Mac Mini M2 wifi issues

Set up my M2 Pro Mini today. Wifi was blinking on and off until I connected it physically to my Eero base router by a network cable from my junk box.

Next I phoned the Eero support phone number (listed on my Eero IOS app). The support person had me soft reset the base unit via the tiny button on the bottom, unplug and reply the satellite units, and wait about 5 minutes while everything I guess percolated through the system. Finally the support person had me disconnect the network cable. Chrome browser speed test reports the mini is getting 596Mbps down and 20Mbps up. That’s about 60% of what Xfinity is delivering to the Eero (Xfinity is in bridge mode) but I didn’t pause the Dropbox download for the test (Dropbox is working on transferring 70,000 files to the mini, about a ten hour job).

Problem solved by the Eero team!

Going to: General - AirDrop & Handoff

Disable:

Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices

Disable:

Airplay Receiver

Also:

Allow AirPlay for - Current User

Does not seem to entirely fix it but improved my calls and streaming. At least the Wifi seems to recover, whilst before it would stay broken for some time.

Otherwise... as mentioned many times before, go to Terminal and type:  sudo ifconfig awdl0 down - add your password, hit enter. When your wifi gets weird and it recovers it.

Super horrible to loose features that are actually pretty nice in order to have regular wifi. But hey... just trying to help.

My Amplifi Alien and enterprise Ruckus R650 are both WiFi 6 (not E). The ruckus has the ability to change anything. I extensively tested both, and tried what worked for you. Unfortunately the issue would manifest again. Here's what I've done, separately on both routers.

I was within 5ft during testing, changing the SSID to where only my testing devices were connected.

1. Tried toggling and disabling broadcasting.
2. Tested at an Apple Store.
3. Verified it's occurring on my MacBook M2, and Mac Mini M2 Pro.
4. Separated the 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands.
5. Tested 20/40/80 channelization.
6. Ran a site survey, trying multiple channels with the least noise (only 1/6/11 for 2.4ghz).
7. Tried disabling the radios. 5ghz on, 2.4ghz off. And 5ghz off, 2.4ghz on.
8. Disabled WiFi 6 radio, leaving 5ghz on.
9. Ruckus AP has a gateway mode. Tried that directly connected to WAN.
10. Ruckus AP is PoE+, tried an external power supply with PoE+ disabled.
11. Ruckus AP is capable of changing the TX power. Tested from -1 to -10dB (max).
12. Tested with WPA3/WPA2/Radius/Open.
13. Restored default configuration.
14. Blocked Multicast/Unicast traffic.
15. Disabled hairpin NAT.
16. Disabled UPnP 1/2.

In every scenario, I had an older Thinkpad T480s pinging my enterprise L3 Aruba switch. Its response times were consistent, 1-5ms. Every Apple device, sporadic from 5-350ms. Hard wired, .2-.5ms on Apple and Windows.

I honestly believe this is due to the adapter card aggressively entering PowerSave mode. I'm still looking into it, but the pmset command may have a way to disable that.

I was able to figure out how to run a sniffer pcap report, but in WireShark i've been unable to add the "PWR MGMT" column as shown in the thread from my last post. Which is essential.

For those unaware, holding down option and clicking on the WiFi icon will show diagnostic selections. Opening "Open Wireless Diagnostics" will give you more advanced debugging under the "Window" menu drop down (where you'll find sniffer).

I found a solution it may help you guys.

i have tried yesterday, it still works fine after the masOS update this morning.

1. Switch off and unplug the power cable from Mac mini.
2. Press and hold the power button for 15 seconds.
3. Plug-in the power cable again.
4. The WiFi just return to normal speed and will not disconnect the internet.

I don’t know is it works permanently or works for your mini. But it just fine for me in the past 2 days.

I have used for 5 days until now, it still fine!

The 5 GHz WiFi keeps in normal speed (good connection, no speed drop/disconnect again).

Just unplug the power cable from Mac mini.

Then long press the power button, and plug the cable back.

It's done!

I think this is the most simple way to solve the wifi problem.

No disable AWDL need!

As Julian mentioned (I agree), that update is simply CLI tools. As expected, it made no change, but at least those who are still planning on Calling Apple support, will have everything updated so they can avoid extra troubleshooting steps.

Individually, I tested 2.4Ghz channels 1 through 11 (except 6) and 5Ghz channels 36, 44 (only helps in UK), 48, 153, 157, and 161.

All identical as the picture I posted above with the red squares. Reverting back to only 6/149, problem solved.

Ahh ok. Try this, assuming you’re using an iPhone. Connect to the hotspot then hold down option and click the WiFi icon. Record what channel it is on and what the gateway IP is.

Use terminal “ping x.x.x.x” (where X is the gateway IP). This will simulate a home network. Don’t use websites. That pings your public IP from an outside network.

Bet you find you’re on 6/149 or 44, and pings are stable.

I meant I read that 2 days ago https://appleinsider.com/articles/23/05/02/fourth-macos-ventura-134-beta-plagued-by-networking-issues

"reports from developers on Twitter indicate there may be a problem with the update. Tweets from developers including @Aaronp613 and @iSoftwareUpdates indicate multiple people have updated and found that they have networking issues. 

Early-stage reports from users indicate it could be a Wi-Fi-specific issue, with the network connection dropping periodically for some participants."

so 13.4 BETA make it worse somehow :-(

I am a network specialist(CCIE) plus and Apple support specialist and also work with wifi over 20 years, there is something going on with this chipset/drivers on wifi6E , I work as a cisco partner helping lots of customers and have now spent hours and hours on troubleshooting.

Result is

Problem is mostly on 5ghz, on 2,4 band its does not seam to bother normal users.

auth for 802.1x is worst, psk is beter.

We have tested many other mac with non wifi6e chipset including m1pro, problem is not there , so this is the wifi6e, 100% , I have not contacted apple since I am in Iceland and covarge there is hard to get. I have opened cases with cisco wich all point towards client. Hoping Apple will get their act togather ans fix or replace these.

Hi Ken. I touched the connector's metal with a (unprotected) paper clip and the transfer speed got bigger immediately. It remebered me of the old TV sets with a room antenna :).

Nevertheless, the speed was not at it's maximum and therefore I swiched my screen to USB-C cable instead of HDMI and problem solved (i unplugged the hdmi from the computer) - Now it works perfectly at max speed. I will keep you posted if the wifi problem comes back with USB C also.

Just to be clear, I would like to say that I had a Mac mini M1 two weeks ago on the same desk, with the same connectors that worked well. I have also changed the WIFI settings (separate 5G and 2,5G networks) to try to solve this issue but it didn't help.

And if shelling the plugs with EMI shielding tape would also be necessary...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097HHJQPS/

I notice when AbuYang touches the HDMI cable connector he's also touching the Mac mini's case. Maybe taping the plug to the Mac mini's case with EMI grounding tape would help?

Ken Shimabukuro,

The Ugreen HDMI cable with model number 20276.

The Wi-Fi used is dual-band, supporting both 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies, and it uses the same SSID. The devices automatically switch between the two frequencies, and it is not possible to separate them and use different SSIDs. The Wi-Fi device model is Netgear Orbi AX4200 WiFi 6 Mesh (RBK752). Checking the connection list, the Mac mini m2 is connected using the 5GHz channel.

AbuYang, do you have any way of routing your HDMI cable straight out from your Mac mini then plugging the other end into your display without making the cable perpendicular close to your Mac mini? Is this your HDMI cable I highlighted in this photo? Is your HDMI cable looped back around where some part of the cable is parallel to your Mac mini?

hi Eimer92

I think you'll find both the logic board and antenna will be replaced. I took mine in on a Saturday, it was ready the next day. Hope all goes well in your repair.

Copy and paste the user ID to get the blue link

here we go:

4 x Icy Box IB-1807MT-C31 M.2 in USB C 3.2 (Gen 2) 10Gbit/s. ref: IB-1807MT-C31

4 x Kingston NV2. 2000 GB, M.2 2280. PCI 4.0 ref: SNV2S/2000G

What work and not:

• 4 disks connected to USB-C with HDMI 8k cable -> WIFI 5GHZ pathetic performances or no connection at all, router is 1.5m away!
• 4 disks connected to USB-C with HDMI 8k cable and ethernet -> some disk are unmounted randomly, or fill up the screens with warning: you did not unmounted properly the disk...
• Stable wifi 5GHz ONLY if all disks are connected to a USB3 powered hub icy-box but then I get subpar disk performances...

I went to apple shop in Zurich, after 50min, one genius came back, saying Apple has nob known issues about Mac mini wifi :-) the genius proposes me to contact the tech team. At this point I just left, ****** of

I am a software engineer/hacker since 27 years and love tinkering, for me it look like a hardware issues, related to power or bandwidth or both.

Lets see if it will be solve in Sonoma, alas Im running their latest beta and it is still the same...

If Apple can solve it with code, I will carefully run a lot of benchmarks to see if I found a limitation in their software fix implementation :-)