Ethernet port on iMac 2013 does not connect

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Level 1

9 points

Ethernet port on iMac 2013 does not connect

iMac 2013 WiFi works, but slow (25 - 40 Mbps out of potential 250+ Mbps. Somedays as fast as 179 Mbps wifi, but not lately) Poor router positioning slows me down and very Hard to change location of router. Ethernet cable is good. Cable used to work with iMac but now it does not. Not sure if hardware problem, or if AOS updates caused it. Same cable still works with macBook and older iMac. 270 Mbps with cable connected to MacBook. Detailed visual inspection of port does not reveal bent pins. Looks new. Changed Router ports. Changed cables. Reset Router. Wondering if El Capitan or other updates could have shut off port? How to reactivate?

OS X El Capitan Vers 10.11.5

iMac 21.5-uh 213

Processor 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5

8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Broadcom 57766-A1:

Name: ethernet

Type: Ethernet Controller

Bus: PCI

Vendor ID: 0x14e4

Device ID: 0x1686

Subsystem Vendor ID: 0x14e4

Subsystem ID: 0x1686

Revision ID: 0x0001

Link Width: x1

BSD name: en0

Kext name: AppleBCM5701Ethernet.kext

Firmware version: 57766a-v1.13, 0x010e63c4

Location: /System/Library/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleBCM570 1Ethernet.kext

mDNS offload capable: 68:5b:35:7e:f8:ff

Version: 10.2.0

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)

Posted on Jun 28, 2016 6:50 AM

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Answer 1

Dogfenceguy Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 1, 2016 6:29 AM in response to Dogfenceguy

Additionally, Apple Support acknowledges that they broke the Ethernet Ports and suggest that if we have:

"Incompatible Kernel Extension Configuration Data Version 3.28.1" that we can fix it by going to command line entries. However that version is not on my computer. I have 3.28.2 from 2/29/16 and 3.30.1 from 4/6/16 and 4/17/16.

They say on the following link:

If the Ethernet connection on your Mac stopped working recently - Apple Support

If you can connect to Wi-Fi, follow these steps to update to version 3.28.2

Open Activity Monitor, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
Select the CPU tab in Activity Monitor, then type "updated" in the search field. The softwareupdated process should now be the only item listed.
Open the Terminal app, which is also in your Utilities folder.
Enter this command in Terminal to update to the current version of the “Incompatible Kernel Extension Configuration Data” kernel extension:
```
sudo softwareupdate --background
```
Enter the admin password of your OS X user account when prompted.
Switch back to Activity Monitor. When the CPU usage (% CPU) of the softwareupdated process returns to zero, the kernel extension should be up to date.
Choose Restart from the Apple menu to restart your Mac.

I would rather not do that since I might break it even worse, and have 3.28.2 and beyond.

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Answer 2

Dogfenceguy Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 1, 2016 6:32 AM in response to Dogfenceguy

I followed these instructions provided by Apple and the software is updated beyond the version in question. There was no improvement in the Ethernet port. I confirmed again that the port on the Router was working as I plugged the cable into an iBook. The ethernet port on the router flashed as it communicated with the iBook. Apple, did you break my port?

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