I have been putting up with this mildly annoying error message for a couple of months now. “wide” is my own router which has no issues working with my iPad, iPhone, other laptops, apple tv, and everything else. But whenever I connect my iMac, I get this error. In the beginning, I could just select the network again from the menu on the menu bar. But now that simply causes another failure.
My initial investigations had led me to believe that it could be fixed by fixing an entry in the KeyChain Access application. But that solution did not resolve the issue permanently. It came back very soon. And apparently thousands of people are having this issue – probably due to an unchecked regression in Apple’s code. While the annoyance continues, I have found a quick fix that, though temporary, is a viable and reliable workaround.
I go to the network icon on the menu bar, and choose a neighbor’s locked wireless.
Note you can either click on “Join Other Network” or just pick one from the list. Then when that router asks for a password, I enter a few letters till the “Join” button lights up.
I hit enter. The router refuses the connection because the password is obviously wrong. Now I just select “wide”, my network, from the list and it connects like a charm.
Problem not solved, but quick workaround for mild annoyance, which hopefully Apple will fix soon.
41 comments
Skip to comment form ↓
soujiroh
March 11, 2012 at 11:29 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
hello, thank u so much, i have the same problem, did apple fix it???
JohnVarghese
March 14, 2012 at 12:38 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@soujiroh No Apple has not fixed it yet. Hopefully in a release soon.
NoemiDillaGarcia
November 1, 2012 at 10:17 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@JohnVarghese
)
thank you!!!! such a big help for me!!!! keep on posting tips!
JohnVarghese
November 1, 2012 at 4:29 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@noemoi You are welcome. If you ever run into any other issue you cannot solve, just ask!
mounera
December 1, 2012 at 5:42 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@JohnVarghese @noemoi i tried your suggestion but when i tried to turn on WIFI no networks appear
sbalu23
April 16, 2012 at 1:18 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
Fantastic quick fix! Thank you very much. Hope Apple sort this out very soon, it’s becoming more than a mild annoyance!
JohnVarghese
April 16, 2012 at 8:09 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@sbalu23 You are welcome. I hope so too. At least in mountain lion.
PhilipInghelbrecht
April 30, 2012 at 9:24 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
Thank you – great fix!
JohnVarghese
May 1, 2012 at 8:14 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@PhilipInghelbrecht You are welcome. Thanks for taking the time to comment
AnujaKhemka
May 24, 2012 at 5:38 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
not working for me
i am really annoyed because of this.. cant connect to the network.. can connect to my neighours network though..
JohnVarghese
May 25, 2012 at 9:59 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@AnujaKhemka @HilaTink If this did not work, try the following solution. It worked for me to some extent on another computer. The only extra thing I need to do is always choose my wireless from a list every time the computer wakes up. Just slightly annoying, but takes less than 10 seconds total from the time you wake up the computer.
Solution: Launch the “KeyChain Access” application. Select “Passwords” on the left navigation area under “Category”. Then in the search box on the top right, enter the SSID of your wireless network. In my case, I typed “wide”. You will see two or four entries where the name is your SSID. Delete all the entries. The next time you connect, it will re-create the necessary records. This might solve your issue.
AnujaKhemka
May 26, 2012 at 12:43 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@JohnVarghese hey.. it worked for me amzingly
thanks a lot..!!
JohnVarghese
May 27, 2012 at 5:26 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@AnujaKhemka you’re welcome. Glad to help.
atmo
April 9, 2013 at 5:24 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
My MacbookPro always connected to my neighbors WiFi, with his permission. He has my Mac Address and so I figure on his list of people who have permission. Then one day no connection, impossible, always “…time out has occurred…” We tried rebooting his computer and modem but still no connection.
I know I’m using the right password.
In one of your blogs you said something about clicking on another wifi site using a few letter until the “join” button appeared but it wasn’t clear for me how to do this.
You wrote “Now I just select “wide”, my network, from the list and it connects like a charm.” Seems there is a preposition missing in this sentence and also I followed your instructions but found no “Wide” to click on.
I’m using the 10.7.5 O S-X operating system.
I look forward to any suggestions.
Thanks, Frank
nicknaik
June 30, 2012 at 3:51 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
Cheers John! Appriciate your solution.
JulieCohn
July 29, 2012 at 6:41 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@JohnVarghese I know this is an old post but what is the SSID of your wireless network?
JohnVarghese
July 29, 2012 at 9:23 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@JulieCohn @JohnVarghese the ssid is “wide”. Why do you ask?
JulieCohn
July 29, 2012 at 9:47 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@JohnVarghese @JulieCohn @JohnVarghese I was responding to an old post you had about “connection timeout occurred”. I was trying to follow your fix and you suggest typing the “ssid” into search under Keychain to change some of the settings that would fix this problem. What is “ssid”?
JohnVarghese
July 29, 2012 at 9:53 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@JulieCohn oh. I meant the network name. It is whatever name you have given your router/network.
JulieCohn
July 29, 2012 at 10:22 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@JohnVarghese tried your suggested fix for this problem but am still struggling with connectivity. Any suggestions? Thanks!
PoliticoBro
December 20, 2012 at 10:23 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@JohnVarghese @AnujaKhemka @HilaTink this worked perfectly for me!!! thanks, dude!
HilaTink
May 25, 2012 at 6:07 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
what are they waiting for? this is super annoying!!
JohnVarghese
May 25, 2012 at 10:01 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@HilaTink They might fix it in Mountain Lion. Who knows…
killa_k301
July 11, 2012 at 7:43 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
Unfortunately, both solutions didn’t work for me. I have this problem on both Lion, and Mountain Lion. I have a Main Network (AirPort Extreme) extended by an AirPort Express. My Mac gets this error when I’m near the Express, but connects fine when I’m near the Extreme. My Apple TV, iPhone, and both iPads connect to the Express no problem.
killa_k301
July 11, 2012 at 7:45 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
UPDATE: I tried this 2-3 more times and it finally connected, but neither the Internet not broadcasted AirPort services (AirPlay / AirPrint) work. It’s just ‘connected’.
TomMurray
September 15, 2012 at 3:09 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
Thank you sir. I just recently decided to change the name on my router for security reasons. My macbook was able to reconnect to the wifi after being restarted, but for whatever reason my iMac would immediately give this same error message about it timing out. I deleted all of the ssid names under the login as well as the System section of the Keychain Access Utility related to the router (both it’s old name and the newly chosen name), restarted and I finally was given the option of even putting in the password, which of course worked. Thanks for the tip, it saved me some headache!
JohnVarghese
September 17, 2012 at 12:14 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@TomMurray Hi Tom. Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m sure someone else will have the same issue and benefit from your experience.
ShezaT
October 24, 2012 at 9:49 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
Hey, where is exactly the “keychain access utility”? where i can delete all my old networks and their saved information?
P.S. I got my MacBook Pro just a month ago and I am really upset to have faced this issue:/ and I am a new Apple user
JohnVarghese
October 24, 2012 at 12:55 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@ShezaT Look like you found it based on your recent comment. But for the benefit of new Mac users, Press the Command key and the Space bar. On the top right you will see a new search box. There type “keychain”. You will see Keychain access in the results. Click on that.
PS. I am sorry you are facing this problem with your first Mac. Apple products are usually great. If one solution did not work, there are others that might work in your case. Don’t give up. When you solve it, tell us your solution. If the Mac is still under warranty, I would take screenshots of the issues you have and take the computer back to the store and have them replace it.
sbeckerbabel
September 28, 2012 at 12:28 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
Hi all,
I had the same issue and tried a lot of things. In the end, the only one that worked is to downgrade my Knext (ie. driver).
Here is the how to:
Enjoy, and let me know if it works
JohnVarghese
October 24, 2012 at 12:57 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@sbeckerbabel Thanks for the video link.
AhPaiGor
January 15, 2013 at 9:30 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@sbeckerbabel Thanks mate! It works for me.
SuhailKhan
February 12, 2013 at 8:28 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@sbeckerbabel , Hi,
I have really appriciated your help. This link is amazing and It has solved my problem. Now I do not have Wifi connectivity problem with Lion. Now My macbook detects my wifi network as well as it connects automatically whenever Mac goes on sleep and shut down. I would advise everybody to use this idea. Thanks again for your support.
ShezaT
October 24, 2012 at 10:24 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
Also John, the solution you gave works temporarily.. like 5 mins perhaps. I still have to face the same erratic wifi.. dropping suddenly
JohnVarghese
October 24, 2012 at 12:51 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@ShezaT Hmm… that is strange.
Mathias Sandstrom
November 21, 2012 at 12:59 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
This really sucks, I’m having the connection timeout occured on a new Macbook Pro Retina.And none(!) of the solutions found on internet works, I still cannot connect to my network.
Thank god that I convinced my work NOT to buy Mac for our new computers, they went with windows at least they work (sort of).
sanmithsshetty
December 1, 2012 at 10:35 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
thanks man
my air doesn’t give much prob.. but pro has hell lot of problems..:(
atulchugh
January 6, 2013 at 8:10 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
I have a similar issue on my sons Macbook Air. I tried removing the network using keychain command, but now when I try to reenter the password, a small triangle with an exclamation mark pops up that says Authentication failed. Password is fine and has been used on windows laptops as well as iphones and ipods. What are my options?
smr_watcan
January 18, 2013 at 7:52 pm (UTC -8) Link to this comment
I just got my AirPort network set up yesterday, and had this happen to me today. Both my MacBook Pro and my iPad gave me the same error message when I tried to connect (same as in OP) I couldn’t even get the AirPort utility to see the AirPort. I checked the DSL modem, which looked like it was connected; I tuned it off and restarted it anyway. Once the modem rebooted, the light on the AirPort returned to green, but I still could not connect. I unplugged the AirPort for a few seconds and then plugged it back in again. Once the AirPort rebooted, and reconnected the DSL I was able to see it in the airport utility and to connect to the network. So apparently letting the AirPort reboot is occasionally necessary.
JohnVarghese
January 21, 2013 at 9:05 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
@smr_watcan @atulchugh @sanmithsshetty @ShezaT Yes, it looks like rebooting the router once in a while is necessary. Some time last year, I had bought a new Time Capsule and that has been my router since then. I have around 10 devices connected to it without issues. Suddenly last week, I got this error – now on my MBA. Trying to connect to a neighbors network and then connecting to mine solved the issue as expected. But some times, about once in two or three months, I notice that there is no Internet connectivity and rebooting the Time Capsule (AirPort) solved the connectivity issue.
Now I have a new problem. I cannot visit http://www.google.com from my MBA. All other sites work.
neil
May 4, 2013 at 12:49 am (UTC -8) Link to this comment
Hey I also had same issue… I bought MBP 13inch…running OSX 10.8.3… It was kind of weird problem i was facing… I wasnt able to see the wireless ssid from my MBP… I was able to see the same SSID from Windows laptop… iPhone… but MBP somehow it was not able to see… Sometimes it was shown but if i tried connecting it gave could not join network error….. Did lot of stuff to solve this but no luck… I zapped PRAM… changed IPV6 settings, created manual new network but nothing worked…. I did reset all settings on router (Syslink router) too..
Finally I thought of changing SSID and password information on router and that worked…. now my macbook is able to connect to wireless without any issues…. just changing SSID info on router solved the issue…. hope this helps…..