Chosen Solution

Sorry for the ambiguous title, but I have no idea what to do after trying to troubleshoot the problem for some time now with negative results. First off: The background! I recently dropped my MBP and dented the lid, which also broke the LCD screen. I took the computer in to a local repair shop to have the LCD replaced. Instead of replacing the LCD they replaced the whole lid to the computer, which I was okay with; but upon getting the computer home I discovered that the wifi was not working and was prompted by the “No Airport Card installed” message when clicking the wifi symbol. This was not an issue before getting any repairs done, as I used the computer after the screen was broken for a few hours and the wifi worked fine. So I took the computer back and they tried to see if perhaps the ribbon wire from the airport card to antenna was loose, or if the card itself was loose. A few days later they called and told me my computer was ready for pickup. When I arrived to pick up the MBP the tech said that the problem was not fixed and that it must be a software issue. He had swapped out all possible parts (antenna, ribbon wire, airport card) with working components from 2 other MBPs and still could not get the thing to work. They had also replaced the lid with my original lid and swapped out the actual LCD screen. So I took the computer home and tried to troubleshoot any software issues. Here’s what has been done so far: Hardware Troubleshooting: The Airport card, antenna, and ribbon wire have been swapped out, tested, and found working in 2 separate MBPs. These components have also been swapped from the other MBPs into my computer and nothing seems to work. Software Troubleshooting: I have reset the PRAM.Reset the SMC.Ran disk repair on the HD in disk utility. reads as being “ok”.Deleted and recreated the wifi location in network preferences. When trying to create a new location to “remake” the wifi option, I am unable to select wifi in the “interface” drop-down list, so I had to cancel and press “revert” to bring it back into the left hand list of networks.Trashed the system configuration file and rebooted the computer.Booted from installation disk and tried to locate network in network utility but nothing for wifi shows up.Performed a full system restore from installation disk and time machine backup located on an external HD.Updated os X to 10.9.2 from 10.6.8. Things to know that might help: The WiFi was working properly before going into the repair shop.Bluetooth works fine still.When I am in Network utility in system preferences, I can hit the “Turn Wi-Fi On” button but nothing happens.In system information there is no “Interfaces” section or anything else listed afterwards. All it shows is “Software Versions: CoreWLan:…, etc.”, but nothing after that list. After all of my software troubleshooting attempts I took the computer back and the tech at the shop said that all he can think of now is a possible logic board issue. Please help! This has become increasingly frustrating and I am coming to a loss for ideas on fixing the issue. Not to mention I feel a little cheated by the repair shop because the WiFi was not an issue until after they had “fixed” my LCD screen. So I can not help but feel like they are responsible for what has happened, even though they claim to have attempted to fix this issue. Thanks in advance! Ryan

Sorry to say you’ll need to go back to the servicer and complain again (try talking with the owner). I would recommend you down load the IFIXIT guide MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2010 AirPort Card Replacement within it you can see how they replaced the lid assembly and you can note the AirPort card (WiFi card) as well as its antenna are located within the lid assembly. You can see in Step 17 and below the access to the AirPort card under the clutch cover. There is no way they can blame this on you as they replaced the full assembly (you paid for it!) as such the unit was defective! Either they need to replace the AirPort card or give you back your money.

Dan, I found that my tech ran the wifi cable under the hinges and not above, rerouted the cable, soldered on a new fuse and it is good to go again. OP I hope the company finally fixed your problem, it is what sets the professionals apart from the fly by night guys in this industry. At my company I own up to problems and offer solutions to them, I don’t want to ever have a customer leave with more problems than they came in with.

I’m currently dealing with this at one of my stores and it isn’t the first time I’ve seen it, I’m not sure what part shorts to cause the problem, but I can for sure tell you what the problem more than likely is, and that is one or multiple fuses near your wifi connector have blown. To get the WiFi working they will need to be replaced, the more important thing to track down is what caused the fuses to short in the first place. Just to clarify, this is a technician error somewhere along the repairing the LCD. Like I said I’m actually staring at the screen right now one of my techs repaired trying to find what would cause the logicboard fuse to pop.

Try rebooting the network. Unplug the modem and router, wait a minute, plug them back in, wait two minutes, and try again. If that doesn’t help, try connecting the laptop to the router via an ethernet cable. That will tell you if the problem is with the router’s Wi-Fi.