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Mac Pro Network connectivity
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mkerr64
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Nov 1, 2013, 12:30 PM
 
Hi there

I have a 2010 Mac Pro and upon upgrading to OS X Maverick, i've noticed my internet (via ethernet) isnt always working. I have to reset my ethernet splitter box, put the computer to sleep, or restart the computer. This happens on a daily basis.
I've tried changing the ethernet cord, change the ethernet splitter and this issue still persists.

Has anyone else experienced this issue and know how to fix it?

Thank you!
R.I.P Steve Jobs
     
Kensington
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Nov 1, 2013, 02:00 PM
 
I've noticed similar strange issues with Wi-Fi after upgrading to Mavericks...mostly when connecting to Wi-Fi at coffee shops and stuff. Seen some reports of this madness on other forums as well, so take comfort in knowing its not just you. lol
     
Mike Wuerthele
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Nov 1, 2013, 03:07 PM
 
Wait- ethernet splitter?

Are you referring to a hub/switch or an actual
     
mkerr64  (op)
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Nov 1, 2013, 03:15 PM
 
Originally Posted by EstaNightshift View Post
Wait- ethernet splitter?

Are you referring to a hub/switch or an actual
Linksys Hub.
1 ethernet cord comes into the room and gets split into 3 via the hub and i've made sure that they are correctly inserted i.e correct cord into input etc..
R.I.P Steve Jobs
     
ghporter
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Nov 2, 2013, 08:44 PM
 
Before you mess with anything else, the next time your Mac can't connect after sleep, go into Settings | Network, and select the connection you're using, then click the "Renew IP" button. Betcha that reconnects you pretty fast.

Spend a few more dollars and get a switch. With a switch, you won't have the bandwidth sharing and IP address issues a hub causes. What is likely happening is that the devices connected to the hub are competing for IP addresses, and your Mac loses out. Resetting things just makes the computer request a new IP, which reconnects it.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
mduell
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Nov 3, 2013, 03:08 PM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
Spend a few more dollars and get a switch. With a switch, you won't have the bandwidth sharing and IP address issues a hub causes. What is likely happening is that the devices connected to the hub are competing for IP addresses, and your Mac loses out. Resetting things just makes the computer request a new IP, which reconnects it.
Hubs and (consumer) switches are layer 2 devices... nothing to do with IP (layer 3).
Switches still share their uplink bandwidth among all downlink clients.

The upside of a switch over a hub is reducing collisions.
     
ghporter
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Nov 3, 2013, 04:01 PM
 
Ideally, hub or switch wouldn't cause any concern, but home networks built by someone who hasn't been exposed to the formalities of network topology design are almost never Ideal. I've seen some low dollar hubs that presented the router with an addressing challenge, with IP conflicts showing up frequently. Sure they work on a different layer, but they can cause the upstream switch/router to have problems because the (consumer) router ain't all that bright; the hub's downstream devices can appear to seem like one device to the router. Further, with a decent switch the bandwidth usage will seem much more transparent to all users. I stick with switches because adding that little bit of intelligence in the box seems to provide for better performance for all connected devices, particularly when more than one is using a substantial amount of bandwidth.

If we were discussing a professional environment, a hub as part of a professionally designed network wouldn't be a problem. A consumer hub, in a consumer-level network may be fine, but it's a good spot to optimize hardware even if it isn't causing major problems, especially for the small additional cost of a consumer switch. (Way too often "consumer" means "cheap, cheap, and cheap, inside and out.")

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
mduell
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Nov 3, 2013, 07:05 PM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
Ideally, hub or switch wouldn't cause any concern, but home networks built by someone who hasn't been exposed to the formalities of network topology design are almost never Ideal. I've seen some low dollar hubs that presented the router with an addressing challenge, with IP conflicts showing up frequently. Sure they work on a different layer, but they can cause the upstream switch/router to have problems because the (consumer) router ain't all that bright; the hub's downstream devices can appear to seem like one device to the router.
That literally cannot be the case with a hub. A hub cannot perform NAT. The downstream devices have their own addresses on the only level (2) that the hub operates on.
     
ghporter
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Nov 3, 2013, 09:59 PM
 
I didn't say a hub was doing NAT. I said it could cause addressing issues. I've seen "hubs" that were essentially paralleled RJ45 jacks; the router would always have trouble keeping track of the MAC addresses downstream because there wasn't anything differentiating their jacks. No "repeater" hardware, barely any electrical isolation... But they were cheap and the office I saw them in had three of 'em.

I always thought hubs were on Layer 1, the physical layer, not the data link layer the way switches are. Hubs aren't supposed to do anything to the data, just repeat it to all the jacks on the hub except the originating jack...

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
mkerr64  (op)
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Nov 4, 2013, 02:20 AM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
Before you mess with anything else, the next time your Mac can't connect after sleep, go into Settings | Network, and select the connection you're using, then click the "Renew IP" button. Betcha that reconnects you pretty fast.

Spend a few more dollars and get a switch. With a switch, you won't have the bandwidth sharing and IP address issues a hub causes. What is likely happening is that the devices connected to the hub are competing for IP addresses, and your Mac loses out. Resetting things just makes the computer request a new IP, which reconnects it.
Went to Network > ethernet > advanced > Renew DHCP Lease (Renew IP was not there).
nothing happened. had to restart computer an reset router.
R.I.P Steve Jobs
     
mduell
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Nov 4, 2013, 01:59 PM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
I didn't say a hub was doing NAT. I said it could cause addressing issues. I've seen "hubs" that were essentially paralleled RJ45 jacks; the router would always have trouble keeping track of the MAC addresses downstream because there wasn't anything differentiating their jacks.
The router never knows anything about downstream jacks. The packets are identified by their MAC. If packets overlap, you have a collision.

Are you saying he has too many devices for his router's built-in switch's MAC table? That seems unlikely, they usually support thousands even in consumer stuff.
     
ghporter
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Nov 4, 2013, 10:08 PM
 
I'm saying that I saw cheap, poorly made hubs cause major problems. Without hardware to identify the problems, I would be just as accurate to say major packet collisions as major gremlins. But these incredibly cheap hubs were absolutely the issue; replacing them with inexpensive (Netgear, IIRC) switches made the whole network sing instead of stutter. Ever since, I advise to avoid inexpensive hubs. I honestly don't trust the "lowest cost" segment of the network hardware market to not call a box with 5 RJ45s all just soldered together a "hub," and since the difference in cost between inexpensive consumer hubs and inexpensive consumer switches is often negligible, it's an easy way to make a simple network smarter and faster.

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
mkerr64  (op)
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Nov 4, 2013, 10:30 PM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
I'm saying that I saw cheap, poorly made hubs cause major problems. Without hardware to identify the problems, I would be just as accurate to say major packet collisions as major gremlins. But these incredibly cheap hubs were absolutely the issue; replacing them with inexpensive (Netgear, IIRC) switches made the whole network sing instead of stutter. Ever since, I advise to avoid inexpensive hubs. I honestly don't trust the "lowest cost" segment of the network hardware market to not call a box with 5 RJ45s all just soldered together a "hub," and since the difference in cost between inexpensive consumer hubs and inexpensive consumer switches is often negligible, it's an easy way to make a simple network smarter and faster.
If it helps, I've used 2 different hubs by linksys
R.I.P Steve Jobs
     
irieblue
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Nov 7, 2013, 01:59 PM
 
Have you looked in the system log to see if there is anything reported when you noticed you network is not working?
     
   
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