Some 2020 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air Users Experiencing Issues With USB 2.0 Accessories

[saint.duo]

I've been fighting what may be this issue since I got my 2020 MacBook Pro.

I have a caldigit usb-c pro dock (which shows as thunderbolt 3 on my Mac), and my external USB2 (which show up as USB 2.1) mechanical keyboard and mouse (through a USB switch, which I've replaced) will suddenly stop responding and will not work again until I unplug the dock from the Mac and plug it back in. Disconnecting and reconnecting the USB devices themselves does nothing and system profiler shows them as still connected.

My Apple USB extended keyboard and logitech mouse (instead of the mechnical keyboard and logitech mouse) do not seem to exhibit this symptom.

I have not yet tried the mechanical keyboard connected directly to the dock w/o the USB switch(es); nor have a tried my little stand alone USB-C to USB-A adapter. Still narrowing down specifics.

USB-C Pro Dock | Thunderbolt 3 – CalDigit

www.caldigit.com

 

[Broko Fankone]

Has ANYONE so far had a replacement from apple that fixed this issue? Or any kind of response from them about whether this problem is software or hardware-related? I see a ton of new articles about it but no resolutions.

Furthermore, has anyone been able to downgrade to Mojave with this issue to see if Catalina is causing it? It would be a way to confirm if it's hardware-related if the issue persists in Mojave. My unit is currently in service and the last thing they told me today in the morning was they "cannot reproduce" it thus far. Very disheartening. Extremely disappointed so far.

 

[LizKat]

That won't be the situation forever and by removing legacy ports Apple is forcing adoption.

You may not like it at the moment, but unless someone does this (and Apple is about the only vendor in the position to do so due to leverage with macOS), manufacturers will never migrate to USB type C. They'll keep pumping out USB-A stuff only and before you know it we're dealing with the brain damaged USB type A connector for ANOTHER 23 years.

Screw that. I'm willing to deal with some pain in the interim for a couple of years to get rid of the legacy crap.

The only reason USB-A took off in the first place is because Apple did the same thing with the iMac abandoning all the old legacy Apple ports; if they didn't do it we'd still be dealing with rs232, ps2, centronics, etc. ports everywhere.

Left to the rest of the industry (if Apple didn't force it), we'd still be buying PS2 keyboards and mice - because some PCs STILL ship with those ports.

Yeah... and remember SCSI voodoo? Ugh. I'll take the pain of a more or less forced transition. Have to say I've never carted around so many adapters and cables though. I still have some perfectly good 30-pin iPods in the mix, and some of them are practically indestructible. I'll probably wear out a few of those little USB to USB-C adapters. I'm just grateful the adapters exist.

So far no problem w/ adapter and a 2020 MBA. I used an old thumb drive for a couple data transfers that went fine.

 

[throAU]

Have to say I've never carted around so many adapters and cables though

Yeah, I cart around an adapter, but you know what? I use it maybe once a month.

Ditto for my ethernet adapter. If that.

Yes, short term pain, long term gain.

For those stuck with USB-A thumb drives... you can use

ShareDrop

ShareDrop is a peer-to-peer file sharing app powered by HTML5 WebRTC.

sharedrop.io

for cross platform airdrop.

 

[CalDigitUS]

I've been fighting what may be this issue since I got my 2020 MacBook Pro.

I have a caldigit usb-c pro dock (which shows as thunderbolt 3 on my Mac), and my external USB2 (which show up as USB 2.1) mechanical keyboard and mouse (through a USB switch, which I've replaced) will suddenly stop responding and will not work again until I unplug the dock from the Mac and plug it back in. Disconnecting and reconnecting the USB devices themselves does nothing and system profiler shows them as still connected.

My Apple USB extended keyboard and logitech mouse (instead of the mechnical keyboard and logitech mouse) do not seem to exhibit this symptom.

I have not yet tried the mechanical keyboard connected directly to the dock w/o the USB switch(es); nor have a tried my little stand alone USB-C to USB-A adapter. Still narrowing down specifics.

USB-C Pro Dock | Thunderbolt 3 – CalDigit

www.caldigit.com

Hi there, it's the CalDigit Support Team here!
We are sorry to hear that you are experiencing an issue with your USB-C Pro Dock.

Could you please try and connect your mechanical keyboard and mouse directly to the USB-C Pro Dock without the USB switch in between? If that doesn't help could you please contact us directly and we can take a look for you.

This is not something we have heard of before and we would like to look into it further. Our email is suppor@caldigit.com. We look forward to hearing from you. Thanks, CalDigit.

 

[Broko Fankone]

@CalDigitUS I'm pretty sure this particular case is related to the defective 2020 macbooks, and not the usb hubs and docks. I could be wrong, though.

In fact, many users report that your powered TB3 Plus dock solves the disconnecting USB issues on these macs. I am tempted to try it, but have you fixed the infamous coil whine of that product? It's quite expensive and a LOT of reviews claim it is very noisy due to cheap capacitors creating a strong coil whine.

Also, do you have any idea if USB-C Pro dock masks USB 2.0 devices as USB 3.0 devices? Because that's what apparently the TB3 Plus does and why it solves the macbook issue.

 

[CalDigitUS]

@CalDigitUS I'm pretty sure this particular case is related to the defective 2020 macbooks, and not the usb hubs and docks. I could be wrong, though.

In fact, many users report that your powered TB3 Plus dock solves the disconnecting USB issues on these macs. I am tempted to try it, but have you fixed the infamous coil whine of that product? It's quite expensive and a LOT of reviews claim it is very noisy due to cheap capacitors creating a strong coil whine.

Also, do you have any idea if USB-C Pro dock masks USB 2.0 devices as USB 3.0 devices? Because that's what apparently the TB3 Plus does and why it solves the macbook issue.

@Broko Fankone

Regarding the coil noise this was initially an issue with the PSUs where some customers were experiencing a slight coil noise through their speakers. This was a small percentage of users in comparison to the number of docks shipped. We actively decided to correct this and we now use different PSUs for the TS3 Plus and this should not be an issue anymore.

The USB-C Pro Dock will not mask USB 2.0 devices as USB 3.0, only the TS3 Plus.

Thanks, CalDigit.

 

[Broko Fankone]

@Broko Fankone

Regarding the coil noise this was initially an issue with the PSUs where some customers were experiencing a slight coil noise through their speakers. This was a small percentage of users in comparison to the number of docks shipped. We actively decided to correct this and we now use different PSUs for the TS3 Plus and this should not be an issue anymore.

The USB-C Pro Dock will not mask USB 2.0 devices as USB 3.0, only the TS3 Plus.

Thanks, CalDigit.

Thank you for confirming the masking behavior. In that case, if I cannot fix the problem with the OTG adapters I bought, I will probably go for a TS3+.

Would you know if the ones provided by Amazon DE are with the new and different PSUs? That is where I can buy it from - unless you can suggest a better site for an Europe order that might have the newest versions. Thanks.

 

[CalDigitUS]

Thank you for confirming the masking behavior. In that case, if I cannot fix the problem with the OTG adapters I bought, I will probably go for a TS3+.

Would you know if the ones provided by Amazon DE are with the new and different PSUs? That is where I can buy it from - unless you can suggest a better site for an Europe order that might have the newest versions. Thanks.

@Broko Fankone The stock at Amazon DE will have the newer PSU as long you purchase it from our listing:

CalDigit TS3 Plus - Thunderbolt Station 3 (0.7M) Kabel - 85 W Aufladen, 7 x USB 3.1 Anschlüsse, USB-C Gen 2, DisplayPort, UHS-II SD-Kartensteckplatz, LAN (Space Grey)

15 Ports mit extremer Konnektivität für Thunderbolt 3-WorkflowsWenn es um Port-Konnektivität geht, ist mehr definitiv mehr! Der Thunderbolt Station 3 Plus bietet ultimative Konnektivität durch gig...

www.amazon.de

It is also available from the CalDigit EU online store:

The BEST Thunderbolt 3 Dock

shop.caldigit.com

Thanks, CalDigit.

 

[brandsteve]

I can report conclusively that the new version of the Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter DOES NOT solve the problem. It may however reduce how often it occurs.

 

[Broko Fankone]

Still no fix or any kind of response from Apple. I wonder how many people are facing the issue. The reddit thread gets new reports every day from people who just bought 2020 MBA or MBP. Does Apple even plan to fix this, does it have a fix at all? Such a stupid problem.

 

[Sharewaredemon]

I was having issues with a 27 inch Dell from 2017 connected to a 2020 16-mpb.
Connected directly to the Mac, either using a DP to mDP connected to a Thunderbolt to USB-C adapter, or a MDP to USC-C cable, the computer would hard lock when it put the display to sleep.

Connecting the display to a Caldigit TS3+ fixed the problem.

 

[brandsteve]

So far the problem has only occurred once since I acquired the Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter. So it just may be the cheapest fix while we wait for an official one from Apple.
[automerge]1594859132[/automerge]
It would appear an official fix has been made, but note it doesn't mention USB keyboards.

Resolves an issue where certain USB mouse and trackpads may lose connection

Apple Releases macOS Catalina 10.15.6 With New Apple News Features and Fix for USB Issue

Apple today released macOS Catalina 10.15.6, the sixth official update to the macOS Catalina operating system that was released in October 2019....

www.macrumors.com

 

[scrl]

Is anyone else still experiencing issues with USB randomly disconnecting on a 2020 MacBook Air?

I have the latest OS updates (supposed to fix it), but I'm still getting disconnects on USB-3 devices (disk and webcam) attached via one of Apple's USB-C to USB adaptors.

I've tried swapping to another adaptor, and all sorts of cable / device swaps - all to no avail.

It's extremely annoying when mounted disks that are being used for Time Machine backups randomly eject! :-(

 

[Broko Fankone]

Is anyone else still experiencing issues with USB randomly disconnecting on a 2020 MacBook Air?

I have the latest OS updates (supposed to fix it), but I'm still getting disconnects on USB-3 devices (disk and webcam) attached via one of Apple's USB-C to USB adaptors.

I've tried swapping to another adaptor, and all sorts of cable / device swaps - all to no avail.

It's extremely annoying when mounted disks that are being used for Time Machine backups randomly eject! :-(

The issue is still not fixed fully, including a new and worse issue with docks that we have now:

MBP 13 2020 won't recognize USB devices from CalDigitTS3+ dock after sleeping and connecting to the dock, and after unplugging the dock it crashes

I have found a possible workaround, but it sadly involves logging out and logging back in. When the mac refuses to recognise your accessories, simply log out of the computer, then type in the password as normal and press enter. Plug in your devices while it is loading the desktop, and pray to...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[MacIsMyGoTo]

Hi, I am also facing some issues with my Caldigit. I connect the Caldigit to my 13" MBP 2020 in clamshell mode. My Caldigit is also connected to an external monitor via USB-C, an audio Aux via USB, a webcam via USB, and lastly my mic via the mic port. When I first purchased my Caldigit and use the set up above, it works like a charm! However, last month, I realized that when even I powered on my Caldigit to start up my MBP, other than the USB C port, all the other ports do not work. When I unplugged my MBP from the Caldigit, the MBP hangs and restart. Only after it restarts will the Caldigit work again. Anyone experiencing the same issue?

 

[m0nkeyb0y]

I've got problems with my Bose Companion 5s disconnecting from USB on a CalDigit dock. This used to be a problem, Apple fixed it sometime last year, but then reintroduced it.

My clamshell problems have been fixed, though. The exception is that occasionally it gets confused, and thinks my primary monitor (a 4k 32") is a second HD 24", and I have to repeatedly unplug, replug, and redo the arrangement and resolution of my monitors. I run 2x4k 32" + theHD 24" in portrait mode.