iMac blocked on Wi-Fi?

[Lifeisabeach]

Hey guys, I'm having an utterly baffling problem that I ca't make sense of. So I've moved and am on a new internet service who provides an Eero router. Since I was using Eeros already, I'm very familiar with setting those up. I gave it the exact same network name I was using already, and everything connected right away. MacBook, iPhone, etc. Now my iMac is giving me issues. When connected by ethernet, which was actually how I was connected normally previously, I have no issues. It works as expected. But when I connect by Wi-Fi, I am seemingly completely blocked from the internet. No web browser. No email. VPN won't connect. Nothing. I am completely dead. Well almost. My MacBook is able to connect to it and browse shared folders; share the screen; and use AirDrop. So from a hardware stance, Wi-Fi is working but just on the LAN side. I cannot for the life of me understand why I'm not able to access the WAN. I've rechecked my DNS servers (using OpenDNS, all good there); removed and re-added the Wi-Fi service via Settings; deleted a few preference files recommended in a troubleshooting guide; made sure the firewall was off; flushed the DNS cache; nothing. It's complete dead to the outside world. I'm highly confident this is a software issue, but I'm at a loss on where to look next.

One more thing... I just tried connecting the iMac to my iPhone's hotspot. Yeah, it connects, but when I try to go to a website, any website, I'm greeted with a black page that just says "invalid request". Also... no change using Safe Mode.

 

[ferrarr]

Have you looked at the Euros settings for your iMac? It probably won't help, since you were also having an issue when connected to the iPhone hotspot.

Can you compare the settings to your working MBA?

Also, what OS versions for all Apple devices?

 

[pm-r]

Now my iMac is giving me issues. When connected by ethernet, which was actually how I was connected normally previously, I have no issues. It works as expected. But when I connect by Wi-Fi, I am seemingly completely blocked from the internet. No web browser. No email. VPN won't connect. Nothing. I am completely dead. Well almost.

You mentioned you are familiar with the Eero router, but did you perhaps check with the Eero router Troubleshooting & Support website for a possible solution or to double-check you have followed the setup and proper settings procedure:

https://support.eero.com/hc/en-us/categories/201150616-Troubleshooting

And of course, there's always the proverbial old basic troubleshooting tip you might want to try: shut down your Mac and router, wait 30-40 seconds at least and then power each device back up starting from what is connected to your ISP cable connection first, wait for it to stabilize and then any other devices that need to be booted and then finally boot your Mac and hope things start working as they should.




- Patrick
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[Lifeisabeach]

You mentioned you are familiar with the Eero router, but did you perhaps check with the Eero router Troubleshooting & Support website for a possible solution or to double-check you have followed the setup and proper settings procedure:

https://support.eero.com/hc/en-us/categories/201150616-Troubleshooting

And of course, there's always the proverbial old basic troubleshooting tip you might want to try: shut down your Mac and router, wait 30-40 seconds at least and then power each device back up starting from what is connected to your ISP cable connection first, wait for it to stabilize and then any other devices that need to be booted and then finally boot your Mac and hope things start working as they should.

I've done all the rebooting of course. But the problem isn't the router. I have the exact same problem when connecting to my iPhone as a hotspot, which in turn is using my cellular service while in that mode. It's absolutely 100% "something" going on with the iMac itself. I'm getting ready to install macOS clean to an external drive and boot off of that to see what happens with that.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Have you looked at the Euros settings for your iMac? It probably won't help, since you were also having an issue when connected to the iPhone hotspot.

Yup. Nothing special. Since the Eero would have seen it as a new device when first connecting, no special settings would have applied that are different from anything else. But anyway, even reviewing it all reveals nothing.

Can you compare the settings to your working MBA?

Identical.

Also, what OS versions for all Apple devices?

The latest for everything. The iMac and MBA are both on 13.3.1 and no glitching from the MBA. Actually I take that back. A couple times when waking it up, it had trouble connecting to websites, but cleared up quickly. I'm not sure if it's a consequence of congestion from being in an apartment complex, but I am on fiber with the service I have. And those times were also very different from the experience on the iMac, which is persistent.

 

[ferrarr]

Did you test with a different user account? Or create a "new" Network?

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Did you test with a different user account? Or create a "new" Network?

Yup. No dice. I did just complete installing Ventura clean to an external drive and when booted from that, Wi-Fi works just fine. So something is amiss here on the OS side of the internal drive. I'm going to start uninstalling anything that could be network-related on the chance that something buggy is going on in that regard. It seems I had an issue with PIA in particular once after a major upgrade of macOS that required a complete uninstall/reinstall. We'll see.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I had a dog... and his name was BINGO! Uninstalling PIA did the trick. Darned if I know WHY... it has no special settings to block communications on Wi-Fi, but that was the culprit. Go figure.

 

[pm-r]

Uninstalling PIA did the trick.

Another abbreviation for "Pain In A*s" it seems???

Good clever sleuthing, and well solved.



- Patrick
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