ethernet card - could it be failing intermittantly?

Why are you using a VPN? Uninstall the VPN to see if your issue goes away. If the VPN is required to create a point-to-point secure tunnel to your workplace or other private network, contact the location's network administrator and ask for assistance.

A virtual private network, or VPN, is a private connection over the Internet from a device to a specific network.  VPN technology is widely used in corporate environments. If you need to be "present" on an institutional network, a VPN is a great tool for accomplishing this. it is generally issued and controlled by the institution.

Almost all other uses are a SCAM. There is generally no need for you to have a private connection to a VPN vendor's Network, except to make it easier for them to harvest your data to sell.

If VPN vendors just stopped there, it would be bad. But many of these packages also insist on scanning all your files, non-stop, -- nominally looking for viruses, but who knows for sure what data they are harvesting. Their non-stop file reading punishes your computer's performance in the process.

Some also break into your other secure connections so they can be FIRST to examine your data, often leaving your Mac MORE vulnerable to attack.

stephentargett wrote:

wow, multiple responses man-splaining vpns to me!

if you are not responding to the issue of my ethernet card possibly failing, DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS THREAD.

thank you,

The troubleshooting process includes elimination of possible issue causes. The issue we first have to eliminate is the possibility of a third party VPN interfering with your network. Non of us remote users have access to your hardware so can not isolate an Ethernet hardware problem.

Sorry I tried to help you. Best of luck getting to the cause of your issue.

I have used Ethernet extensively for decades. I have never had Ethernet go bad in any MacOS computer system. The one case reported here that sticks in my mind was solved by repairing bent wires in the Ethernet jack.

Because your wild guess was [in my opinion] So egregiously far off base, I felt compelled to explain what causes Many, many, many issues for Mac users that post here.

--------

The people who are answering your questions here are NOT Apple employees. They are other users, who Volunteer their time and energy to help you in whatever way they can.

Sometimes you might get information that is tangential to you wanted to know, or WAY more information than you wanted.

PLEASE try to be gracious in your responses. If you got more than you wanted to hear, Please do not assault the person who gave you tangential or ‘too much' information. Instead, understand that they were TRYING to be helpful, even if their answer did not line up perfectly with your query.

Just ignore the overage and get on with solving your problems, and count your blessings that someone was willing to help, even if the answer was "too much" or “way off base”.

If important parts of your question did not get answered, just ask a more pointed question and Readers will try again.

Is it possible an external USB Ethernet adapter, or USB cabling, or Ethernet patch cable, or switch port, has a transient fault? Sure.

Is it possible that there is transient electromotive interference, or grid power is unstable? Sure.

Is it possible that the Mac itself has a transient in its hardware, such as in the USB or memory hardware? Sure.

VPNs, which inherently modify IP routing — and with some VPN clients, inexplicably even when the VPNs are supposedly not active — can also cause transient networking problems.

Systematic debugging this case involves removing each potential cause, and testing. Whatever your opinion of the VPN here, that is one of the easiest and cheapest parts ro remove from the configuration, and test without it. That, and swapping the patch cable.

Another potential VPN option that is available is Algo, as that allows you to host your own VPN server, among other options.

You’re too far back for iCloud+ Private Relay and its ODoH support here, as that requires macOS 12 and later.