Ethernet problems

My Macbook Air will frequently not recognize the USB ethernet connection.

I've tried deleting the "USB 10/100/1000 LAN" connection and reestablishing it by plugging the ethernet connection back in and trying to refresh the DHCP lease , but no luck. The USB LAN connection is visible in the Network window but it's red and says "Not Connected".

I even updated the OS from 10.13 to 10.14, but the problem persisted.

The strange thing is that on rare occasions the ethernet connection does work, seemingly without rhyme or reason.

I also have an iMac and another Macbook Air in the household, and they do NOT have this problem, using the exact same connection.

Any suggestions how to fix this?