OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock with MacBook Pro - totally disappointed

Question

Level 1

62 points

OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock with MacBook Pro - totally disappointed

Hi all

I have, after a rather long wait, received my OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock. What looks and sounds great turned out to be rather frustrating in the daily use. I have numerous issues with it, as follows.

LAN port (ethernet) is not connecting after the MacBooks start or a restart. The only thing that currently helps is unplugging the LAN cable, and plug it back it. How convenient.

I have two USB drives connected to the dock. When the MacBook sleeps, I see the drives shutdown and restart roughly every three minutes. That must kill any conventional hard disk within months, I guess. There's no way to overcome this, I have tried all USB ports.

I had the external monitor (I'm using the MacBook in clamshell mode) connected via the dock's mini display port (MDP), which didn't work at all - frequent MacBook freezes, or not reacting after a sleep. So I'm using a dedicated USB-C-to-Display-Port cable to the Monitor (a Dell 2715), which works more or less. More or less means that when the MacBook is sleeping, the monitor keeps blinking up and going back to sleep every three minutes - same as the drives.

Then, I called OWC support, explaining. After waiting for 20min or so in their queue, I could talk to someone. His reply was simply that this is the way it is and that they could do nothing as everything was Apple's fault, and that they're waiting for Apple to change this and that in the software. So, totally helpful.

I had a simple LMC USB-C docking before, and had everything plugged into it, which worked absolutely flawlessly. I bought the dock because I thought it allows me to have a little more order in the cables, and speedier connections. But what I got does not allow for seamless working, just hassle.

Anyone else experiencing such issues? At this stage, I cannot recommend the OWC Thunderbolt Dock 3.

Thanks for help and comments...

Simon

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2016, 4 TBT3), macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Aug 19, 2017 12:32 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

simima Author

Level 1

62 points

Aug 30, 2017 12:57 AM in response to simima

Oooh well. Not so hoorraayy in the end. I thought the issue to be solved, but it isn't. Everything came back, in different versions.

The symptoms are:

the ethernet (LAN) connection randomly drops during sleep, and is not recovered
the USB-drives (also connected to the dock) randomly sleep or spin up/down during sleep (they're not ejected, though)
sometimes unable to wake up the Mac - needing to force-shutdown, and restart
ethernet connection sometimes not established after a restart or new start
sometimes, the external monitor and the USB drives "loop": screen goes to sleep - drives remain on - drives go to sleep - monitor wakes up - monitor goes back to sleep - drives wake up again - when drives go to sleep, the screen wakes up again... and so on...

I fiddled around with almost everything... nothing gave me a consistent result:

I replaced the mini DP cable to the Dell 2715 by a DP-to-USB-C cable and plugged it into the dock. That resolved a flickering issue with the screen, but may have had an impact on the dock's behaviour around sleep.
cleaned up the router setting (there were some misconfigs on port forwarding, and other stuff not so optimal), now pretty much standard
fiddled around with the pmset settings. There are about as many recommendations on the sleep settings as Mac users, I think...:-o

I am absolutely clueless on what the problem is.

I had much less problems with the little USB-C dock, so it may also be related to Thunderbolt 3 and the way it is implemented on the Mac. I have a Windows computer at work, basically in the same setting (ThinkPad TB3 dock, external monitor), and that works flawlessly. Why can't Apple make it work?

Thanks for your help.

Reply

Answer 2

simima Author

Level 1

62 points

Aug 22, 2017 9:22 PM in response to simima

All

Hooooooooooray - I think I have solved the main problem. Believe it or not: it was most likely related to a misconfigured network. I have two NAS and a number of switches in the network (the LAN, that is), and a FritzBox as router. Some of the DynDNS and port replications were misconfigured (possibly since a while), and I also fiddled around with the WOL settings. I don't know exactly what caused the problem, but it was clearly coming from the LAN, and not the dock.

Currently (since two days now) - the OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock works as expected. Everything goes to sleep properly, and everything wakes up properly. I observe the the LAN takes a few seconds to reconnect, but it does. So, in the end, it does not seem to be the docks fault, and I am extremely happy with that! Sorry OWC...

Still interesting whe the LMP USB-C dock worked correctly, despite the misconfigured router...

Thanks all for help.

Simon

Reply

Answer 3

Esquared

Level 6

12,403 points

Aug 30, 2017 11:54 AM in response to simima

At least send Apple some well-worded feedback: https://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

Aside from that, I wouldn't accept OWC's statement that "it simply is the way it is". If they sell a product that – for whatever reason – isn't reliable, they should reveal that information to potential buyers.

Reply

Answer 4

simima Author

Level 1

62 points

Aug 19, 2017 1:22 AM in response to Esquared

I had the OWC Thunderbolt dock 2 (two) before, and it had similar problems - mostly related to sleep, too. When in use, the dock works well, it's just that around sleep, start, shutdown, restart, where things seem go wrong.

I still have high hopes that there's something wrong with TB3 software under the hood that can be fixed (like they said), as the USB-C dock worked flawlessly. The initial release of Mac OS Sierra was full of bugs, too, many of them having been fixed by now, so maybe... hope dies last.

Reply

Answer 5

simima Author

Level 1

62 points

Aug 20, 2017 1:48 AM in response to tjk

Thanks. I wrote them... Problem is, I am in Switzerland, and returning the unit to OWC is rather complicated and costly. I had really hoped that OWC is able to deliver a product that works. And, I am still not convinced it is all OWC's fault...

Anyone experiencing the same?

If you have the same dock and you don't have these issues, I'm wondering what your sleep/wake settings are, because the problem clearly is related to sleep.

I was sitting in front of the "sleeping" computer a while and was observing the following. I put the MacBook to sleep. The drives spin down. The monitor remains on for a while, then goes to sleep, too. As soon as the monitor goes to sleep, the drives wake up again. Once the drives are back up, the screen wakes up for a second, then goes back to sleep - and the loop begins again....

Reply

Answer 6

tjk

Level 9

51,126 points

Aug 20, 2017 7:07 AM in response to simima

Sorry, but I don't have that unit. I have, however, purchased new products from them in the past that were not really ready for market, and this sounds the same. You may have to wait for firmware updates. In one case a long time ago, I got a multi-connection HDD dock, and the USB 3 never did work, even after a firmware update (but I didn't know this until long after the warranty had expired as I didn't have anything USB 3 to use at the time). So as much as I like OWC, they do sometimes have their problems. Just make sure you get it taken care of before warranty expires or you may be stuck with a unit that will always behave that way.

Reply

Answer 7

simima Author

Level 1

62 points

Aug 21, 2017 11:49 AM in response to tjk

No reply from OWC so far.

Meanwhile, I was searching the internet for possible solutions. Monitor settings (Dell P2715Q), pmset settings, printer queues, faulty USB hubs, faulty switches, ... everything. Nothing helped.

So I went testing. Unplug one-by-one, check sleep state. Well, at least I now have an idea on where the problem may come from. It seems that the LAN connection (cable, RJ45) seems to be part of the problem. When I unplug the LAN, then the problem disappears - so, it seems to be something in the network. Something in the network wakes up the docking station (and the drives). Went looking for womp settings and stuff... no luck so far.

Does anyone among the readers of this post know how to log and analyze the network activities when the MacBook is sleeping? To figure out what wakes up the drives every two minutes?

Thanks...

Reply

Answer 8

MCusuma1

Level 1

15 points

Aug 30, 2017 5:33 AM in response to simima

I'm having a similar issue with the Caldigit TS3. When the Mac goes to sleep, my HP Z2740w goes to standby mode; if I move the mouse or press a key within an hour or two, everything comes back fine. But if it sleeps longer than that, the monitor does not wake up.

If I shut the monitor off (power switch in back hard shutoff), and turn it back on, it comes back - but at 1280 x 720 resolution (this monitor's "safety mode").

The only way to get the monitor working correctly again is to shut down, unplug the TB3 cable, and plug back in.

I have a thread here, and a case # with Apple.

Reply

Answer 9

simima Author

Level 1

62 points

Aug 30, 2017 11:36 AM in response to MCusuma1

That is simply the sheer horror, unbelievable. The USB drives are randomly ejected, LAN connection is randomly kept or dropped. That is simply extremely poor work, and I have to assume it's Apple's.

The Synology NAS in the network work flawlessly, almost totally hands-off. The sleep when they can, wake up when they have to, syncronize data seamlessly... With the MacBook, I have to unplug things after starting, have to manually wake up drives, reconnect networks... hassle, hassle, hassle.

I am extremely disappointed by Apple, or by the thing creating this mess.

Anyone that can help, please!!!!!!

Reply

Answer 10

Aug 30, 2017 5:12 PM in response to simima

I had the exact same issue! It turned out to be a piece of old software that was gumming up the works. Try reloading the laptop (command-R at boot) without transferring any of the software products from backup (it is OK to reload documents). Reload any software fresh from the Store. After booting, any other software you want to load you can do so one at a time. It took me two weeks to get the internet connection to work all of the time, but it does not appear to be the fault of the device (at least in my case).

Reply

Answer 11

Oct 10, 2017 3:14 PM in response to simima

I'm using a MBPtb 15 with MacOS 10.13 in clamshell mode, a Dell P2715Q 4K monitor connect by a USB-C to DP cable to OWC Thunderbolt Dock and every time the MB goes to sleep the monitor never wakes up the only way to get it up is to unplug the MB to the Dock but then the USB HDD get ejected.

My CalDigit TS2 never had this problem.

Reply

Answer 12

Oct 15, 2017 8:43 AM in response to simima

Hi Simima - I have a similar interest to connect my Dell 4K monitor to 2017 13” MBP in clamshell mode (when not traveling) using my OWC thunderbolt 3

I would like to know if all

Peripherals (including monitor) can run to OWC dock and have only 1 thunderbolt 3 connection to

MBP.

Can you share with me your setup?

Thanks, Nicholas

Reply

Answer 13

Oct 15, 2017 3:14 PM in response to hadleyfarm

I have that same setup and it kind of works but after the MBP goes to sleep it won't came back unless you unplug the Thunderbolt 3 cable and the HDDs ejected. TOTAL disappointment!!! Don't buy it until this is fixed.

Reply

Answer 14

Oct 15, 2017 4:49 PM in response to Paulo Apolonia

Paulo - I have made a bit of progress. My set-up currently:

Dell P2415Q connected with HDMI to Apple HDMI/Thunderbolt/USB adapter directly into new MBP 13". Also using a thunderbolt 3 connection from MBP to OWC Thunderbolt 3 Docking station. 2 External hard drives are also connected to docking station via USB. bluetooth Apple keyboard and track pad.

I can now put this setup "sleep" and awaken by using wireless touchpad or keyboard. I can shut down system, open the laptop to start up and close laptop to use in clamshell mode. I hope to be able to operate using only 1 connection from MBP - looking into how best to accomplish.

Hope this helps!

Nicholas

Reply

Answer 15

Oct 21, 2017 3:58 AM in response to simima

I bought an OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock to use with my 2017 MacBook Pro. The dock works in terms of powering the machine and my iPhone and iPad, however I can't use it to play music through the headphone output or through a USB 3 port to my Dragonfly DAC. The Dock doesn't show up either in the audio MIDI setup or the 'sound' window in system preferences. After talking to Apple support over the phone for an hour they suggested that the fault lay with the OWC dock rather than an apple software or hardware issue. Has anybody else had experience with this issue and been able to shed some light on this problem? Even though the dock isn’t recognized in the Thunderbolt system report, the Mac gets power through it and powers some devices. It won’t recognize or power my Onkyo high res player. I sent an an email to OWC 2 days ago and have yet to receive a reply. Hubs are very important now due to the extreme lack of ports on new model Macs.

Reply