Problem with the PIA's app El Capitan 10.11.3

michass

Hello,

I have PIA's app on my 10.11.3 El Capitan (MBPr early 15)- after waking up, connection lost and I can't connect again. To connect again I need to reboot system... Do you have any ideas how to solve it?

App connects via tcp and 443 port. 

UltraHumanite

You might be having the same issue as me. What happens on my end is that after waking up the status bar indicates that the VPN is disconnected(red icon), however if I check my IP it indicates that I'm still connected to the VPN. Did you check your IP?

The dropdown menu is at this point unresponsive. The disconnect option is greyed out and trying to connect to any location does not change anything the client looks like it's disconnected while still being connected to the server it connected to before the system went into the sleep mode.

Even after quitting the PIA client I'm still connected to the VPN.

tomeworm

I don't know how you guys put up with that. I don't have that issue with the PIA app, but I'm also running an older OSX version.

If it were me I'd dump the PIA app and go with Viscosity. Oh, wait, I do use Viscosity! Great OpenVPN app and very stable. Definitely worth the $9, and their support is excellent.

UltraHumanite

tomeworm said:

I don't know how you guys put up with that. I don't have that issue with the PIA app, but I'm also running an older OSX version.

If it were me I'd dump the PIA app and go with Viscosity. Oh, wait, I do use Viscosity! Great OpenVPN app and very stable. Definitely worth the $9, and their support is excellent.

I have Viscosity and I did use it for a while, however the native PIA app has some functions that are easier to access. Do you have strong encryption settings configured or are you using the standard config?

tomeworm

No doubt the PIA app is easier to set up. It's just that ever since PIA's port forwarding scare/debacle I've lost a lot of confidence in the PIA app. I still use it from time to time (ver. 49), but not as much as Viscosity.

I'm using the standard config. I don't know if it would be worth the trouble setting up the strong encryption. What are your thoughts? If so how do I go about it?

chezC

I can't even download their app! I have fixed disk permissions, have my system prefs set to accept any application (when I attempt), but nothing works! It downloads the .dmg file, opens, but when I double-click to install, it looks like it's expanding for a millisecond...then nothing! I had no luck with their chat-support last night, who just blamed Apple and wanted off. (I have downloaded many other apps recently without any trouble at all.) Any advice appreciated! Several friends recommend PIA and have had better luck with their support than me.

michass

Yes, sometimes app shows disconnect but VPN is working and sometimes it is disconnected and I can't open any website- reboot is necessary. 

I will try with Viscosity- thanks for suggestion, that's my first OS X

Jstever8

I am having the same issue on two of my Macs.

jungblood

Same scenario. Frustrating.

PIA Mac OS X VPN app v.56, OS X EL CAPITAN 10.11.4, MACBOOK PRO RETINA, 15-INCH, MID 2015

WhoAmI

Still having this same issue. It makes the app unusable and I've had it for months. It's frustrating that PIA is doing nothing about it.

UltraHumanite

The solution, for now, is to use Viscosity. 

mrtinikan

UltraHumanite said:

tomeworm said:

I don't know how you guys put up with that. I don't have that issue with the PIA app, but I'm also running an older OSX version.

If it were me I'd dump the PIA app and go with Viscosity. Oh, wait, I do use Viscosity! Great OpenVPN app and very stable. Definitely worth the $9, and their support is excellent.

I have Viscosity and I did use it for a while, however the native PIA app has some functions that are easier to access. Do you have strong encryption settings configured or are you using the standard config?

Hi UltraHumanite, could you tell me how you connect to PIA using Viscosity ? When I click the "connect" button nothing happens. I am just like you on mac El Capitan.

UltraHumanite

mrtinikan said:

UltraHumanite said:

tomeworm said:

I don't know how you guys put up with that. I don't have that issue with the PIA app, but I'm also running an older OSX version.

If it were me I'd dump the PIA app and go with Viscosity. Oh, wait, I do use Viscosity! Great OpenVPN app and very stable. Definitely worth the $9, and their support is excellent.

I have Viscosity and I did use it for a while, however the native PIA app has some functions that are easier to access. Do you have strong encryption settings configured or are you using the standard config?

Hi UltraHumanite, could you tell me how you connect to PIA using Viscosity ? When I click the "connect" button nothing happens. I am just like you on mac El Capitan.

Hi. Did you follow this setup guide: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/pages/client-support/osx10.10-viscosity

erkanea

I am having this issue as well and this bug is almost the only reason why I am rebooting my Mac every so often. Do not take this as a threat but this bug could be the only reason if I change my vpn provider.

sking

Same issue for me: Any time I disconnect, a full reboot is required to be able to connect again.

Will cancel service if not fixed.

Pete

tomeworm said:

If it were me I'd dump the PIA app and go with Viscosity. Oh, wait, I do use Viscosity! Great OpenVPN app and very stable. Definitely worth the $9, and their support is excellent.

It is stable, but I wish I could say the same about their support. Unfortunately, my experience has been poor, to say the least.

I've tried to post a message on their support forum, about a very serious issue, regarding the real IP address being exposed, under certain circumstances. My message was never posted (waiting for the approval).

There was also another message on their support forum, dealing with very similar issue, and that one got removed, after being posted for a few days.

I have contacted them via e-mail, and got a reply which confirmed my concerns. They also stated that they will look into addressing these issues in the next revision of the software.

I still don't understand why they are removing messages from the support forum. It is almost like trying to hide these issues, until and if they get resolved in the future. Why not allow people be aware of potential dangers?

To me it is poor customer support, if you expect from all your customers to be network experts, fiddling around with firewall rules, and such, to try to make the software bulletproof, on your own.

I still use Viscosity on occasions , but I don't trust it very much anymore. For example, for P2P, which I rarely use, I trust PIA more, with their kill switch, and IPv6 leak protection.

And at least, these guys here allow everybody to express their concerns freely on this forum, and for other people to read about it, and share their opinions.

ghost77uk

*BUMP*

Same issue here with a 2015 Macbook Pro. Frustrating to say the least how often I have to reboot due to the PIA app.

A response/reply would be a nice start even if it's just to say you guys are looking into the issue.

asanjeev

Hi all,

I'm the developer for the desktop application. While I am not able to reproduce the issue right now, I will say that we are making the auto-reconnect more reliable in the upcoming version, especially while resuming from sleep.

Answers to these questions will go a long way in helping figure out a solution:

• what version of the app do you have (you can see the version in bottom left after clicking "advanced")
• what kind of network do you connect to.
• Does this happen if you close lid for few seconds and re-open
• Does this happen if you close lid for over an hour and re-open
• If you don't have PIA running and open your laptop how long does it take to re-connect to wifi?
• does this happen with all wifi networks or only some

My current guess is your wifi might be a bit slower to reconnect than the ones we are testing on. This way, PIA tries to re-connect on resuming from sleep but since there's no wifi yet, this might cause a slightly broken state.

I'll try to simulate this and add some additional cases to handle if network isn't available yet.

Please note that we are working hard on ensuring that you have a reliable and seamless experience working with the PIA app.

Thank you!

pgg33

asanjeev said:

Hi all,

I'm the developer for the desktop application. While I am not able to reproduce the issue right now, I will say that we are making the auto-reconnect more reliable in the upcoming version, especially while resuming from sleep.

Answers to these questions will go a long way in helping figure out a solution:

• what version of the app do you have (you can see the version in bottom left after clicking "advanced")
• what kind of network do you connect to.
• Does this happen if you close lid for few seconds and re-open
• Does this happen if you close lid for over an hour and re-open
• If you don't have PIA running and open your laptop how long does it take to re-connect to wifi?
• does this happen with all wifi networks or only some

My current guess is your wifi might be a bit slower to reconnect than the ones we are testing on. This way, PIA tries to re-connect on resuming from sleep but since there's no wifi yet, this might cause a slightly broken state.

I'll try to simulate this and add some additional cases to handle if network isn't available yet.

Please note that we are working hard on ensuring that you have a reliable and seamless experience working with the PIA app.

Thank you!

Has any progress in determining the problem been discovered? I need to figure out if its the going to sleep overnight issue or if my company's wifi is confusing it when I take my personal computer to work. My only solution is rebooting which is very inconvenient. I gotta make a decision in the next few days in case I need a refund.