New Mac Mini M2 Pro, Internet Problems

Ok, I've just changed a setting in the network hardware pane for my Ethernet connection:

switched to "configure manually"

disabled AVB/EAV mode

and rebooted.

It's been 15 minutes and internet is fast, downloads don't stall, and I haven't lost a single ping.

Patrick Proniewski wrote:

Ok, I've just changed a setting in the network hardware pane for my Ethernet connection:

switched to "configure manually"

disabled AVB/EAV mode

and rebooted.

It's been 15 minutes and internet is fast, downloads don't stall, and I haven't lost a single ping.

Sounds almost like it is a software bug if configuring manually solves the issue. Contact Apple support directly and report the issue and your work around. The issue may likely be cleared up in a quick macOS update for the new Macs if it is wide spread.

It is not all that unusual to find OS issues once a new product is released as they can't test every possible setup that can occur in the field, i.e. the multitude of routers old and new, all the internet providers with the multitude of modems, all the items consumers may have connected to their networks, etc. as all these possible combinations can count into millions of combinations.

I also had this issue with my Mac mini M2 Pro 12/19 core 16GB/1TB version with 10Gbps Ethernet. I couldn’t just set the AVB/EAV mode to off, but also had to change my network speed to 2500Base-T (which is what my Ethernet network is). The test I used was Ookla Speedtest, the Mac application, not the web version. When I was having issues, it would fail with no Internet connection part way through the upload test. It never failed on download. Once I made the second setting and rebooted, Speedtest hasn’t failed and I haven’t seen an interruption in the short time I’ve changed it. I suggest turning off the setting and setting the max speed of your network.

My understanding is that AVB/EAV is a QoS mode designed for audio over Ethernet. Most QoS I have ever seen on routers just don’t work and cause issues just like we’ve seen. In fact I’ve yet to see a good QoS mode on any device and always turn it off on every router I’ve ever owned. Leave it off until Apple guarantees it works. This is definitely a software issue if this fixes your problem. Don’t return your Mac for this!

Got my Mac mini M2 pro yesterday and same issue here. When setting up the Mac Mini, I couldn't sign in with my Apple ID because connection to the Apple servers failed. Also the update from Mac OS 13.0 to 13.2 failed. The Ethernet connection toggles on and off every 2 seconds.

Then I connected the Mac mini to various other Ethernet switches to see if it would make a difference:

• Eth-Switch #1: Unstable ethernet connection, goes on and off every 2 seconds.
• Eth-Switch #2: Ethernet connection stays on, but very bad transfer rates. Internet download only approx. 15 kb/sec. iperf speed test between Mac Mini and iMac 27" in the same network showed unstable bursts of either 950 Mbit/sec or no traffic at all.
• Eth-Switch #3 (10 years old no-name switch): no problems, no packet loss, ~950 Mbit transfer rate.

If I turn off auto-negotiation and select manual configuration, ethernet works fine with all 3 switches. At least so far.

I had the same issue with a Satechi hub sitting below the Mac mini. Removing it changed internet speeds from sloggy to zippy, even though I had read that the unit does not affect internet speeds. Noticed another responder had the same problem with the quiizlab version, so if you've got something under your Mac mini, there's a good chance that's your problem. Sell your hub or put a spacer between them.

Having the new Mac mini M2 Pro, I experienced lot of problem while having Ethernet and Wifi on. Bad loading time of web page, connexion lost on Citrix, bad network quality while using Teams.

After having shutdown WIFI and keep Ethernet only, not better

Really since disabling AVB/EAV for the ethernet connection that things became smooth and having same network performance as my previous M1 mini

I had the same Ethernet issues and also found the same solution that Patrick Proniewski

did:

Go to the network hardware pane for my Ethernet connection and

switch to "configure manually"

disable AVB/EAV mode

It's been more than 24 hours without problems. Until Apple gets out a fix, I recommend this for Ethernet issues. WiFi is a totally different story.

In my case with my brand new M2 Pro mini I must force 1000gb/full in Hardware. If I use auto speed negotiate it seems to be bent on 100baseT and never stays connected. I also disabled AVB, which won't stay disabled with speed auto. Hopefully fixed in 13.2.1 #shrug

I just spent a frustrating 90 minutes and figured out that the default ethernet configure (automatic) is causing the issue on my ethernet port. I had to set it to manual configuration and then turned off the AVB/EAV mode and also manually set the speed of the port .. Once I did that, everything seems to be working well. I am on MAC OS 13.2

In my case the problem seems to be caused by EEE (Energy Efficient Ethernet, IEEE 802.3az). In automatic mode, MacOS turns on EEE if the remote station supports it. In manual mode it is off unless you specifically select it in the duplex settings.

The ethernet settings dialog does not reliably show whether EEE is actually enabled or not, but can be read from the kernel logs:

I tried with 4 different ethernet switches (with and without EEE support) and settings (automatic/manual): as soon as EEE is enabled, ethernet is unstable and slow. If EEE is off, everything works fine at full speed.

My old iMac 27" works fine with EEE enabled, though.

tldr: Disabling AVB/EAV also worked for me.

Brand new M2 Mac Mini arrived after a pre-order. After connecting via Ethernet I noticed the port which the Mini was connected to flapping on my switch.

Triage included:

1. Specifying Hardware speed / duplex
2. Alternative ports on my switching equipment
3. Alternative Cat6 connectivity
4. Changing IPv6 configuration based on other (older) threads detailing similar challenges
5. Obligatory rebooting of connected devices

If anyone has a reference or issue I could contribute logs to - share the details.

An additional note after the change above.

I run Homebridge on my Mini and noticed network disconnection every minute in the logs for some of the plugins with no other symptoms visible in experience. In my triage I had set the switch port back to auto negotiate. I now specify port speed and it appears to have stopped that drop out.

When setting your hardware configuration to manual it may be that you also need to set your port speed manually to match as well as changing the AVB/EAV setting

I have the same 2 issues, Wifi is horrible performance. Not looking at that yet. The Ethernet was a little better but still not right, 30-40% packet loss on an extended ping test. Changed the AVB/EAV settings and it's much better but still experiencing around 5-10% packet loss.

I attached a Belkin usb-ethernet adapter, it's been rock solid for over 30 minutes.

Migrated from a 2014 iMac, which I Carbon Copy Cloned to a SanDisk SSD over USB 3.2(USB-C). Only took a few minutes. I could've also restored from a time machine back up that was connected to the 2014 iMac, or used ethernet; but, suspicious of a problem with ethernet, cable, or the hub. I switched the M2 Mac mini Pro with a new CAT-5/6/7 ethernet cable and connected it to a different hub- one that my 2011 and 2014 iMacs were connected to, that had no problems. My Internet problems disappeared. So, it was either a bad ethernet cable or the connection on that hub. I tagged the ethernet cable as suspicious, but I think it was the connection on the hub that was bad.

Good luck with this problem, as it appears many are having Internet problems not related to ethernet. I should've tried Wi-Fi, which I suspect would've worked fine. But at the time I was thinking ethernet connection as the gold standard. Spent a couple days with this, as I came here and saw other people with the same problem; and, felt a little silly after connecting to a different hub solved the problem so easily. Best, Seth

P.S. Clicked reply to someone who ask how one set up their new Mac mini Pro. Somehow, ended up here.

Well, I was discovering macOS 13 (huge experience with 10.11 and older releases but this one brings substantial changes), so I've checked for network related settings I could temper with. Found this unknown "AVB/EAV" setting, googled a bit to understand what it does, decided I definitely don't need it, disabled it, and most importantly: got lucky with it.

The real problem cause seems to be an interaction with some Ethernet interface behaviors and some old network switches. My current 8 ports Netgear switch is kinda old (but is rock solid), so I guess going back to a more conservative Ethernet interface behavior fixed the problem. I also could have bought a brand new network switch just to accommodate a useless feature pushed by Apple: waste of money, waste of Earth resources, etc.

I'm happy to bring a simple and straightforward solution for many people here. Thank you all for your feedback.