Mac Mini Ethernet dead.

Question

The title is pretty self-explanatory--I have tried installing the restore discs and it didn't help any. I can't go to the Apple Store or any authorized Apple repair people because they're in Utah, or because they're insanely far away from my town. I tried creating a new "port", but that also never helped any. Help is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

While not helpful in a direct sense, I would urge you to post as much detail as possible in terms of what you have done and what the result was, because you are the only eyes we have in trying to deal with the problem, and small details matter a great deal with networking problems.
Thus, have you tried a new cable? Have you tried connecting to a different port on the router? These are important troubleshooting tests because this will help identify where the problem lies, and then what the likely cause(s) might be.
In a broad sense, your mini does not need to be running MacOS 10.5 to have a functioning ethernet. Indeed, for the purposes of troubleshooting the system it is probably better to have a clean install of the original MacOS (10.4.7 in your case I suspect) from the install disk that came with the system. With no additional software and no updates applied, your mini's ethernet port should be active. It doesn't really help to add more complications to the troubleshooting, such as installing later versions of MacOS etc - indeed, doing this can actually hinder troubleshooting because it means we also have to figure out if there are any issues with the updated installations which could be affecting discernible symptoms.
Could you explain what you mean by: +I'm getting barely any activity on the port+ because it isn't clear (to me at least).
Additionally, you mention you have upgraded the RAM and ask whether the memory could be part of the problem. The answer is no, in itself it can't. The ethernet port is a hardware device for which MacOS has an inherent driver loading up at startup. As long as the system boots at all, RAM doesn't play a role in the failure of hardware devices such as this. However, did the ethernet port issue arise directly after the RAM upgrade, or was that done some time ago and the system has run correctly since?
Has there been any other work done recently on the system, prior to this fault arising?
and so far, I had a self-assigned IP, but for some odd reason, it disconnected, and reverted to the same thing.
When you get a self-assigned IP, it means that either the port is not working, the cable is damaged, the router is not set to hand out IP addresses, the router is faulty, a firewall is blocking all connections or the Network preference pane is not set to get IPs via DHCP. If the router shows a light for the port into which the mini is connected, it means that it can 'see' the mini, though it does not mean it can correctly communicate with it.
However, it is not clear what you mean by +but for some odd reason, it disconnected, and reverted to the same thing+ .... what disconnected? From what? How do you know? and what same thing did it revert to that was different to what it had briefly done?
Right now, I'm using it via Target Disk and getting updates for it. Hopefully, things can get working.
Assuming you have the mini in FW target disk mode while connected to one of your other systems (the MacBook perhaps?) then unless you have the mini set as the startup drive in the host system you aren't updating anything on the mini's setup in terms of MacOS, because the mini is only acting as an external drive for the (presumed) MacBook.
If this were my mini, I would first perform a PRAM reset on it (a wired USB keyboard which is not an Apple aluminium model is needed for this):
-Shut down the computer.
-Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in the next step but one.
-Turn on the computer.
-Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
-Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
-Release the keys.
After that, reboot the system as normal, and open the system profiler (Apple menu>About This Mac), then click on the More info button. Click the 'Network' heading in the contents list on the left and on the right, look at the list of devices. It should contain Airport, Bluetooth, Built-in Ethernet, Built-in Firewire and perhaps Internal Modem. If you click on the Built-in Ethernet entry, below you should see the device configuration - if so that will tell you that the system sees the hardware correctly. If the built-in ethernet entry is missing from the list, it means the system no longer sees the hardware port.