New M1Pro MacBook Pro

[jeffnles1]

This is my 4 th Mac. Something hiccuped in the setup. It will connect to my router but not the internet. After an hour on the phone with a very nice man from Apple. Im now reinstalling MacOS which says it will take 2 hours. Never had a problem with Mac, iPads or iPhones before. Just had to vent. Sorry.
Jeff

 

[Stephen Berger]

This is my 4 th Mac. Something hiccuped in the setup. It will connect to my router but not the internet. After an hour on the phone with a very nice man from Apple. Im now reinstalling MacOS which says it will take 2 hours. Never had a problem with Mac, iPads or iPhones before. Just had to vent. Sorry.
Jeff

My mid 2019 Intel Macbook Pro was a nightmare to get working correctly. Took MANY reinstalls over 3 or so days. Been rock solid ever since though.

 

[Ralph]

This is my 4 th Mac. Something hiccuped in the setup. It will connect to my router but not the internet. After an hour on the phone with a very nice man from Apple. Im now reinstalling MacOS which says it will take 2 hours. Never had a problem with Mac, iPads or iPhones before. Just had to vent. Sorry.
Jeff

Jeff,
Make sure you don’t have any security features enabled on your router. When I was setting up my phone I could not get onto internet to complete the process. Everything looked normal. I had a great internet connection with my other devices and the phone showed that it was connected to WiFi with a very strong signal but no dice getting onto internet with the phone. After pulling out my hair trying to make sense of it, I realized I had setup a security features on my netgear router in which only authorized devices could connect. Since the phone was a new device the router blocked it from getting onto internet.

 

[jeffnles1]

Jeff,
Make sure you don’t have any security features enabled on your router. When I was setting up my phone I could not get onto internet to complete the process. Everything looked normal. I had a great internet connection with my other devices and the phone showed that it was connected to WiFi with a very strong signal but no dice getting onto internet with the phone. After pulling out my hair trying to make sense of it, I realized I had setup a security features on my netgear router in which only authorized devices could connect. Since the phone was a new device the router blocked it from getting onto internet.

I don't think that's the problem but worth checking. I have 4 other Apple devices (another MacBook, 2 iPads and an iPhone) all connected and no problems. This new one isn't connecting. Interestingly, when I boot to recovery mode and search the help it is connected but when I log in, it is not. Frustrating. I guess a trip to the Apple Store tomorrow is in order. 2 plus hours on phone with apple tech support couldn't resolve it.

 

[jeffnles1]

My mid 2019 Intel Macbook Pro was a nightmare to get working correctly. Took MANY reinstalls over 3 or so days. Been rock solid ever since though.

I've set up other Macs with no trouble. This one is turning out to be quite a hassle. I'm on my 2nd MacOS reinstall now. I may have to give up and take it to the Apple Store and see what they can do.

 

[Ralph]

I don't think that's the problem but worth checking. I have 4 other Apple devices (another MacBook, 2 iPads and an iPhone) all connected and no problems. This new one isn't connecting. Interestingly, when I boot to recovery mode and search the help it is connected but when I log in, it is not. Frustrating. I guess a trip to the Apple Store tomorrow is in order. 2 plus hours on phone with apple tech support couldn't resolve it.

That is weird. But in reference to my original post, all of my other devices worked fine. All my iPads , phones, Mac , TV , etc connected.
It was my new device that didn’t. And that was because it was new and not authorized using the router security setting I had enabled . I had to go into the router and authorize the new device or just turn off that setting. I ended up turning it off. After that, no problems. It was a Netgear router and the setting I’m referring to was in the Advanced setting under security.
But from what you described, I don’t think thats the issue.
Are you sure it is getting to the internet when you search help or is it searching the information from within the system software? Is your connection wifi or wired?

Good luck going to the Apple Store tomorrow.

 

[Ralph]

Jeff, I have one more suggestion to help you trouble shoot the issues. If you have an iPhone, set it up as a hotspot and have you M1 Mac connect to it and use it as an internet connection. If everything works fine, than the computer is probably not the issue.

 

[Steve W]

If it’s like my partners last iPhone, it was flaky, kept crashing up to 30 times a day, running hot when it was running. Took it to Apple store where they took it out back and returned some time later with a brand new one. A few dodgy ones do slip through.

 

[jeffnles1]

Jeff, I have one more suggestion to help you trouble shoot the issues. If you have an iPhone, set it up as a hotspot and have you M1 Mac connect to it and use it as an internet connection. If everything works fine, than the computer is probably not the issue.

Well, I got the internet problem fixed. I was able to boot into Safe mode, log her out of her Apple ID and then reinstall the MacOS. Convuluted but it worked. Now, TimeMachine will make a backup copy to my external SSD but it doesn't register with TimeMachine as a completed backup. After an hour on the phone with a really nice fellow from Apple, he is as stumped as me. I have an appointment with the Apple Store for Friday. If this doesn't get resolved before then I'm handing it to them and letting them fix it or replace it.

When it works, it's great. Screen is a thing of beauty. Keyboard feel is excellent. The trackpad is exceptional. The speed seems be blazingly fast although I haven't pushed it yet and she probably never will. At a minimum the speed is every bit as fast as my MacBook Pro 13" with the M1 chip. I'll have to try to do some video rendering and see how it works. Overall, the computer seems like it will be great once the initial bugs are worked out or if it is some internal hardware issue when the machine gets replaced.

Sorry for being so off-base, I just really needed to vent a little. Wife is at work so nobody here to vent to. thanks guys and gals.

 

[jeffnles1]

To keep this somewhat "on base" and "on topic" this is the computer my wife uses to process all her wildlife and nature photography images. I'll be in deep ..... if I mess up her photos library working on this machine. Any of you all have a spare room I could use when she kicks me out? I won't eat too much, I mainly clean up after myself, I only snore when I'm asleep and I'll only smoke a few of your cigars. Almost the perfect house guest. I promise not to touch your computers.

 

[Ralph]

Well, I got the internet problem fixed. I was able to boot into Safe mode, log her out of her Apple ID and then reinstall the MacOS. Convuluted but it worked. Now, TimeMachine will make a backup copy to my external SSD but it doesn't register with TimeMachine as a completed backup. After an hour on the phone with a really nice fellow from Apple, he is as stumped as me. I have an appointment with the Apple Store for Friday. If this doesn't get resolved before then I'm handing it to them and letting them fix it or replace it.

When it works, it's great. Screen is a thing of beauty. Keyboard feel is excellent. The trackpad is exceptional. The speed seems be blazingly fast although I haven't pushed it yet and she probably never will. At a minimum the speed is every bit as fast as my MacBook Pro 13" with the M1 chip. I'll have to try to do some video rendering and see how it works. Overall, the computer seems like it will be great once the initial bugs are worked out or if it is some internal hardware issue when the machine gets replaced.

Sorry for being so off-base, I just really needed to vent a little. Wife is at work so nobody here to vent to. thanks guys and gals.

No problem. I love trying to figure stuff out like this. Glad to hear that you got it figured out. Time machine when it works it’s great but it can be finicky at times. Personally, I stop using time machine and only use CarbonCopyCloner now. It’s a great backup program. If you consider using it check out any issues there may be with M1 Macs. The only issue I’m aware of is making it a bootable drive. M1 Macs make that very difficult. It time machine backups aren’t bootable either.

 

[jeffnles1]

No problem. I love trying to figure stuff out like this. Glad to hear that you got it figured out. Time machine when it works it’s great but it can be finicky at times. Personally, I stop using time machine and only use CarbonCopyCloner now. It’s a great backup program. If you consider using it check out any issues there may be with M1 Macs. The only issue I’m aware of is making it a bootable drive. M1 Macs make that very difficult. It time machine backups aren’t bootable either.

I have CCC on my computer that I use to backup my external drives. I loaded it on her machine too. I have an appointment with the apple store on Friday. At this point I'm more or less ready to hand it to them and say "give it back when it works".

Thanks for all your help.
Jeff

 

[jeffnles1]

Hi folks, I got it straightened out. I'm not sure what the exact problem was but I erased all info from the disk, (factory reset) and reloaded everything again. I used a different password for the login, formatted (erased) the backup SSD and started from scratch. All seems to be working as expected now.
Thanks all for the moral support and for letting me vent a bit. A happy wife, happy life. Now maybe she will not object to buying a Z9...
Jeff