Tell me more ×
Ask Different is a question and answer site for power users of Apple hardware and software. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 4 down vote favorite
1

I'm looking for some one who may have configure the Asix AX88179 to work with OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion. This chipset (AX88179) is embedded in most of the very new the USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet adapters.

I bought one of them coming from Digitus and after one day on it, it is recognised by Mountain Lion on my Macbook Air, it seems that the network diagnostic tool is OK, but I was never able to connect on my mails and run any browsers (Safari, Firefox etc...). There is something wrong in the network configuration.

I'm using the versions 1.1 and 1.2 of the Asix drivers (dowload from the Asix site and coming from Digitus).

share|improve this question
I also can't get this to work on Windows 8. I have tried different drivers as well - as soon as I feed it an Ethernet cable the device just turns off and on. Could it be a problem with the chipsets? – user37017 Dec 20 '12 at 19:50
Looks like version 1.3 is out for this device. Try it. asix.com.tw/products.php?op=pItemdetail&PItemID=131;71;112 – BeyondtheTech Jan 14 at 17:50
I have the 1.3 driver now, but it only works if reboot and have the adapter already plugged in the usb. A bit annoying to reboot whenever I need gigabit (OSX 10.8.2). – y3sh Jan 24 at 19:37
I also have this problem with my StarTech USB 3.0 Hub with gigabit ethernet (Part ST3300U3S). It uses the Asix AX88179 chipset. Running the 1.3 Asix Drivers and OSX 10.8.3. Loading the kernel extension (drivers) manually as the answers suggest do load the module, but the device still does not see the ethernet device. Rebooting does not help. Just posting so others might see this issues exists for this StarTech hub as well. – Mike Ohlsen May 2 at 13:35
@MikeOhlsen I had exactly the same problem with the same device. I solved it by installing the latest drivers from Asix (they're on 1.4 even though StarTech is currently only distributing 1.3). You can find them here: asix.com.tw/products.php?op=pItemdetail&PItemID=131;71;112 – Isaac Cambron May 12 at 22:28

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

This is fixed in Mac OS 10.8.3.

In MacOS 10.8.2 although I faced an issue: I have a version from Delock running driver V1.3.0 (but V1.2.0 showed exact same behaviour). Adapter runs fine on first connect. If unplugged and plugged in again it will not work unless I reboot. Best solution I found is to reload the driver by hand. That saves you at least the reboot.

sudo kextunload -b com.asix.driver.ax88179_178a
sudo kextload -b com.asix.driver.ax88179_178a

If your driver has a slightly different name (for whatever reason) you can look it up with:

kextstat |grep asix
share|improve this answer
The solution of reloading the driver via the terminal works! However, I think the order of the commands should be reversed. (first unload and then load) – user46576 Apr 3 at 0:09
@user46576 Thanks for the comment. If you feel confident that an answer is wrong, just go ahead and edit it. The author gets notified and can review / change it back if needed. This is pretty easy to tell the order is swapped, and should be an edit IMO. – bmike♦ Apr 7 at 16:32
up vote 1 down vote

If you have the Android File Transfer app installed, try removing it - that made the 1.3 drivers work for me, including disconnecting and reconnecting (through a USB 3.0 hub) without a reboot

share|improve this answer
Removing the Android File Transfer app worked for me on the 1.3 drivers. Thanks – user46936 Apr 7 at 15:38
By uninstall, do you mean just deleting the app from your applications folder? – Isaac Cambron May 9 at 20:09

protected by Community♦ Apr 7 at 16:34

This question is protected to prevent "thanks!", "me too!", or spam answers by new users. To answer it, you must have earned at least 10 reputation on this site.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.