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Macbook (unibody) Gigabit Ethernet Problems

jedijoe

jedijoe

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 13, 2005
255
3
Boulder, CO
Ok. 1 Macbook (late 2008, unibody). 2 Netgear gigabit switches.


When connecting to either of these 2 switches, the ethernet link goes up-and-down about 5-10 times (@ 1000baseT <full-duplex,flow-control> according to `ifconfig en0`) before settling on a 100baseTX <full-duplex,flow-control> connection. I cannot get the gigabit connection with this Macbook. Anyone have similar issues? solutions?

And to clarify some other points.

  1. All wires in my house are CAT5e. I've triple checked the pinouts on all wires and wall-plates. Even the wall-plates have CAT5e engraved in the plastic.
  2. I've even tried connecting a short 1m CAT6 cable directly to both switches. The 1000baseT connection happens, but after transferring large amounts of data, the connection eventually goes back to 100baseTX.
  3. A PowerMac G5, Macbook Pro (15" core 2 duo, intel mainboard based), PowerBook G4 (1.67Ghz), and a Intel XEON based Linux box (using marvell 1000mbps chipset for ethernet) connect flawlessly to either switch on every wall jack, or cable I've tried with the Macbook.

Where what I typically see in the syslog...

Code: 
kernel[0]: NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link Down
kernel[0]: NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link Up: Ctrl 1140, Adv 0de1-0200, Lpa cde1-2c00 Autoneg capable 1
kernel[0]: NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link Down
kernel[0]: NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link Up: Ctrl 1140, Adv 0de1-0200, Lpa cde1-2c00 Autoneg capable 1
kernel[0]: NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link Down
kernel[0]: NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link Up: Ctrl 1140, Adv 0de1-0200, Lpa cde1-2c00 Autoneg capable 1
kernel[0]: NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link Down
kernel[0]: NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link Up: Ctrl 1140, Adv 0de1-0200, Lpa cde1-2c00 Autoneg capable 1
kernel[0]: NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link Down
kernel[0]: NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link Up: Ctrl 1140, Adv 0de1-0200, Lpa cde1-2c00 Autoneg capable 1
 
update

Just an update. After hours and hours of hardware troubleshooting, I had to make a trip to the Apple Store.

Of course it took 45 min to convince the "Genius" bar that it was hardware related. I had to bring my 2 gigabit hubs and prove to them that mine wouldn't negotiate at 1000mbps, but every mac in the store that we plugged in, instantly negotiated at 1000mbps.

So they took my computer, ordered a new logic board and they gave me a 7-10 day wait on the repair. They even said possibly longer. Completely unacceptable time frame in my opinion and I will be sending feedback about the just horrible turn-around time of the repair.
 
an update

Just an update. (In case someone else has a similar problem and wanted to know the outcome)

I got my Macbook on Friday, 8 days to complete repair. Gigabit ethernet works perfectly now. Unfortunately my CTRL key no longer works. I had to schedule ANOTHER genius bar appointment today to see how long this is going to take to fix.
 
I had the same issue, every other mac in the office worked, but mine did not, 4 phone calls to apple care (no store close by) - sent mine to the apple depot yesterday (also backlit keyboard stopped working)

logic board was replaced in Jan (8 weeks after purchase) because of a power issue, couldn't charge the battery and after changing the DC-in board it still didn't work

let me know how your repair turns out
 
nvethernet console messages and hanging

im not sure if this would be the same issues but i am getting the following messages in my console logs:

1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:03 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:03 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:03 kernel NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link is down
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:03 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:03 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:03 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link is down
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link is down
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active

can you posters please update us on how the repairs went and if the issue mentioned disappeared. thanks
 
pendolino said:
im not sure if this would be the same issues but i am getting the following messages in my console logs:

1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:03 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:03 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:03 kernel NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link is down
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:03 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:03 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:03 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link is down
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::mediaChanged - Link is down
1/Sep/09 1-Sep-09 12:04 kernel NVEthernet::setLinkStatus - Valid but not Active

can you posters please update us on how the repairs went and if the issue mentioned disappeared. thanks
Click to expand...

I no longer have the Macbook, but my new Macbook Pro works great with the gigabit, as did my Macbook after AppleCare replaced the logic board.

The new Macbook Pro shows these NVEthernet status messages every 5-6 minutes constantly in the system log. Strange. Though its on 10.6. I can't remember if this happened with 10.5 or not.
 
MacBook: only 100 Mbps

jedijoe said:
Just an update. After hours and hours of hardware troubleshooting, I had to make a trip to the Apple Store.

Of course it took 45 min to convince the "Genius" bar that it was hardware related. I had to bring my 2 gigabit hubs and prove to them that mine wouldn't negotiate at 1000mbps, but every mac in the store that we plugged in, instantly negotiated at 1000mbps.

So they took my computer, ordered a new logic board and they gave me a 7-10 day wait on the repair. They even said possibly longer. Completely unacceptable time frame in my opinion and I will be sending feedback about the just horrible turn-around time of the repair.
Click to expand...
Thank god I found this thread: first visit, a total disappointment, no because "the genius" had no idea about networking (it happens to HP & Dell as well and it's excusable) but because it was trying to convince me it was a "Non Mac issue": mentioned things like: it is your other evil machine (Windows 7), call NetGear to see if they have incompatibility with Mac, why do you need 1GBps? etc, etc, 45 wasted minutes... Going back to the thread after the rant: Second visit, I took my switch, my cable (I was tempted to carry my UPS, who knows :) and of course my MacBook. It took 3 people and 45 minutes to finally run your scenario: (connect another laptop from the store see if it works at 1 GBps) :-( I happy to report the MacBook is going to be repaired, I'll post any update on the issue. BTW: the last "genius" run Snow Leopard off a USB hard disk to determine it was not Leopard itself (The tests I ran with Windows 7 and Ubuntu are a N/A).
I don't believe everybody can afford taking his "infrastructure" to the store so we can prove it's a actual "MAC issue" (no pun intended?). Perhaps it's the moment to downgrade the Genius Bar to simply "Support Bar".
 
jedijoe said:
The new Macbook Pro shows these NVEthernet status messages every 5-6 minutes constantly in the system log. Strange. Though its on 10.6. I can't remember if this happened with 10.5 or not.
Click to expand...

I too have the same identical problem with my new MBP/17/3.06MHz/4GB/500GB running 10.6.1 (Snow Leopard). My messages are also coming in 5-6 minute intervals.
 
jedijoe said:
Perhaps it should be called iLife Support Bar for Grandma and Grandpa...
Click to expand...
Unfortunately my grandparents left this earth for less "techies" worlds, this MacBook would be a good Christmas present ;-)
Well, it turned out that I got my Mac repaired but still no 1000T. All other computers (cheap cards, BTW) connect smoothly at 1GB. I got a new D-Link Gigabit, Certified CAT 6, so going back to the "Genius Bar".
JediJoe: is your MacBook connected and working at 1 gigabit? It sounds silly but I better ask. I wonder if the reason people don't see this issue is because most people use wireless or 100 Mbps connections instead.
Also, the support personnel manually configure 1000BASET and of course it shows 1 Gigabit link but INACTIVE or in Windows world "Cable unplugged" :-(
If you can dump out what you see in your Network Utility/Preferences, it would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for the rant but I canNOT understand how a cheap computer (s) can work and an expensive MacBook cannot. if the situation doesn't change I am going to end up in one of this Microsoft Commercials: did I mentioned before my other "cheap" computers are working flawlessly, both Linux and WindowsES? :)
 
osxwin said:
Also, the support personnel manually configure 1000BASET and of course it shows 1 Gigabit link but INACTIVE or in Windows world "Cable unplugged" :-(
If you can dump out what you see in your Network Utility/Preferences, it would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I never used the System Preferences in this entire situation. I used Terminal and the command ifconfig to show the current negotiated speed of the link to the Apple Store dumba$$es.

Code: 
$ ifconfig en0

Also, I don't even have the same computer anymore, but after they replaced the logic board, it definitely worked @ 1000T. I sold it for a larger screen and faster CPU Macbook Pro, since my original plan of Macbook + MacPro desktop fell through and I was just going to have one computer, so I opted to upgrade the laptop to the 17-inch model.
 
jedijoe said:
I never used the System Preferences in this entire situation. I used Terminal and the command ifconfig to show the current negotiated speed of the link to the Apple Store dumba$$es.

Code: 
$ ifconfig en0

Also, I don't even have the same computer anymore, but after they replaced the logic board, it definitely worked @ 1000T. I sold it for a larger screen and faster CPU Macbook Pro, since my original plan of Macbook + MacPro desktop fell through and I was just going to have one computer, so I opted to upgrade the laptop to the 17-inch model.
Click to expand...
Well, I guess it was embarrassing for them to realize the computer had more issues than I realized (yes, they found other issues), so they decided to appease the gods :) So, I'm reinstalling the new MacBook Pro the provide me with ;-)
So for those with similar issues make sure you test the computer after being turned on for more than half an hour and as we did, (thanks jedijoe for the tip) bring your own network hardware to the store (if possible of course).
 
simple solution

I don't know if it'll work for everyone, but my mac mini (purchased 2010) started running at 100 Mbit/sec, even though it was connected via Cat6 cable to a gigabit switch. I tested the line by unplugging the cable from my mac mini and plugged it into a macbook pro, which showed 1 Gbit/s. After rehooking the cable back to my mac mini, it started showing 1 Gbit/s under Network Utility. So, basically, unplugging and plugging it back in may have reset the the ethernet device somehow? Anyway, it worked.
 
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