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NazgulRR

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 4, 2010
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I've been eyeing the Caldigit USB-C Pro-Dock but couldn't help but notice some of the more critical reviews on Amazon so I got some questions for the owners-

More specifically, there appears to be an issue whereby if you use the Ethernet port on the dock and you sleep/wake the Mac, this brings down the whole LAN and WiFi with it? Is that (still) the case? Is there a workaround for it? Would using a USB3-Ethernet adapter on one of the dock's USB ports bypass this issue?

Additionally, could someone confirm whether running multiple, maybe 2 or 3 max, external portable drives (USB-powered ones, such as WD MyPassport, I got some spinning ones and some external SSDs) works without some of them randomly ejecting due to lack of power?

I would be using this on a 2016 MacBook Retina so only one USB-C port there (and not even a Thunderbolt 3, but that's fine - only 1 external monitor).

Thanks!
 
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I have a 2020 Macbook Pro quad core i5 running the latest MacOS, 10.15.6 and I've been frustrated with my Caldigit USB-C Pro Dock. I have the latest firmware from Caldigit installed on the dock and the recommended power adapter settings for the dock set appropriately and yet my USB devices will just randomly stop working *while docked*. It drives my two displays well via DisplayPort, one is 1440p at 144hz the other 1080p @ 60hz. When I leave the computer I goto apple menu and tell it to sleep, my monitors sleep or if I disconnect from the dock with the CalDigit provided cable and use laptop dockless, it usually requires a full restart to get USB devices working again. Oh, and my wired ethernet connection will randomly drop and I have to switch to wireless.

* Edit / Update: I am swapping out my CalDigit USB-C under for a replacement under warranty, it could have just been a bad unit with a corrupted controller. Will update when I receive my new one.
 
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Thanks @klous, appreciate the reply. I think there might be some inherent issues in how the thunderbolt 3 is implemented by some manufacturers including Apple . I'm really not sure who's at blame here, but I wish this things 'just worked' as they are portrayed to.

I haven't gotten the dock yet. Please post back if your replacement acts the same.
 
I've been using this dock with the new 16" MBP since about May, and have not seen that particular issue. The worst thing that happens is my logitech wireless combo has super spotty reliability (skipping keystrokes, jerky mouse position) and it's complete intermittent, which makes me look more at Logitech than at Caldigit. I did note that when I had an external drive plugged in via USB-A, it slowed everything down, but that may have been because the drive was previously on a Windows machine, so I'm not sure if there's some sort of first-time indexing that MacOS would do that would eat resources as it chewed on 3TB of media.
 
I have a 2020 Macbook Pro quad core i5 running the latest MacOS, 10.15.6 and I've been frustrated with my Caldigit USB-C Pro Dock. I have the latest firmware from Caldigit installed on the dock and the recommended power adapter settings for the dock set appropriately and yet my USB devices will just randomly stop working *while docked*. It drives my two displays well via DisplayPort, one is 1440p at 144hz the other 1080p @ 60hz. When I leave the computer I goto apple menu and tell it to sleep, my monitors sleep or if I disconnect from the dock with the CalDigit provided cable and use laptop dockless, it usually requires a full restart to get USB devices working again. Oh, and my wired ethernet connection will randomly drop and I have to switch to wireless.

* Edit / Update: I am swapping out my CalDigit USB-C under for a replacement under warranty, it could have just been a bad unit with a corrupted controller. Will update when I receive my new one.


can you tell me how do you update the firmware of the usb c pro dock? I recently got one and I would like to get 96W PD(if it supports) for my Mac. Also how do you change the power settings for dock? Thanks
 
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I own this dock too and unfortunately I am also experiencing problems with this dock bringing down my LAN and Wifi. Tonight I downloaded and installed the files from this page but did not help in any way. These files seemed to have been installed on my MBP but I don’t think it updated firmware on the dock itself (?) So if anyone has a solution, I’d love to hear it....
 

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I have had nothing but issues with this dock.

2x Dell U2415 via Displayport and a couple of simple USB devices (mouse, keyboard, webcam). USB stops working often, requiring a full reboot of my Mac. Also, a lot of times, the displays won't work when connecting. They flicker, switch on briefly, stop working again, and so on.

CalDigit swapped my old one with a new one, and on first use, had the same issues immediately.
 
A couple of weeks later, and another Big Sur beta (11.0.1, 20B5012d) later, and nothing has changed.

1. Screens continue flickering and crash my Mac regularly
2. USB disconnect, too.
3. Also, I've now experienced the NIC broadcast storm issues a couple of times now.
 
A couple of weeks later, and another Big Sur beta (11.0.1, 20B5012d) later, and nothing has changed.

1. Screens continue flickering and crash my Mac regularly
2. USB disconnect, too.
3. Also, I've now experienced the NIC broadcast storm issues a couple of times now.

the only issue i have is sometime when i wake my mac, monitor doesnt turn on. i am not sure if its a mac issue or a monitor issue!
 
A couple of weeks later, and another Big Sur beta (11.0.1, 20B5012d) later, and nothing has changed.

1. Screens continue flickering and crash my Mac regularly
2. USB disconnect, too.
3. Also, I've now experienced the NIC broadcast storm issues a couple of times now.
Thanks for posting. Was really hoping Big Sur might have contained some fixes for these issues, but alas...
 
Let me give an update about my problems with my dock. I wrote an email to Caldigit about my problems with the dock taking down my complete Lan and WIFI. They wrote me the following reply:

I downloaded and installed the driver and I did have the feeling that it helped. Up until last week when my LAN suddenly went down again. (So I have not had any issues for about six weeks) My MBP was connected to the dock and I think it was in sleep mode at the time. After I pulled the RJ45 plug out of the dock, the LAN and WIFI was working instantly again.

Now I am not sure if my MBP always loads (?) the right driver. The first couple of times that I plugged in my MBP after installing the driver, I checked wether it loaded the USB GBE controller or not. And I have noticed it that once or twice it did not. Unfortunately, the last time when it took down my LAN, my son already pulled out the USB-C cabel connected to my dock before I could check which driver was being used at that time.


Hello Mark,

Thank you for contacting us and providing that information. Can you please download and install the USB-C Pro Docks Ethernet driver off our download page here: https://downloads.caldigit.com/. Once installed, you will need to grant approval for the system extensions by going into "System Preferences" -> "Security & Privacy" and making sure under the "General" tab that there is no items listed at the bottom for approval. If there isn't, you may need to reinstall the driver as this has to be done within 30 minutes of installation. More info here: https://www.caldigit.com/macos-10-13system-extension-blocked-alert-during-software-installation/.

After this, can you check the driver is loaded properly. To do this, use the Spotlight Search on MacOS (magnifying glass in the top right) and search for “Network Utility”. This will bring up a Window with the network information. On this window can you see if you have either:

Vendor : Realtek
Model : USB 10/100/1000 LAN

Or

Vendor : Realtek
Model : Realtek USB GBE
Family Controller


The first one, with the model “USB 10/100/1000 LAN” means the driver isn’t loaded and the second one is the driver has been loaded.

If the driver hasn’t been loaded, you will need to power cycle the USB-C Pro Dock by unplugging both the Thunderbolt cable and PSU from the unit and leave it for 30 – 40 seconds before plugging it back in. You may also need to restart your MacBook Pro once the installation of the driver has been completed. If the driver is loaded, you will need to manually remove the USB Ethernet connection and then re-add it to see if the Ethernet is more stable that way.

Please note that, MacOS currently has issues with USB GBe connections and it can sometimes be unstable. Apple are aware of this and are working on fix.

Regards,
CalDigit EU Support.
 
Thanks for posting. Was really hoping Big Sur might have contained some fixes for these issues, but alas...
I installed the Big Sur Release Candidate and will update this thread.
Let me give an update about my problems with my dock. I wrote an email to Caldigit about my problems with the dock taking down my complete Lan and WIFI. They wrote me the following reply:

I downloaded and installed the driver and I did have the feeling that it helped. Up until last week when my LAN suddenly went down again. (So I have not had any issues for about six weeks) My MBP was connected to the dock and I think it was in sleep mode at the time. After I pulled the RJ45 plug out of the dock, the LAN and WIFI was working instantly again.

Now I am not sure if my MBP always loads (?) the right driver. The first couple of times that I plugged in my MBP after installing the driver, I checked wether it loaded the USB GBE controller or not. And I have noticed it that once or twice it did not. Unfortunately, the last time when it took down my LAN, my son already pulled out the USB-C cabel connected to my dock before I could check which driver was being used at that time.
Same here. Didn't have the broadcast storm for weeks, but had it happen twice recently.
 
I have received a firmware update to fix the broadcast storm issues. There's an updater for Mac and Windows, get it through their support. I'll report in a couple of days/weeks if it actually fixed the issues.
 
I have received a firmware update to fix the broadcast storm issues. There's an updater for Mac and Windows, get it through their support. I'll report in a couple of days/weeks if it actually fixed the issues.
Is that a Big Sur driver? Or an actual firmware update for the Pro dock itself?
 
I have tested some more.

I have an Aten US234 USB Switch that lets me switch connected USB devices between my Mac (via the Caldigit) and PC (directly connected) while they're both running.

When an USB hang occurred on the Mac, I was able to switch inputs on the Aten, moving all connected USB devices to the PC (which doesn't use the Caldigit). Switching works, and all USB devices work when switched. If I switch the Aten back to the Mac, USB still hangs. Also, unplugging / replugging USB devices does not solve the issue.
Only powercycling the Caldigit or replugging the CalDigit USB-C cable to the Mac make my USB devices work again.

I've tested a direct connection between the Aten and the Mac, and USB hangs did not occur in over 4 days of working WITHOUT the Caldigit, so that implies that the Caldigit is involved in this bug.
Also, when USB hangs, I notice that the Caldigit NIC also stops working. It stays connected in MacOS (which I can verify), but no network traffic passes. MacOS shows the NIC as a USB-based device.

It seems the root cause is that MacOS has a bug in USB2.0 hubs:
 
I have received a firmware update to fix the broadcast storm issues. There's an updater for Mac and Windows, get it through their support. I'll report in a couple of days/weeks if it actually fixed the issues.
where CAN I find a download link? I can't find the firmware update in download.caldigit.com
 
I've recently acquired a TS3 Plus (Thunderbolt rather than USB-C) and am seeing the same broadcast storm as others. I didn't have any issues with the generic USB-C Gigabit Ethernet adapter I was using before. I'll contact support now and see if they have a firmware update for that model too.
 
I've also been experiencing the network storm problem. Using the driver Caldigit has on their site (which is in fact just a rebundling of one from Realtek) fixes the problem, but when using that driver incoming packets are not logged (you can't see your download bandwidth for example), and moreover it's difficult to get the OS to load it consistently. This driver seems to fix the issue by causing the ethernet interface to go completely dark when the Mac is off. The Apple driver leaves it on (probably needed for WOL) but then triggers a bug in Caldigit's USB drivers that occurs on other docks as well to cause the storm. I'm hoping the jpiscaer firmware updates these drivers to fix this.

Aside from this problem the dock works as reliably as any other (all seem to have problems with detecteding monitors in certain cases and this does too) so I've been happy with it.

UPDATE: I received the update from CalDigit support and so far (couple of days) it seems to work. No more network storms. And no side effects that I can see. I hope they will release this update publically once they get enough feedback on it.

UPDATE 2: Still happy after a couple of weeks. I also note they now have a "Firmware Updater v3.0" on their site for the USB-C Pro Dock, but it's for Windows only. I've asked support what this is and why it's Windows only. Not sure why we wouldn't want the latest firmware in the dock regardless of the platform we mostly use it with.
 
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Apple Support is helping me troubleshoot the USB reset issues with this dock. For those that have similar USB issues, do you have Rogue Amoeba SoundSource and/or Logitech Options installed?
 
It seems that Caldigit now officially released the firmware update to fix the issue that causes the broadcast storm:


This fix is good, but it comes almost a year after I first reported the issue to them. We also never got 87W charging on the USB-C Pro dock, despite being promised after the firmware upgrade for the Ts3+ was delivered. CalDigit is a small company and most of their effort clearly goes to their flagship product, the Ts3+. Unfortunately this is based on an Intel chipset two generations behind the current and supports only Thunderbolt, not USB-C. (So you can't, for example, plug it into your iPad Pro and use it in desktop mode, or use it with a Windows laptop you might bring home from work.) CalDigit has a good reputation because of the Ts3+ but I have to believe there are better docking solutions out there for Macs these days.
 
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(So you can't, for example, plug it into your iPad Pro and use it in desktop mode, or use it with a Windows laptop you might bring home from work.)
Well - before I got the 2020 13" Intel Macbook Pro I tried out a Surface Pro 7 with the same Caldigit USB-C dock and it worked fine for that. A little finicky in sleep mode but if I recall, the Surface Pro 7 only had the USB-C port and a USB-A port, so I'd use the USB-C to Caldigit for power and to my Displayport displays.

--
I did apply the firmware update to my Caldigit dock and it seems to be better (Still running Catalina 10.15.7) I used to have my USB mouse and keyboard randomly stop working - not so fun. Will report back if I see more issues.
 
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