You might want to check the battery health on those phones. When the battery gets doggy the performance is affected (to prevent app crashes and system crashes).

They can do a remote diagnostic to figure out where the issue is. Also try booting in safe mode. Hold down the left shift key while booting.

It does sound like a logic board issue though.

Just an idea. Copy all the data you can from that external drive to something else just in case that’s all you can get. Plug the external drive into the Mac with the bad drive. Connect the Mac to your network with a Ethernet cable, turn on the Mac while doing command option r combo when you see the Apple. Go to disk utility and format the external to hfs (it will wipe the disk). Exit disk utility and go to the install mac menu. once install on the external drive is complete restart while holding down the alt key and select the external. Boot off the external drive. Recover data by copying it to the external boot drive or another external you have. You may want to test the command option r first and I would disconnect the failing HDD during most of that process.

Try deluge, it’s been pretty bulletproof for me once configured.

Shit it took me so long to write this, it’s now totally redundant. I left it just in case you are bored.

I use a 2 year old iPhone, a 10 year old MacBook Pro as my daily driver, a 10 year old Mac mini attached to a tv and an apple tv. I also use a home build windows11 desktop for my home use and gaming, a hp mini running pfsense and a server running truenas core.

To touch on your points, You pay for the Mac hardware and the OS is included. This is just like you buy an Android phone or a dell Linux desktop. With windows computer you are paying for windows license within the price of the unit. the Yearly (pain in the ass)macos or iOS upgrades are free but they usually have a cutoff of 5-7 years because of hardware comparability. This does not mean you can’t use you mac anymore, it just means you just can’t upgrade to the latest version with whatever new features or fixes it contains.

The only bloatware is Apple software you might not need. Depending on the platform and the version you can remove it. Unlike an android pone manufacturer which will bake in some of its bloatware on top of Android, then the provider adding their own on top of that. This may or not be removable. Let’s not even talk about Microsoft and oems although at least with windows you can wipe the unit to reinstall with just the Microsoft bloat then take care of that separately… linux is free of that

Most of Apple software is integrated with their iCloud service (overpriced for sure). Windows users can do a very basic integration with iCloud for windows but it does leave everyone else out. You can still use iCloud on any system through a browser to access any of that data. Almost all their software is Mac only. If you buy Final Cut or Logic Pro and you want to keep using it because you like it, you will be stuck on Mac.(I didn’t really understand your point on this part)

Yes they do like to give names to stuff. A lot of companies do it to try to differentiate themselves other companies. Some of it is like grocery store calling their staff “associates“ instead of staff. I really don’t see that as an issue.

I am not fan of all the types of screws they use, I’m looking at you freaking trilobe. I do like the pentalobe though, never stripped one of those. I think using torx is superior to flat head or Philips as those strip more often when you get to smaller size screw heads.

I am of the view of using the best tool for you for the job. I don’t like to tinker with my phone and my laptop. I need them to be reliable. I tinker on my windows desktop My server is rock solid and so is my pfense router.

If you like what you use, that’s awesome you found the right gear for yourself.

Did you try to go into the uefi setting to see if the keyboard was functioning as expected? This will eliminate any software issues with drivers and OS. you can go into the security/ setup password to type. If it fails it’s a hardware issue, if it works then it’s software (probably).

That was my first thought too. Regardless it’s got to be uefi/bios related as it’s across OSes

If it’s the WiFi that’s crapping out, get a ubiquiti UniFi 6+ access point. It will handle up to 300 devices for $130. You will need to by the POE adapter for it but it’s ~$15.

I love my ER3 lite and ER-X. I was totally surprised when they came out with a new firmware for it. It’s still beta but it was a relief to know they haven’t abandoned their edge routers.

You could buy a pfsense capable mini-pc ~$200. It will give you, 1 wan port and 2 or 3 lan ports or repurpose an old desktop by updating it with a dual network card. The pfsense mini pc will use a lot less power long term. Then use your routers in access point mode, one for your IOT on 2.4ghz and one on 5ghz for the other stuff. You can set up the firewall to prevent the iot network on the second lan from seeing anything on the primary lan but still have full access to devices from the primary to the IOT network.

Easier solution is what was already suggested is by using vlans with one router and the setup the second router in access point mode for the IOT

If the license is registered to that system changing the hard drive and reinstalling the SAME version of windows won’t be an issue. MS saves your system’s “fingerprint” and as long as you don’t change too many parts, it will recognize it and attach the license back to it.

If you do lose the license on reinstall, there are site that will sell you a cheap license, buyer beware, or ultimately you could switch over to something like truenas (core or scale) to run plex which is license free.

All drives will ultimately fail, could be 10years, could be 10mins. If you don’t want to lose your data, back it up. Have a storage drive and a backup drive. Don’t both connected them to the router. Use an alternative method to connect , like to a computer and have run a backup protocol on a regular basis. As for 2.5 over 3.5, the 3.5 are usually faster but it probably doesn’t matter reliability wise.

I would second the bad disk. I thought bad permission but since since it seems intermittent, the bad disk is the better guess. It would be good to get more info like what’s it running on, is it an array, etc.

If bonjour is enabled and you are on the same subnet, the printer should show up in the printer find/select option from the app you are printing from. Can you access the ews from the iPhone? Try to disable the bonjour function and re-enable it. I know these suggestions sound stupid but sometimes it’s the stimulus things that lead you to an answer.

I know you said you tried with static ips but It really sounds like an ip issue. After you have reset the router, try setting up all your devices with an ip reservation so you can make sure 2 devices don’t try to grab the same ip.

If you can go to the printer’s web management page, make sure bonjour is enabled in the network settings

I would stick with the wired HDMI connection rather than wireless. Casting will just increase traffic on your WiFi network for no reason and wired anything is usually more reliable once setup properly. Another advantage is it will bypass all the possibly annoying smartTV ads or pop ups if your tv does that.

Edit for spelling

They are lost. Even if they found them alive, they can’t transfer them off the vehicle. they are even bolted in. the shell is made from 5 inch thick spun titanium carbon fiber with a bonded ring and a metal cap on each end. the pressure vessel most probably shattered then everything got squished.

edit for spelling