Mac mini Networking Issue

By giantsnyy
in Apple (macOS)

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giantsnyy

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Hello,

 

I'm having some very strange issues with my Mac mini (Late 2012).  I wanted to do a clean slate for my Mac mini server when I installed Yosemite... so I created a boot disk, and reinstalled OS X.  Once 10.10 was installed, I plugged in my ethernet cable, and noticed that there was no link connection listed at all in System Preferences.  I even tried looking for en0, and there wasn't one.  en1 was the only ethernet interface listed, and that's the wireless connection.  I checked system profiler, and noticed that the system says there is no PCI ethernet cards installed...

 

So I booted up my recovery partition on my external drive, and the NIC works.  Grabs an IP address without a problem, system profiler says there's an ethernet controller.

 

I thought there might be a problem with permissions, so I ran Disk Utility and checked the permissions... the ethernet driver kext had an incorrect permission, so I repaired it and it didn't help.

 

I reinstalled OS X with the exact same result.  I tested the install media on another Late 2012 Mac mini, to see if there was an issue with my installer, and it worked perfectly.

 

Does anyone know what might be wrong?

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#Michael

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What did you use to create a boot disk for yosemite?  It could be a bad install media which in turn is doing a bad install.  I have always used diskmakerx to create a bootable usb drive for os x installs.

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giantsnyy

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What did you use to create a boot disk for yosemite?  It could be a bad install media which in turn is doing a bad install.  I have always used diskmakerx to create a bootable usb drive for os x installs.

 

 

I used the built in createinstallmedia feature in the Yosemite installer.

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#Michael

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I used the built in createinstallmedia feature in the Yosemite installer.

 

I would try re-doing the install media using diskmakerx and see if it works.  I have never had any problems when I use that program.

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Sikh

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Did you wipe the drive before you installed? if not it was a in place "upgrade". OS X installer doesnt install over already installed files. In snow leopard it use to be the "archive and install" option. Later versions they merged it.

 

I would go to system preferences and create a new location and add the ethernet port manually and see if that works.  Also, the ethernet port won't show up as a PCI Card. It'll show up under "Ethernet Cards".

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giantsnyy

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It's a brand new drive.  The last one was too small and too slow so I upgraded it to a 1TB 7200RPM drive, up from the 500GB 5400RPM that was in there... So it was completely blank.

 

And that's what I meant.  I looked under Ethernet Cards, and it stated that there were no PCI Ethernet Cards installed.

 

Edit:

 

Ok... so What I did to see if I could get it working was put a new image of the OS on there from my external recovery drive... and I was able to get it online... however, now every 4-5 hours or so the built in NIC cuts out and console gives me this error:

 

Nov  7 00:01:14 mmserver kernel[0]: AppleBCM5701Ethernet [en0]:        1        4 timeoutOccurred - logic error in eed/low-power cycling.  fReady, fSleepState

 

Any idea what this means?

 

Did you wipe the drive before you installed? if not it was a in place "upgrade". OS X installer doesnt install over already installed files. In snow leopard it use to be the "archive and install" option. Later versions they merged it.

 

I would go to system preferences and create a new location and add the ethernet port manually and see if that works.  Also, the ethernet port won't show up as a PCI Card. It'll show up under "Ethernet Cards".

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Sikh

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It's a brand new drive. The last one was too small and too slow so I upgraded it to a 1TB 7200RPM drive, up from the 500GB 5400RPM that was in there... So it was completely blank.

And that's what I meant. I looked under Ethernet Cards, and it stated that there were no PCI Ethernet Cards installed.

Edit:

Ok... so What I did to see if I could get it working was put a new image of the OS on there from my external recovery drive... and I was able to get it online... however, now every 4-5 hours or so the built in NIC cuts out and console gives me this error:

Nov 7 00:01:14 mmserver kernel[0]: AppleBCM5701Ethernet [en0]: 1 4 timeoutOccurred - logic error in eed/low-power cycling. fReady, fSleepState

Any idea what this means?

That error means your logic board is putting it to sleep for some reason. I would take it into the Apple Store. They will run a free diagnostic that will tell them what's wrong

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The_Decryptor Veteran

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Looking through the directions on ifixit on replacing the HD...it says you have to remove the antenna for the airport/bluetooth board.  Did you make sure it was reattached correctly?

 

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+Mini+Late+2012+Hard+Drive+Replacement/11716

 

Also...look at this article: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6045550?tstart=0

That wouldn't affect the Ethernet socket, it's wired onto the logic board.

It sounds like the NIC has been damaged in some way, not being detected in one OS but working in another, before it than has issues with the other OS? Not good.

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