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Ethenet 10gb stop working when wifi connect/disconnect

Hi,

i have this issue: when I connect or disconnect the Wi-Fi on my MacStudio, the 10 Gigabit Ethernet connection stops working. To make it work again, I have to disable and re-enable the 10 Gigabit Ethernet connection.


This issue is extremely frustrating because the 10Gb LAN is connected to a different subnet from the Wi-Fi, and it’s used solely for accessing the NAS via the 10Gb port.


From an initial analysis, it seems that when I enable or disable the Wi-Fi, the route through the 10Gbps Ethernet network interface is lost.


The issue does not occur if, instead of using the Mac’s 10 Gigabit Ethernet port, I use an Ethernet port connected via a USB adapter.


How can I resolve this? Is it a bug with the Mac Studio? Or is it a bug in macOS?

Mac Studio, macOS 15.1

Posted on Jan 2, 2025 3:19 PM

Reply
5 replies

Jan 2, 2025 4:15 PM in response to IlariaAndrea

Your Mac is surprisingly smart about some networking things, and surprisingly stupid about others.


Packets going toward the internet are sent to the TOPMOST, Working interface in


Settings > Network


all others are sent over the paths through your connected networks that appear to have the lowest delays. In the past, an additional hop through another network node to get there, usually overwhelmed everything else, so it merely optimized for lowest number of hops. with 10G Ethernet available, I do not know if 'number of hops' alone is the determiner.


your computer does not necessarily do what you want it to do. You said you wanted the fastest connection going to your NAS, only. But if there is ANY other connection from there to the rest of your network, that may not be the route the traffic is taking.

Jan 2, 2025 4:39 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Wi-Fi and Ethernet are on two different subnets.


Specifically, 192.168.1.0/24 is on Wi-Fi, while 10.0.0.0/24 is on Ethernet.


When connecting to Wi-Fi first and then Ethernet, the routes are set correctly, and everything works fine. However, upon disconnecting from Wi-Fi, the route for the 10.0.0.0/24 network is lost. Even reactivating the Wi-Fi connection doesn’t restore the route, and it becomes necessary to disable and re-enable the Ethernet connection :s

Jan 5, 2025 6:50 AM in response to IlariaAndrea

it sounds like your network is too complicated, and despite your best intentions, contain an unintended cross connection between the subnets.


My recommendation would be to treat the 10G Ethernet as your Network backbone, and hang all the other devices off that backbone. The added traffic from internet connections would be truly negligible.


My home is a Wi-Fi dead zone, because of solid Masonry construction. I have added a four-port 10G switch with several 1G branches, and connected all other Routers and Wi-Fi access points (five including the Internet Router) to what is basically an Ethernet network that has a 10G core that connects my main computer to the main Server.

Ethenet 10gb stop working when wifi connect/disconnect

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