Apple's USB dongle

The Ethernet port on my 2006 Macbook died, so I went to Fry's and picked up Apple's USB Ethernet adapter -- you know, the one w/ the imperceptibly fine print on the back explaining "only for use in Macbook Air." That one.

And it worked at first, until I unplugged it for the night and plugged it back in. No amount of rebooting helped, but finally I worked out the procedure:

1. Under System Preferences -> Network, select the USB Ethernet device and hit the (-) button at the bottom, removing it from the list. This apparently unloads the driver from the kernel.


2. From the command line, run sudo kextload /System/Library/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBEthernet.kext


3. Back under System Preferences -> Network, press the (+) button and choose "USB Ethernet," then "Apply"

That should do it.