macOS Monterey WiFi connection issue

OK, bit of a long shot...

RichardFoo User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Feb 15, 2019 4:24 PM in response to TimsTech

I've been debugging a problem with my VPN client constantly reconnecting, along with poor WiFi performance. After much digging, I came across an excellent article - although written for Yosemite and iOS8, it still seems to be relevant to Mojave, especially with a newer WiFi chip in the 2018 MacBook Pro. https://medium.com/@mariociabarra/wifriedx-in-depth-look-at-yosemite-wifi-and-awdl-airdrop-41a93eb22e48

The author wrote a program that essentially just issues a command and keeps it enforced. You can try it manually in a terminal window: sudo ifconfig awdl0 down

To reverse the command, type: sudo ifconfig awdl0 up

He gives a great technical explanation, so I won't repeat it here. The command disables a virtual network interface that's used for ad-hoc WiFi by features like Airdrop; I personally won't miss them. So far, I've gone from losing my connection 20 times an hour to being stable for 3+ hours.

In Disk Utility>View, select Show all Devices, highlight the top left entry.

Run Disk First Aid on all items in the left panel, from top down.

Are you running any VPN, Anti-Virus, or Cleaning apps?

We need to see what all is running, a report from this will not display any personal info...

Using EtreCheck - Apple Community

EtreCheck is a FREE simple little diagnostic tool to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac. It will not display any personal info. Give it Full Disk Access.

https://www.etrecheck.com/

Give etrecheck Full Disk Access before running.

Thanks for Old Toad’s etrecheck instructions…

Slow iMac 2017 - Apple Community

Hello,

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.

Are you running any VPN, Anti-Virus, or Cleaning apps?

You're attempting to run an awful lotof things for only 8 GB of RAM.

Start with this...

Safe Boot, (holding Shift key down at startup), does the problem occur in Safe Mode? Could take 10 minutes or more.

Safe mode attempts to repair Disks & clears lots of caches & loads safe Drivers, & prevents loading of 3rd party extensions, so if Safe Mode works try again in regular boot.

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?

As a test, turn if theFirewall.

OK, thanks, the that would indicate either a Hardware problem or a Reinstall of the OS is needed.