So I ran this command in Terminal:
log show --style syslog --last 5m | grep -i "Wake Reason"
and gemini read the information and told me the following
(i hate the smoking gun stuff...the but rest might be useful)
The logs you've provided are a "smoking gun" for the 26.4 (Sequoia/Tahoe) drive mounting issue.
Every single line in that screenshot points to systemWokenByWiFi and airportd. Specifically, look at the tags: _PMConnectionHandler, _updateTCPKeepaliveTimeoutCounters, and _CWXPCInterfaceContext.
The Diagnosis
Your Mac is experiencing "Dark Wakes" triggered by the Wi-Fi card. Even while the lid is closed or the screen is off, the Wi-Fi chip is waking up the system processor to maintain network persistence (Find My, iCloud syncing, or checking for Mail).
In this specific macOS build (26.4), when the Wi-Fi card triggers a Dark Wake, the kernel is performing a full hardware bus refresh. It’s not just checking the internet; it’s re-scanning the Thunderbolt and USB controllers. When it sees your drives, it mounts them.
The "Nuclear" Fix for this Log Profile
Since your logs show the Wi-Fi system is the primary trigger, you need to kill the "TCP Keep Alive" and "Network Wake" functions. This will stop the Mac from waking up every few minutes to talk to the router, which in turn will stop the drives from mounting.
Run these three commands in Terminal:
- Disable TCP Keep Alive (The direct fix for your log): sudo pmset -a tcpkeepalive 0 (Note: macOS will warn you that this impacts Find My Mac. This is a necessary trade-off to stop the wake cycles.)
- Disable Wake on Magic Packet (WiFi Wake): sudo pmset -a womp 0
- Disable Power Nap (Maintenance Wakes): sudo pmset -a powernap 0
Why the previous settings failed
Standard "System Settings" toggles in 26.4 often fail to write to the com.apple.PowerManagement.plist correctly due to a bug in the UI. By using the pmset commands above, you are forcing the instructions directly into the power management kernel.
Next Steps
- Apply those three commands.
- Restart your Mac (crucial for pmset changes to stick in the NVRAM).
- Put the Mac to sleep and wait 10 minutes.
If the drives stay unmounted, we’ve successfully silenced the "WiFi Ghost." If they still mount, it means the hardware handshake on the Thunderbolt bus is happening even without a network trigger, which would point toward a physical dock/hub issue.
Quick check: Do you have "Find My Mac" enabled? That is likely what is requesting those _updateTCPKeepaliveTimeoutCounters seen in your log.
