Thunderbolt Ethernet disables itself

[northernmunky]

This odd behaviour just started on my Macbook Pro. I use a Thunderbolt Ethernet adaptor to establish a point to point link with a Windows PC for sharing files with. I recently noticed that on boot up, I can no longer make a connection and the indicator light in Networks (Mac side) remains red.

I eventually realised, that my Thunderbolt Adaptor was longer displaying the adaptors MAC address and therefore was no longer working:

I tested it on another Mac and it worked fine.

Long story short, I found the solution was to delete the following file:

After a reboot, the file was recreated and we're back in business again. BUT, anytime I reboot my Mac, this happens again.

I examined the plist file and found that when the plist is fixed, it looks like this:

<dict>
<key>Active</key>
<true/>
<key>BSD Name</key>
<string>en3</string>
<key>IOBuiltin</key>
<false/>
<key>IOInterfaceNamePrefix</key>
<string>en</string>
<key>IOInterfaceType</key>
<integer>6</integer>
<key>IOInterfaceUnit</key>
<integer>3</integer>
<key>IOMACAddress</key>
<data>
aFs1nbET
</data>
<key>IOPathMatch</key><string>IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/PEG1@1,1/IOPP/UPSB@0/IOPP/DSB1@3/IOPP/UPS0@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@5/IOPP/pci-bridge@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@0/IOPP/ethernet@0/BCM5701Enet/en3</string>
<key>SCNetworkInterfaceInfo</key>
<dict>
<key>UserDefinedName</key>
<string>Thunderbolt Ethernet</string>
</dict>
<key>SCNetworkInterfaceType</key>
<string>Ethernet</string>
</dict>


But when I reboot the next day and the Thunderbolt Ethernet is not working, it looks like this:

<dict>
<key>BSD Name</key>
<string>en3</string>
<key>IOBuiltin</key>
<false/>
<key>IOInterfaceNamePrefix</key>
<string>en</string>
<key>IOInterfaceType</key>
<integer>6</integer>
<key>IOInterfaceUnit</key>
<integer>3</integer>
<key>IOMACAddress</key>
<data>
aFs1nbET
</data>
<key>IOPathMatch</key><string>IOService:/AppleACPIPlatformExpert/PCI0@0/AppleACPIPCI/PEG1@1,1/IOPP/UPSB@0/IOPP/DSB1@3/IOPP/UPS0@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@5/IOPP/pci-bridge@0/IOPP/pci-bridge@0/IOPP/ethernet@0/BCM5701Enet/en3</string>
<key>SCNetworkInterfaceInfo</key>
<dict>
<key>UserDefinedName</key>
<string>Thunderbolt Ethernet</string>
</dict>
<key>SCNetworkInterfaceType</key>
<string>Ethernet</string>
</dict>


So my OS seems to be deleting the <key>Active</key> tag on a daily basis.
Anyone any idea why this is happening?

This is my system:

 

[LiveM]

Is your software up to date? There was a bug in a previous update.

 

[northernmunky]

Is your software up to date? There was a bug in a previous update.

Yeah, I heard about the faulty kext issue. I appear to have the corrected version 3.28.2 though.