Usb C display with integrated lan RJ45 port

[patsio]

Hi,
My mac mini M1 connected through usb-c port to Dell U2721DE display. The RJ45 eth port of the Dell doesn't work. In Network settings the usb 10/100/1000 lan status is 'not connected' and actually no dhcp ip assigned to my mbp 13" connected to Dell RJ45 port. Is it related to M1 series or a Big sur (11.1) bug?!

 

[pldelisle]

It needs a driver.

Realtek USB FE / GBE / 2.5G / Gaming Ethernet Family Controller Software - REALTEK

www.realtek.com

But doesn't seem to be M1 compatible yet.

 

[patsio]

Thanks! I noticed that in the users manual but i thought it was referred to Windows only, did you try the mac os 10.xx driver?

 

[pldelisle]

Thanks! I noticed that in the users manual but i thought it was referred to Windows only, did you try the mac os 10.xx driver?

I don't have this display neither a M1 Mac. Sorry . Since it's a driver, I really doubt this would work on M1 platform. Drivers changed a lot with Big Sur.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

Hi,
My mac mini M1 connected through usb-c port to Dell U2721DE display. The RJ45 eth port of the Dell doesn't work. In Network settings the usb 10/100/1000 lan status is 'not connected' and actually no dhcp ip assigned to my mbp 13" connected to Dell RJ45 port. Is it related to M1 series or a Big sur (11.1) bug?!

It's likely a combination of both.

My guess is that Apple has only written Big Sur Ethernet drivers for M1 Macs for whatever is in the native built-in hardware and not for third-party Ethernet controllers.

Since neither the MacBook Air nor MacBook Pro have built-in Ethernet that means we're talking about one Ethernet controller: the one in the M1 Mac mini.

I have a Mac mini 2018 and looking at the model number in the System Information report (Mojave) it appears that the Ethernet controller is likely a Broadcom part not Realtek.

It's possible that future versions of macOS will include M1-ported drivers for more third-party peripheral controllers but clearly it is not a priority for Apple macOS Engineering at this time.

Of course, Dell software engineering could write their own driver for macOS Big Sur for M1-powered Macs but right now it's such a small portion of the user base it isn't a high priority for them either.

Realistically though the Realtek Ethernet driver would have to be written by Apple to support its Apple Silicon users who have third-party devices using Realtek chips.

Ah, the joys of being an early adopter of a new hardware architecture!

 

[Gaius Vampus]

As I tested an 2.5GE external Ethernet adapter on the USB-A Port of an M1 I discovered a similar problem: The adapter was visible in Network Settings but in the hardware options no higher speed than 1GE was offered.

When set to 'automatic' the adapter switched to the highest available speed on its own, no further driver was necessary.

Seems that USB has more generalized hardware detection and connection protocols then Thunderbolt?