Hi folks,
I've had a Mac Mini since January 2012.
It's a 2.5ghz with 8gb 1333 DDR.
I have a VirginMedia internet connection using a Belkin Superhub.
Initially, I was running Lion and the Mac worked a treat without any problems. Then I upgraded to Mountain Lion.
Shortly afterwards, I started getting internet drop-off on wifi roughly every hour or so. All access to the internet would cease for around 3-4 minutes - nothing would bring it back. I thought it was a wifi problem, so I purchased two D-Link 500 Powerline adaptors and moved to Ethernet (shutting down wifi). The problem persisted. It happens on wifi and on Ethernet - even if one or the other is turned off.
The problem does not occur on any other device in the house (I have two iPhone 5, two iPod Touches, a laptop, xBox, iPad and AppleTV). When it happens on the Mac, I can access the internet freely on all the other devices while the Mac sits frozen. I can perform any other activities on the Mac at the time, just not the internet.
The kind of message I was getting in Console referred to mdworker and "heartbeat detected".
I got Virgin out to test my connection, but the line is fine and my setup on the router is fine.
I set a dedicated IP address for the Mac on the router, and set the Mac to use DHCP with a specific IP address.
I set the router to filter the Mac via its MAC address. The problem persisted.
So, with five days of my warranty remaining, I took it to Apple and they tested it - but could not replicated the problem, so they assumed it was an environmental issue and sent me home with my Mac Mini unchanged.
As soon as I got home, the problem returned - losing the internet connection roughly once an hour for 3-4 minutes.
So, I reinstalled Mountain Lion. The problem persisted.
So, I wiped the drive and installed a fresh version of Mountain Lion. The problem persisted.
I took it back to Apple and they agreed to look at it again, even though I was now out of warranty. They couldn't replicate the problem.
They put me back to Lion and I took the Mac home. So far so good - the Mac seemed to be working fine.
Then, the problem returned - albeit in a slightly different fashion. I still get the internet freezing roughly every hour or so, but it's now for only about 20 seconds at a time.
When it happens now, I get this kind of message:
26/01/2013 12:30:44.923 com.apple.usbmuxd: _handle_timer heartbeat detected detach for device 0x54-192.168.0.14:0!
And this:
26/01/2013 17:14:30.022 com.apple.SecurityServer: Killing auth hosts
26/01/2013 17:14:30.022 com.apple.SecurityServer: Session 100043 destroyed
I thought it was perhaps Spotlight trying to index an external drive - but I've exluded the drive from being indexed, and it's still happening.
I'm convinced the Mac is faulty, but I can't prove it - and Apple keep saying it's an environmental issue.
Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? I would really appreciate some help.
Best,
CDC
I've had a Mac Mini since January 2012.
It's a 2.5ghz with 8gb 1333 DDR.
I have a VirginMedia internet connection using a Belkin Superhub.
Initially, I was running Lion and the Mac worked a treat without any problems. Then I upgraded to Mountain Lion.
Shortly afterwards, I started getting internet drop-off on wifi roughly every hour or so. All access to the internet would cease for around 3-4 minutes - nothing would bring it back. I thought it was a wifi problem, so I purchased two D-Link 500 Powerline adaptors and moved to Ethernet (shutting down wifi). The problem persisted. It happens on wifi and on Ethernet - even if one or the other is turned off.
The problem does not occur on any other device in the house (I have two iPhone 5, two iPod Touches, a laptop, xBox, iPad and AppleTV). When it happens on the Mac, I can access the internet freely on all the other devices while the Mac sits frozen. I can perform any other activities on the Mac at the time, just not the internet.
The kind of message I was getting in Console referred to mdworker and "heartbeat detected".
I got Virgin out to test my connection, but the line is fine and my setup on the router is fine.
I set a dedicated IP address for the Mac on the router, and set the Mac to use DHCP with a specific IP address.
I set the router to filter the Mac via its MAC address. The problem persisted.
So, with five days of my warranty remaining, I took it to Apple and they tested it - but could not replicated the problem, so they assumed it was an environmental issue and sent me home with my Mac Mini unchanged.
As soon as I got home, the problem returned - losing the internet connection roughly once an hour for 3-4 minutes.
So, I reinstalled Mountain Lion. The problem persisted.
So, I wiped the drive and installed a fresh version of Mountain Lion. The problem persisted.
I took it back to Apple and they agreed to look at it again, even though I was now out of warranty. They couldn't replicate the problem.
They put me back to Lion and I took the Mac home. So far so good - the Mac seemed to be working fine.
Then, the problem returned - albeit in a slightly different fashion. I still get the internet freezing roughly every hour or so, but it's now for only about 20 seconds at a time.
When it happens now, I get this kind of message:
26/01/2013 12:30:44.923 com.apple.usbmuxd: _handle_timer heartbeat detected detach for device 0x54-192.168.0.14:0!
And this:
26/01/2013 17:14:30.022 com.apple.SecurityServer: Killing auth hosts
26/01/2013 17:14:30.022 com.apple.SecurityServer: Session 100043 destroyed
I thought it was perhaps Spotlight trying to index an external drive - but I've exluded the drive from being indexed, and it's still happening.
I'm convinced the Mac is faulty, but I can't prove it - and Apple keep saying it's an environmental issue.
Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? I would really appreciate some help.
Best,
CDC