MacBook Pro can see wifi networks but won't connect

I have a 2012 MacBook Pro running OS X version 10.8. It was cleaned up before we got it from a school auction. I wanted to update the OS to something like Sierra so my kid can use it, but it just won’t connect to the internet.

I’ve rebooted, run safe mode, and erased the history, but nothing has changed. Other computers on the network work without any problems. This one just won’t connect.

It sees all the wifi networks nearby and seems to join ours, but Safari won’t load anything at all. I keep getting “can’t establish a secure connection to the server” for any website. It won’t connect to the app store either. All the suggestions from Apple support haven’t worked, and nothing has helped.

I’m confused. If it can see the networks, then the wifi antenna and hardware should be fine. I just can’t figure out why it won’t connect to anything.

Any suggestions?

I have the same problem with my MacBook Air. I tried resetting it and reinstalling the OS, but still no luck. Have you found any solutions yet?

Clove said:
I have the same problem with my MacBook Air. I tried resetting it and reinstalling the OS, but still no luck. Have you found any solutions yet?

Nope. I ended up selling it for a low price to someone who was willing to deal with it.

It looks like your browser is too old for the current security rules. You should be able to go to Google.com. Try that first. You need at least Sierra (10.12) or High Sierra (10.13) to properly use Safari. Firefox might still work on an older OS.

What is the exact model and max OS for your machine?

You can check it on Everymac.com.

Avery said:
It looks like your browser is too old for the current security rules. You should be able to go to Google.com. Try that first. You need at least Sierra (10.12) or High Sierra (10.13) to properly use Safari. Firefox might still work on an older OS.

What is the exact model and max OS for your machine?

You can check it on Everymac.com.

I tried Google, but it didn’t load. I’ll look into upgrading the OS, but I think I’ll need a CD or a USB installer since I can’t download any updates from Apple.

Davi said:

Avery said:
It looks like your browser is too old for the current security rules. You should be able to go to Google.com. Try that first. You need at least Sierra (10.12) or High Sierra (10.13) to properly use Safari. Firefox might still work on an older OS.

What is the exact model and max OS for your machine?

You can check it on Everymac.com.

I tried Google, but it didn’t load. I’ll look into upgrading the OS, but I think I’ll need a CD or a USB installer since I can’t download any updates from Apple.

Google should load unless there are other issues.

Have you tried booting with Command + R? Is the machine too old to restore that way? What does the Apple number and EMC say on the bottom of your computer?

Avery said:

Davi said:
Avery said:
It looks like your browser is too old for the current security rules. You should be able to go to Google.com. Try that first. You need at least Sierra (10.12) or High Sierra (10.13) to properly use Safari. Firefox might still work on an older OS.

What is the exact model and max OS for your machine?

You can check it on Everymac.com.

I tried Google, but it didn’t load. I’ll look into upgrading the OS, but I think I’ll need a CD or a USB installer since I can’t download any updates from Apple.

Google should load unless there are other issues.

Have you tried booting with Command + R? Is the machine too old to restore that way? What does the Apple number and EMC say on the bottom of your computer?

I checked Everymac, it’s '08, MB466LL/A MacBook5,1 - A1278. It originally came with OS 9 and is currently loaded with OS X. I checked the FAQs but didn’t find anything about the maximum OS.

Command + R will take me to the recovery startup, but there are no backups and it won’t reinstall OS X. It tries to verify registration with Apple and always returns “error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running the application again.” No luck.

Have you tried reinstalling macOS? Also, check if there are any proxy servers selected in your wireless setup.

Cameron said:
Have you tried reinstalling macOS? Also, check if there are any proxy servers selected in your wireless setup.

I’m looking into a reinstall, but I can’t use recovery mode. It says it can’t contact the server or something like that. Do I need to make a USB installer? Would I need another Mac for that?

Davi said:

Cameron said:
Have you tried reinstalling macOS? Also, check if there are any proxy servers selected in your wireless setup.

I’m looking into a reinstall, but I can’t use recovery mode. It says it can’t contact the server or something like that. Do I need to make a USB installer? Would I need another Mac for that?

Here is a YouTube video that shows how to reload macOS. Not sure if this is the same approach you took. Good luck!

If you use the terminal to ping www.google.com, you can check if your laptop can send packets to the internet. If it succeeds, then the suggestion about the old browser is correct. I think that’s a good idea to try.

Zephyr said:
If you use the terminal to ping www.google.com, you can check if your laptop can send packets to the internet. If it succeeds, then the suggestion about the old browser is correct. I think that’s a good idea to try.

Sounds good. What is the command? Is it literally ‘ping www.google.com’?

Davi said:

Zephyr said:
If you use the terminal to ping www.google.com, you can check if your laptop can send packets to the internet. If it succeeds, then the suggestion about the old browser is correct. I think that’s a good idea to try.

Sounds good. What is the command? Is it literally ‘ping www.google.com’?

Yes, that’s it. You should see output similar to this if everything is working. It may vary slightly, but here’s an example:

Ping statistics for

Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milliseconds:

Minimum = 14ms, Maximum = 18ms, Average = 15ms

Zephyr said:

Davi said:
Zephyr said:
If you use the terminal to ping www.google.com, you can check if your laptop can send packets to the internet. If it succeeds, then the suggestion about the old browser is correct. I think that’s a good idea to try.

Sounds good. What is the command? Is it literally ‘ping www.google.com’?

Yes, that’s it. You should see output similar to this if everything is working. It may vary slightly, but here’s an example:

Ping statistics for

Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),

Approximate round trip times in milliseconds:

Minimum = 14ms, Maximum = 18ms, Average = 15ms

I got something different. It looks like this:

64 bytes from xxx.xxx.xx.xxx: icmp_seq=99 ttl=116 time=8.046ms, and it just keeps going.