Why do I need to reboot my MacBook Pro M1 to get USB devices recognised again in the year 2022?

Being a generally very happy MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020, macOS Monterey 12.1 (21C52)) user, I'm now getting more and more frustrated. Like most of us, I now work from home and have tons on video calls. I have to use a docking station (Dell D6000, latest firmware) to be able to connect all devices I need including a relatively new Logitech webcam. I use Microsoft Teams most of the time for video calls


Each single day I start in the morning I need to start which checking if USB devices are online when I attach the docking station to one of the USB-C ports. I even have a special sequence of steps tailored to the highest probability that all devices are recognised by MacOS this time and I will not be surprised in a call that I do not have a microphone.... Most of the time, this are speakers and the webcam. Sometimes, I also realise that the TimeMachine HDD (attached to the docking station on USB3) is not present though still attached.


I tried all possible things to find the actual root cause of the problem. I do this since roughly June 2021 and I work in the software industry, so it is not fully "blind". No, this is not Teams, no, this is no Logitech, and not Dell. All those parts work well on other OSs and hardware.


The only thing which helps 100% relaibly is restarting the MacBook while devices are attached. I use MacBooks as my work machines since 10 years. I never needed to reboot them so often as now.


Why do I need to restart such a modern MacBook with latest MacOS in the year 2022 to just get USB devices back on? Internet is full of other cases like this related to USB devices on Macs.


Does anyone care?


I'm more than happy to share any logs from my Mac if this helps and someone is interested.


--

Vladimir


MacBook Pro (2020 and later)

Posted on Jan 14, 2022 7:20 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jan 14, 2022 10:39 AM

The Dell dock being a PC centric device (good luck getting help if you are a Mac user), is likely the culprit in the whole scenario. There are subtle differences with how PCs handle USB device vs. Macs and generally PC centric components like the Dell dock my not play well with it and there is zero chance of Dell doing anything to get them to work properly on a Mac.


For almost a year I have used a Belkin USB-C multimedia hub with no issues and for the past few months have been using and OWC Thunderbolt4 dock without any issues.


FWIW I would say dump the Dell dock and get something that states it is Mac compatible.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jan 14, 2022 10:39 AM in response to Wind-n-Snow

The Dell dock being a PC centric device (good luck getting help if you are a Mac user), is likely the culprit in the whole scenario. There are subtle differences with how PCs handle USB device vs. Macs and generally PC centric components like the Dell dock my not play well with it and there is zero chance of Dell doing anything to get them to work properly on a Mac.


For almost a year I have used a Belkin USB-C multimedia hub with no issues and for the past few months have been using and OWC Thunderbolt4 dock without any issues.


FWIW I would say dump the Dell dock and get something that states it is Mac compatible.

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Why do I need to reboot my MacBook Pro M1 to get USB devices recognised again in the year 2022?

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