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samonels
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

macOS Golden Gate Thunderbolt Bridge fails to reconnect after sleep

Thunderbolt Bridge fails to reconnect after sleep on macOS Golden Gate. After sleep/wake, macOS shows Thunderbolt Bridge: Not Connected and the Thunderbolt interfaces under the bridge appear inactive. Restarting the Mac restores the connection. More importantly, simply disconnecting and reconnecting the Thunderbolt cable immediately restores the Thunderbolt Bridge connection and SMB access, without restarting the NAS or changing any network settings.

Posted on Sep 17, 2026 4:12 AM

5 replies

Grant Bennet-Alder
User level: Level 10 (148,617 points)

Sep 18, 2026 7:08 AM in response to samonels

3 foot 'regular' ThunderBolt-3 Apple cable is too long for this high-end use, unless it is a PRO cable, which has ThunderBolt-3 signal re-drivers in it.


And if both devices are Thunderbolt-5 capable, you either need a 0.5 meter passive ThunderBolt cable, or an ACTIVE/PRO Thunderbolt-5 cable.


Apple is selling a one meter Thunderbolt-5 PRO cable for about US$70


CableMatters is selling a 2 meter ACTIVE Thunderbolt-5 cable for around US$80.

den.thed
User level: Level 10 (99,154 points)

Sep 17, 2026 12:26 PM in response to samonels

Turn on "Prevent automatic sleeping when the displays is off" and only allow the display(s) to turn off during the day.


Then at night, decide if you want to leave it on, Sleep or Shut Down using the drop down menu.

Grant Bennet-Alder
User level: Level 10 (148,617 points)

Sep 17, 2026 6:22 AM in response to samonels

What ThunderBolt cables are being used for this connection?

how long are they?

are BOTH devices Thunderbolt-5 capable?

samonels Author
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Sep 17, 2026 11:17 PM in response to den.thed

i did that. however, the problem persists. after sleep the connection breaks.

samonels Author
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Sep 17, 2026 11:18 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

The cable is an apple TB 3 ft cable. The NAS is the UGREEN NAS DXP480T Plus 4-Bay All-Flash SSD capable TB5


Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256358881