brianfromwaverly

Q: Thunderbolt ethernet does not connect when plugged in.

I have a rMBP 2.3 gHZ, 8 gigs RAM running OS 10.8.1.  I usually use wifi to connect to my network at work, but sometimes signal strength is low and I plug in my Thunderbolt to ethernet adaptor.  The laptop does not recognize that I have plugged in, and to solve the problem, I have to open my network preferences and try to force it to connect.  I shut down wifi, doing only this doesn't solve the problem; the machine still says that the ethernet cable is not connected.  Then I go to the "advanced" window and click "renew DHCP lease."  It doesn't connect right away, but when I close the advanced window, it will usually connect to the network.  I have the impression that it doesn't work the same way every time, but I haven't been systematic enough yet to be sure.  I have tried setting a specific location "work" for the ethernet connection so that I can select that state when I need to use ethernet.  This did not solve the problem.

My adaptor is the genuine Apple unit, not an after market. 

Any ideas?  Any others have this issue?  I'm hoping it's not a hardware problem.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.1)

Posted on Sep 7, 2012 9:21 AM

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Q: Thunderbolt ethernet does not connect when plugged in.

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  • by dr.cheese.beer,

    dr.cheese.beer dr.cheese.beer Nov 14, 2013 7:32 AM in response to brianfromwaverly
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 14, 2013 7:32 AM in response to brianfromwaverly

    brianfromwaverly,

     

    Thank you for your reply. Looking over the adapter:

     

    • RJ45 port looks good - all pins are straight and appear clean.
    • Thunderbolt connector also looks good - all pins are clean and straight
    • Cable connecting the thunderbolt connector and RJ45 port is in excellent shape.
    • Connector on the MBP Retina appears clean and in good shape (I don't use it often)

     

    Here is what I have done to test (keep in mind - the adapter appeared to be working without issue prior to the Mavricks upgrade):

     

    • Plugged it into my non-Retina MBP (running Mavericks) - it works consistently without issue
    • Wiggled the connectors a bit to see if it would connect
    • Tried a different port on the switch
    • Tried a different switch
    • Tried a different Ethernet cable
    • Tried both Thunderbolt ports on the MBP Retina
    • Removed NetworkInterfaces.plist and rebooted
    • Removed the adapter in System Preferences -> Network then re-added
    • Tried this: https://discussions.apple.com/message/23524435#23524435. After making this change, the adapter started working for a short while (as described in my original post). Subsequent attempts did not work.

     

    Thank you again for your help!

  • by hollis65,

    hollis65 hollis65 Feb 4, 2014 10:21 AM in response to NuevaYork
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 4, 2014 10:21 AM in response to NuevaYork

    thanks Nueva york, did the trick

  • by mwalker4659,

    mwalker4659 mwalker4659 May 9, 2015 3:17 PM in response to JediMindTrick
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 9, 2015 3:17 PM in response to JediMindTrick

    guys, its hard to believe apple would design something that does' t work. This adapter is gigabit ethernet right.

    that means you better have at least a cat 6e cable for reliable connections. i've seen this many times at work.

    what could be happening is when you plug your cable in if its connected to a gigabit switch it negotiates communication

    speed. it only takes a couple of ethernet packets for both ends to say "yes i can comm at a gigabit". then if you have

    a crummy cable (less than cat 6e) when you start communication on the web you are getting near end and far end

    crosstalk. the computer is so busy asking for retransmits that you don't get any bandwidth. I see it at work all the time.

    back you adapter off to 100mbit and if thats the problem it will start working.

  • by goo_nadd,

    goo_nadd goo_nadd Jul 2, 2015 7:11 AM in response to brianfromwaverly
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 2, 2015 7:11 AM in response to brianfromwaverly

    Thanks for posting. Your suggestion fixed my problem. I appreciate it !

  • by Mashunsnik,

    Mashunsnik Mashunsnik Aug 28, 2015 9:46 PM in response to brianfromwaverly
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 28, 2015 9:46 PM in response to brianfromwaverly

    Similar/same problem: Ethernet-Thunderbolt dongle plugged into Macbook Pro. Home LAN going through two switches and a router to get to a cable modem. In "Network" a green dot displayed for the dongle, but there was an intermittent message indicating a (nonexistent) IP conflict. Also, ping failed. What worked for me was to turn off wireless, get rid of old locations, start a new one, and then go through building the connection. When that didn't work, the screen message was to restart my router. I restarted all switches, the router, and the cable modem (possibly overkill to do everything, but it was easy and it was a way to reset all devices)--and waited. After a couple of minutes the Ethernet/Thunderbird lashup made it all the way through the milestones, and the connection was finally good.

     

    This problem and its close relatives have been noted in forums for some years. It appears that it is not terribly hardware-specific. It also doesn't seem to depend on the version of OS X (at least within the past few years)., and may not be triggered by firmware or driver updates.

  • by arch_angel_gabriel,

    arch_angel_gabriel arch_angel_gabriel Sep 21, 2015 1:44 PM in response to brianfromwaverly
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 21, 2015 1:44 PM in response to brianfromwaverly

    hwi brian.. same problem here. I have a MBP Retina 15. very simple fix. In network preferences add new connection and select Ethernet thunderbolt. hit apply.

    afterwards turn off wifi and like magic, ethernet will connect.

     

    Gabriel

  • by Bazzers,

    Bazzers Bazzers Jan 28, 2016 4:02 PM in response to brianfromwaverly
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2016 4:02 PM in response to brianfromwaverly

       Thanks for all the suggestions!  I was able to resolve this problem by entering Recovery Mode, turning off WiFi, testing that the Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter was working in Recovery Mode, then selecting the Recovery Mode option for re-installing OS X.  My Mac was back working in under 45 minutes, with all settings and files intact. Except now with wired ethernet working properly.  Details below.  Kudos to AppleCare phone support!

     

      What didn't work for me::

    I had first tried the solutions offered in this thread and in similar threads.  None helped significantly.  The only thing that had helped at all was deleting files from /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration -- sometimes deleting just NetworkInterfaces.plist, sometimes all files except com.apple.Boot.plist -- and restarting.  Unfortunately, this solution worked only briefly, for one (sometimes two) plug-ins of the adapter.  After that, the the Network pane reverted to not noticing the Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter at all, even though one could see (via dmesg) IOThunderboltSwitch messages for each physical plug/unplug event.  If I wanted to use wired ethernet, I would have to delete the files again and restart the machine.  This process worked reliably, but it is not something you want to do several times a day as you move around an office, attend meetings, etc.

     

       My system/network:

    I have Mac OS X 10.11.3 installed on a mid-2014 Retina 15" PowerBook.  The Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet problem started around when I upgraded to 10.11.3, or possibly when I upgraded to 10.11.2 .  I use wired ethernet pretty normally: I plug in an Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter directly into my MacBook Pro, and plug a standard ethernet cable -- a cat 5e/RJ45 cable which works fine at gigabit speed with other laptops -- into the adapter. The ethernet cable plugs into a simple unmanaged gigabit switch, which is plugged into the building network.  I tried multiple genuine-Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapters; all showed the same problem.

     

       What worked for me:

    1. Back up your Mac with Time Machine (just in case).

    2. Shut down your Mac.

    3. Unplug Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter.

    3. Enter Recovery Mode: hold down cmd-r, press power button,

    don't let go of cmd-r until you see Apple logo and a progress bar.

    4. Turn off Wi-Fi: use icon and pull-down menu in upper right of screen).

    5. Test internet connectivity: Select "Get Help Online".  Once in Safari, enter the address of a website or two (apple.com, nyt.com) and see if they load and if links can be followed..

    6. Select "Reinstall Mac OS X".  Be prepared to wait a bit, this took me 45 minutes, and that is with the usual SSD in my Retina Macbook and a very fast near-Gigabit internet connection in my office, although I don't know if much network was used.

    7. Log in and plug in Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter. Check Network preference pane to see if all is well. Try an unplug/wait-a-few-seconds/plug-in cycle.  Try another one. With luck: rejoice!

     

       I imagine the OS reinstall would take longer on Macs with spinning hard disk instead of SSD.

     

       Hope this helps!

  • by Bazzers,

    Bazzers Bazzers Jan 28, 2016 6:49 PM in response to Bazzers
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 28, 2016 6:49 PM in response to Bazzers

    Whoops!  You'l need to insert:

      Step 4a.  Plug in Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter.


    Heh, the instructions are not much use without that step...

     

     

  • by kutovoy,

    kutovoy kutovoy Jul 19, 2016 8:14 PM in response to NuevaYork
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 19, 2016 8:14 PM in response to NuevaYork

    This fixed one of my 4 laptops with the same issue. I even went to Genius bar and they been so genius that they told me that the issue is local to my 4 laptops. Genius help!

  • by jabberlope,

    jabberlope jabberlope Sep 8, 2016 1:08 PM in response to brianfromwaverly
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 8, 2016 1:08 PM in response to brianfromwaverly

    Clicking "Advanced" -> "Renew DHCP Lease" solved my problems as well.

  • by AM_Kidd,

    AM_Kidd AM_Kidd Sep 15, 2016 8:49 AM in response to JediMindTrick
    Level 3 (987 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 15, 2016 8:49 AM in response to JediMindTrick

    JediMindTrick's advice worked for me! For some reason after I deleted it from the Network pane, the connection was recognized as Bluetooth PAN. I had to reset the service order and hit apply and now it works fine again.

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