Is my MacBook too old?

pizzalover1982abc wrote:

I have tried to forget the existing Wi-Fi network and reconnect but under system settings it tells me it can’t access the Network option.

That's a clue. BDAqua has some good suggestions but if you can't even open Network Preferences you're stuck after trying a new User Account.

Boot macOS Recovery and determine if you can load a webpage while in Recovery. That will preclude hardware trouble — which seems likely, given your description of the events that led up to it.

Intro to macOS Recovery – Apple Support

A Mac using Catalina and it's last version of Safari is old - but not unusable. A few very modern with very advanced HTML5 features might not work quite right, but that's it. It really sounds like something more serious has gone wrong with your OS installation or with a hardware failure.

Given BDAqua's suggestion didn't work , John Galt's advice on booting into recovery mode to try and access network settings, and/or reinstalling macOS if that doesn't work, are probably your only troubleshooting options. If those don't work, it's probably a failed wifi card.

Hmm, on the other hand, with a system running Catalina, you might be able to buy a nano USB wifi adapter and use that. Something like this: https://www.tp-link.com/ca/home-networking/adapter/archer-t2u-nano/. For almost every manufacturer, Catalina is the last macOS you can reliably get drivers for, since Apple changed their driver architecture and how the underlying security system handled them starting with macOS 11. But that's if you are willing to spend $30 or so for a USB wifi adapter.

As John Galt says, if you're stuck try a reinstall using Recovery.

To find out if it's system wide or user specific, try this...

Open System Preferences>Users & Groups, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

Does it work in the new account?

Anotyer thing to try...

Make a New Location, Using network locations in Mac OS X ...

System Preferences>Network, top of window>Locations>Edit Locations, little plus icon, give it a name.

System Preferences>Network, click on the little gear at the bottom next to the + & - icons, (unlock lock first if locked), choose Set Service Order.

The interface that connects to the Internet should be dragged to the top of the list.

Sys Prefs>Network>highlight the Interface you're using>Advanced>TCP/IP>Configure IPv4: Using DHCP.

If using Wifi, instead of joining your Network from the list, click the WiFi icon at the top, and click join other network. Fill in everything as needed.

System Preferences>Network>choose interface>Advanced>Proxies Tab, make sure none are set, like for HTTP & HTTPS.

System Preferences>Network, unlock the lock if need be, highlight the Interface you use to connect to Internet, click on the advanced button, click on the DNS tab, click on the little plus icon, then add these numbers...

8.8.8.8

8.8.4.4

1.1.1.1

9.9.9.9

Apply.