Big Sur 11.0.1 release has flaky WiFi. Supported Macs too. Not a patcher bug.

[barrykn]

One of the reports I received (on Reddit) was happening on a Mac with an 802.11ac WiFi card (natively supported by Big Sur). Since then, I've come across a Reddit thread and MacRumors thread (start with post #16), so this is clearly happening on supported Macs too.

(The MacRumors thread has only one relevant post so far, but the Reddit thread is a bit more substantial.)

To be clear, WiFi is working fine for a lot of people, including myself (so far), but if WiFi doesn't work or is nearly unusable, keep in mind that it's happening on supported Macs also.

[newpsk]

I'm having issue can't connect to iPhone hotspot. it keeps saying failed to enable personal hotspot, but connect to the hotspot via usb works fine. (Running on Macbook Air Late2012)

[ckishappy]

MBP13 Early 2013: I cannot connect via Wifi to hidden SSIDs, nor to personal iPhone hotspots. The 'normal' Wifi works flawlessly with Big Sur.

[barrykn]

One of my Macs is supported, so I should try Big Sur WiFi on there and see if iPhone hotspots and hidden SSIDs work. (I think at least one of those might have a different issue already filed, but I'll check later.)

[ckishappy]

I checked it on a MBP15 Late 2013 and the hidden SSIDs and iPhone hotspots work there. Anyhow thanks for all the work with the patcher. It is absolutely fantastic to extend the life of my MBP13 Early 2013 and even the MBA13 Mid 2011!

[barrykn]

I checked it on a MBP15 Late 2013 and the hidden SSIDs and iPhone hotspots work there. Anyhow thanks for all the work with the patcher. It is absolutely fantastic to extend the life of my MBP13 Early 2013 and even the MBA13 Mid 2011!

Hmm. This basically boils down to "Hidden SSIDs and iPhone WiFi hotspots don't work with the WiFi patch, but do work on supported Macs". I'll try reproducing this when I get a chance -- maybe this weekend (hopefully sooner, but I can't commit to that). If I can reproduce this, then I'll finally have a solid test case I can use for testing potential WiFi patch improvements.

[diepoe]

is this issue included on that?
#120

[eduard-co]

Adding my two cents here.
MacBookPro10,1, 20B50, patched without any options (Mojave-hybrid by default).

Continuity DOES NOT work. AirDrop does work.

[marioveyna]

MBP13 Early 2013: I cannot connect via Wifi to hidden SSIDs, nor to personal iPhone hotspots. The 'normal' Wifi works flawlessly with Big Sur.

have the same issue, need to show up my ssid's for get connected, even in known networks.... (mbp mid 2012)

in other points: airdrop, bluetooth working, can connect magic mouse 1, airpods 2... need to test airplay

[ckishappy]

MBP13 Early 2013: I cannot connect via Wifi to hidden SSIDs, nor to personal iPhone hotspots. The 'normal' Wifi works flawlessly with Big Sur.

have the same issue, need to show up my ssid's for get connected, even in known networks.... (mbp mid 2012)

in other points: airdrop, bluetooth working, can connect magic mouse 1, airpods 2... need to test airplay
Thanks!

MBP Early 2013: Airplay works fine for me

[zkSac]

MacBook Pro mid 2012 802.11n with MacOS Big Sur 11.0.1 (20B29)

Wi-Fi worked perfectly the first day of installation, without any problems with services like AirDrop. The second day neither wifi stopped working it does not show the SSIDs, apply the patch but it still does not work.

[seyoon20087]

@barrykn, can you please resolve this issue? #120

[wowsns]

On the premise that the installed Big Sur has no serious problems and works fine, I solved this problem with manual settings of the wifi. The other MacBook's (already connected Wi-Fi ) advanced information was usabile . but It took time to test and repeat.

[diepoe]

On the premise that the installed Big Sur has no serious problems and works fine, I solved this problem with manual settings of the wifi. The other MacBook's (already connected Wi-Fi ) advanced information was usabile . but It took time to test and repeat.

Could you please describe it with more precisions. It would help me very much and I'm very happy that somebody found a solution!

[nstifani]

Hi there,
Well done for BgSr-Micropatcher! Works like a charm.

I have a quick question about rolling-back to Catalina on a MBA Mid-2012.
Is a complete clean install (formatting the main drive with disk utility) of Catalina sufficient to overwrite the Wifi firmware change down by patch-kexts.sh?
Is reseting the NVRAM sufficient?
Or should I boot onto the EFI USB partition and run patch-kexts.sh -u ?

Asking this because I am rolling back to Catalina but experience some bluetooth issue which were not there before.
Thanks

[AnaMedrado]

MacBook Pro meados de 2012 802.11n com MacOS Big Sur 11.0.1 (20B29)

O Wi-Fi funcionou perfeitamente desde o primeiro dia de instalação, sem problemas com serviços como o AirDrop. No segundo dia nem o wi-fi parou de funcionar não mostra os SSIDs, aplique o patch mas ainda não funciona.

Com o mesmo problema Macbook pro2011

[ghost]

I have a quick question about rolling-back to Catalina on a MBA Mid-2012.
Is a complete clean install (formatting the main drive with disk utility) of Catalina sufficient to overwrite the Wifi firmware change down by patch-kexts.sh?
Is reseting the NVRAM sufficient?
Or should I boot onto the EFI USB partition and run patch-kexts.sh -u ?

It doesn't change the firmware, it replaces kexts inside the software. So, yes doing a clean install completely gets rid of the WiFi patch, updating even get's rid of the wifi patch.

[nstifani]

It doesn't change the firmware, it replaces kexts inside the software. So, yes doing a clean install completely gets rid of the WiFi patch, updating even get's rid of the wifi patch.

Thanks for your reply.
Will try to do another fresh installation and see if the bluetooth issues are still present.

Let me know if you think of anything in micropatcher that could cause this "at posteriori".
Best,

Edit: Just an update After doing another clean install of Catalina on a MBA Mid 2012 that has been updated temporarily to BigSur I experience issues with bluetooth and apple Magic Mouse and magic keyboards. Just to let people know. It seems that BigSur changes the firmware and there is no coming back to Catalina afterwards. If bluetooth is not useful for you then you can ignore this and do ahead to Big Sur. If you need bluetooth you better stick to Catalina for now.

If someone can tell me if the version of bluetooth firmware is identical or different from mine it would be appreciated. V7.0.6f8 (v156 c5917) on MBA 11 inch mid 2012 running Catalina.

[nstifani]

Hi,
As a follow up on my bluetooth issue with Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse on a MBA Mid 2012 updated to BigSur then rolled back to catalina.
The mouse connection is laggy and not usable.
The keyboard connection is unreliable.

I have rolled back to older MacOS version and the issue is present in all version from Lion to Catalina on this MBA.
I also have a MBP 2015 where both devices work perfectly fine.

The strangest thing that I noticed is: When doing a clean install (formatting the main drive) and resetting the PRAM both devices remain present in the new OS as soon as it opens even when both devices are OFF at all time.
This means that the bluetooth connectivity is kept in memory somewhere not in the RAM nor on the main drive.

I also noticed a strange error when booting in Diagnostic mode :
Error: 0x8000...3, cannot load EFI/Drivers/TestSupport.efi

It seems that it is not a hardware problem but that installing Big Sur and/or using micro patcher has changed something that even a new OS installation can't recover.

Any hint would be appreciated.