dan2bit

Q: Thunderbolt Ethernet not working after Yosemite upgrade

Upgraded last night to 10.10, and now my Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter has no MAC address, and my MBP appears to think the cable is unplugged - it's not, and worked fine when the MBP was running 10.9 yesterday. Things which haven't worked:

 

  • Deleting and re-adding via Network Preferences
  • Changing default IPv6 to Link-local only
  • Rebooting with the thunderbolt adapter in
  • Rebooting with the thunderbolt adapter not in
  • Switching the thunderbolt adapter to the port further from the hinge and back again
  • Unplugging and replugging the ethernet cable
  • Plugging the ethernet cable directly into the wall jack instead of the hub it has always been plugged into
  • Unplugging and replugging the Thunderbolt
  • Changing Location to "Work" from "Automatic" and back again

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10), Thunderbolt 27-inch (2560 x 1440)

Posted on Oct 17, 2014 9:41 AM

Close

Q: Thunderbolt Ethernet not working after Yosemite upgrade

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Previous Page 2 of 3 last Next
  • by TimPetro,Helpful

    TimPetro TimPetro May 5, 2015 12:28 PM in response to dan2bit
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 5, 2015 12:28 PM in response to dan2bit

    Some info for anyone still having this issue and how i resolved my issue..

    My issue, i was having issue with my Thunderbolt so i deleted it from the network preferences pane. It would not come back when i reinserted it.
    I played with the network locations with no results.

    The Macbook pro i use could see that the hardware was there (described in the steps below).

    I manually tried adding the adapter back using Network preferences, and i had 3 of them to choose, but adding any one of them did not help. Most of the time the adapter would either never show up, or show up but never connect.

    I needed a way to fix this adapter "without erasing" all my network configurations, vpn connections etc.

    Here is what i did. Its alot of reading but thats only because i wanted to provide someone less familiar with Mac configuration, some more exacting steps.

     

    First, let me point out that making sure your Thunderbolt shows up as a device in your system report is important. To do that:

    1. Attach your thunderbolt Ethernet adapter....Click your apple menu, select about this mac, click system report
    2. Towards the bottom of the hardware list click on Thunderbolt. And on the right you should see "Thunderbolt Bus"
    3. Indented under it, while the adapter is plugged in, you should see "Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet adapter"

    If you see it, your half way there to resolution. If you don't see it, you may have a thunderbolt bus issue or your adapter could be bad.
    This post is for those that see it, but cannot get the device to show up (auto detect) in the Network Preferences part of System Preferences.

    What i found is that the easiest way to make sure your system detects it as a new device is to clear out the definition for the old one and let it re-detect. I didn't have an success with using the GUI tools to do this, i edited a plist file manually. Here are my steps:

     

    1. unplug the Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter and reboot.

    2. open finder. From the menu select GO | Go to Folder. Enter /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

    3. You will find a file there called NetworkInterfaces.plist. Open it with TextEdit

    4. This file is organized using XML headers meaning <dict> marks the beginning of a section, and </dict> marks the end of that section and then repeats.

    5. Inside each section you want to search for the word "Thunderbolt." I am attaching a sample image with 1 section by itself for ease of viewing.

    6. In my situation i had 3 of them.. Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt1, and Thunderbolt2. These sections define the info on the interface.

    7. Remove the entire section including the starting <dict> and the ending </dict> for that section. Dont leave any blank lines behind. I will note that you will likely find a <dict> and </dict> sub section indented inside a section. That is likely where you find the friendly name of your interface. That gets removed with the whole section.

    8. You will have to provide a password to allow this to be edited and saved. If it asked for permission to unlock the file, click unlock.

    9. After you remove all sections that contain a Thunderbolt interface definition... reboot.

    10. After the reboot, insert the Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter and give it a minute or two to show up in your Network Preferences.

     

    If your worried about this file, make a copy of it before editing.

    Below is an example of JUST ONE SECTION i copied out of my file and highlighted where i found the interface name

    Screen Shot 2015-05-05 at 3.20.16 PM.png

    I hope this helps people out with the issue i was having.. .my Thunderbolt auto detected and i could start using it again.


    Cheers

  • by mcarpentier,

    mcarpentier mcarpentier Jun 7, 2015 11:34 PM in response to TimPetro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 7, 2015 11:34 PM in response to TimPetro

    Thanks TimPetro, you saved my day. My problems did not start after a Yosemite upgrade however - they came to be because I started cleaning up - in my Network Settings I had removed Thunderbolt Ethernet 2, 3 and 4 which somehow had been created over the years.

    Reading your fix and other comments it seems to me that the 'old' approach of networking, with locations that you can set, is likely the root of this type of problems. In any case it is not applicable to me, so I removed all locations and am sticking to Automatic.

     

    Thanks again & cheers --Mike

  • by rmcsharry,

    rmcsharry rmcsharry Jul 26, 2015 9:18 PM in response to TimPetro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 26, 2015 9:18 PM in response to TimPetro

    TimPetro,

     

     

     

    Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to detail this.

     

    I don't think it is directly to do with the Yosemite upgrade. I agree with mcarpentier - I think anyone who had been setting and changing locations will most likely get this problem sooner or later. I think the upgrade just made it happen more often.

     

    Thanks again, you saved my sanity!

    Richard

  • by sqwilso,

    sqwilso sqwilso Aug 15, 2015 3:51 AM in response to TimPetro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 15, 2015 3:51 AM in response to TimPetro

    Tim,

     

    You are a star. I followed your instructions to the letter, and finally my Thunderbolt adaptor is working. I cannot thank you enough!

  • by TwiddlyFingers,

    TwiddlyFingers TwiddlyFingers Aug 20, 2015 10:11 AM in response to TimPetro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 20, 2015 10:11 AM in response to TimPetro

    Tim's is the only advice that worked for me too. Thanks Tim! In my case I didn't have anything but Automatic as a Location so the other method did not help me.

     

    Regards,

    Ryan

  • by plfaber,

    plfaber plfaber Sep 12, 2015 10:01 AM in response to dan2bit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 12, 2015 10:01 AM in response to dan2bit

    Hi Dan,

     

    I just followed your clear, concise directions for the fix.

     

    Worked like a charm.

     

    Many thanks,

     

    PF

  • by jazzervedo,

    jazzervedo jazzervedo Oct 1, 2015 3:08 PM in response to wise221
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 1, 2015 3:08 PM in response to wise221

    Thank you, wise221! Totally saved me, and it was quick. Tried U-verse tech support first and they told me it was a bad port or cable, which I *knew* was wrong. *High Five*

  • by harrison66,

    harrison66 harrison66 Oct 9, 2015 2:21 AM in response to jazzervedo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 9, 2015 2:21 AM in response to jazzervedo

    Perfect, Tims solution also work in case of the Problem when upgrade to 10.11 "El Capitan", but it need to make a new "Thunderbolt-conection" in the Network Preferences.

  • by philharrisgti,

    philharrisgti philharrisgti Oct 30, 2015 3:44 AM in response to wise221
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 30, 2015 3:44 AM in response to wise221

    Wise221,

     

    This cleared the problem for me too.   In the Network tool, a new item immediately appeared "Thunde...thernet" that connected when the Ethernet cable was inserted into the adapter.

     

    Thank you.

     

    Phil

  • by warof1,

    warof1 warof1 Dec 17, 2015 12:10 PM in response to spaced__out
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 17, 2015 12:10 PM in response to spaced__out

    This worked for me as well. Same system specs.

  • by Pedro Alf,

    Pedro Alf Pedro Alf Jan 15, 2016 3:22 AM in response to dan2bit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 15, 2016 3:22 AM in response to dan2bit

    Hello to all. Unfortunately I cannot say that I have the problem solved. I tried everything until now and... nothing. I tried my cable on a friends computer and it works perfectly. I really don't know what to do. can someone help? thx

  • by petesavv,

    petesavv petesavv Jan 20, 2016 2:55 AM in response to wise221
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 20, 2016 2:55 AM in response to wise221

    Thank you

  • by Rajath Kedilaya,

    Rajath Kedilaya Rajath Kedilaya Jan 25, 2016 4:48 AM in response to TimPetro
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jan 25, 2016 4:48 AM in response to TimPetro

    This worked for me! Thanks so much Tim. My Thunderbolt ethernet stopped working after El Capitan update. It initially did not show in system information, but that got fixed after a PVRAM reset. But the network preferences list only showed Thunder Bolt 1/2/Bridge. It was this solution which finally helped. Though in my case, after editing the file, I had to do one more PVRAM reset as the bus disappeared again from system info. Other solutions like completely deleting the NetworkInterfaces.plist did not work.

    Thanks again Tim!

  • by pkriens,

    pkriens pkriens Feb 25, 2016 11:46 PM in response to dan2bit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 25, 2016 11:46 PM in response to dan2bit

    In my case (cable was detected but did not automatically get an IP number) the problem was Sharing. In the System Preferences/Sharing panel I had enabled sharing the "Display Ethernet" interface. After disabling Internet sharing, it worked fine.

  • by dancerffm,

    dancerffm dancerffm Feb 28, 2016 2:52 AM in response to dan2bit
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 28, 2016 2:52 AM in response to dan2bit

    hello tim petro and dan2bit

    TimPetroMay 5, 2015 12:28 PM Re: Thunderbolt Ethernet not working after Yosemite upgrade

    in response to dan2bit

     

    i just had the same problem: my macbook Pro retina under actual el capitan did not recognise my thunderbolt adapter. with an older version from yosemite (which i saved earlier last year before updating to el capitan) it was still recognised. so i tried your advice above "delete all sections". after rebooting and a minute to wait, it works now! thunderbolt adapter to ethernet is now recognised again!!! thanks a lot, now i can cancel my date at the genius bar

    regards from frankfurt germany

    winfried

Previous Page 2 of 3 last Next