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Mac Mini M2 Pro Wi-Fi issues

B

Bearygoodfries1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 5, 2020
201
197
Hi everyone,

I just got my Mac Mini and I’ve been having issues connecting to my Wi-Fi.

Every 30 seconds it seems to disconnect and then reconnect, and the issue keeps repeating itself.

I’ve rebooted my internet system, restarted my Mac Mini Pro, disconnected and reconnected to the Wi-Fi, forgot the network and connected again, turned off “Limit IP address tracking”, turned of Private Relay, etc.

All my other devices work perfectly fine, except my new Mac Mini Pro.

Is this a Mac Mini Pro issue? Did I just get a faulty device?

Update: Faulty device. Exchanged for a working Mac Mini Pro.
 
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I’m about ready to order one! I hope somebody can answer your concerns. They would be mine too. AND—does the M2 Pro still have the blasted Bluetooth issues? Or does Bluetooth 5.3 solve them…or something else??
 
Update: I shut it down for an hour and now it’s doing better, but still drops here and there.

I might reset the Mini and see if that helps. If not, 🤷🏽‍♂️
 
2nd Update:

Talked to customer service. Tried everything else we could for about an hour and nothing, so I’ll be returning it Later today.
 
I was just about to order after researching all the options and deciding on the base M2 pro.
Think I'll hold off now and see if more pro users have WiFi issues.
 
3rd and last update regarding this issue:

Yup, it was faulty.

I exchanged the faulty Mac Mini Pro for a new one and that new one works perfectly well.

I left Wireless Diagnostics on for about 2 hours and no issues (unlike the faulty one where it detected a drop every 3-15 minutes). Super fast speeds.

Sorry I scared anyone from getting the Mac Mini Pro. I mainly just wanted to see if this was a common issue or a faulty device.

-

A couple of odd details: The faulty Mac Mini Pro‘s update and set-up completed a lot faster, and it never asked me about FileVault (unlike the new working Mac Mini Pro, which took a lot longer to update and did ask me about FileVault during set-up).
 
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Rix__Mix said:
I have a base Pro M2 and have zero issues with WiFi. Sounds like you have a defective unit.

Those that are putting their order on hold due to this.. really no need.
Click to expand...
And I have the M2 Pro and have had zero issues with wi-fi. As Rix__Mix said, don't hold off on buying over this. It is not a common issue.
 
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I'm actually kind of having this issue as well, it had been working fine for 1.5 weeks with my minimal use but today it seems like it's not able to load web pages etc.. my other computers work fine.
 
@Bearygoodfries1 curious if you know whether you updated to Ventura 13.2 just before you started seeing the issue. And on the new working machine, are you still on Ventura 13.0?

I'm having both wifi and ethernet issues and following the issues here, here, here and here because perhaps they're all part of the same cause.
 
staeryatz said:
@Bearygoodfries1 curious if you know whether you updated to Ventura 13.2 just before you started seeing the issue. And on the new working machine, are you still on Ventura 13.0?

I'm having both wifi and ethernet issues and following the issues here, here, here and here because perhaps they're all part of the same cause.
Click to expand...
I was prompted to update to the latest OS version as soon as I connected both Mac Mini Pros to WiFi.

My new, working Mac Mini Pro is on the latest OS.

But, you bring up an interesting point. The first Mac Mini was able to download the update very quickly (over 3 GB of data), but after the update, my connection was super slow and could barely load up a web page, on top of dropping the connection every few minutes.
 
Bearygoodfries1 said:
I was prompted to update to the latest OS version as soon as I connected both Mac Mini Pros to WiFi.

My new, working Mac Mini Pro is on the latest OS.

But, you bring up an interesting point. The first Mac Mini was able to download the update very quickly (over 3 GB of data), but after the update, my connection was super slow and could barely load up a web page, on top of dropping the connection every few minutes.
Click to expand...
I don't think my 13.2 theory is going to pan out, we have at least one confirmation it occurred in factory 13.0.
 
I also have very bad first impressions with my M2 mini. Wifi is very flaky. (Playback of streaming music drops, can not use YouTube etc.)
The M2 version is replacing a M1 Mac mini. It sits in the same spot in the same room.
Wifi was no issue before. :rolleyes:

There is other people with related problems over on the Apple discussion boards:

Mac Mini M2 wifi issues - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com discussions.apple.com
 
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I also was able to download the update and other downloads without much issue or packet loss. What I observed is that while the computer was mostly idle I would see some ping peaks here and there but no packet loss at all. It's when actually doing some work or web browsing on the computer then the package loss would start. Also I noticed that when on 2.4ghz wifi it would be more stable than 5ghz but none of them worked fine.

After 4 days of troubleshooting I finally returned my Mac Mini m2 Pro after a visit to the Genius Bar as they suggested it seemed software related as HW diagnostics was all green and recommended me I returned it and try another one in a few weeks time once some macOS 13.2 has had some updates. I would have exchanged for another one but as it was a customized config I would have to wait for 10 days or so for a new one to arrive so will keep using my m1 Mac Mini for now.
 
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I'm also having wifi problems with a new M2 Pro Mini. Tons of packet loss if I try to ping my router or other boxes on my network. My wireless access point is about 10ft away in the same room and my M1 MBP sitting right beside the Mini has no connections issues. The odd thing is it seemed fine for three about days on 13.2 and I just started noticing the issue yesterday.

I've rebooted, restarted my router, forgot the network and reconnected, etc. Nothing worked. This morning I tried turning off airdrop as suggested in that thread on the Apple discussion boards and it actually seems to have fixed it. Speeds have been back to normal with no packet loss for several hours now. I'm tempted to return it in case this is a hardware problem instead of crossing my fingers and hoping an OS update will fix it.

EDIT: I may have spoken too soon. It does seem much better after disabling airdrop, but I'm still seeing packet loss and the occasional ping that takes over 1s.
 
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staeryatz said:
I don't think my 13.2 theory is going to pan out, we have at least one confirmation it occurred in factory 13.0.
Click to expand...

When I upgraded from 13.0 to 13.2 on my 16gb 8 core M2 Mini it completely destroyed the wifi. I was experiencing much slower speeds prior to the upgrade anyway then what I was getting on my M1 which was sitting right next to it. After upgrading I could not even connect to the 5g network anymore, it simply kept asking for the password over and over again. I went to Xfinity to upgrade to the XB8 (latest router) which supports Wifi 6 and it worked with much greater speed for a short period of time, then the next day it went back to barely being able to connect. It was struggling to connect to the 5 and 6g networks where it was unbearable to use. Ultimately I connected to the 2.4ghz network fine but of course it's much slower. I read in another forum that someone switched out their HDMI cable and that solved the issue so I may look into that. It's a moot point right now anyway since I am going to return the unit and upgrade to a 1tb internal drive which isn't going to get here until late Feb. ;\
 
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Cannot confirm the problems.
I updated my Mini M2 Pro instantly during the setup process to Ventura 13.2.

It is connected to our 5Gz wifi and has the same speed as my old Intel iMac.
 
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My Mac mini M2 (Base model) had the same terrible Wifi Performance when I set it up yesterday. I set it up the same location as my previous M1 Mac mini. Wifi reception never was an issue here.

Thanks to some helpful posters on the apple discussion board I was able to resolve my issues.
I can confirm the following two options worked for me:

### by hanlanx ###
Disable AWDL will solve the 5GHz connection problem:
Disable: sudo ifconfig awdl0 down
Enable: sudo ifconfig awdl0 up
###

Unfortunately you will lose some functionality like AirDrop oder AirPlay Receiver. So I also tried to switch my HDMI cable as some reported this to be solving the issue.
As I had another spare monitor I switched from my Eizo HDMI Monitor to a DELL DisplayPort Monitor.
Afterwards I enabled AWDL again an restarted my Mac.

Since about 3 hours WiFi is finally working without any further issues.

Still, this is a bad first hand experience and not anyone can change to a different display connection.
I hope it will be possible to fix for everyone via software update.
 
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Halbertus said:
Unfortunately you will lose some functionality like AirDrop oder AirPlay Receiver. So I also tried to switch my HDMI cable as some reported this to be solving the issue.
As I had another spare monitor I switched from my Eizo HDMI Monitor to a DELL DisplayPort Monitor.
Afterwards I enabled AWDL again an restarted my Mac.

Since about 3 hours WiFi is finally working without any further issues.
Click to expand...
I have no idea what the root cause is. I’m not using HDMI. Disabling AWDL seemed to help a lot, but it didn’t completely fix it. And after re-enabling AWDL performance is still better than it was initially.
 
FWIW, the M2 Pro Mac mini seems to work well with my Amazon eero Pro 6E. I just got it, but early signs are good. It was having issues with my ASUS Wi-FI 6 router on 5GHz.
 
I have the issue with my Macbook pro M2 Pro. I've also tried everything with apple support, and the wifi issues always appears. I already asked for the exchange for a new computer, now I'm waiting for it to arrive...
 
WiFi on my M2 Pro Mini has been solid for about 5 days now. What seems to have fixed it was setting all network interfaces except for WiFi to inactive in System Settings -> Network. Speeds are back to normal and I'm not seeing any packet loss. I'm hoping this is just a Ventura bug that will be fixed soon, I don't really want to go through the hassle of returning and waiting on another BTO Mini.
 
mac mini m2 is an untested ****, mine is going back to apple store. If your appears to work and no packet lost, probabily is not, try to do a google meet with someone and you might found a lot of problems (freeze, audio lost etc.) problem gone away only on a 2.4 Ghz network.
 
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having slow wifi speeds too, but of a different kind:
- I have no package loss at all
- my wifi should be 500 mbit/s (ethernet confirms), in fact iphone next to mac mini gets this speed
- my mac mini m2 pro gets between 50-200 mbit max, even though I'm sitting 2 meters from the router

so my issue is: wifi is just slow and inconsistent, but never as slow as people here described their issues, and I get no package loss.

I've tried resetting as described above (incl. the ethernet trick) but in fact none works. any ideas?
 
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