Not connecting to TB2 OWC Enclosure

Greetings. I have a OWC RAID ThunderBay with a TB2 connector. That’s connected through an Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter and works great with my MBP M1 Max.

The RAID does not recognize the connection and does not spin up expect when connected through the Plugable TB hub to my MBP M1 Max.

Checking System information shows that the Plugable Hub recognizes the Apple TB3 -TB2 adapter as connected but the RAID is not getting the spin 'er up signal.

I thought TB3 was backwards compatible to TB2 with the proper adapter. In fact OWC’s docs say:
CONNECT TO THUNDERBOLT 3 SYSTEMS WITH EASE
The OWC ThunderBay 4 harnesses the power of Thunderbolt which provides upwards compatibility with Thunderbolt 3 (at Thunderbolt 2 speeds). Whichever interface your workflow demands, it’s easy to integrate OWC ThunderBay 4’s massive capacity and performance capabilities. Add a Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter and you’re all set.

Hello OregonDean,

Thank you for reaching out on the forums! I am sorry to hear that you are running into issues with your setup, but I would be happy to help diagnose the issue here.

Based on your description of the setup, we don’t have any reason to expect this setup not to work with the USB4-HUB3A in the chain of connected devices.

First, can you confirm that you are trying to connect to your laptop using the included Thunderbolt 3 cable that came with your dock? We’ve seen issues arise when a third party cable is used.

Next, can you confirm that this issue is present no matter which Thunderbolt port on the MacBook the hub is connected to? Can you also confirm that this issue is present no matter which downstream USB-C port on the hub the RAID device is connected to?

Next, some steps we’ll want to take are to perform a power-cycle of the unit to reset its internal hub chipset. We’ve seen that this can often restore the dock back to a working state when one or more of its functions are not quite working. To do this, please follow these steps:

  1. Disconnect all USB peripherals and displays connected to the dock
  2. Disconnect the docking station from host machine, then disconnect the power adapter from power
  3. Leave unplugged for 1 minute for power to dissipate
  4. Connect docking station initially into power only
  5. Connect docking station to host machine, then connect USB peripherals and displays, then test for functionality

Please let me know if this helps at all.

Thank you,

Evan

Plugable Technologies

www.plugable.com/support

I was not using your cable. Most likely that was the problem as I am not sure the cable I was using was a TB cable (it was a short USBC cable that I had used successfully with a disk drive). Interestingly, my monitor worked with that cable connected to the hub but the monitor is not TB, it’s USB.

Lightbulb moment. Even though the monitor worked with the non-Pluggable TB cable, I was asking the hub to serve TB3 out to my TB3-TB2 adapter. It needed yout TB cable for the upstream link.

FWIW, I did the power down process and swapped the cable both at the same time, but suspect it was the cable that was the issue.

Thanks Evan!

Hello Dean,

Thank you for the response, and I am glad we were able to solve the issue here!

Please do not hesitate to reach back out to Plugable Support if you run into any other issues with your USB4-HUB3A!

Thank you,

Evan

Plugable Technologies

www.plugable.com/support

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