Mac Mini (Late 2012) ethernet connection not working (10.10.3)

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Mac Mini (Late 2012) ethernet connection not working (10.10.3)

I've recently moved and now have the ability to utilize ethernet instead of wireless. Unfortunately, the ethernet connection does not appear to work.

The network location says:

"Cable Unplugged: Either the cable for Ethernet is not plugged in or the device on the other end is not responding".

I unplugged the cable and plugged it into a blu-ray player. The physical connection is working. Just not on the mac.

Steps taken so far:

Rebooted
Unplugged
Deleted the location, added it back.

Adapter looks okay (netstat -I en0 looks okay... looks okay within system preferences as well)

Is this a HW issue?

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Apr 19, 2015 8:42 AM

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Answer 1

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Apr 19, 2015 8:52 AM in response to HoosierD

Two questions (forgive the first one - just making sure):

1. You are sure you have a cat 5 ethernet cable? Looks similar to a phone cable, but is totally different:

2. Why use an adapter? Why not plug the cable directly into the modem/wall outlet (if so wired)/router?

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Answer 2

HoosierD Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 19, 2015 9:02 AM in response to HoosierD

Yes. I have an ethernet cable.

The way this is set up... This mac plugs into a wall outlet which goes to a switch in my basement which then goes to the router. Wall outlet connection appears to be working with two other devices (Samsung Blu-ray player & Sony Vaio).

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Answer 3

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Apr 19, 2015 11:24 AM in response to HoosierD

Ahh, ok - that kind of cabling/connection is not my area of expertise, so hopefully someone will chime in shortly.

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Answer 4

Feb 27, 2016 10:33 AM in response to HoosierD

Just this morning had the same exact problem.

Late 2012 Mac mini.

Wireless works fine.

Airport Extreme, 3TB model for Time Machine.

Ethernet has worked for 3 years, now does not work:

- Network panel shows disconnected, "Cable disconnected."

- When Wi-Fi is turned off, there is no router shown in the Airport Utility. Router returns when Wi-Fi is back on.

- Changed Ethernet cable - no difference.

- Plugged Mac mini directly into cable modem - no difference.

- Shut down and waited 45 seconds - no difference

- Reset PRAM - no difference.

AND...

A second computer on wired Ethernet works and surfs fine.

So this problem is with the Ethernet port on the Mac mini. Has anyone found a cure for this? All I did was reboot the Mac mini - no other changes.

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Answer 5

FurryOne

Level 1

14 points

Feb 27, 2016 10:38 AM in response to johnnylundy

This appears to be a problem with software Apple pushed this morning. Look just below for another thread. Apple is aware of a problem since I'm on hold with a Tech Support guy right now and he's seen it too. WiFi seems to work ok but no ethernet - it affects 5K iMacs too.

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Answer 6

Feb 27, 2016 10:45 AM in response to FurryOne

Wow, thanks so much FurryOne. That would have been the LAST thing I thought of. I don't remember installing any updates.

Now another symptom of this: App Store says "Device or Computer could not be verified" when I log in to download updates.

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Answer 7

FurryOne

Level 1

14 points

Feb 27, 2016 12:23 PM in response to johnnylundy

Just reboot, hold down the Comand & R keys, do a First Aid (as a safety measure) from the Disk Utility menu, then do a Reinstall OS (of course you have to be online somehow to do this. (My WiFi worked, so I used that). Once you've reinstalled the OS, your Ethernet port should work again. It did for me! (That's the quick way to do it - from Apple Tech Support)

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