I have a MacBook Pro Retina, and switch often between wifi and thunderbolt Ethernet for my Internet connection at home. I get better speeds using Ethernet, but don't always need them so wifi most times is fine. About once a week I will be using wifi, but because I'm downloading a large file I want to connect using Ethernet. When I plug the thunderbolt Ethernet adapter to the MacBook, the MacBook freezes. This has happened three times now. Has anyone experienced this? Is this a known problem?
HDMI connection does not work when connected to my 27' Dell monitor with my Mac Book Pro. Unfortunately, I need to use this adapter tomorrow. I did test the VGA connection and it does work. I have not tested the DVI port since I don't have a DVI cable. Sep 14, 2013 Mountain Lion can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $19.99. If you sign into the App Store and try to purchase Mountain Lion but the App Store says your computer is not compatible then you may still be able to upgrade to Lion per the following information.
I have run update so I'm running Mountain Lion 10.8.1 (if I recall the numbers right). I experience a similar problem. I have a mid 2012 MacBook Air running Mountain Lion 10.8.2 now but also faced this problem with 10.8.1 once: Let me describe how it appeared: I use Wifi somewhere with the MBA running on battery.
Without turning wifi off I put the MBA to sleep. Afterwards I connect the MBA to my power supply and to the thunderbolt adapter with the ethernet cable attached. Then, I open the MBA and half a second I'm able to move the cursor. Suddenly, nothing works anymore, the screen is frozen and even shutting the MBA won't turn out the display or anything. The first time it happened running 10.8.1 and a screen appeared telling me that the system was frozen (can't recall the exact error notification though). The second time on 10.8.2 nothing happened and I had to push the off-switch some time to reboot.
The problem is very annoying, I would really appreciate any help regarding this issue. Best rbtrage. I have the same problem in which connecting any of my Thunderbolt devices to any Thunderbolt port freezes my MacBook Retina 15', except the mouse pointer still moves. No rhyme or reason, I haven't been able to discern a pattern. On one TB chain, I have an external SSD drive connected to a FW800-to-TB adapter; the other has a Matrox DS-1 dock, which in turn has the Ethernet cable and a Dual-SATA adapter for an external RAID drive. I have a sneaking suspicion that the MBP will be conveniently ignored, and all blame placed on everything except the MBP. The Matrox site points me to the Apple site; the Lacie site points me to Apple and Matrox sites.therein lies the problem: finger-pointing.
I can reproduce the issue no matter which TB ports/devices are plugged/unplugged. This would seem to me to be an MBP issue with the TB ports, in which the OS or whatever doesn't like the voltage spikes/drops when plugging/unplugging devices.
Console logs haven't produced anything abnormal ('TB device plugged in', 'TB device unplugged' doesn't say much that isn't already obvious.) This issue occurs with the various user accounts I've created. My next step is to take the MBP into an Apple Store and demand a new one. I've also performed the SMC reset, as noted above, to no avail.
OS X 10.8.4 / MBP Retina 15' 2.7GHz i7 / 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD. SOLUTION / WORKAROUND: I am using a MacBook Retina Mid2012, OS X 10.9 Mavericks. The following solution/workaround works for me before and after upgrading to Mavericks. The following has worked reliably for me for the past year+ (2012-2013): 1) Plugin Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter WHILE moving mouse around screen 2) If my mouse pointer immediately stops moving after I've plugged in the Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter, then I immediately uplug the Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter.
3) After waiting 1-2 seconds, I re-Plugin the Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter again, WHILE moving the mouse around screen. And at this point it works fine for me. I have never had to repeat steps 1&2. So, for me, on my Mid 2012 Retina MacBook I occasionally experience the 'System Hang' when plugging in the Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter.
It does not always hang my MacBook. And, if I catch it within the first few seconds of plugging it in (because I'm watching the mouse pointer for quick feedback on whether or not it is hanging) as long as I unplug it and replug it in, then I have found that my MacBook never hangs or crashes. Summary: Moving the mouse pointer while plugging in the Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter seems to be a reliable way (for me) to witness whether or not my machine is beginning to hang. Subsequently, un-plugging and re-plugging the Thunderbolt Ethernet Adapter, at that point, has always resolved the problem for me. I hope this helps others.
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