If you've followed the steps to connect your Mac to a Wi-Fi network, but the connection to your network or the Internet isn't reliable, the steps in this article might help.
Check for Wi-Fi recommendations
When your Mac tries to connect to a Wi-Fi network, it checks for issues that affect its ability to create a fast, stable, and secure connection. If an issue is detected, the Wi-Fi status menu in the menu bar shows a new item: Wi-Fi Recommendations. Choose it to see recommended solutions.
Download this app from Microsoft Store for Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile. See screenshots, read the latest customer reviews, and compare ratings for Diagnostic Tool. Mac Diagnostic Tool is a free application that allows you to configure your network. On first opening the app, you are immediately greeted with the Centrify configuration and status on the Mac. Many login issues can be quickly determined by a quick check to see if the UID of the user's local home folder matches the UID that the user actually logs into the Mac with.
Wi-Fi recommendations are available in macOS Sierra or later.
Analyze your wireless environment
Your Mac can use Wireless Diagnostics to perform additional analysis.
- Quit any apps that are open, and connect to your Wi-Fi network, if possible.
- Press and hold Option (Alt) ⌥ key, then choose Open Wireless Diagnostics from the Wi-Fi status menu .
- Enter your administrator name and password when prompted.
Wireless Diagnostics begins analyzing your wireless environment:
If the issue is intermittent, you can choose to monitor your Wi-Fi connection:
When you're ready to see recommendations, continue to the summary. Wireless Diagnostics asks for optional information about your base station or other router, so that it can include that in the report it saves to your Mac.
Click the info button next to each item in the summary to see details about that item. Wi-Fi best practices are tips that apply to most Wi-Fi networks.
Back up or make note of your network or router settings before changing them based on these recommendations—in case you need to use those settings again.
Monitor your Wi-Fi connection
Your Mac can monitor your Wi-Fi connection for intermittent issues, such as dropped connections. Follow the steps to analyze your wireless environment, but choose ”Monitor my Wi-Fi connection” when prompted.
During monitoring, a window shows that monitoring is in progress. Monitoring continues as long as this window is open and you're on the same Wi-Fi network, even when your Mac is asleep.
If Wireless Diagnostics finds an issue, it stops monitoring and shows a brief description of the issue. You can then resume monitoring or continue to the summary for details and recommendations.
Create a diagnostics report
Wireless Diagnostics automatically saves a diagnostics report before it displays its summary. You can create the same report at any time: press and hold the Option key, then choose Create Diagnostics Report from the Wi-Fi status menu . It can take your Mac several minutes to create the report.
- macOS Sierra and later saves the report to the /var/tmp folder of your startup drive, then opens that folder for you.
To open the folder manually, choose Go > Go to Folder from the Finder menu bar, then enter /var/tmp. - OS X El Capitan or earlier saves the report to your desktop.
The report is a compressed file with a name that begins “WirelessDiagnostics.” It contains many files that describe your wireless environment in detail. A network specialist can examine them for further analysis.
Use other diagnostics utilities
Wireless Diagnostics includes additional utilities for network specialists. Open them from the Window menu in the Wireless Diagnostics menu bar:
- Info gathers key details about your current network connections.
- Logs enables background logging for Wi-Fi and other system components. The result is saved to a .log file in the diagnostics report location on your Mac. Logging continues even when you quit the app or restart your Mac, so remember to disable logging when you're done.
- Scan finds Wi-Fi routers in your environment and gathers key details about them.
- Performance uses live graphs to show the performance of your Wi-Fi connection:
- Rate shows the transmit rate over time in megabits per second.
- Quality shows the signal-to-noise ratio over time. When the quality is too low, your device disconnects from the Wi-Fi router. Factors that affect quality include the distance between your device and the router, and objects such as walls that impede the signal from your router. Learn more.
- Signal shows both signal (RSSI) and noise measurements over time. You want RSSI to be high and noise to be low, so the bigger the gap between RSSI and noise, the better.
- Sniffer captures traffic on your Wi-Fi connection, which can be useful when diagnosing a reproducible issue. Select a channel and width, then click Start to begin capturing traffic on that channel. When you click Stop, a .wcap file is saved to the diagnostics report location on your Mac.
Learn more
Additional recommendations for best Wi-Fi performance:
- Keep your router up to date. For AirPort Time Capsule, AirPort Extreme, or AirPort Express Base Station, check for the latest firmware using AirPort Utility. For non-Apple routers, check the manufacturer's website.
- Set up your router using Apple's recommended settings, and make sure that all Wi–Fi routers on the same network use similar settings. If you're using a dual-band Wi-Fi router, make sure that both bands use the same network name.
- Learn about potential sources of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth interference.
Learn about other ways to connect to the Internet.
System cleanup in one click
We associate a Mac with quality, capacity, speed, and reliability. But it might happen so that your Mac underperforms and unpredictable issues occur. Before taking it to the nearest Apple service, you can try to identify the problem by yourself. That will save your time and money, and prevent serious system crashes. Identifying whether the issue is a hardware or software one will determine the possible actions and next steps.
When we deal with the hardware problem, the first thing to try is to perform Apple Diagnostics (or Apple Hardware Test). It will help you reveal the process that causes the problem and lowers Mac productivity.
Apple Diagnostics is an easy-to-understand tool that provides detailed results and suggestions with the next steps. Whether you are a techie or not, you'll get everything easily.
What is Apple Diagnostics?
Apple Diagnostics is a built-in test that helps detect what hardware components are causing the problem, and find system failures. The test checks RAM, power controller, logic board, battery, and other wireless modules.
That was the hard part. And the easy part is that you can run Apple Diagnostics in just a few steps. The whole process will take about 2-5 minutes — but ultimately saves hours of your time.
A great feature of Apple test is that after hardware checking, it displays an error code, offers you clear solutions, and the assistance of Apple Support. You can write out the error codes (known as reference codes), and either do the research on/ your own or contact Apple.
When referring to Mac hardware test, you might also hear about Apple Hardware Test (AHT). This is an older brother of Apple Diagnostics (AD), and they have some minor differences. Mainly, the results of AHT aren't conclusive and descriptive. AHT is used in Macs released in 2012 or earlier, while AD is a more advanced analog that works with newer Macs.
Essentially, a Mac hardware test is the great tool to help you understand the problem. And if it doesn't have a fix for it — there are more advanced tools that you can use to troubleshoot Mac issues. More about that in a moment.
How to run Mac diagnostics
Running a hardware test on Mac may seem like a complicated process, but believe us — that's not:
- Disconnect all the peripheral devices (printer, cables, external DVD drive) except the keyboard, mouse, display, and speakers. Make sure your Mac is connected to mains power and the internet.
- Select Apple Menu > Restart
- Press and hold the D key until you see a list of different languages on the screen
- Select a language. Apple Diagnostics starts automatically.
- Wait for about 2-5 minutes until the checking is completed. If any problems are found, you'll see the options of solutions and an error code.
After that, you can either repeat the test, get more information, restart or shut down the Mac. That's it - an easy 5-step process, as promised.
Apple recommends to print out the instructions to keep them close at hand and make sure you don't miss any step. Or, you can take a photo. Right, that's what people do in 2020.
What are the common Apple Diagnostics results
After performing a Mac hardware test, you'll get the list of found issues with detailed descriptions and related reference codes. Each code stands for a particular error and helps you quickly figure out the next steps. Usually, an error description will suggest possible solutions. However, to fix a specific problem, Apple Diagnostics might recommend you to contact Apple or take your Mac to an Apple Authorised Service Provider or AppleRetailStore.
There could be the case the system testing doesn't find any issues.
In this case, you have a few options. Please note that they are mutually exclusive, which means you should choose the best option for you:
- Repeat the process by hitting Run the test again
- To get more information on support and service options, click on Get started:
- The macOS X recovery will start
- Send your serial number and reference codes to Apple by clicking Agree to send
- Follow the on-screen instructions.
- Restart your Mac
- Hit the Shut Down button.
Because well, sometimes a small mistake might hamper it all. Maybe the first time you tried to run Apple Diagnostics, your power adapter wasn't plugged in. Connect it and try again — this will help fix the problem.
What if you can't run diagnostics
You can face the problem when Apple Diagnostics simply doesn't work. Don't worry, it's solvable. There might be a couple of reasons why this happens:
- Some external devices are plugged in. Double-check you've disconnected everything except the keyboard, mouse, display, and speakers.
- A part of the diagnostics system can be damaged. You can solve the problem by restarting the Mac while holding down Option+D. This will start an internet-based hardware test.
- Firmware password might be the problem. Make sure you turn it off while performing hardware testing.
What if diagnostics found no issues
In case Apple Diagnostics identifies no hardware issues — but your Mac is still misbehaving — maybe, software is the problem.
Often, Macs are slowing down, freezing, or behaving strangely due to full storage, malware, leftovers from uninstalled apps, large and old files. The good news is you don't have to guess, or install many applications to fix each problem separately. An all-in-one tool called CleanMyMac X has all the required functions to test your Mac from a to z. It cleans up, protects, and speeds up your Mac.
Just one click to optimize your Mac — CleanMyMac X makes it fly like a rocket.
Here's how CleanMyMac X optimization works:
- Go to the Maintenance tab
- Specify what should be done. For example, if you want to speed up your Mac by freeing up some space, check the box next to Free Up Ram”. You can select all the tasks at a time, or choose the particular ones.
- Press Run.
Yay, you launched a rocket!
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The most common problem that impairs system performance is the junk files that clutter your Mac. You might not even know about them. Luckily, CleanMyMac X has a solution for this, too. Resolve various errors with a great feature called System Junk:
- Hit Scan
- Once you see the results, press Review Details
You'll see the list of all items that should be cleaned or fixed. You can review the results and deselect those items you're not ready to let go. CleanMyMac X will omit them while cleaning up your Mac. Once you're ready, hit Clean.
Wow, your Mac feels much better now.
Go beyond standard diagnostics
There's even more you can achieve with running a diagnostics — if you have the right tools for it. Conduct an advanced system testing and optimization that will secure and speed up your Mac with an app like MacPilot.This powerful utility unlocks over 1200 hidden features that go beyond standard Mac settings.
It allows you to improve system performance by running executables, emptying trash, resetting DNS cache, clearing print queue, and more Best of all, it's all done automatically. You don't even need to know what that all means — let the MacPilot app do the job for you.
MacPilot checks and boosts the productivity of your Mac on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Small changes make a big difference. To optimize Mac with MacPilot:
- Click on the Maintenance icon
- Tick the box near the desired action. For example, if you want to optimize system performance on a daily basis, then tick the box near 'Daily.'
- Voila — MacPilot makes your Mac fly faster than ever.
Conclusion
System performance testing is a handy tool that keeps your Mac healthy, saves your time and money. The primary step is to understand whether the issue is a hardware or software one. While Apple Diagnostics deals with hardware breakdowns, CleanMyMac and MacPilot fix the software problems.
Doesn't matter if you are a Mac power user or Mac-newbie, these tools will do system testing and optimization for you. To make the most out of your Mac, regularly check its performance and easily fix any issues in no time.
Running Apple Diagnostics and then optimizing performance with CleanMyMac X and MacPilot is a winning combo that prolongs the life of your Mac. Both apps are free for 7 days on Setapp, the curated suite of best productivity apps — so you can try both of them to make your Mac fly.
Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.
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