renaud Guérin

Q: Clamshell mode on MBP + Thunderbolt Display is broken with latest updates

Hi,

 

I have an early 2011 13" Macbook Pro running Lion with all the latest updates, hooked to a Thunderbolt Display with a USB Apple Keyboard and Ethernet cable plugged in. I'm also using a Bluetooth Magic Mouse with the Macbook.

 

Everything is working fine in clamshell mode when the computer is on : the problems occur when it's sleeping with the lid closed.

 

I'm expecting that pressing a key on the external keyboard should wake it up.

This actually used to work at some point between September (when I got the display) and October (when, I think, the latest Thunderbolt/SMC updates were released which broke this again)

 

It doesn't work anymore : pressing a key does nothing. I have to open the Macbook for it to wake up, and here's the real problem : the Thunderbolt display doesn't turn on even then, and the external keyboard is still unresponsive.

I have to either plug/unplug the Thunderbolt Display, or power cycle it for things to work again.

 

This is extremely annoying, especially since I'm using a vertical "BookArc" stand and need to remove the MBP from it every time to open it and wake it up.

And also because it actually worked at some point between the numerous Thunderbolt updates, and it's the last one that broke it.

 

Has anyone seen this ?

Posted on Nov 26, 2011 5:45 AM

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Q: Clamshell mode on MBP + Thunderbolt Display is broken with latest updates

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  • by andrew.lee,

    andrew.lee andrew.lee Feb 8, 2012 4:38 PM in response to renaud Guérin
    Level 1 (35 points)
    Feb 8, 2012 4:38 PM in response to renaud Guérin

    You mention you have a Apple USB keyboard plugged into your Thunderbolt display.  Do you also have anything plugged into the keyboard?  If so unplug those devices from the keyboard and see if it helps.

     

    Or do you have another unpowered USB hub connected to your display, I say another because the keyboard is effectively an unpowered hub.  If so try without that connected or try adding power to the hub if you can.

     

    Moving my Wacom tablet from one of the USB ports on the keyboard to a seperate port on the Thunderbolt display has – for the moment – resolved the problems I was experiencing.

     

     

     

    After doing lots of digging around to figure out why my keyboard and such wouldn't work 50% of the time I booted my MacBook Pro with the Thunderbolt display attached I discovered these messages in the kernel log at boot time:

     

    kernel[0]: USBF:18.735AppleUSBHubPort[0xffffff8015e82600]::FatalError - Port 2 of Hub at 0x40130000 reported error 0xe00002c0 while doing setting port power
    kernel[0]: USBF:18.836AppleUSBHubPort[0xffffff8015441800]::FatalError - Port 3 of Hub at 0x40130000 reported error 0xe00002c0 while doing setting port power

    kernel[0]: [ffffff8015f77b00][AppleMultitouchDevice::start] entered

    kernel[0]: Keyboard Hub::terminate(kIOServiceSynchronous) timeout

    kernel[0]: USBF:34.196AppleUSBHubPort[0xffffff8015f8ee00]::FatalError - Port 2 of Hub at 0x40130000 reported error 0xe00002c0 while doing setting port power
    kernel[0]: USBF:34.298AppleUSBHubPort[0xffffff8015f8d000]::FatalError - Port 3 of Hub at 0x40130000 reported error 0xe00002c0 while doing setting port power

    kernel[0]: Keyboard Hub::terminate(kIOServiceSynchronous) timeout

    kernel[0]: USBF:49.652AppleUSBHubPort[0xffffff80142b8000]::FatalError - Port 2 of Hub at 0x40130000 reported error 0xe00002c0 while doing setting port power
    kernel[0]: USBF:49.753AppleUSBHubPort[0xffffff8015f8da00]::FatalError - Port 3 of Hub at 0x40130000 reported error 0xe00002c0 while doing setting port power

    kernel[0]: Keyboard Hub::terminate(kIOServiceSynchronous) timeout

    kernel[0]: USBF:65.112AppleUSBHubPort[0xffffff8015f8c000]::FatalError - Port 2 of Hub at 0x40130000 reported error 0xe00002c0 while doing setting port power
    kernel[0]: USBF:65.213AppleUSBHubPort[0xffffff80142ab400]::FatalError - Port 3 of Hub at 0x40130000 reported error 0xe00002c0 while doing setting port power

     

    Similar messages were appearing on each failed boot and were missing on the successful ones.  The port power errors and the keyboard hub timeouts seemed like a definite clue! 

     

    To view the log I was using the "Console" application and selecting kernel.log in the /var/log section of the log list (left hand side of the application).  You may want to look in the older kernel.log.X.bz2 files too, where X is a number from 0 to 5 on my system.  The logs can be quite long, type "port power" into the "Console" application's search filter (top right of the window) to check quickly.

     

    I discovered that typically ports on a powered USB hub can deliver 500 mA (milliamps) whereas ports on a unpowered hub typically can deilver only 100 mA.  Some USB ports may be able to deliver higher current that this but it is not part of the core USB specification.

     

    I had a Wacom tablet and an Apple mouse connected to my Apple USB keyboard which was connected to the display.  Using the "System Information" application, in the Hardware -> USB section, I discovered that's around 900 mA of current requirement:

         498 mA for the Wacom tablet.

         100 mA for the Apple USB optical mouse.

         300 ma for the keyboard itself and its built-in keyboard hub.

     

    The MacBook Pro's USB ports can deliver upto 2000 mA (enough to charge an iPad), the USB ports on the Thunderbolt display can deliver 500 mA and the keyboard USB ports can deliver only 100 mA. 

     

    So the Wacom tablet was wanting more current than the keyboard's port could deliver and the tablet, mouse and keyboard combined was wanting more than the Thunderbolt display's USB port could deliver.  Moving the Wacom tablet from one of the keyboard's USB ports to a seperate USB port on the back of the Thunderbolt display has resolved my issues -- for now at least.  I've tried what must be 15 or so power off/power on cycles with the Thunderbolt display attached without issues.  I'll comment again if any problems reappear, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for now. 

     

    I don't know why it would work some of the time or if I connected the Thunderbolt display to the MacBook after boot, perhaps because most the current "in-rush" will be needed at power up time or when resuming from sleep?

     

    It may also be worth knowing that I'm running OS X Lion 10.7.3 with all the latest updates on a early 2011 MacBook Pro 15" and for some reason my display doesn't want the 1.1 Thunderbolt display firmware update – it is still running 1.0.8 firmware.

     

    I hope this helps someone...

  • by John May,

    John May John May Feb 9, 2012 8:31 AM in response to andrew.lee
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 9, 2012 8:31 AM in response to andrew.lee

    Actually, I ended up ditching my /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist file and that seemed to fix things for now.  Note I found I had to do this under single-user mode, deleting via a normal boot didn't work.

     

    - John

  • by Drjones2006,

    Drjones2006 Drjones2006 Feb 15, 2012 5:59 AM in response to renaud Guérin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 15, 2012 5:59 AM in response to renaud Guérin

    So i finallly give up . the only short term solution for me is to use my MB air in dual screen mode instead of clamshell. in this way i don't need to reboot. Before connecting thunderbolt display i open my macbook air, then connect the display.

     

    I guess the issue happen when the thunderbolt display try to wake up the macbook from sleep mode and then freeze everything. Let Hope it will be fix in next firmware update

  • by Drjones2006,

    Drjones2006 Drjones2006 Feb 15, 2012 6:03 AM in response to Drjones2006
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 15, 2012 6:03 AM in response to Drjones2006

    To add a short info , the funny thing is the problem happen only with the thunderbolt display. if i do plug a simple standard display i mean with a simple mini displayport adapter it never happen. alway wake up in clamshell mode.

  • by pdeslaur,

    pdeslaur pdeslaur Feb 17, 2012 5:49 PM in response to renaud Guérin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 17, 2012 5:49 PM in response to renaud Guérin

    Hi guys,

     

    Good news! I have access to the developer preview 1 of Mountain Lion, and guess what? It solves the issue! Well, at least the sleep issue with the macbook pro 2011. With Lion, I'm unable to wake up using my usb keyboard pluged in to my Thunderbolt Display and with Mountain Lion it works. Also, the thunderbolt display does wake up, so I don't have to unplug-replug the thunderbolt cable to get the display to work again.

     

    I will test the clamshell more let you know what it gives! My first test was with both displays open (macbook pro and thunderbolt)

     

    EDIT:

    I did the same test in clamshell mode and it's working! It means that I can correctly wake from sleep when I am either in clamshell mode or in "normal" dual screen mode. (Both are not working properly for me in Lion)

     

    I don't recommend using Mountain Lion for every day work since it's not very stable but at least, we know that a fix is coming! If you want me to run some other test on Mountain Lion, just leave a reply and I'll see what I can do. Also, if somebody else could try that with Mountain Lion it would be interesting...

  • by tdhopkins,

    tdhopkins tdhopkins Feb 17, 2012 6:37 PM in response to pdeslaur
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 17, 2012 6:37 PM in response to pdeslaur

    Oh how I hope.

  • by mjoiner,

    mjoiner mjoiner Feb 19, 2012 1:30 PM in response to renaud Guérin
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 19, 2012 1:30 PM in response to renaud Guérin

    SHADES OF Micro$oft Blue Screen of nothingness

     

    MBP 15* late 2011 + Mac OS X 10.7.3 (11D50b) + Thunderbold 27* display

    I have Ethernet, USB keyboard, 1 USB harddisk,  2 Firewire 400 harddisk drives plugged in the Display ports.

     

    I am not able to boot up this computer with the lid closed and display output to Thunderbolt. It shows the login but no input is possible. If I open the MBP lid then both screens turn solid blue. No luck closing and reopening or even disconnecting the Thunderbolt display.

     

    I have searched and installed all available updates. This is very frustrating. On top of this I've had an issue where the Finder stops responding and I have to open a terminal and issue reboot. I have now had issues with the latest Apple Computer products that have cost me hours of time troubleshooting.

     

    If this issue with the blue screen Thunderbolt is not fixed within Lion  (I do NOT want to update to Mountain Lion in order to fix this) I will be returning all Apple hardware and stick with the known evil, or give Linux another go. It really peaves me to suspect that developers are busy working on Mountain Lion in stead of concentrating on patching Lion and Snow Leopard. This is exactly the kind of bs you'd expect from M$.

     

    If anyone reading this has an official bug report which is registered with support and can be monitored I would greatly appreciate replying with a link. My patience is running thin and I need to make some decisions fast.

  • by andrew.lee,

    andrew.lee andrew.lee Feb 19, 2012 3:19 PM in response to mjoiner
    Level 1 (35 points)
    Feb 19, 2012 3:19 PM in response to mjoiner

    mjoiner wrote:

     

    MBP 15* late 2011 + Mac OS X 10.7.3 (11D50b) + Thunderbold 27* display

    I have Ethernet, USB keyboard, 1 USB harddisk,  2 Firewire 400 harddisk drives plugged in the Display ports.

     

    I am not able to boot up this computer with the lid closed and display output to Thunderbolt. It shows the login but no input is possible. If I open the MBP lid then both screens turn solid blue. No luck closing and reopening or even disconnecting the Thunderbolt display.

     

    I had the same symptoms.

     

    Which peripherals have you connected to what?  For instance you mention you have a USB keyboard, do you also have anything (such as your USB harddisk) plugged into the keyboard?  If so unplug all devices from the keyboard and see if it helps.

     

    In my case I was inadvertantly trying to draw too much power from the USB port on my keyboard (and indirectly the display).  Moving my Wacom tablet from one of the USB ports on the keyboard to a seperate port on the Thunderbolt display has resolved the problems I was experiencing.  For fuller details see:

     

        https://discussions.apple.com/message/17541133#17541133

     

     

    Andrew

  • by mjoiner,

    mjoiner mjoiner Feb 19, 2012 10:41 PM in response to andrew.lee
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 19, 2012 10:41 PM in response to andrew.lee

    Andrew

     

    I thought I was being explicit:

     

    "MBP 15* late 2011 + Mac OS X 10.7.3 (11D50b) + Thunderbold 27* display

    I have Ethernet, USB keyboard, 1 USB harddisk,  2 Firewire 400 harddisk drives plugged in the Display ports. "

    I do have a Bluetooth Magic Mouse but nothing is plugged into the USB keyboard or MBP.

     

    I'd already read through your reply as well as hundreds of others.

     

    I've tried all permutations of attempting to start the system and nothing works.

    This is REPEATABLE REPEATABLE REPEATABLE.

     

    Also I have the problem where the USB keyboard just stops working when being woken from sleep. In that case I have to revert to the BT keyboard and go through the whole process of booting without the TB display plugged in and reboot.

  • by andrew.lee,

    andrew.lee andrew.lee Feb 20, 2012 2:43 AM in response to mjoiner
    Level 1 (35 points)
    Feb 20, 2012 2:43 AM in response to mjoiner

    mjoiner wrote:

     

    Andrew

     

    I thought I was being explicit:

     

    "MBP 15* late 2011 + Mac OS X 10.7.3 (11D50b) + Thunderbold 27* display

    I have Ethernet, USB keyboard, 1 USB harddisk,  2 Firewire 400 harddisk drives plugged in the Display ports. "

    I do have a Bluetooth Magic Mouse but nothing is plugged into the USB keyboard or MBP.

     

    I'd already read through your reply as well as hundreds of others.

    Sorry I thought it worth asking as your symptoms seemed very close to mine and it can be easy to miss one or two posts in a number of long discussion threads.  I'm not an Apple employee just a user like yourself and I totally agree these Thunderbolt issues are frustrating and deserve an official knowledge base article to deal with them.

     

    Like yourselft I have a MacBook Pro 15", Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 and all updates with Thunderbolt display firmware 1.0.8 as my display claims it doesn't need nor want the 1.1 update).  For me sorting out the USB power problem fixed all my issues with inoperative keyboard after boot and after sleep. 

     

    Have you tried using the Console application to look at the system and kernel logs for a successful boot versus an unsuccessful one?  Does anything pop out as being coincident with the boots where the keyboard doesn't work?

     

     

    Andrew

  • by zpjet,

    zpjet zpjet May 22, 2012 2:13 AM in response to John May
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 22, 2012 2:13 AM in response to John May

    Oh I wish I read your post before reinstalling the system... Which - so far - solved the problem, though I still need to activate or install a few system-deep things like FileVault, Firmware password or VMWare...

  • by zpjet,

    zpjet zpjet May 29, 2012 2:33 AM in response to John May
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 29, 2012 2:33 AM in response to John May

    OK my latest update I hope. After system reinstall, everything works as it should. Eg I come from outside, plug a power and TB, and the system appears at TBD. Then I open the lid, short wait, blue screens - and both displays are on, arranged as they were before. I close the lid, again wait, blue - and I have system at the TBD again.

     

    So far I enabled FileVault, and installed VMWare. I guess my

     

    /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist

     

    was messed up by moving from old laptop, and I wish I found this advice by John May before I reinstalled.

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/17546300#17546300

     

    BTW I did have one single occurance of USB/FW/Ethernet problem. I came to my set up when the lid was closed and hit spacebar to wake it up. It didn't so I used mouse, and it did but no devices (keyboard, Ethernet, FW disk) were connected, although the display was recognised correctly. So I unplugged and plugged the display and everything went to normal.

  • by actionpics,

    actionpics actionpics Jun 12, 2012 4:17 PM in response to zpjet
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 12, 2012 4:17 PM in response to zpjet

    I don't know that will help anyone, but I'll throw out there what little I know. First, I am brand new to Apple so I'm learning on the fly. I have a MBP with the Thunderbolt port that I have hooked up to the 27" Thunderbolt display. I had the clamshell working fine last night (first night with the new external display). For the life of me I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work today. As soon as I close the lid the external display would flash once then go black. I had to external devices hooked up to the monitor (hard drive and color calibration device). I tried disconnecting both of those to no avail. In trying to recreate exactly how I had things last night I remembered that I had the power cord of the display plugged into the laptop. I didn't when it wasn't working. Low and behold that was it. I had to plug the Thunderbolt's power supply to the laptop. Works perfect now.

  • by tdhopkins,

    tdhopkins tdhopkins Jun 13, 2012 5:51 AM in response to actionpics
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 13, 2012 5:51 AM in response to actionpics

    How do you plug the TB monitor into the MBP?  My TB monitor has a three pronged power connector built into it.  I have a MBA but even with a MBP I don't get it. 

  • by actionpics,

    actionpics actionpics Jun 13, 2012 6:09 AM in response to tdhopkins
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jun 13, 2012 6:09 AM in response to tdhopkins

    I probably didn't word my Reply well. I'm talking about the Magsafe power supply that comes with the 27" thunderbolt display. initially I didn't have that plugged inas I had just hooked up the thunderbolt connector and tried to get everything going.

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