Coloured spinning wheel whilst using ethernet cable

[Luke Walsh]

I have an old iMac 10,1 I think it's 2009 : Mac OS X, Version 10.6.8
It connects to the internet fine wirelessly, but when I try to connect using the ethernet cable, it connects for a short period of time like 1-5 mins and then freezes up and giving me the coloured spinning wheel. Even if I then unplug the ethernet cable, the coloured wheel won't go away. All I can do is hold the power up button at the back until it shuts down. Has anyone had the same issue and know how to overcome it?
Also, I am running version 10.6.8, is this the latest option I have? Is there something else I can run that's a later version?
Thanks.

 

[BrianBaughn]

If it is fact an "iMac 10,1" it is capable of running High Sierra, which is currently supported. macOS 10.6.8 has long been abandoned by Apple for updates. Having said that, if you haven't upgraded the internal drive to an SSD and your amount of RAM is low then upgrading the OS might be just as painful as your ethernet issue.

Have you tried different ethernet cable…and how, exactly, is the ethernet signal getting from the iMac to your router?

Assuming there's nothing wrong with the connection perhaps you should create a new User Account to test. Log into the new account and see how the connection works. If it's the same we can rule out your User Account as the culprit.