both my girls help me because they are off to college next year, so I want them to have a bit of experience under the hood of a computer. They both did well

SWMBO was very happy with her fast performing computer !!

[matthew1]

^ Yea, keep those unused GB buffers, at least 20% and best at half-half.

My laptop ended up needing a motherboard. $310 though the Apple Store, plus a bunch of other goodies like a new battery and new memory.

[abscate]

The ifixit site is fantastic, albeit a bit political about shilling the make it user friendly to fix. That might be my bias because I'm not afraid to tackle too many things...

I confess I buy my parts right from ifixit because it's so damn convenient.

Here's the step by step PDF ( so you can IPad it) and click here to Order parts/tools....well done!

Last year we did a huge range of new skill projects from an electrical service, 600 SQ FT of roofing, and of course radiator, heater core and AC evap on the T5!