Thunderbolt Display turns off randomly

Murphx, most of the nine months using the iMac I would guess you were running Lion, right? When did you upgrade to Mountain Lion? And can that be a factor at all in this? I guess the problem is older than the upgrade but many seem to suspect firmware issues.

I upgraded to ML on the 25th of July (release day) and it has been fine until yesterday (used for 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, otherwise "sleeping" for the rest of the hours/day 7 days a week).

My colleague's TBDs have all thus far avoided this problem and some of them have upgraded to ML as well (MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs).

Ok, so there is probably a different explanation.

I had similar problems today. It started out ok. When it blacked out I could get it back by unplugging the power to the TBD. While it was working I also noticed a brief flickering , as if it was to turn black, but then returned. Then it got worse and now I can't get it back on. The peripherals are still working though, as is the iSight camera.

Another noticing I did was about the wallpapers. Yesterday I had set a different wallpaper for the retina display which was located in a folder that I had to add to the systems settings. After the first blackout today, this wallpaper was "forgotten" and so was the link to the new folder.

Went to the local Apple Store today and they tested the display and found it to be dead as well (thankfully, as you know how it goes when you take something in, they normally find no fault!). They wanted to repair it, suspecting the internal power supply, but I explained that I needed a working monitor to take home today as it was a business system. With a bit of persuasion, they very kindly offered to replace the TBD with a brand new one right there in the store (after I reminded them that we'd spent £45K with them over the last 3 years...).

Soon as the display was connected it sprung to life and as you'd expect it's working flawlessly, complete with that lovely "new stuff" smell.

I'll report back in a couple of weeks but I suspect it'll be a long time before this one breaks considering the last one lasted 9 months...

Same issue here. Brand new retina MBP, bought together with TB display. About 2 weeks old now. Randomly shuts down. Difference with many people is that, when it shuts down, it takes all ports with it and disappears from the monitor list. It's just plain dead.

Only remedy is unplug and let it sit for about 10 minutes. After that it goes back to life.

Applecare didn't even try to remedy it (well, they listened and were very polite/professional, but said the issue was too serious and only repair would help). On Monday it goes back to the store for repair/replacement.

Well, after a few days with very few interruptions, my display starting shutting down again. Interestingly, I have a FW audio interface connected to it, and I find it's usually the case that the audio starts stuttering first, then the monitor goes black. Connected peripherals do continue work, but not particularly well (i.e., stuttering audio). I think I'm ready to give up and send this thing in. It really seems like a hardware issue to me, as there's nothing particularly consistent about the conditions that lead to the blackouts. Very lame. Not impressed at all. It's a gorgeous monitor, when it works, but irritating as **** when it doesn't.

My TB Display issue is similar to most of the ones I read here. I use it with a MBP i7 13", 8GB RAM. In about 2 minutes of use, suddenly the screen shuts down taking all ports down as well. I´ve got a Firewire audio interface that, when it happens, audio automatically is transfered to onboard audio on my MBP. The same happens with an USB keyboard (With Num Keypad) attached to the screen, doesn't work when the screen turns black. Everything interrupts simultaneously - screen and ports!

Well, after that I try to reconnecting TB cable but, to have it working, I should wait 10 minutes disconnected to connect again, so it starts working. Then, another 2 minutes to happen all over.

I can see many people is showing issues and only a few presenting the solution, most of them with replacement / repair. It is indeed a great hardware, but this issue is annoying. Do I have any chance to solve my problem?

Honestly, no. Because it was so young my display was considered DOA and replaced with a new one. They said that Apple agreed to swap, but in the other case they would've replaced the logic board.

So I think you should report it to Applecare and then have it repaired or replaced.

Thorgal73, Thanks for the fast answer. There is actually another point I would like to know if it´s normal: the port plug gets reasonable hot while connected, as hot as the MBP's chassy. Does this happen to yours?

Another different situation from yours: I didn't purchased my TB screen in apple store, does this make any difference with Applecare or warranty? My TB is not so young as yours, I have almost one year of usage. Even so, less than one year is a short period for the equipment to get damaged!
Thanks again. BR

First about the port plug : yes, it definitely gets warm (even hot) during the day. My usage pattern is that I connect my MacBook pro in the morning when I arrive at the office and leave it plugged in for about 10-12 hours after which I go home. When I unplug it it always strikes me as hot, but I don't think this is troublesome.

Regarding the warranty : I'd think Apple provides one year of warranty on all it's products, but you'll probably have to handle it through the store you bought it in (but could try to call Apple about it first, than you can provide the store with a case/service number, if they give you one of course).

I just did a brief search of the Apple support forums on this topic, and didn't happen to find the potential solution I'm about to share.

I recently purchased a brand new Thunderbolt display and connected to my early 2011 Macbook Pro. Within about an hour, I started having the issue that many have described: Thunderbolt display randomly shutting off, and unable to turn back on by responding to mouse clicks or keyboard entries.

My first suspicion was that it was an issue with the graphics card in the MBP itself. What I ended up doing is disabling the automatic graphics switching within the System Preferences panel. In my particular case, I am pleased to announce that my Thunderbolt display is now working flawlessly! I'm not sure how this may apply to other thunderbolt enabled Apple hardware products, but in my case, since the MBP has both an integrated GPU as well as a discrete GPU, forcing the system to only utilize the discrete graphics card seemed to have done the trick.

System Preferences > Energy Saver > Automatic graphics switching (uncheck the box)

Hope this solutions helps others who are in the same boat!

David, thanks for sharing this tip with us!

Although, I couldn´t find such thing as ¨Automatic graphic switching¨ (to uncheck the box) in my Energy Saver Preferences. My iOs version is 10.7.5. Maybe this option is only available in your version. Could you check that for me?

BR

Should be under Energy Saver preferences...

Actually the discrete Thunderbolt Display is dependent on the discrete graphics card, so this setting should make no difference, on or off the ATD is going to use the discrete graphics card. If you want full control over graphics switching, download gfxCardStatus. One great thing is that it will show you the apps and hardware dependencies of the discrete GPU.

Clinton

My thunderbolt 27 works fine, but it can't never be switched off.

At night, during some downloadings, i wish to turn off the display to the minimum luminosity (dark) but it looks like the minimum is always with the monitor lighted.

Someone of you know how to dim the luminosity to dark ?

No, there's no on/off switch for the Display - if it's connected to a computer, it's always going to be 'on'.

All you have to do is set a hot corner for the Display to go dark (but not off). I have my hot corner set up for the upper left hand corner. Go to Desktop and Screen Saver here -

and set a corner to put the Display to sleep.

Hope this helps,

Clinton