Sleep disrupts entire network

[richardbae]

So my setup with this dock is with a 15" macbook pro 2015 (running catalina) using the apple thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter. Everything works well on it. However one weird issue, whenever the macbook pro goes to sleep it disrupts my network. Other computers connected via ethernet lose their connection to the network.

Waking up the macbook pro (connected via ethernet with the TB3 dock) fixes the issue or unplugging the ethernet that the macbook pro is connected to. Any ideas what is causing this?

[Joshua_H]

Hello Richard,

I’ve just replied to your direct email that you sent to us with some instructions to try. In short, we believe some users may have issues with the built in macOS Catalina Ethernet drivers.

For any users encountering this kind of issue, please email us directly at support@plugable.com so we can send detailed instructions on how to try resolving this issue.

Thanks and best wishes!
Joshua Henry
Plugable Technologies

[joncampbell]

I’m on Catalina and after a few days of thinking my modem or router were causing the problem finally figured out today that it is the Plugable hub.

Seems crazy that one device could take out the network but it keeps happening.

[richardbae]

FYI, I was instructed a fix by downloading new ethernet driver that’s on the hub: https://plugable.zendesk.com/attachments/token/SHnJYfsWLNeBW1cZUK99cAWJP/?name=RTUNICv1.0.21.dmg

That seemed to fix the issue for me.

[Joshua_H]

Please note, this driver is only for macOS Catalina and is not compatible with Big Sur. (We are waiting on a new version from Realtek (the Ethernet chipset manufacturer.)

Here are the installation instructions:

1. Please download the disk image file that I have attached to this email ('RTUNICv1.0.21.dmg)
2. Double-click on the file to ‘open’ the disk image.
3. A Finder window should open with two items within it.
4. Double-click on the ‘RTUNICv1.0.21.pkg’ file and then follow the prompts to complete the driver installation process.
5. You most likely will be prompted to ‘Allow’ the driver installation via the ‘Security & Privacy’ settings application built-in to macOS. Please be sure to ‘Allow’ this driver to install within the ‘Security & Privacy’ application.
6. Once the driver installation is complete, you should be prompted to reboot your system. Please do so.
7. Once the system has been rebooted, please click on the Apple icon in the Menu bar at the top of the screen and select ‘About this Mac’
8. From the window that appears, click on the ‘System Report’ button.
9. Click on the ‘Ethernet Cards’ item under the ‘Hardware’ category.
10. You should see one entry named, ‘Realtek USB GbE Family Controller’. This is the wired Ethernet adapter within the dock.
11. The information displayed next to the ‘Kext name:’ section for the Realtek Ethernet adapter should match the information shown in the highlighted section of my attached screenshot.
12. If the information shown does not match that shown in my screenshot, please try installing the Realtek driver one more time and verify the installation again. If the information does match, please move on to the next step.
13. Once the Realtek Ethernet driver has been confirmed to be installed, please test the behavior when using the docking station again to see if it changes in any way.

Thanks!
Josh

[sid2]

Hi Josh,

My work macbook pro restricts all external package installations. Can this updated driver be installed on the dock itself? If so i can try that with my personal machine.

[Joshua_H]

@sid2 This driver cannot be installed “on the dock”, this is a driver intended to replace the built in macOS drivers which are problematic on the computer itself. You’ll need to get approval from your company IT to install the driver to resolve the issue. If that’s not possible, you’ll need to disable sleep on your laptop to work around this problem.

It’s possible Apple may update their provided drivers in the future, but it’s really hard to say when/if that will happen.

Best,
Josh