Major problems with Thunderbolt display & MB Air

Why do you all keep talking about this thing? They don't work. Return them.

Here's another issue: I returned the TBD for the LED CINEMA DISPLAY a long time ago and it seems to be polarized or possibly something else additional which causes it to be difficult to focus your eyes on it. Lots of eye strain causing pain and puffy baggie eyes. The glare from the high gloss doesn't help either. I have to close the blinds behind me when I work or put up my room divider screen(s).

What was Apple thinking when they made these things? I've always had Apple displays and this is the second one since 1985 that causes eye strain. The first was a CRT display. None of the others caused it. The best was the 23" [matte] Cinema Display.

Lobby to bring that one back!

Those in the UK:

Try using the Sale of Goods Act; it looks like Apple have released a faulty product.

Regards

Got my display back. New screen, two logic boards and a replacement TB cable and its working. So, do I apply the firmware update? I'm thinking not....

Just to make an update regarding my case (I had troubles with my TDP connected to a MB Air 1.8GHz Core i7: no USB, FW, Ethernet, camera and speakers working after a deep sleep, even after reboot), I just went to the Apple Store Carrousel du Louvre and they just changed my defective display for a brand new one and that's it! Problems solved. It just works perfectly since then!

Interesting. I have the same problem, but only when my 13" MBA (mid 2011) is closed and I plug in the TBD. If I open the macbook and start typing on the builtin keyboard ... all of a sudden the external USB keyboard connected to the TBD works ... weird. Occasionly I have to unplug and plug in the USB cable.

Just thought I would add that little bit of context.

I haven't read through all the posts, but I'm also experiencing issues with the USB-Ports on the TBD.

They are functioning properly, however, when I connect a USB drive the data throughput is only half of what it should be. E.g. a 2.5 external hard drive makes 10/24 MB/s w/r when connected to the display, but 26/36 when hooked up directly to a Mac.

Recently, I also got these blips (reminding me of those blackouts before the last TB update), which occur sporadically and only last few seconds.

So I brought the display to a service provider today. They called me later on and told me, that they couldn't find a hardware problem. They will do further testing, but it doesn't look promising.

Could anyone with functioning USB ports do a speed test with an external hard drive connecting it to the display and to a Mac respectively? I need some base of comparison. Thanks!

i could do that, but what are you using to test the speed?

Thanks.

I used AJA Speed Test and DiskSpeed Test. Both with the same result - the USB port on the TBD is dramatically slower.

Interesting, I have a 1TB Seagate Go Drive.

TBD: 14/31

MBP: 26/31

So writes were faster when plugged into the macbook, but reads were the same.

I used Disk Speed Test.

Indeed interesting... didn't expect that.

If more people did a test, it'll become clearer whether this is a common issue with TBD or just a bunch of faulty logic boards.

Just for the record, I've had similar troubles with my MBA 11 and my Thunderbolt Display (nearly every time I connected both the MBA and the TD : no usb, no ethernet, no sound and no facetime cam on the TD ...)

However, 10.7.3 seems to have solved the problem for me ! (I hope ...)

I also confirm that so far 10.7.3 seems to have solved that problem. Fingers crossed!

I have experienced similar problems with the MBAir and two different thudnerbold displays (one when it was first introduced and one purchased last week) I have been able to test with. Both displayed exactly the same issues as outlined below:

If I boot up the MBAir, the the USB keyboard and mouse plugged into the TB display both work, and the facetime camera is seen by the MBAir. Then I put the MBAir to sleep, take somewhere and use it.

When I bring it back and reconnect it, the USB keyboard and mouse are non-funcitonal, and the Facetime camera in the display is not recognized even in System Info. A reboot is the only thing that returns functionality that I have seen.

Updated to 10.7.3, all the TB MBAir updates applied. Reset SMC, checked permissions and disk etc.

You mention you havimng USB devices conencted to your Thunderbolt display. Is one of them an Apple USB keyboard? If so do you also have anything plugged into the USB ports on 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]: [ffffff8015f77b00][AppleMultitouchDevice::start] entered

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

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

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

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...

Just in case anyone else is having my basic issue: MBAir connected to TB display works with lid open but won't wake from a USB Apple keyboard connected to the TB Display. It seems that it will only wake if I have the power cord (part of the dual TB cable from the display) attached to the MBAir.