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Thunderbolt port doesn't recognise connected ethernet adapter

B

BigBadDavid

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 29, 2012
28
6
:confused:
My Retina Macbook has recently developed a strange problem with its Thunderbolt port. It does not recognise my ethernet adapter when it is plugged in - when the adapter is inserted the following messages appear in Console:

kernel: IOThunderboltSwitch(0x0)::listenerCallback - Thunderbolt HPD packet for route = 0x0 port = 11 unplug = 0
kernel: IOThunderboltSwitch(0x0)::listenerCallback - Thunderbolt HPD packet for route = 0x0 port = 12 unplug = 0

...but in System Information the Thunderbolt bus states "No device connected". Given the bus is reporting activity back via the Console log I am loathe to believe it is hardware failure so wonder whether something has gone awry on the software side. The adapter is working (tested on a friend's Macbook) and Apple hardware test reports no issues. I have reset SMC and NVRAM. The problem occurs on both Thunderbolt ports.

If anyone has had anything similar happen to them I would be grateful of any possible solutions.
 
Well, based on my experience you shouldn't be seeing the TB ethernet adapter in the Thunderbolt section of system info, it will show up in "Ethernet Cards" and show as being connected to a Thunderbolt slot. Do you see anything when you look there?
 
Yahooligan said:
Well, based on my experience you shouldn't be seeing the TB ethernet adapter in the Thunderbolt section of system info, it will show up in "Ethernet Cards" and show as being connected to a Thunderbolt slot. Do you see anything when you look there?
Click to expand...

Nope, nothing in there when the adapter is connected. It displays the standard notice: "This computer does not appear to have any PCI Ethernet cards installed". When testing on my friend's MacBook Air the adapter shows up in the Thunderbolt section, but I can check with another MB Retina to confirm.

I've now noticed that the TB System Information does change when the adapter is inserted. Without it plugged in, the "Link Status" for both ports is "0x101". When it is plugged in, the Link Status changes to "0x1 / 0x7" for one port and "0x7" for the other. They both still say "No device connected" though.
 
Yahooligan said:
He said he did that in his last post. ;)
Click to expand...

HAHA! Guess what?? It turns out it WAS the adapter. I managed to get hold of another one and it worked first time on my machine. My original adapter did work on another MB last time I tested it, but must have been literally on the way out because now it doesn't work at all.
 
BigBadDavid said:
HAHA! Guess what?? It turns out it WAS the adapter. I managed to get hold of another one and it worked first time on my machine. My original adapter did work on another MB last time I tested it, but must have been literally on the way out because now it doesn't work at all.
Click to expand...

Glad you got it sorted out, chasing problems isn't fun. :)
 
Try this:

System Preferences > Network > with Thunderbolt Ethernet highlighted, click Advanced > IPv6: change to Link-local Only > Hit Renew DHCP Lease > OK > Apply.


Please post if it worked.
 
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RichardF said:
Try this:

System Preferences > Network > with Thunderbolt Ethernet highlighted, click Advanced > IPv6: change to Link-local Only > Hit Renew DHCP Lease > OK > Apply.


Please post if it worked.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

I just stumbled on this post because my adapter wasn't working and this fixed it!

Cheers

- D
 
Yahooligan said:
Well, based on my experience you shouldn't be seeing the TB ethernet adapter in the Thunderbolt section of system info, it will show up in "Ethernet Cards" and show as being connected to a Thunderbolt slot. Do you see anything when you look there?
Click to expand...

Actually, the TB-Ethernet adaptor does show up under TB in System Info.
 

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As RichardF and dwright1974 said, I had some problem with my TBolt-GigabitEthernet adapter related to IPv6. It was like if it didn't worked, but after changing some configuration it started to work.
 
Thunderbolt Port Problem Macbook Pro

I tried this fix with no success:

System Preferences > Network > with Thunderbolt Ethernet highlighted, click Advanced > IPv6: change to Link-local Only > Hit Renew DHCP Lease > OK > Apply.

I also tried turning the Firewall off, that didn't work. I bought a new Thunderbolt to HDMI Rocketfish brand adapter; that didn't work. Is there any other software fix I can do or am I going to have to accept the hardware is hooped?

----------
dwright1974 said:
Thanks!

I just stumbled on this post because my adapter wasn't working and this fixed it!

Cheers

- D
Click to expand...

Did not fix my problem. Do you know any other possible issues that might keep the Thunderbolt port from working?
 
RichardF said:
Try this:

System Preferences > Network > with Thunderbolt Ethernet highlighted, click Advanced > IPv6: change to Link-local Only > Hit Renew DHCP Lease > OK > Apply.


Please post if it worked.
Click to expand...

I had to join up to post my experiences with this issue.

I tried this solution and unfortunately it did not work for me. However, I tried swapping my thunderbolt ethernet adaptor with someone else at work and suddenly my ethernet network started working again. So it looked as if my thunderbolt ethernet adaptor was broken.

When I swapped in and out the other thunderbolt ethernet adaptor I could never get my network working on the old adaptor and it always worked on the new one. The weird thing is my old adaptor still works on my colleague's machine which has not been updated to Yosemite yet :eek:

The adaptors are the exact same model: A1433 EMC 2590

I'm interested to know will the thunderbolt adaptor stop working once my colleague updates to Yosemite
 
Last edited:
Try this:

System Preferences > Network > with Thunderbolt Ethernet highlighted, click Advanced > IPv6: change to Link-local Only > Hit Renew DHCP Lease > OK > Apply.


Please post if it worked.
----
This worked for me - potentially solving quite a long running issue with LightningBolt to Gigabit Ethernet for me - thanks
 
MarkC1234 said:
Try this:

System Preferences > Network > with Thunderbolt Ethernet highlighted, click Advanced > IPv6: change to Link-local Only > Hit Renew DHCP Lease > OK > Apply.


Please post if it worked.
----
This worked for me - potentially solving quite a long running issue with LightningBolt to Gigabit Ethernet for me - thanks
Click to expand...

Worked for me too. Thanks!
 
I have to comment here after the trouble I went to. For a start of, I've been building computers since 1989 and I can tell you that Macs suck without question.

Here's the solution:

Plug in your thunderbolt ethernet adapter connected to your modem.
It will say its not connected (even though it is) in Settings>Network
Press the + button at the bottom of the left pane.
Now you should be able to select 'Thunderbolt Ethernet' (these are the exact words you need to see - not bridge or 1 or 2 or anything. It must say 'Thunderbolt Ethernet'). Select it. If its not there, try a different thunderbolt port or wait a few seconds. If it still doesn't appear, then you have hardware issues and I can't help you.
After you have added it, it will still say its not connected. There are a million settings and variables but ignore them all and just do this STUPID APPLE repair:
Click Advanced (keep it in 'Using DHCP' mode), then click Apply.
That is all.

Be VERY angry at Apple. They have the worst Operating System the world will ever see. I just upgraded to El Capitan and now Cinch is broken. I don't know who the moron developers at Apple are, but they should all be behind bars. A backup I once made destroyed 15 years of data, and Apple did not apologise. Anyway, the solution above should work.
[doublepost=1456366499][/doublepost]Simple answer: Click the 'Apply' button after you have added 'Thunderbolt Ethernet' from the + button in the left pane of Network Settings.

The 'Apply' button is what makes it work.
 
Last edited:
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I've just ended up with this same issue and I can't get it working. I've tried setting IPv6 to Link-local only, and I've tried renewing the DHCP lease. I've moved the adapter into the other port. Nothing seems to work! Even worse, I deleted the adapter from the "Automatic" location and don't seem to be able to add it back in again!

I know that the hardware itself hasn't failed because I can boot into Internet Recovery and can ping etc.

I'm sure that the issue is IPv6-related; I noticed on my ISP's site that they offer v6 and I enabled it on my AirPort. I've subsequently disabled it again and as far as I know I've restored all settings back to how they were, but have no Ethernet :(

Help!


Edit: As I needed it working ASAP, I ended up doing Internet Recovery + restore from Time Machine. It's all up and running again.

Edit 2: It seems that this issue was caused by a broken security update. In a way, it's ironic, because said broken security update has resulted in my turning off automatic security updates...
 
Last edited:
RichardF said:
Try this:

System Preferences > Network > with Thunderbolt Ethernet highlighted, click Advanced > IPv6: change to Link-local Only > Hit Renew DHCP Lease > OK > Apply.


Please post if it worked.
Click to expand...


i been trying to find solution and this work :D thank you very much, about to purchase another one already :p
 
I am also having a problem.
Today I bought the adapter but it only works in the first thunderbolt port, the one near the magsafe.
Why ? I would like to use the second port because my charger is kinda broken and it's fixed with duct tape and having the adapter so close to it makes me nervous because it could break again when I move the computer and so on.
Both ports work just fine. Tested with a Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter.
Retina Macbook Pro.
 
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