Ethernet port not working with a Gigabit switch

Sadly, in my case, the Trendnet TEG-S50g does not work. You can see it trying to connect at 1000BT with the link light on the switch constantly blinking on and off but the mini itself will give the "no cable" message. If I force it down to 100BT it works fine as expected.

Looks like I'm going to have them swap out the motherboard and hope that clears things up.

Sorry to hear that. 😟

Just a quick update - Mac "Genius" actually very helpful and knowledgeable (thanks Dave) and although they didn't have enough stuff to test it at 1000baseT, they've ordered a new logic board for it.

It should be in tomorrow and I'll update again when it's been done.

Interestingly, when I got it back home again, it DID connect at 1000baseT, but only for a few mins before dropping out again... 😟

Same problem here. Late 2006 Intel Mac Mini used to run at gigabit line rate without issue. I've tried several known good cables and switches and cannot get the mini to run at 1gbps any more. I've tried several cheap Linksys and Netgear switches as well as Cisco Catalyst commercial grade managed switches. There is clearly a problem with the Mini's - probably firmware related. The last time I knew it worked I was still on Leopard. Possibly SL did something?


For the record, Apple removed my original reply to this thread which contained a ton more data on this problem as well as other Mac hardware failures. I guess they don't want the truth getting out about how bad their hardware actually is. If anyone wants to know the full scoop please email insanity at hellbent dot cc. I have half a dozen dead Mac's lying around here and I suppose the mini is headed for that heap as well.

Hi All,

Sorry to hear about your issues Insanity213 - must admit it's a little worrying to hear about these problems given this is my first Mac. I read your original post (was emailed to me) so interesting to see it torn down...

I just picked up my Mini from the Mac Store (replaced logic board) and it immediately negotiated to 1gbit/s - it's obviously far too early to make any real conclusions on whether it's fixed or not and I certainly won't be holding my breath... But I've copied 1.3gb of data over to the NAS and so far so good.

Fingers crossed...

Still connected at 1000baseT - guess that solves it for me... Just hope it doesn't revert in the future.

🙂

I can report the same results as Footleg.

After the motherboard swap (under warranty thankfully) the mini has been up at 1000BT solidly for 5 days now (and believe me, I check all of the time now 🙂 ).

Until two days ago mine worked fine into a Netgear GS116 Gigabit Switch then I needed to move the cable to get something else connected when I plugged it back in it connected then disconnected now that's all it does continuously seems to be more widespread than I expected. I've got some new cabling and a different switch to test so I'll let you all know what works...

Misery loves company. We have a new Mini and it cannot maintain a connection. We can switch to wireless and it is fine, but even the wireless will lose a connection. What is odd is that I can ping some things on the network but not others. I hadn't considered it was an 10gb Ethernet issue until finding this thread, but SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH MINI NETWORKING. I have 5 ⚠ other Macs in the house that work perfectly on this network.

Read through these threads and have to think that maybe i'm just lucky. My Late 09 Mac Mini works just fine gigabit-wise with my Dlink Extreme Gigabit router and switch. Same with my MBPro as well.

I've got a early 2009 Mac Mini and have found that my ethernet port won't connect above 100mbit. I'm connected to a first generation Airport Extreme N router (Gigabit model) but it won't connect if I set it to manually accept 1gbit connection. So I'm hoping Apple comes up with an update that addresses this issue.

how do you test it? I have having the same problem, late 2009 mac mini that for the past 9 months had no problems being set at Jumbo frames, now won't even see the network if i do that, so have to keep it on automatic. Seeing genius bar tomorrow, hopefully for a new logic board

OK. I have the same problem too. Here is a brief explanation of my setup and some test I have done:

Qnap TS209 server, iMac 24, macBook (13 inch), mac Mini (2009 model), Netgear GS108 switch.

All computers are connected to the Gigabit switch with cat 5e cable. Now, the macBook, mac mini and Qnap all connect at 1000T, the iMac only connects at 100T with the "cable unplugged" error if trying to configure it to 1000T. I have tried all the cables in different ports etc. but still the iMac will not connect at 1000T. I checked in the 'About this mac' on the mac Mini and the iMac and both are using the same NVIDIA network cards!

I bought a cat 5e crossover network cable and connected the iMac directly to the macBook and the iMac automatically connects at 1000T!!!

So why when it is connected via the Gigabit switch will it only connect at 100T. I don't want to spend out on another network switch, just in case I get the same issue with a different one. If I knew a new switch would do the trick I would probably buy one, but what make and model would be best?

anyone tried the new update to see if it fixes this?

CraigSmith,

In my opinion these minis have a poor algorithm to determine cable speed vs cable disconnected.

How long is the Cat-5e run from the mini to the switch?

As a test, I suggest placing the mini adjacent to the switch and use the same short cross-over cable that worked at 1000T to connect to the switch. (The mini will auto flip the cable.)

If that works at 1000T, then you know the issue is the mini and your longer cable, and not the mini and the switch. One fix would be to put a 2nd switch at the mini's end of the long cable run, and the use a short cable to the mini.