2024 Mac mini network issues

I also have a Mac Mini M4 pro. I have ethernet as my first connection and wifi as the second. I have no issues with internet connection or speed. However, I see you only want to run the ethernet for some reason but I cannot see why that would cause you any issues. Perhaps your ethernet socket and/or cable is an issue even though you just replaced the cables. Try a cat cable that is not an 8 and see what happens. All my cables are cat6

I have a problem with the M4 which seems quite identical (we are network experts).

Problem can be described as follow:

1. Context:

• MacMini 2024 with 10G Ethernet option
• Connected to a 10G fiber switch with a proper transceiver fiber >> ethernet
• FS switch: S3900-24T4S-R
• Port known to work with 10G fiber

2. Problem:

• speed auto-select does not work (fall back to 1G)
• forcing speed to 10GbaseT allows interface to switch to 10G for few seconds (interface is up and can ping with no pb).
• after a "few seconds" (random) interface disconnects / reconnects randomly and finally stays down
• changing flow control or other settings does not solve the issue
• only way to "solve" the issue is to lower port speed which is "not ok at all"

Cable is brand new (have bought one specially for this) and of course compatible with 10G speed.

I suspect a firmware problem with the 10G Apple interface -- not sure which manufacturer is behind this, probably some low end manufacturer

[Edited by Moderator]

Check the Network Service Order.

Apple > System Setting > Network > click on ... ⌄ > select Set Service Order... > drag Ethernet to the top > click OK.

TL;DR - I seem to have solved this for myself by setting the ethernet hardware config to manual instead of automatic.

I have been having similar issues as reported in this thread. M4 Mac Mini with 10GB ethernet.

I am using a wired connection and had wifi disabled. My network connection would die out quite frequently. I was able to get it to reliably happen by sending a ping command OUT of the mac mini via SSH and executing that in a loop (see below). In another shell, I would ping the m4-mac-mini just as a way to monitor when it was misbehaving.

while ; do

ssh m4-mac-mini 'ping -c1 -s 8184 some-other-machine'

done

Running this command would pretty predictably cause the mini's network connection to hang about every 15-30 seconds for 4 or 5 seconds.

I started with the service order, but it already had the ethernet connection listed first. I tried switching it lower and then back to the to without success. Next I turned on wifi as some have reported here, that didn't help either. Then I deleted the Ethernet bridge that is automatically created, but that also didn't help.

Finally, I thought I'd try different MTU sizes so switched the ethernet adapter config from automatic to manual. I just monitored the connection after switching to manual without making any actual changes to the settings to get a baseline, and it's been behaving since then.

I even put the config back to automatic and it started happening again. This definitely seems to be the fix *for me*.

I'm hoping this helps someone else who has been experiencing this VERY frustrating issue. Please report back if it does, so others can benefit.

Finally, thanks to everyone here who contributed suggestions and observations.

“I prefer to run wired-only”

Not recommended since you will lose location services which can cause all kinds of mystery issues. So use WiFi only or both, not Ethernet exclusively.

By the way, Cat 8 is way overkill for home, even office use. Be aware that throwing money at problems by choosing the most expensive options is no guarantee they’ll go away. Just so you know😉

I would test large transfers, streaming media, or even just ping continuously between the two looking for dropped packets between your MacBook Pro and the MacMini and see if you get intermittent communications or slow data rates. This will determine if the issue is with your internal network/and or Mini. If there are no issues during these tests then the issue is not due to internal networking issues or hardware.

If that testing reveals no issues, then the issue is connecting to the outside world. Suspects there could be something with the network router, hardware or software firewalls, or even background apps on the Mini that may somehow take over your internet path bandwidth.

Re:1, it’s normal practice nowadays not to spit out detailed error messages when security is at issue.

Ethernet-only is a non-standard practice which interferes with location, we can agree on that. How apps respond when they receive ambiguous location is up to them, especially since they are clueless on the why (but don’t expect anything pointed).

For example, streaming content is often blocked when VPNs are used to deceive location. Apps will usually not spit out anything more than “Something went wrong”. It’s not bad design, it’s just a kind way of saying “we think you’re messing about, stop, just stop”.

Re:2, Cat 8 is way overkill for home/small office use, not just for troubleshooting but also regular use. You can’t get a pass for casually mentioning that as business-as-usual in a public forum without having it STRONGLY pushed back. Otherwise, others could happily spend useless extra bucks on it too.

Have a nice day! How’s that for kindness 😁

Did the update to 15.3 help? I did the update and nothing has changed. If I use just wifi, just ethernet, or both, my connection drops randomly. I do not have any issues with my M1 MacBook or Intel-based Mini.

I have the 10GB ethernet interface on a Mac Mini M2 PRO. I had intermittent ethernet interface freezes running macOS 15.2, which I never experienced before. Tried all options (cables, switch ports, ethernet card settings) ... my resolution was to inactive and re-activate the interface to kickstart the ethernet card or live with Wifi. For me 15.2 was the culprit.

I installed 15.3 two days ago and still keeping my fingers crossed that a macOS bug has been fixed. Before the upgrade, within the Network system settings panel, I deleted the ethernet service to kill all ethernet-related processes, applied the 15.3 update and then reinstalled the ethernet service.

Apologies, that should say that I deleted the Thunderbolt Bridge. Also, forgot to mention I was running the same command to ping INTO the mac mini with large packets at the same time as I was running the script listed above. I think either way it will manifest the issue. (I didn't see any way to edit my first comment)