Mac no longer connecting to 5Ghz WLAN

[DUS]

Hi,

 

As a tech dummie I am easily puzzled when something does not work or stops working and this time is no different.

 

I am using a Mac Mini (late 2012) and am using WLAN to connect it to the internet. I have a True 1Gbps line at home and the Mini has/had been connected to the router´s 5Ghz network from the day True installed fiber. In the list of Wifi networks there have always been 2 SSIDs shown from my router, 1 for the 5Ghz network and the other for the 2.4Ghz network. Earlier this morning, Mr Dummie manually switched to the 2.4Ghz network in order to try something out (network speeds). The problem is that I would now love to go back to the 5Ghz network but I fail at doing so. When I selected my 5Ghz network from the list, a window popped up asking me for my password. I typed it in but there is always an error message popping up when it tries to connect to that network. I made sure that it is the correct password 100 times. I also double checked on the iPhone and iPad and the password works just fine and those 2 devices connect to the 5Ghz network without problems. 

 

Getting rather frustrated with the situation I then logged into my router and added another 5Ghz SSID. Restarted both the router and the Mac and the new, second 5Ghz showed up in the list of available Wifi networks on the Mac. I select the new one, typed in the new password and..... bang, same issue. It doesn´t connect to the new 5Ghz network either.  So, I am now back on 2.4Ghz but would love to fix whatever issue there might be w.r.t. the 5Ghz on the Mac Mini. 

 

Being a dummie I am out of ideas of what I could try to fix the issue and would be grateful for any suggestions from one of you. Thank you!

 

Best,

DUS

 

PS: iPhone and iPad connect to that additional 5Ghz network I set up just fine. Just not the Mac Mini.

Edited March 16, 2023 by DUS

[tomazbodner]

And what is the error?

[DUS]

5 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

And what is the error?

Oh, I knew I had forgotten something. ????

 

After typing in the password and clicking on "connect" it tries to connect for a few seconds and then the window where I typed in the WPA2 password pops up again and in the bottom left corner above the "?" there is an additional exclamation mark in a triangle icon saying "connection failed" (well, the message I see is in a different language but the translation would be connection failed).

 

 

[degrub]

Post a snip of the network connection details for the 5GHz  on the mac. That mini’s wireless protocol only goes up to N.
Are you using any special characters in the password ?  
Have you recently updated the firmware in the wireless router ? Encryption, bits and protocols, still same ?

[tomazbodner]

I have i7 Mac Mini 2012 on the desk in front of me, and can notice that it has limit to which channels it supports. 5G routers (esp. Chinese ones) allow wider frequency ranges than what your Mac can connect to.

 

But you say that you were able to successfully connect before but now you no longer can. So maybe you could go to Settings, then Network:

 

->

 

Choose Wifi on the left

 

and select Advanced in bottom right:

 

Then click on the network names in the "Preferred Networks" window under Wi-Fi tab,

 

and click on Minus under the list to remove them.

 

 

Reboot the Mac, and try to connect again.

[DUS]

22 minutes ago, degrub said:

Post a snip of the network connection details for the 5GHz  on the mac. That mini’s wireless protocol only goes up to N.
Are you using any special characters in the password ?  
Have you recently updated the firmware in the wireless router ? Encryption, bits and protocols, still same ?

Thank you for your reply.

 

I must admit I have no idea what your first sentence means. 

 

As for special characters: yes, I do have the exclamation mark included in the password. 

 

As for any changes: no, nothing. I mean, 5Ghz worked flawlessly this morning, then I manually changed to 2.4Ghz and now I cannot revert back to the 5Ghz. That´s the situation that I cannot understand. ????

 

Edited March 16, 2023 by DUS

[degrub]

Try tomazbodner’s instructions above.

[DUS]

21 minutes ago, tomazbodner said:

I have i7 Mac Mini 2012 on the desk in front of me, and can notice that it has limit to which channels it supports. 5G routers (esp. Chinese ones) allow wider frequency ranges than what your Mac can connect to.

 

But you say that you were able to successfully connect before but now you no longer can. So maybe you could go to Settings, then Network:

 

->

 

Choose Wifi on the left

 

and select Advanced in bottom right:

 

Then click on the network names in the "Preferred Networks" window under Wi-Fi tab,

 

and click on Minus under the list to remove them.

 

 

Reboot the Mac, and try to connect again.

 

 

Thank you for your feedback and for taking the time to grab all these screenshots to visualise this step-by-step approach. Much appreciated!

 

I did as suggested but, unfortunately, I still cannot connect to the 5Ghz network. It still tries to connect after I typed in the password for the 5Ghz network and then that window pops up again with the "connection failed" message. Oh dear, all this only because I manually switched to the 2.4Ghz network without any *real* reason. Sigh!

[degrub]

Any chance “numlock” or “capslock” is on when it should not be ?

 

try removing the special characters from the password.

[DUS]

2 minutes ago, degrub said:

Any chance “numlock” or “capslock” is on when it should not be ?

 

try removing the special characters from the password.

Fair question but no, I can see the password when typing it in and there is no potential numlock/capslock issue..... unfortunately.

 

Tried removing the special characters but to no avail.

[degrub]

Here are a few more ideas

 

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=mac+mini+2012+osx+wireless+network++password+characters&t=fpas&ia=web

 

The only other time i have seen something like that was when i had the wireless encryption mis-matched aes128 instead of aes256 for example. I would confirm the settings in the router for that ssid and what is being used in the mac. 
 

another long shot is a change in the wireless environment. 5GHz will not reach as far as 2.4GHz and nearby neighbor can interfere. Is the router your own or provided by ISP ?

Edited March 16, 2023 by degrub

[DUS]

Mr Dummie re-read all your replies above again and again and finally made a change in the settings that, at least for now, allowed me o connect back to the 5Ghz network.

 

Based on what was said above, even though Mr Dummie was soooo sure that it wouldn´t make a difference, logged into the router again and manually changed the channel settings for the 5Ghz network from Auto (on which this setting had been for over 1 year now) to channel 48 and that then allowed me to connect back to the 5Ghz network.

 

It is certainly above Mr Dummie´s pay grade to understand why it had been working on "Auto" for over a year including this morning till the very moment that I briefly switched over to the 2.4Ghz network. It worked on "Auto" channel before so what has suddenly changed? It will remain a mystery for a tech dummie like myself but I am happy I can now connect to the 5Ghz network again.

 

THANK YOU ALL for taking the time to reply to my post. I love the internet because of people like you who are so helpful!

 

Cheers,

DUS

[tomazbodner]

1 hour ago, DUS said:

It is certainly above Mr Dummie´s pay grade to understand why it had been working on "Auto" for over a year including this morning till the very moment that I briefly switched over to the 2.4Ghz network. It worked on "Auto" channel before so what has suddenly changed?

Routers would change channel when they detect too much interference on channel used previously. Mac Mini from 2012 only supports some bands, not all, so it's possible router changed to channel that your Mac doesn't support.