Solved Mac OS X 10.8.5 WiFi failure with Simple Rollback

I was experiencing major problems with the Mac OS X 10.8.5 update I solved them by rolling back to 10.8.0 (via USB stick) and then updating manually to 10.8.4.

Symptoms after updating from 10.8.4 to 10.8.5:

• Mac OS is slower to boot up
• Keyboard and mouse and external USB devices do not work for 10 minutes (you may think they don’t work at all,  but its actually a 4-10+ minute delay after boot before they suddenly work)
• Wi-Fi service is no longer configured and cannot be turned on
• Bluetooth functionality is sketchy, such as being able to pair with devices but not actually use them

Solution or Workaround:

I’m sorry to report that the way I fixed this is by installing 10.8.0 from disk, but I did not lose any data. In my case it was a Unibeast USB stick with 10.8.0. I simply followed the instructions to install Mac OS X over my existing installation. All my applications are intact, with the exception of XCode which required me to upgrade to 10.8.4 so it could start working again.

1. Put in your Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion install disc (or Unibeast USB stick) and run the installation over your existing Mac OS X installation on your hard disk.
2. Once installed, download and install the Mac OS X 10.8.4 Combo Update (from the web) (800+ mb)

I have read anecdotally online that moving forward into Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks could also resolve this issue, but I am not in the position right now to test this. FYI, this failure does not appear to be a Hackintosh problem; This is a mainstream Apple Mac problem and it is a black eye on their reputation of quality that many legit Mac owners have complained about.

Additional Tips:

Your keyboard and mouse should work if you just wait 10 minutes. For example, if you are faced with a login screen waiting to type in your password but you can’t move your mouse, try typing your password and pressing Enter. Keep an eye on your Mac and in about 10 minutes suddenly everything you typed will be entered and a login will occur.

If you find yourself in an absolutely horrible situation and need internet, you might be able to use Ethernet (not sure) but you can definitely use an iPhone data plan plugged in via USB. I used this to get past a few barriers and do research on the issue.

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