Cat6 cable keep get disconnected but not with Cat5 cable

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Cat6 cable keep get disconnected but not with Cat5 cable

Hi,

I did a search but couldn't find an answer for this. I have a Mac Mini M2 and whenever I use a Cat6 cable keep get disconnected every few minutes and reconnect within 2-3 seconds and stay connect for few minutes again but not with Cat5 cable. So I have changed 3 different Cat6/Cat6a/Cat5e cable and all the same, only Cat5 would work without this behavior. Any help would be appreciated! Here is my setup:

500/500 Fiber

Mac Mini M2

Eero Pro

NETGEAR ProSAFE 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch (one of the port connects to iMac with Cat5e and no issue)

Already tried:

Monoprice Cat6 7' SlimRun

Monoprice Cat6A 3' SlimRun

Eero Cat5e

Mac mini (M2, 2023)

Posted on Feb 27, 2024 3:04 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

MartinR

Level 7

24,444 points

Feb 28, 2024 6:55 AM in response to LTuned

Your Cat6 cables are only 30awg, that's why they're "slim." I suspect that has something to do with the behavior you are seeing. Cat6/6e also has different shielding. Your Cat5e cable is from Amazon. While Cat6/6a/5e are all backward compatible with Cat 5 that doesn't mean that all cables are actually good.

If you can, try using the different cables with your iMac to see if they exhibit the same performance there. It will at least help figure out if the issue is the cables or the Mini.

You should also experiment with a different port on your Switch; perhaps there is a bad port.

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Cat6 cable keep get disconnected but not with Cat5 cable

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