Hackintosh: Fixing Internet Issues

Some of you may find yourself with a Hackintosh that won’t access the internet after installing for the first time or after a stubborn update. Sometimes, you install a kext and it doesn’t seem to change anything. Well, maybe this trick will help you.

So it turns out that I reinstalled my Lion PC today and to my surprise the kext I had used for Internet before didn’t do a thing after the first restart. Recalling that the last time I fiddled with the Network settings and tried to add a new connection and to my surprise, again, it didn’t work. As I broke my head wondering where to find another kext, I ended up restarting the computer for another reason and when I got back into Lion that time, the internet “just worked.”

So the sure fire way to get internet back up and running for stubborn machines is the following:

1. Download and install the proper kext using a site like kexts.com and a program like Kext Utility. (Note that I do offer some kexts as part of my series)
2. Restart the Computer
3. Check to see that the browser loads the page – ignore the modem, it will have the indicator light on whether or not your Mac detects it,
4. If that fails, as in you get a nice Network diagnostics window, then go to your Network Settings in the System Preferences and fiddle with the network connection. To do so, go to the left hand side in the network settings, click on the + button and choose the device that shows up in the list in the dropdown menu in the popup window. If no device appears, select PPPoE (or whatever type of card you should have – I’m using ethernet) and try to configure it that way. If it fails, don’t worry! At this point, it may detect your Ethernet or wireless card and get you up and running. In this case, you can close everything and use the internet in peace.
5. If a signal is not detected, restart the computer again, this time when you log on it will either work or it won’t.
6. If it doesn’t work, try to find another kext and repeat this process until you reach a successful result.

Hackintosh may be tricky at times, but fiddling with it and fearing nothing is usually the best way to get the desired result.