App Store Cannot Connect - Workaround

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1 Open Loop Author

Level 2

387 points

App Store Cannot Connect - Workaround

This post is not looking for answsers.

This post is a workaround for anyone who has this (rather specific) issue.

Upgraded to Sequoia (a name I cannot spell, please go back to numbers) and discoverd that the App Store cannot connect.

Did lots of internet searches. Followed lots of suggestons. Nothing worked.

Called Apple and started the typical, "Is you Mac plugged in? Is your SW up to date? (no SW is ever up to date, but yes, all if it is up to date) Let's create a new user and test it." New user testing has never worked, at least for me and it didn't work this time either. Blah, blah, blah.

So, the Apple support person decides to search my specific issue.

The work around?

Settings > Network > Ethernet > Details > Hardware > Configure > Automatically

I had to set the Configure option from Manually to Automatically.

Seriously? That's the work around? (bangs head on desk)

I've had it set to Manually for literally years, starting with my old iMac Pro. Manually so I can set the MTU to Jumbo frames to ensure the best 10 Gbps performace to my NAS. (not interested in discussing why, or if I should, I do and it works for my NAS)

Why did the Apple SW engineer responsible for the App Store decide to worry about this setting? Spoiler, it doesn't matter. It's a bug, so fix it. According to the Apple Support Person, it will be reported as a bug.

I usually wait a long time before upgrading SW, especially the OS. Sadly, I didn't wait long enough.

Either way, I hope this helps anyone here who has this issue.

(if you read what I wrote and didn't laugh, you read it wrong)

Mac Studio (2022)

Posted on Nov 5, 2024 6:17 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 5, 2024 9:27 AM in response to 1 Open Loop

1 Open Loop wrote:

This post is not looking for answsers.

This post is a workaround for anyone who has this (rather specific) issue.

Upgraded to Sequoia (a name I cannot spell, please go back to numbers) and discoverd that the App Store cannot connect.

Why did the Apple SW engineer responsible for the App Store decide to worry about this setting?

To be proactive you can file a bug report / submit your Apple Feedback here: Product Feedback - Apple

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Answer 2

Nov 5, 2024 9:49 AM in response to 1 Open Loop

If the NIC connection is set to manual, then it must match the settings on the switch port.

Reconfiguring the NIC from manual to automatic implies a network speed and settings negotiation problem with the switch, with the Mac NIC, or a problem with the cable. Or a network misconfiguration.

Check the switch firmware for updates, if it’s a managed switch.

I’ve had worked with switches that are just flaky, too. Some Cisco managed switches had real problems for a while, for instance. What the switch showed was not how the port was actually set. That error was fun to find.

Automatic (auto-negotiation) is typical for GbE and faster networks, and usually works. Older and faulty cables, and older and faulty switch ports can mis-negotiate. And Mac NICs are occasionally bad or wonky, too.

And how that NIC setting effects (only?) App Store here, and not everything else?

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Answer 3

1 Open Loop Author

Level 2

387 points

Nov 5, 2024 11:03 AM in response to MrHoffman

Interesting.

I have several switches in my network. However, only one is 10 Gbps and it only has my Mac Studio and two 10 Gbps NAS devices on it. All the ports are configured for automatic. The switch does recognize that all three devices are 10 Gpbs connections.

I opened up the App Store and it works fine. I reset the Configuration to Manual and the correct Jumbo frames. I opened up the App Store again and huge surprise, it works fine.

Setting the Configuraiton in the hardware section of the Enternet connection to Auto seems to have "tricked" the App Store that there is an internet connection. Now that it's back to Manual, the App Store still works.

You might think I'd be delighted that everything appears to work. Nope. This is now a bug that is not 100% reproducable. So the chances that Apple fixes it (for those of use who use 10 Gbps and Manually setting Jumbo frames) has dropped to zero. "Your car makes a funny noise? Funny sir, but I don't hear it now."

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Answer 4

Nov 5, 2024 11:28 AM in response to 1 Open Loop

This reeks of networking "fun". That's why I was wondering about the auto-negotiation involvement.

Managed switches? If so, spanning tree priorities set correctly? Also any VLANs or network monitoring, etc? But that usually blocks it all.

I've met switches that got stuck during power transients too, and cycling the wedged port settings, or de- and re-cabling the port, resolved that. But that usually blocks it all.

APs and wired and routers and subnets can get tangled too, but, again, that usually blocks it all.

Jumbo Frames needs to be enabled everywhere up to the gateway router (and any other routers involved locally), including the LAN-side router NIC settings, of course. If the settings are not consistent on any intermediate NICs, things work fine, right up until big packets disappear, and packet sizes and behaviors on packet losses can be (are) dependent on the particular apps involved.

macOS 15 Sequoia did apparently have some packet-routing issues, which were resolved in macOS 15.1, too.

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