M5 Ultra Mac Studio-specific bug

TidBITS Talk
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When I got the M3 Ultra Mac Studio, it had a particular bug that prevented it from updating from Sequoia to Tahoe; fortunately, it was fixed after a few weeks. And now a similar hardware-specific bug has happened again with my new M5 Ultra Mac Studio. This time it involves the Mac’s ability to use AirPlay.

The previous M3 Ultra Mac Studio had no problems connecting to my HomePods, even when I updated it to macOS 27. Then, on October 2nd, I traded it in for a new M5 Ultra Mac Studio and set it up as a new computer. In other words, I did NOT use the Migration Assistant: all apps were freshly installed, all settings were newly created, and all files were restored from either iCloud or Dropbox. During initial setup, the new Mac updated to 27.0.1; I wasn’t running a beta version of macOS yet. While the new Mac Studio is INSANELY fast, the Music app simply refuses to connect to either of my two HomePod minis. If I check one while music is playing, it unchecks itself after 2 seconds.

I have taken every possible step to remedy this: turned on the Mac’s firewall and turned it off again; turned Bluetooth off and on; made sure all devices are on the exact same wi-fi network; made sure they are all signed in with the same iCloud account; turned off SharePlay; turned off Song Transitions, Sound Check and Lossless Audio Playback in the Music app, etc. I even totally reset each HomePod, then deleted the Home Profile itself and started over… nothing has changed.

The M5 Ultra Mac Studio refuses to connect to any HomePods on the network, even though I completely deleted the Home Profile in the Home app and started over. I reset all the HomePods to factory settings and updated them to the latest software. I made sure all devices are signed in to the same Apple account and are on the same Wi-Fi network. The problem remains: in the Mac’s Music app, as soon as I click a HomePod in the AirPlay button, it connects for two seconds and then disconnects.

My M5 Pro MacBook Pro with the same macOS version connects with no problems, as does my iPhone 18 Pro Max. Eventually, I updated the Mac Studio, MacBook Pro and iPhone to 27.2 Developer 2… same result. Then yesterday to Developer 3… same result. And yes, this happens if I start up from a clean Test User account.

I’ve filed multiple reports using the Feedback assistant, but so far nothing has been done, and I have no idea if anyone is listening. I also searched the web and found no one else reporting it. Gulp! I’m chalking that up to the fact that (a) the new Mac Studios are very new and (b) the M5 Ultra is SO expensive that not that many people have them right now. (If it weren’t for the Apple Upgrade program and the trade-in, I could never have afforded this!) Hoping someone can figure this out.

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I had the same issue with Mac Studio M5 Max and could not initially send Music to my HomePod AirPlay speakers, but was able to fix it (at least until I restarted the Mac Studio). I was able to use my Mac as an audio destination from my iPhone, so I knew that the computer was visible to AirPlay.

My Mac Studio is connected to my Home Network via wired Ethernet and WiFi. I temporarily made Ethernet inactive (System Settings>Network>Ethernet). I then started a Music track and was able to play it on my HomePod. I then stopped the Music, reactivated Ethernet (which made it the primary connection), and was still able to connect the HomePod. I had no problems connecting and disconnecting until I shut down the Mac Studio. When I restarted it, I had to go through the whole procedure again to re-register the connection.

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Me too, finally Grok found this today! I am not crazy. New Mac Studio M5 Max, 64GB, 1TB, wired 10G ethernet to 10G switch to Firewalla Gold Pro Router to Xfinity.

Nothing I can do to get the existing homepods I have to work from the Mac Studio. (except turn off wired ethernet and use wi-fi only) I did all the things you could think of troubleshooting with the Firewalla people for almost two weeks. They were great BTW. I tried what Alan F said about as well, still fail. The two sets of homepods I have have been working great for years from my previous mac Mini M4 Pro, 10G wired/wireless as well. the homepods also work from my iPhone/ipad, etc.

What we/Firewalla support finally came up with is this: “With the Mac plugged directly into Port 2, the HomePods sent the Mac 468 timing requests during your test, and the Mac never replied to any of them. The Firewalla delivered every request to the Mac’s port, so the problem is on the Mac.”

I am afraid to call Apple, I called two weeks ago while I was getting the new system set up and told support what I was seeing on my screen, the reply I got was – “is your Mac plugged into power”??? I noped out of that conversation with a real human immediately.

Wow, TidBits is still around! I remember the Adam and Tonya days…

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Follow-up:

After seeing that I was not alone in having problems, I contacted Apple Support. We ran some diagnostics over about a 1-hour session. The analyst called me back the next day to try more scenarios and collect more logs (about 2 hours). So, Apple is aware of the issue and, from the sound of it, is working on figuring it out and fixing it. The case number is 102988286194.

As long as my WiFi is stable, I’ve had no issues with the HomePods staying connected after I set up only WiFi and then added the Ethernet connection. Dropping the WiFi connection doesn’t cause any problems until I pause music. If I do pause the music, I need to reestablish the setup via WiFi.

For the record, my Mac is connected via WiFi and Ethernet to an ASUS ZenWiFi XT8 router operating as a switch, while the ASUS router closest to the speakers I was testing operates as a router connected to a Fiber ONT for Sonic.

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Thanks Alan, I will be calling Apple and referencing your case, 102988286194, as I believe we are clearly having the same issues along with Ken. ----------------------------------------------

30Oct26 Update: Not good. I waited till both Golden Gate (27.2) and the
HomePods were updated. Still no go. Today my two new mini 2 HomePods showed up and they also needed the 27.2 update which they received. Still no go, it did seem that the Mac Studio took a little while longer before it gave up.

Called Apple, was tortured by their friendly AI for about 6 minutes, asked for a human. Got a nice human but they are having phone “issues” today and dropping lots of calls. Mine dropped. Called back and nice human #2 warned me about the phone issues. Went through about 10 minutes of what was tried, what is the issue, referenced your case, etc. Turns out, and I somewhat understand, nice human # 2 cannot look at your case as he doesn’t own it. Hmmmm, that makes it hard to track emergent issues I would assume.

I think this is my case number from today, 103014227783, safely not accessible by Apple support agents who aren’t nice human #2 (maybe #1) I don’t know.

I am going to give it a day for Apple to get its phone issues sorted and call again maybe over the weekend or Monday.

Very frustrating that this doesn’t work, you already know that. Part of the Apple tax was/is that things “just work”, sadly no.

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THIS WORKED!

Workaround:

Turn off IPv6 on the Ethernet service only.

In Terminal:

sudo networksetup -setv6off “Ethernet”

Yes! AI searching FTW!

Works on my HomePod OG’s, mini V1, and the brand new mini V2. Here’s the weird part, I am SURE we tried this for the network settings as one of the 87 things we tried. Evidently the terminal command does it differently?

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Thanks,

I passed the URL of the Mac Communities discussion to the analyst I’m working with at Apple.