TBT3-UDZ USB and Ethernet dropout on Macbook Pro 13

Thunderbolt TBT3-UDZ
1

Hi,

I’m getting 1-2x per day the entire USB and Ethernet dropping out requiring me to unplug/plug the thunderbolt connection from the dock to the macbook to restore. There doesn’t seem to be any clear pattern in why it’s happening.

Is there any FW update for the docking station?

OS Version: 11.4
Macbook Pro 13 (2020 model w/ 4 thunderbolt ports)

2

Hello Peter,

Thank you for contacting Plugable support! Sorry to hear about this issue. I’d be more than happy to assist you.

There is no firmware available for the docking station at this time that would affect Ethernet performance. Please note that we are not aware of any Ethernet issues with macOS 11.4, but we had seen issues prior to 11.3.x that we’ve documented here for reference: https://kb.plugable.com/question/776031

With that said, your issue sounds different that what we’ve seen in the past since you mentioned other USB devices are disconnecting as well.

If you’ve not tried so already, I’d recommend the following:

  1. Unplug power from the dock and unplug the dock from the Mac
  2. Perform an SMC reset: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
  3. Perform an NVRAM/PRAM reset: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063
  4. After logging back in wait about 30 seconds then plug power back into the dock and plug the dock back in to the Mac and see if the behavior has improved

If the behavior is still happening please let me know.

Thanks again for contacting Plugable support and best wishes!

Joshua Henry

Senior Engineer | Product Owner
Plugable Technologies

3

Hi Joshua,

The major issue is not the ethernet but the entire USB bus dropout that happens at the same time. Displays are still working, so only way I know its happening is my mouse/KBD stops.

I performed the steps above, and had it happen to me again this AM. No rhyme/reason to when it happens. I usually unplug the docking station from power and it will clear up every time.

Do you want me to send you a debug log? Again, product features work great – but I’m not looking forward to it happening during a presentation where I’m on video!

Peter

4

Thanks for trying those steps and for confirming the issue still happens.

I would indeed like to see some diagnostics at this point! We have a troubleshooting tool that helps us find out what is going on in situations like this. Please plug the dock with your devices attached into your computer, then go to this page and follow the instructions there:

http://plugable.com/support/plugdebug

Please mention ticket 346182 when emailing us with the diagnostics file.

Thank you!
Josh

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