14 DAY TRIAL // Apple Discussioners are signaling that Apple’s sleek new MacBook Air might be having trouble accepting the official USB Ethernet Adapter. The problem isn’t the USB Ethernet Adapter itself, users indicate, since it works just fine when plugged into other Apple notebooks.
Reader Madam kicks off the discussion, sharing the following story:
“I purchased an Apple USB Ethernet Adaptor MB442Z/A to use with my MacBook Air 11". On the right hand USB it worked a couple of times. On the left-hand USB it won't work at all. Now it works on neither,” the Apple customer claims.
“I've checked and it is visible in System Profiler, however in the Network settings it says Cable Unplugged. The left hand USB works fine with 3 other devices I've tested. Any ideas?” the frustrated user asks.
Many seem to have fixed the problem one way or another, but one reliable fix appears to be creating a new location in Network Preferences and then connecting the adapter again.
“Solved,” forum poster anpwq writes.
“I brought both the MBA and ethernet adapter to the Genius Bar today and lucked out on who helped me,” he shares with fellow Apple Discussions members.
“The guy there figured it out very quickly based one something he's seen before. Create a new location in the Network preferences. Plug the ethernet cord into the adapter, wait a second or two, then plug the adapter into the MBA. Open a page in Safari and keep refreshing it until it loads.”
This rather cumbersome process should make the MacBook Air recognize the adapter and get a network connection within a minute or two, the forum user noted.
“This fix seems to be a one time thing - I didn't have to do this when I connected at home later,” he adds.
He cites the Apple Genius as saying that he'd seen problems with the default "Automatic" location in the past on other models.