Ethernet adapter not working with big sur update?

i appreciate the suggestion OneEskimo but according to Apple Support and the long thread of this Big Sur compatibility discussion, there is not an Enternet adapter for a Macbook Air 2016 USB 3.0 port that is compatible with 643 bit OS 11.0 Big Sur. My USB 3.0 adapter from StarTech was very compatible with OS 10.15 Catalina (my current OS) but Star Tech has not developed the drivers for Big Sur for its Ethernet adapter. It was not very happy with Apple either for the lead time and support it was provided. So, a clean install of Big Sur will not likely work unless i reduce my ethernet down to about 92 Mbps with USB 2.0 Apple Ethernet adapter vs. about 236 Mbps with my StarTech USB 3.0 ethernet adapter.

Hi bishopeen 'I was in your train of thought regarding speeds in thunderbolt and i thought my my Belkin adapter was not compatible with Big Sur . Then I realized after researching a little I realized ports have a max speed and the actual speed is driven by what device you plug it into,. for example in your case the USB 3.0 (also known as SuperSpeed USB) has a maximum bandwidth rate of 5 gbps (gigabits per second. So if you plug it into a gigabyte it can do gigabyte and and if you plug it into 100 Mpbs it can do 100Mpbs. Thats when i realized may be it its not the adapter compatibility since they don't come with any software drivers when you buy them. I had two thunderbolt ports not working after updating to Big Sur and I started shopping for another adapter. Not one vender displayed specs regarding System compatibility, just hardware compatibility. Thats when i called Apple support. They were convinced that I had a hardware issue after trying a few things like SMC , PRAM etc. They were already setting me up to send my computer in for repair. Then i said how does two separate ports go at the same time and I really believe this happened on my OS update to Big Sur. Then i was asked if I have the time to do a hardware test and it passed and then we did a clean install of Big Sur. Believe me i was and the support tech who was very helpful was shocked it worked. I have no ill will toward Apple and their tech support is not perfect but as long as i was patient we found a solution. I did look online or other brands of adapters for your application and found this one QGeeM USB Ethernet Adapter,USB 3.0 to 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Network Adapter Compatible for MacBook Air/Pro,Surface Pro,iMac,Vista,Notebook PC with Windows7/8/10, XP.

if you are not comfortable with doing a clean install, apple chat support will walk you through it... they are there to help.

I have a Macbook pro with a baseus ethernet/USB adapter (the ethernet component is Realtek).

It was not working properly after Big Sur last update.

I found a driver update for MacOs on Realtek website and now it is working.

Ivan, thank you for the post. Basses makes a lot of adapters. which one do you have?

Is it USB 3.0 which allows for much faster speeds of 230+ Mbps vs USB 2.0 at 90+ Mbps? The reason i ask is the Apple USB 2.0 Ethernet adapter will work with Big Sur -- I have that adapter -- but the speed will be slower than i want/need/desire and currently have with my USB 3.0 StarTech adapter.

Star Tech does not know when it will have a compatible Big Sur driver available and is not very happy with Apple's communication about Big Sur to peripheral makers.

Again, i appreciate what you told me already, but if you have more info about the speed and the specific adapter, that would be very helpful. thanks Ivan

thank you again OneEskimo. i will check out the QGeeM adapter you describe. It sounds like the right adapter.

I will contact the company too to see how compatible they think it is and if they have any workaround suggestions. Ditto for Apple Support about the install i would do.

I am not sure what a clean install is, but i will move up the learning curve. Usually i do not mess with software hacks. I am more a plug-n-play and update-the-driver kind of guy.

Net net, i'm on the road to find out. i'll let you know how it goes. Best to you

We have more than 20 iMacs 27-inch, 2017 in our company. All have the same problem with Ethernet not working anymore after the Big Sur upgrade. We had to downgrade all Macs to Catalina again and everything works fine. It took many days of unnecessary work to do all this. Thank you Apple! This is Windows style. We waited until 11.2.1 to upgrade and were sure the basic bugs have been removed since 11.0.

The strange thing is, that most of the iMacs Ethernet ports all worked for ONE working day after the Big Sur upgrade. The next day the Ethernet ports were all not working anymore. How can this happen?

Another strange thing happened, when I used a new M1 MacBook Pro with an Ethernet adapter to connect to our 4D Server. It worked, but the Ethernet connection produces reproducible errors in connection to 4D Server. I tried 4 different USB-C to Ethernet adapters. It could be reproduced with all of them. Using WiFi, this problem did not occur. It really seems that Apple has broken the Ethernet drivers in Big Sur.

This is a severe problem, because many companies are using Ethernet connections. Obviously Apple does not care about this problem yet or isn't even aware of it.

Apple, if we can help to solve this problem let us know. But please start to work on it. This is getting a problem and we will not be able to upgrade to Big Sur because Ethernet is really required in companies.

Steffel, thank you for your very helpful and illuminating comment. We can only hope that the Apple powers-that-be not only saw your post but are working on this continuing frustrating problem with focus, dedication, and speed. When did Apple Microsoft?

The articulated solutions i have seen on this Apple Community chat are daunting and complicated.

One hopeful note, however, is my wife's 2020 iMac 21.5 inch seems to work fine with Big Sur without any special adapters or gymnastics. She downloaded Big Sur by accident one week ago and i was prepared for a nightmare .....but it was a very nice surprise --- everything works!! .... including Office 365 for Mac, a 5-year old HP printer and a 4-year old WD My Passport for Mac backup for Time Machine. She is on ethernet with great speeds up and down. go figure.

Please let us know if something meaningful--and hopefully positive--- happens in your world regarding Ethernet and Big Sur. Best regards

Hi Steffel

You got a pretty impressive network. The MacOs update is 32 bit to 64 bit transformation with no small change with regard to third party software. Clean installs might be required for MacOS update for Client ethernet Macs but not without input from your 3rd party database technical support. Yes, you may have ethernet problems with your client Macs but your M1 mac book tells me something else. You should start here https://doc.4d.com/4Dv15/4D/15.6/Using-4D-Server-64-bit-version-OS-X.300-3838955.en.html and consult your third party software manufacturer, for 32 bit to 64 bit conversion requires some attention to detail. After interpreting wether your server has been set up as a 32 bit to 64 bit first then may I suggest getting your M1 working, then, followed by doing a clean install only one of the client Macs before jumping to the whole network. As as former IT manager of computer a network, that is the only way to approach major updates to a complicated multi-platform network.

Highest regards.....

OneEskimo

Dear OneEskimo,

thank you for your reply!

We use 4D client and server version 18.4, which they released for full compatibility with Big Sur and the M1 processor. Of course, we wouldn't have even tried to upgrade to Big Sur on any machine without being 100% sure that our most important software is 100% compatible. Your 4D link is related to version 15, which is many years old.

The only non-Apple software on all our iMacs is 4D. That's why we always make a clean install from scratch if there is a significant system update and then, we copy the 4d client after the machines work correctly. None of the iMac's Ethernet ports worked after the clean install. The driver must be broken since Big Sur because this was a clean install on ALL machines.

The problem with the M1 MacBook Pro is a different one. It is just another hint that the Ethernet driver of Big Sur is broken, as there are errors via the Ethernet connection and the WLAN connection works correctly.

Of course, you are right that we should have tried this on only one machine first. And this is what we did. It worked on the day of installation. The next day, the Ethernet did not work anymore. Nothing was installed or changed. That was spooky, but the same behavior and problem on all 2017 iMacs. The driver in Big Sur seems incompatible with the Ethernet chip Apple used in the 2017 iMacs.

Thank you for your answer again!

Regards

Steffel

Hmm, as there is no reply from Apple, is there anybody out there with an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017) running on Big Sur 11.2.3 that has a working built-in Ethernet port ? It would be great to know if so! Maybe we have bought a a bad batch of iMacs?

Regards

Steffel

I had similar issues on a OMC Thunderbolt 4 hub - this has the Realtek ethernet chipset in. Attaching a thunderbolt to ethernet dongle worked.

I installed their USB-C dock ethernet drivers - found here https://www.owcdigital.com/support/software-drivers and the hub ethernet port is now operating correctly

please tell us what Ethernet adapter do you use? maker, model number, format (i.e. USB A, USB C, lightning, thunderbolt, etc. ) iteration (is it version 2.0? 3.0?).

that info is very helpful for those of us trying to purchase a 3rd party adapter that will work with Big Sur 11.3.

thank you

made by who? Belkin? model number? sorry to ask more specific questions but Belkin makes many ethernet adapters and most are not compatible with Big Sur. Thank you for your valuable time time.

Since Big Sur hasn’t been released yet (will be tomorrow), you’re using the beta version and you’re basically on your own. Install the full release tomorrow and see if that corrects the issue.

Does anyone know if there is an Ethernet adapter that does work with Big Sur? If so, can you please share the details?