Mac Studios with faulty ethernet ports? Internet connection disconnecting periodically

[bananataffy]

Is anyone else here having issues with their Mac Studio directly connected with ethernet? I posted this in the Apple forum, and I also noticed other people there having similar issues.

I'm connected with ethernet directly through the Mac Studio's ethernet port (not a hub) and I've been having issues with my internet disconnecting every few hours.

I use my Mac to transfer large amounts of data to my server, and I consistently get failed transfers. Also, large downloads through Safari are all failing after a few hours. This is only happening every couple hours so small or short transfers seem to function fine.

I previously had a M1 Mac mini and a M1 MacBook Air, both hardwired through ethernet and never had this issue. The only difference is my Mac Studio is on the latest version of Monterey (Version 12.3.1) and my previous mini and MacBook Air were both running Big Sur.

I made sure this isn't a DHCP issue and have tried different solutions based on research, including:
-Trying different ethernet cables and different ports on my network switch. Also connecting directly from my Mac Studio to my eero router.
-Turned off wi-fi completely to make sure it's not conflicting.
-Set up a new ethernet connection in Network preferences, changing IPv6 to "link-local only", and manually setting the speed to 1000baseT.
-Restarted my Mac, restarted and power cycled my eero routers and network switch. Made sure the eero firmware and software is up to date.

So I've isolated the issue to either the a faulty ethernet port on the Mac Studio, or a software issue with MacOS Monterey. I am not running a VPN and again, my previous Mac computers connected through the same means had no issues with dropped connections.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[lcubed]

could it be the eero cycling every few hours?
my studio is hard wired directly to my router (bypasses my eero).

 

[bananataffy]

could it be the eero cycling every few hours?
my studio is hard wired directly to my router (bypasses my eero).

I highly doubt it's the eero. Before I got this Mac Studio, I had a Mini set up in the exact same fashion, an Air connected through a hub, plus 2 other PC's connected via ethernet and haven't had this issue in the past few years with the same setup. It's only dropping connections with my Studio.

 

[enricoclaudio]

My Mac Studio is hardwired passing through two Ethernet switches before hitting my ASUS router and had zero issues.

 

[lcubed]

eero just pushed a firmware update this week

 

[bananataffy]

Also I want to stress that I'm only having issues with transfers that take hours to complete. So would be great if anybody hardwired with ethernet is able to test such a thing (such as large data transfers from Mac Studio to their server, or a download that takes hours to complete.)

I noticed this other thread on the front page of Apple's forum: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253813383

And this user is also having issues with 50% of a ping's packets being dropped.

 

[now i see it]

Only way to definitively rule it out is buy - another - Mac Studio identical to yours and see if it has the same problem.

Return it within 14 days when you reach a verdict.

 

[lcubed]

have you done a similar ping test?

 

[Nermal]

I can't comment on this issue specifically, but I'm getting flashbacks to the broken Ethernet on the 2011 MacBook Pro, which took an update or two to get fixed. If you can narrow down the issue then be sure to report it to Apple.

 

[bananataffy]

eero just pushed a firmware update this week

I am updated to the latest firmware.

Only way to definitively rule it out is buy - another - Mac Studio identical to yours and see if it has the same problem.

Return it within 14 days when you reach a verdict.

Yep, I am planning on returning and getting a new machine because I rely heavily on large data transfers to and from my servers. I just wanted to check here first if other people are having similar issues.

have you done a similar ping test?

I just did and no packet loss.

I don't notice the dropped connections when just using the computer casually or browsing the internet. Everything seems fine until I initiate long multi-hour transfers.

 

[lcubed]

the eero firmware update is 'new' and a change from your old stable setup

 

[OSB]

Also I want to stress that I'm only having issues with transfers that take hours to complete. So would be great if anybody hardwired with ethernet is able to test such a thing (such as large data transfers from Mac Studio to their server, or a download that takes hours to complete.)

I noticed this other thread on the front page of Apple's forum: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253813383

And this user is also having issues with 50% of a ping's packets being dropped.

I rebuilt our offsite backup solution over the weekend, migrating from a mini+iSCSI volume on the NAS sending files up to Backblaze's consumer plan, to backing up directly to the NAS and pushing the backup up to B2. This necessitated a nuke-and-pave of the previous backups. Upshot is, CCC pushed a ~360Gb backup to the NAS from my Studio over the course of a dozen or so hours. No issues other than the fact the initial backup is always annoyingly slow.

 

[ascender]

Today my Mac Studio has been intermittently disconnecting from the network for a couple of seconds at a time, 6 or 7 times an hour. Then I'll get an hour or two with no drops and then it comes back. Its very noticeable as I've got a couple of Citrix sessions and am on video calls. The other machines connected over Ethernet don't seem to be suffering, so its a strange one.

 

[bobcomer]

I haven't seen any large transfer problems over ethernet. (connected to a 1G switch)

 

[bananataffy]

OK it looks like I hopefully found a fix for all these dropped connections over ethernet.

In System Preferences > Network > Ethernet > Hardware, I changed my Speed to 1000baseT (since my setup doesn't take advantage of 10Gb speeds), set the Duplex to 'full-duplex, flow-control' with energy efficient disabled, and increased my MTU value to 8,000. I've been transferring data for the past 16 hours and haven't had a single aborted transfer.

Today my Mac Studio has been intermittently disconnecting from the network for a couple of seconds at a time, 6 or 7 times an hour. Then I'll get an hour or two with no drops and then it comes back. Its very noticeable as I've got a couple of Citrix sessions and am on video calls. The other machines connected over Ethernet don't seem to be suffering, so its a strange one.

Try the above and see if that fixes it for you. I had a similar issue with transfers being fine for ~6-8 hours, but sometimes they would die shortly after initiated.

 

[hugodrax]

Is anyone else here having issues with their Mac Studio directly connected with ethernet? I posted this in the Apple forum, and I also noticed other people there having similar issues.

I'm connected with ethernet directly through the Mac Studio's ethernet port (not a hub) and I've been having issues with my internet disconnecting every few hours.

I use my Mac to transfer large amounts of data to my server, and I consistently get failed transfers. Also, large downloads through Safari are all failing after a few hours. This is only happening every couple hours so small or short transfers seem to function fine.

I previously had a M1 Mac mini and a M1 MacBook Air, both hardwired through ethernet and never had this issue. The only difference is my Mac Studio is on the latest version of Monterey (Version 12.3.1) and my previous mini and MacBook Air were both running Big Sur.

I made sure this isn't a DHCP issue and have tried different solutions based on research, including:
-Trying different ethernet cables and different ports on my network switch. Also connecting directly from my Mac Studio to my eero router.
-Turned off wi-fi completely to make sure it's not conflicting.
-Set up a new ethernet connection in Network preferences, changing IPv6 to "link-local only", and manually setting the speed to 1000baseT.
-Restarted my Mac, restarted and power cycled my eero routers and network switch. Made sure the eero firmware and software is up to date.

So I've isolated the issue to either the a faulty ethernet port on the Mac Studio, or a software issue with MacOS Monterey. I am not running a VPN and again, my previous Mac computers connected through the same means had no issues with dropped connections.

Any help would be appreciated.

I would just send it for repair/replacement then.

 

[mcscot]

I've had a slightly different problem with Studio and Ubiquity switch. Long time to get connected when coming out of standby. Have manually forced to Gigabit Ethernet and seems to be more reliable.

 

[jasoncarle]

Also I want to stress that I'm only having issues with transfers that take hours to complete. So would be great if anybody hardwired with ethernet is able to test such a thing (such as large data transfers from Mac Studio to their server, or a download that takes hours to complete.)

I noticed this other thread on the front page of Apple's forum: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253813383

And this user is also having issues with 50% of a ping's packets being dropped.

I am hardwired and not a single problem transferring large data sets to a server.

 

[jasoncarle]

I've had a slightly different problem with Studio and Ubiquity switch. Long time to get connected when coming out of standby. Have manually forced to Gigabit Ethernet and seems to be more reliable.

That makes sense. Unless you, or anyone, has a 10Gb network, they should set the Studio to operate at the speed of your network, whether it be 1 Gigabit or 2.5 Gigabit.

 

[handheldgames]

OK it looks like I hopefully found a fix for all these dropped connections over ethernet.

In System Preferences > Network > Ethernet > Hardware, I changed my Speed to 1000baseT (since my setup doesn't take advantage of 10Gb speeds), set the Duplex to 'full-duplex, flow-control' with energy efficient disabled, and increased my MTU value to 8,000. I've been transferring data for the past 16 hours and haven't had a single aborted transfer.



Try the above and see if that fixes it for you. I had a similar issue with transfers being fine for ~6-8 hours, but sometimes they would die shortly after initiated.

I've been seeing an ongoing / sporadic dropping of my hardwired ethernet connection since I bought the Mac Studio last Thursday. Peer to Peer streaming to with friends and to YouTube has made the problem most evident.

 

[thatsthequy]

What model network switch is the Mac connected to?

 

[mcscot]

I had to manually set to 1000baseT on my Ubiquiti Switch 8 as obtaining a connect from power up / sleep was slow. Ever since I did that it seems fine.

 

[eddie_ducking]

I had to manually set to 10000baseT on my Ubiquiti Switch 8 as obtaining a connect from power up / sleep was slow. Ever since I did that it seems fine.

can we assume there are too many '0's in there by mistake, seeing as the Ubiquiti Switch 8 is only gigabit ?

 

[mcscot]

can we assume there are too many '0's in there by mistake, seeing as the Ubiquiti Switch 8 is only gigabit ?

Yes, I've updated, sorry for creating confusion.

 

[thatsthequy]

I had to manually set to 1000baseT on my Ubiquiti Switch 8 as obtaining a connect from power up / sleep was slow. Ever since I did that it seems fine.

Be sure to disable STP/RSTP, Loop Prevention, EEE, IGMP Snooping, and any other fancy features on your switches. eero can work with managed switched, but only reliably if all those things are turned off.