Why does my brand new Mac M1 Mini say "cable unplugged" when I connect it to the router via Ethernet cable?

Question

Why does my brand new Mac M1 Mini say "cable unplugged" when I connect it to the router via Ethernet cable?

I set up my new "Mac M1 Mini Late 2020" using WiFi. After setting up and installing the latest system updates, I connected the Mini to my router using an Ethernet cable. Network preferences shows Ethernet: Not Connected and Status: Cable Unplugged. This is with a brand new Cat8 cable. I tried with a different cable, but got the same result.

I'm a long-time Windows user. This is my first Mac, so I don't know my way around the system very well.

Mac mini, macOS 11.1

Posted on Mar 11, 2021 3:17 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

JohnDunstable Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 13, 2021 8:48 PM in response to den.thed

Why didn't I think of that? I discovered that the router port is defective. Nothing I plug into it is recognized. I moved the Mini to another port and now the router sees it. The router is 6 years old. Time for a replacement. Thanks!

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

91,660 points

Mar 14, 2021 7:25 AM in response to JohnDunstable

JohnDunstable wrote:

Why didn't I think of that? I discovered that the router port is defective. Nothing I plug into it is recognized. I moved the Mini to another port and now the router sees it. The router is 6 years old. Time for a replacement. Thanks!

You're welcome.

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Answer 3

den.thed

Level 10

91,660 points

Mar 12, 2021 10:18 AM in response to JohnDunstable

Try the steps at > https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/connect-mac-internet-ethernet-mh11939/mac

You also might want to try moving one of the other devices to port 4 and put the Mac Mini on it's port.

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Answer 4

hcsitas

Level 6

13,964 points

Mar 12, 2021 12:13 PM in response to JohnDunstable

Reboot the router. If that doesn’t fix it, connect the cable to a different router port.

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Answer 5

Mar 11, 2021 11:35 PM in response to JohnDunstable

Try to reset SMC and PRAM and see if that helps. Does it work on other devices? If yes, try to make a new network setup and set Ethernet on the top of the list.

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Answer 6

Mar 12, 2021 9:46 AM in response to Matti Haveri

Can you explain what you mean by "does it work on other devices." What is "it?"

My router has four ethernet ports. Three are connected to other devices, which are working just fine. The Mini is plugged into the fourth ethernet port. But the Mini says the the cable is not connected, and the router shows three clients, with no evidence of anything else attempting to connect. It's like I plugged a cable into the router with nothing at the other end.

I am a total Mac novice, so resetting SMC and PRAM are definitely above my pay grade.

The Mac is currently using WiFi, which is at the top of the network preferences list. That's the way first-time setup works: the Mac asks you to choose a WiFi network. No option to use a wired network was offered during setup. If the ethernet cable had been plugged in at the time (it was not), perhaps it would have offered me that option. Anyway, I assumed it would be easy to switch to a wired network later. I didn't realize it would require "resetting the PRAM and SMC." Yikes!

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