MacBook Air 2020 USB LAN issue after sleep with Wifi turned off

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Level 1

5 points

MacBook Air 2020 USB LAN issue after sleep with Wifi turned off

So I have M1 MacBook Air 2020 (the base model).

Recently (about half year ago) I switched from WIFI to USB LAN (via those usb extending dongles or however they are called). And LAN works great when WIFI is also turned on (doesn't matter connected or disconnected).

The problem is when I turn off WIFI and the MacBook goes to sleep, after few hours when I turn it back on there is no internet on LAN. It says it's connected and active (from what I remember), but there is no access to the internet and no matter what I do it doesn't work. Only rebooting the MacBook fixes the internet issue. However if i do not turn off WIFI and only disconnect the wifi instead - LAN works, with the exception that after sleep WIFI connects automatically again, so i need to manually disconnect WIFI again to switch to LAN.

So the question is can I keep LAN working and have WIFI radio turned off, so it doesn't connect to WIFI when LAN is used. This is very annoying because I need the stable LAN connection while gaming and this automatic WIFI reconnection after sleep is annoying because if I do not notice it before starting a game i get frame drops.

PS: In case it matters I use the MacBook in clamshell mode and connected to LAN via a dongle most of the time and only use it on WIFI when I take it out with me.

PS 2: Currently on latest MacOS, but it existed in previous version as well, so probably not update related.

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.2

Posted on Jan 12, 2025 12:33 AM

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Answer 1

AlWeir

Level 5

5,115 points

Jan 12, 2025 4:53 AM in response to mr_pines

If your MacBook Air 2020 loses its USB LAN connection after going to sleep with Wi-Fi turned off, the most likely cause is a setting in your energy saver options called "Wake for Network Access" which might be causing the Ethernet connection to drop when the computer wakes up; try disabling this setting in your system preferences to resolve the issue.

How to fix:

Check Energy Saver settings:
- Go to Apple menu > System Settings > Power Adapter > Energy Saver.
- Ensure "Wake for network access" is unchecked.

Other potential solutions:

Check your USB-C adapter: Make sure the USB-C adapter you're using is properly connected to both the MacBook and the ethernet cable. Try using a different adapter if possible.
Update macOS: Check for any available macOS updates and install them.
Restart your router: Sometimes a simple restart of your router can fix connectivity issues.
Check network settings: Double-check your network settings in System Settings to ensure the correct Ethernet settings are selected.
Try a different Ethernet cable: Test with a different ethernet cable to see if the problem persists.

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Answer 2

Ellyenne

Level 1

40 points

Jan 26, 2025 4:56 PM in response to Ellyenne

UPDATE

I have not had a problem since I turned OFF the Wake for Internet access. So, bizarrely, it seems to be an issue with the older OS.

Hope that worked for you all.

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Answer 3

Ellyenne

Level 1

40 points

Jan 15, 2025 7:27 PM in response to mr_pines

I have a similar problem, and I'm going to try this solution.

The "wake for network access" is used if the computer is part of a network (such as a Bonjour network).

So, it is only used if someone else has remote access to the computer. Since my laptop is occasionally part of a work network, then I have the setting on. I'm going to try with it off.

If your computer is not part of a network, leave this off.

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Answer 4

mr_pines Author

Level 1

5 points

Jan 12, 2025 7:01 AM in response to AlWeir

Check Energy Saver settings - checked it. It was enabled when on power adapter. Also i'm not sure how disabling wake on network access will make LAN work after sleep. Also I do want to keep receiving updates when the mac is sleeping, so I prefer to keep it enabled. However for the sake of confirming if it solves it or not I'll try it tomorrow.

From the section with other potential solutions:

USB-C adapter is working fine, it is being used until this day without issues. I'm 90% sure it's mac related issue and not dongle related issue.
MacOS is already updated - as already mentioned.
Restarting the router was tested already and did not solve the issue with LAN, only rebooting the MacBook helped.
Network settings were checked many times already and are all ok. As mentioned everything works fine when WIFI radio is enabled. Only when WIFI radio is disabled that this issue occurs.
Trying different ethernet cable is not even a consideration since LAN works just fine when WIFI radio is enabled on the MacBook.

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Answer 5

mr_pines Author

Level 1

5 points

Feb 14, 2025 6:01 AM in response to mr_pines

Something did fix it, but it was not that setting.

Both with the setting disabled and with the setting enabled internet seems to be working...

I think since i wrote this 2 macOS updates happened, so maybe that fixed it?

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