Mac mini M4 Pro 10Gb Ethernet intermittent drops

Question

Level 1

4 points

Mac mini M4 Pro 10Gb Ethernet intermittent drops

I have a Mac mini M4 Pro with macOS 15.6.1 and the 10Gb Ethernet option. From time to time the bandwidth in my network drops significantly and I have found out that I fall back on WiFi. If I then disable WiFi there is no more connectivity. I thought this is an issue with my 1Gb switch which I exchanged to a 2.5Gb switch, but the problem remains the same.

The interesting part is: if I go the Ethernet detail page and change a single item on the hardware tab, accept it and change it back to the previous configuration, it works again. Unfortunately this only holds up for a few days, then I have to repeat the process. Since all other devices o the switch work fine it seems to be a problem on the Mac's side. Cable length is 2m, I switched cables 3 times. I also configured the ethernet port manually to 2500Base-T because I hoped it it just an auto sense problem, but that's not it.

Any ideas?

Mac mini, macOS 15.6

Posted on Nov 29, 2025 12:18 AM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

215,196 points

Nov 30, 2025 3:18 PM in response to Marc_Mini

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Please download and run Etrecheck. The free version is sufficient.

Copy and paste the results into your reply. Etrecheck is a diagnostic tool that was developed by one of the most respected users here in the ASC to provide a snapshot of the system and help identify the more obvious culprits that can adversely affect a Mac's performance.

Copy the report

and after clicking on the Reply button use the Additional Text button to paste the report in your reply.

Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine the cause of the problem.

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Answer 2

Dec 1, 2025 6:25 AM in response to Marc_Mini

Remove Little Snitch. Remove Radio Silence. Turn off the network stealth setting, too. And remove VyprVPN and VPN Unlimited (apparently using Wireguard VPN). Test again.

I’d look for an update to or remove the 15-year old SharePoint Browser stuff, and remove the old FUSE app, too. This unrelated to the dropping.

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Answer 3

Nov 29, 2025 8:09 AM in response to Marc_Mini

Try 15.7.2.

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Answer 4

Marc_Mini Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 1, 2025 5:18 AM in response to Old Toad

EtreCheck

Thanks, I appreciate the help. There is almost no software in the categories you mentioned on my Mac. I'd say that AppCleaner does not fall into your categories, I have VPN Unlimited installed but never used it.

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