My Setup is an older MacBook pro with a USB to ethernet dongle with ethernet cable directly to the 1F controller. This has worked flawless for me for months. Now all of a sudden I get nothing. The lights on the 1F ethernet port nor the lights on the dongle are lighting up when plugged in. with the 1F and the MB pro, I have restarted, shutdown, unplugged, disabled Wi-Fi, and the rest in all combinations of being plugged in and disconnected to each other or not. I tried those because the only thing I found on this is that the controller was not shutdown correctly which I don’t believe because I shutdown every time through the menu.
1F support wasnt very helpful because they said they cant help in networking even though its not really networking as far as i can see. My network and home internet is out of the equation. Wifi is disabled on both the MB and the 1F and connected directly with ethernet cord.
any suggestions are greatly appreciated. i do have access to controller through hdmi to a way over the top monitor and controlled through keyboard and mouse. so if anyone has some magic Pi commands for me to try. Let’em rip. Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post but i know they limit newcomers post to a certain number.
Hey Jerron,
welcome to the forum.
Did you try another Ethernet cable? No lights on both ends means no connection.
I’m reading people using an “ethernet dongle” for connectivity but I’m wondering why? Does your MB not have an actual ethernet port? (never mind, I googled it, ouch, my condolences).
Network cables die over time, though. As well, who even knows what the longevity of an adapter is.
Hey Brian,
notebooks became too flat some time ago.
I see that. The last time I had a MB Pro was way WAY back in 2011 when it still had the port.
I ain’t gonna lie, I wouldn’t advocate for using an Apple product for gaming or productivity. I prefer reliability… and I’m sure I’m going to take some justifiable abuse for saying that. 
On the positive, the MB casing was exceptionally well-built. Shame about all the Intel tech stuffed in at thrice the cost, though. Hit me.
Can you go through a process of elimination to find out where the problem is? I.e. Connect the laptop to a network, connect a different computer to CNC controller, try a different cable, etc.
This site brings up an interesting situation where the RPI will shutdown the ethernet port if it doesn’t have enough power. E.g other things plugged in maybe taking up too much. Solve Raspberry Pi network problems - KaliTut
For RPi commands, I’d suggest you just look online for things like “Rpi network troubleshooting”
I must be old as this made me think of crossover cables… 
But if you have a small switch around, try plugging the devices through that, even if temporarily to see if the ports light up and show connectivity.
Ok everyone thanks you for the suggestions. I have determined the following:
-Its not the cable as it works when connected to my desktop inside.
-its not the dongle as it works for my wife’s laptop.
-MB’s apparently have a thing where they stop supplying power to USB ports randomly and a reset of the SCM is what has to be done (I think this is what is happening but i cannot find how to do it on this specific computer). I’m going to get my hands on a different laptop and try using that instead of the MB and if that works then i know it was certainly the MB. Ill update once i know more. Thank you
Here is the process for most Macs: