Could you try to restart your computer to make sure that the executing algod binary is truly the latest and greatest ? If that doesn’t help, and you’ve verified using algod -v that you’re running 2.3.0+, could you please post the config.json file you’re using ?
Last, whenever the catchup service is not making a progress, it would log detailed information to the node.log file. Could you look in there to see if there is any apparent reason ? ( i.e. maybe an error / warning log message ? )
Your participation key should not affect the node catching up in any way.
The config.json.example is just a “template” for the config.json, containing the default values.
Is there any hint for the issue in the node.log file ?
What type of internet connection do you have? In particular, do you have any firewall / dns restrictions / etc ?
The telemetry, regardless if it’s working or not, would not affect the catchup.
Do you have the ability to connect your MacBook to a different network, just so that we could remove the network as a potential cause ? If not, the only thing I think could help is if you would share your node.log file…
No worries. I suspect the issue before was caused by DNSSEC being blocked; There is already a fix for that in master ( https://github.com/algorand/go-algorand/pull/1736 ), which is scheduled for next release.