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bazaarone Author

Level 1

0 points

Major problems with Thunderbolt display & MB Air

Since I received my Thunderbolt display yesterday and hooked it up to my 2011 MB Air, I've had nothing but problems.

Software update is fully up to date, including the TB Display firmware.

I'm experiencing three major issues:

1. About half the time when I connect the display, my connected USB devices are non-functional. Unplugging and reconnecting the devices does not fix it.

2. Also, about half the time when I disconnect the display, the MB Air does not reconfigure the monitor layout. Putting it to sleep and/or disconnecting / reconnecting monitors does not fix this. I have to hard restart my laptop.

3. When connected through the TB Display, my Mac will infrequently not recognize key up events from my USB keyboard, causing keys to repeat until I hit them again. For an idea of frequency, it has happened 4 times so far thus far while writing this post.

Also a couple of minor niggles:

1. The default color calibration is WAY different from the MB Air's screen. It's most obvious with yellows which have a severe green tint on the TB display. For example, note windows in Mail appear very slightly orange on my MB Air (as expected given the color value), while on the TB display it is florescent yellow with a slight greenish tint.

2. The sound is a lot poorer than I had hoped. I wasn't expecting anything really amazing, but with the "built in subwoofer" I expected noticeably better bass than my MB Air's built in speakers provide.

The minor issues can either be minimized (with color calibration and equalizer) or ignored, but the major issues make this display completely unusable for me. Is this just a defective unit, or are these widespread issues?

Thanks in advance for any help.

PS. Total instances of keys getting stuck while writing this post: ~9. Seems to only be space and delete that get stuck so far.

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.1)

Posted on Sep 21, 2011 8:19 PM

438 replies

scogoth1

Level 1

5 points

Oct 17, 2011 9:27 AM in response to bazaarone

Same issues as everyone else, flaky USB in both OS X and windows. Called apple tech and the guy said this isnt the first his heard of this and Apple wants the display back for testing. Seems Apple is aware of the issue.

scogoth1

Level 1

5 points

Oct 17, 2011 1:28 PM in response to bazaarone

Got replacement display and still showing same issues. The display did not have the TB dipslay update yet. Still shows problems after the update.

The serial numbers of both are:

C02GCBGNDJGR

C02GCA5CDJGR

Does anyone have a working TB display and Macbook Air? If so what the s/n on the TB display.

azoe

Level 1

0 points

Oct 17, 2011 8:58 PM in response to bazaarone

I'm having the same problems with the same hardware, a Mid-2011 Macbook Air and a Thunderbolt DIsplay. Sometimes the display will function but the peripherals will not. Often some combination of rebooting the Macbook Air, unplugging and replugging the display from the computer, and unplugging and replugging the power to the display will set things right. Resetting the PRAM and SMC don't seem to have an effect.

What's odd is that I haven't found a particular formula that will fix things 100% of the time. On one occasion nothing at all worked, and I resolved to return the whole mess to the Apple Store, but then after a few days it began to function again.

I'm hoping a future firmware update will solve the problem once and for all, or Apple will start replacing the malfunctioning displays. I'm starting to think I'd have been better off with a 27" iMac.

teaflow

Level 1

0 points

Oct 17, 2011 10:39 PM in response to bazaarone

Add me to the list of affeceted users

SkullOne

Level 1

0 points

Oct 18, 2011 12:23 AM in response to bazaarone

Count me in too. I got this new system (13" MBA + TBD) more than a week ago to replace a ± two year old 24" iMac with the renowned 'stained screen' problem, which my Apple dealer refused to repair under warranty. That was within their right because that's legal here (consumers have more rights here than companees and this was a company purchase) but hardly ethical as this is a manufacturing defect.

Now I got to struggle every morning for at least half an hour before the display even functions (black screen and garbage within a minute or even seconds). It's hard to find the 'magic combination' to make it work (power downs, cold boots and resets of both display and MBA, etc.). Besides that, it randomly 'fails' during the day as well. Extremely annoying.

As a CEO of an IT company with high quality standards it completely baffles me why Apple let this slip through the cracks. They should know better. They should have avoided this. There are no real excuses possible I'm affraid. In two words: Totally unacceptable!

So I replaced a different sort of display problem with one far more serious. Right now I'm quite annoyed with Apple because of this. I've been using their equipment since the Macintosh IIfx but so far these two are the worst problems. However, this one is affecting my work in a serious way. I don't have time for this and they should solve the problem now!

When the display does work it's wonderful though...

Oct 18, 2011 10:10 AM in response to bazaarone

You can count me in too...

MBA 13" Core i7 with a brand new Thunderbolt Display.

Everything was doing just fine the first three or four days and then, I started to loose my USB keyboard and I realized that I was also loosing the Firewire port and the speakers of the TD too...

10.7.2 didn't change anything.

It looks like the whole PCIe protocole of the Thunderbolt Display is failing...

ifonul

Level 1

4 points

Oct 18, 2011 8:08 PM in response to Mattheo Lescaht

Same here, display goes to sleep and never comes back to life. Mac mini is up and running, just no display! 😟

Phips

Level 1

5 points

Oct 18, 2011 10:54 PM in response to ifonul

Well that debunks my theory that it's the MacBook Air causing the problems 😟

Incidentally, I had that 'go to sleep, never wake up' thing at the weekend too. I did a remote desktop connection to the sleeping MacBook (from my iPad) and the TB display woke up then! Madness.

SkullOne

Level 1

0 points

Oct 19, 2011 1:54 AM in response to bazaarone

Okay, today I didn't have a real problem...

What I did change yesterday was to disconnect all (just two) USB devices from the display (a Dymo LaberWriter 400) and my Apple wired keyboard. I did connect the latter directly to my MBA. I have automatic brightness off on the TD, but I'm not a believer in that sollution.

I suspect it's purely coincedental, and I do have the Gigabit Ethernet on the TD connected. But you'll never know...

Oct 19, 2011 5:44 AM in response to bazaarone

This morning, I cannot get the speakers or camera in my TBD to function. Ethernet and Firewire are unaffected. I'm going to try unplugging the display for a few moments to see if that fixes the problem, but putting the MBA to sleep and unplugging it from the display has not helped so far.

Oct 19, 2011 6:13 AM in response to bazaarone

The more I read posts here, the more I get convinced, as Phips, that this is a MacBook Air's issue.

I red I don't remember where that MacBook Airs had specific Thunderbolt ships. That would even not be the same one in the 11" compared to the 13"...

eddgreen

Level 1

14 points

Oct 19, 2011 6:57 AM in response to Mattheo Lescaht

Everyone talks of the MacBook air Never the pro

Oct 19, 2011 8:12 AM in response to eddgreen

Actually my post on this is with a 13" MBP. I have tried two different displays which both have the USB problem under 10.7.2. I have an open case with Apple and have been told an engineer is working on the case at this time.

Oct 19, 2011 8:37 AM in response to Jason Schwarz

Right, this isn't just MBA. I have the USB dropouts with a 15" MBP.

I have not had the other problems with screen blankouts, etc., however. I have an MBA at home that I can bring to work and test it out, it's something i need to do anyway.

Oct 20, 2011 7:05 AM in response to bazaarone

Same here. MBA 13" 2011 with TB connector + TB Display

Everythings works fine except usb. I've got Ethernet, Firewire disk, Apple Keyboard, and Wacom Intuos 3 connected.

Problems are : keyboard dropping typo while typing (very annoying) and cursor disapperance from time to time. Have to "reactivate" the tablet by flipping the stylus and click with the eraser part to make the cursor appears again.

I just plug in the new keyboard, the one with Mission Control key. Same problems.

SMC or PRam dont resolve the problem. Rebooting give an illusion of solution.

We need a TB Display firmware upgrade for the TB/USB controler part !

I hope Apple engies are working on that.

Major problems with Thunderbolt display & MB Air