Hi
In this article, I would like to share my experience on how to share the Internet on the MacBook Pro M1 in when the Wi-Fi module is dead.
Beginning
In 2021, I bought a brand new 13-inch MacBook Pro on the M1 chip from the official Apple Store, and even ordered 16 GB of RAM. Awesome !
I was waiting my MBP for almost a month, but it was worth it! Excellent performance compared to my old MacBook Pro 13 early 2015 on Intel i5 chip and 4 GB of RAM. It was a real delight! Everything is as responsive as possible, Flutter projects are compiled 10 times faster (if not more)! In general, it was amazing!
And one day, just after 5 minutes I was away from the Mac, I closed the lid as usual. And when came back and opened it, nothing happened, that is, he didn’t wake up from sleep.
I thought that this is most likely some software failure and tried to reboot by force holding the Touch ID for a long time (aka the Power button). But in the end, nothing changed, at first. Then my Mac turned on the cooling fan to the maximum and yelled like I’ve never heard. It is worth noting that during the year of use, I have never heard the cooler turn on at all, but not from the fact that only I read sites and watched mail, but just even 3 open projects (2 Visual Studio Code, 1 Xcode) and three emulators (2 iPhone, 1 Android) did not make it even heat up a little. And here’s the yell! I realized it was dead.
I started googling what’s wrong, why it doesn’t turn on, etc. The first articles offer to reset the SMC controller, but that is only helps for Macs on the Intel based chip. There is no such possibility for M1. Mac with M1 chip are generally very limited for manipulating from outside, but this is another story.
As a result, I realized that I would no longer be able to solve the problem on my own and I need an authorized service center (ASC).
ASC
There was so many of ASCs at the first look. And which one of them is better? Who will treat my Mac carefully and gently? It wasn’t a simple question (personally for me). I began to search some rating system, or sites with an ASC rating. But all the information was old, some sites or ASCs have not been working for a long time… As a result, I started looking for reviews and comments. And among the many I found one ASC (brobrolad). This ASC “hooked” me with the way they responded to comments and complaints from users on different sites. Their answer has always been on the topic, with respect, with facts and documents. I haven’t read insults or mockery in any comment. In general, their work with the client aroused my trust in them and it was to them that I went.
Almost two months since my Mac died, I finally got to the ASC. The manager immediately accepted me, put my Mac on a soft leather coating and started the initial diagnosis (by connecting another Mac to mine). As a result, the diagnosis did not give anything, we drew up an act of acceptance and transmission and I left the Mac to their engineers.
Until the last, I was sure that this was a case the warranty can handle, that just something went wrong! I’ve always been extremely neat with Mac , no children nearby, there never was food or liquid nearby! Never… And then I got a call and ASC told: Liquid Damage (a malfunction caused by moisture). Not a warranty case.
It sounded like a sentence at that time. I just couldn’t believe it.
ASC said that it is necessary to replace the motherboard (about $600), replace Touch ID (about $150; actually it wasn’t dead, but it needs to be changed because it somehow gets tied to the safety of the motherboard, and if the motherboard is changed, the old Touch ID will not work with it) and the replacement work is about $100.
I couldn’t afford such a repair, so I took the Mac and started to think about what to do next. And then there’s be the next…
Repairs
It turns out that there are people who know how to repair such damage. Of course, there is no need to talk about any guarantee of success, but nevertheless. And my friend just knew one such guy. I thought there was nothing to lose anyway, let them try to repair it.
After the first diagnosis, damage was identified: the power controller and Bluetooth/Wi-Fi module burned down.
The serviceman was able to find the same power controller as mine from another Mac for the test, as well as soldered out the burned BT/Wi-Fi module. Mac started to turn on! Hooray! But it was too early to rejoice. After logging in, the Mac apparently began to poll the devices and did not find Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, after which it “went into protection” (rebooted). And so every time.
Well, it’s okay, there’s a result, so we need spare parts. Let’s go to Ali express and buy the following:
Waiting for a month and finally we have the details! Now the most important part — the soldering.
In short, the master soldered in three times, but each time the Mac still went into a reboot. As a result, after the last attempt, it finally stopped rebooting, but Wi-Fi and Bluetooth didn’t work…
The verdict is either so or to change the motherboard.
Decision
As a result, I gave $90 for work and $45 for parts. Not much. Mac works, but what about the Internet? You can connect your iPhone with USB wired, but mobile Internet is expensive. Especially if you need to update Xcode to 15 GB.
But there are Wi-Fi and Bluetooth USB adapters! Great! I run to the nearest store and buy it, then came back to home, plug it in through an adapter (USB A to USB C) and… nothing. Wi-Fi adapter didn’t turn on just because there is no driver. In other words — there is a driver on the Internet, but not for the M1 chip. The manufacturer has simply not adapted its devices for M1 chip yet.
Googling again, and we find a case how to run a virtual machine on a Mac with Ubuntu, on which we put a driver for the Wi-Fi adapter, throw these devices to Mac and here’s the Internet and a constantly turned on virtual machine that eats RAM. This is a solution in my opinion, albeit working.
So what did I do? I bought this:
- USB type-C to Ethernet adapter (external network card) without drivers, plug-n-play;
- Wi-Fi router with the function of expanding the existing network and powered by a USB port.
As a result, everything worked!
There is Internet, but there are no free USB Type-C ports :) but I think I will be able to solve it in the future with some hub. The lack of Bluetooth deprives you of the ability to connect AirPods, but in general, if you buy wired EarPods with a 3.5 jack, then this trouble can be overcome.
Thank you for your attention! I hope the article will be useful!
