Aqui está um dump de ifconfig -a em cada situação (vou destacar as diferenças depois):
O cabo Ethernet está conectado:
lo0: flags=8049 mtu 16384
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet6 xxxx::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
gif0: flags=8010 mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0 mtu 1280
en0: flags=8863 mtu 1500
inet6 xxxx%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
inet 192.168.0.110 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
media: autoselect (100baseTX ) status: active
supported media: none autoselect 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 100baseTX 100baseTX 100baseTX 100baseTX 1000baseT 1000baseT 1000baseT
fw0: flags=8863 mtu 4078
lladdr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
media: autoselect status: inactive
supported media: autoselect
en1: flags=8863 mtu 1500
inet6 xxxx%en1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x6
inet 192.168.0.110 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
media: autoselect status: active
supported media: autoselect
O cabo Ethernet está desconectado:
lo0: flags=8049 mtu 16384
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128
inet6 xxxx::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000
gif0: flags=8010 mtu 1280
stf0: flags=0 mtu 1280
en0: flags=8863 mtu 1500
ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
media: autoselect status: inactive
supported media: none autoselect 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 10baseT/UTP 100baseTX 100baseTX 100baseTX 100baseTX 1000baseT 1000baseT 1000baseT
fw0: flags=8863 mtu 4078
lladdr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
media: autoselect status: inactive
supported media: autoselect
en1: flags=8863 mtu 1500
inet6 xxxx%en1 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x6
inet 192.168.0.110 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
media: autoselect status: active
supported media: autoselect
diff plugged unplugged mostra que a conexão com fio se torna ativa quando está disponível:
8,9d7
< inet6 xxxx%en0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x4
< inet 192.168.0.110 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.0.255
11c9
< media: autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex,flow-control>) status: active
---
> media: autoselect status: inactive