NETGEAR is aware of a growing number of phone and online scams. To learn how to stay safe click here.
Forum Discussion
Circle problems with M1 Mac Mini
Using RBR40 (not it model menu) with built-in Circle. New M1 Mac Mini with lots of problems connecting to App Store, etc. Then found that we can't get an https connection because Circle is interc...
drdoz wrote:In Safari, this warning means the certificate is not trusted when you are using https. It doesn't mean I used a http URL.
Correct. "My Bad". So far, I am batting zero.
Any chance of trying Chrome?
Thing is, I have this device assigned to me in Circle. It should be unfiltered.
In fact, I "removed" the device from Circle, and it changed nothing. This is such a PITA. I say "leave this device alone" and it is still screwing with its network connections.
This happens with any https connection? (not only smile.amazon.com)
One traditional troubleshooting technique is to connect directly to the ISP modem, removing the Orbi entirely from the picture, and leading to cries of "What happened to the Internet????"
When every other device is functioning correctly and the one new device is not, we always blame the network. (I worked in IT for some time.) I know zero about Macs, and 'minus zero' about the new M1 Mac. I wonder if there is some crazy network setting on the new M1's that is different from earlier Macs? When I Google for "Mac Mini M1 cedrtificate error" there are tons of hits
Yes, every https connection,
Yes, I think the Mac is doing something weird. I don't know why Circle is doing anything with it at all. I'm going to try turning Circle off.
Aside from trying Chrome, I do remember one tiny thing about "i-things: For WiFi interfaces, they have an option to use the hardware MAC address or to create a fake MAC address (some sort of enhanced security provision to keep Big Brother from tracking an iPhone as it goes from one WiFi network to another.) This M1 is connected to the Orbi how? (ethernet or WiFi?)
If the Mac address changes, to Circle it is probably no longer the same device.
As far as I can tell, the Macs don't do this, only iPhones, ipads & watches. I had to disable this feature for them for my home network.
I was looking into a different problem recently and discovered that my old Orbi writes an entry into the Orbi log file every time access is granted to a web connection when I have "Site Blocking" activated. (Damn, the log fills up fast!)
My "go to" diagnosis tool is Wireshark. The Orbi debug page (at least on the older Orbi) provides a way to capture WAN/LAN traffic in the form of "pcap" files (wan.pcap and lan.pcap). Wireshark displays these files and will show where the M1 did a DNS query on a URL, the response, the attempt to connect, etc. It is a tedious activity. (Oh, pooh. Wireshark says Mac-intel, not M1. Would have to dump the files to an old Mac to use Wireshark on them.)
Is there actually a way to disable Circle? I have never activated Circle or the "new" Netgear Parental Controls.
Turning off Circle on the Orbi solved the issues with the new Mac, but now I don't have Circle.
drdoz wrote:Turning off Circle on the Orbi solved the issues with the new Mac, but now I don't have Circle.
There is a chance that posting the question on the Circle forum might turn up a solution:
https://community.netgear.com/t5/Circle-Smart-Parental-Controls/bd-p/en-home-circle
Another option might be to dump Circle in favor of the "new" Netgear Parental Controls.which were introduced in March.
https://community.netgear.com/t5/NETGEAR-Smart-Home-Parental/bd-p/en-home-smart-parental-controls
They have both "free" and paid versions.
I follow that forum (for no good reason except they got turned on when I didn't want them and I could not figure out how to make them go away. Maybe if I had "completed the setup" there would have been a way to quit, but I was too stubborn to do it.) Not much traffic on that forum, which might mean:
- users are happy and post no problems, or
- no one has actually signed up.