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Thunderbolt Display turns off randomly

I have a new Mac Mini 2011 i7 Quad CPU version. I have a Thunderbolt 27 inch display. I have found that the display randomly turns off and won't turn on when I use the keyboard or mouse. This occurs when I am doing stuff on the machine, it is not a display sleep issue. The first couple of times I had to use Remote Desktop to reboot the Mac Mini to fix the issue. The last time it happened I removed the Thunderbolt plug from the Mac Mini and reinstalled it and this fixed the issue. I have the latest software updates on the Mac Mini and the Thunderbolt Firmware update on the Display.

I am running Lion 10.7.1

Posted on Sep 21, 2011 9:35 PM

Top-ranking reply

Shawn Carey

Level 2

249 points

Posted on Feb 20, 2017 6:19 PM

No news here, just another data point for anyone who still cares. 😁

tl;dr: another instance of this issue improving with an external Thunderbolt cable.

2011 Mac Mini Server with Thunderbolt Display that started blacking out after 5+ years of being awesome. The blackouts increased in duration from 1-2 second flashes that recovered autonomously to apparently indefinite darkness that required a monitor power cycle or signal cable unplug/replug to recover.

I tried:

PRAM/SMC reset, multiple times.
Display settings hoakus poakus:
- reduce brightness
- disable automatic brightness adjustment
- disable power save
Software updates
All updates to TBD and Mac mini had been applied already. Even so, I downloaded and launched the standalone update installers from support.apple.com. Each installer indicated that the update was already installed.

The frequency of the blackouts had been increasing over the course of the last few weeks, until reaching a crescendo over the weekend where the display would remain illuminated for only a few seconds before needing another power cycle or signal cable dis/re-connect.

The number of posters to this thread who found relief from this issue by using an external Thunderbolt cable gave me hope. I picked up a new Thunderbolt cable from my local Apple Store today, and for the first time in a few weeks my TBD has been solid for more than a couple of hours.

I've seen enough posts in this thread to know that victory can never be declared on this issue, but I'll post updates over the next few weeks as I suspect at least a few folks are in my situation and ready to buy new hardware when Apple freshens up the desktop offerings. Until then a working TBD is the best possible setup for me.

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537 replies

Sep 24, 2011 2:47 PM in response to gadget_aussie_man

I got similar trouble. My MacBook Air was suddenly hung up, Then after few minute Thunderbolt Display became black out.

After that trouble I could still login my mac via SSH. WidowServer process with new firmware may have problem.

A setup was changed so that a computer nevert sleep as the tempraly solution. I hope this issue will fix soon.

cpickrell

Level 2

300 points

Sep 25, 2011 10:04 AM in response to Takeo from Kyoto

I just experienced this while actively using my 2011 MBA with the display. The interesting thing is all peripherals connected continued to work and I could hear sound from the display. A reboot was necessary. I've turend on screen sharing so if it happens again I can test remotely if I can wake the display though system preferences Detect Display. The logs showed nothing.

Sep 26, 2011 8:42 PM in response to gadget_aussie_man

Me, the same issue. Using Mac Mini Server 2011 dell 2311H monitor attached(upgraded RAM up to 8GB and is the only one change from original), finally got a Thunderbolt 27'' display two days ago. Then found 27'' Thunderbolt display would gone randomly even dell is perfectly ok at the same time (using dual display). Everything except 27'' Thun-di. I've been through this 3 times already during this morning. I just 'restart' my server ('this is a SERVER, jees..') and it corrected problem for the time being. No logs, nothing else helpful...

Waiting firmware upgrade, that's all i can do now... sigh...!

Sep 26, 2011 9:27 PM in response to Brendan Min

Latest is that I am still having the issue. The good news is that Apple contacted me to ask for further data to assist with analysing the problem. The difficulty is that it does seem to be random in that I have now seen a pattern emerge as to when it happens, and if I repeat what I was doing when the display went off, then it doesn't reoccur the second time. I have had it happen when I am using iMovie and this morning when I was recording an audio stream using Sound Studio.

Has anyone else seen any sort of pattern to the occurences.

Sep 26, 2011 9:55 PM in response to gadget_aussie_man

Well, i've just patched firmware update for Thunderbolt display from Apple customer support site. I'm sure you've done this already because it's dated 19, Sep. Well, I'll try to find the pattern anyway if the same thing happens again.

And, for your information, those happened while i was using 'Remote Desktop Connection' from MS-Office, which i set as expanded 'full screen', targeted Thun-di, (I've mentioned i'm using dual display, Dell 2311H and Thun-di above reply).

Plus, I found some interesting bug for the 'full screen feature' of RDC of MS-Office, which is sometimes got confusing which 'desktop' it should use. when i added one more desktop from 'Mission Control', ran RDC in full screen mode from 'desktop 2', it should just remained on 'desktop 2' when i switched to my original 'desktop 1'. But, when i did switch to 'desktop 1', RDC just switched to 'desktop 1' and remained in 'full screen mode'. I feel strange, 'cause the feature worked fine yesterday, but not today, and the 'Thun-di''s gone randomly.

Too many clues and multiple bugs appeared at the same time, made me confused, RDC of MS-Office, Lion, and Thun-di(oh, just added patch from Apple, TT)...

Wait for solution with fingers get crossed, haha...

Sep 26, 2011 10:01 PM in response to Brendan Min

I have got the updated Thunderbolt Display firmware. In fact I first got the issue after installing the firmware, but as I had only set up the machine with the Thunderbolt Display before updating it I have not got sufficient running time with it prior to the firmware update to know if the issue existed before updating.

Sep 27, 2011 1:04 AM in response to gadget_aussie_man

Well, it's obvious 'this problem' was and is, irrelevant to this firmware patch.

I got no same turning off problem yet, though.

Still using dual, RDC of MS.

Let's see what happens next!

Good luck 2 U!

Sep 27, 2011 12:14 PM in response to gadget_aussie_man

I'm seeing the same symptoms with a brand new display. Second day of use, connected to a MBA 13". No warning..screen just goes black, like someone pulled the power cord. MBA screen continues to work. I hear no fan noise at all nor do I feel moving air. This has happened twice in the 2 days I 've had the display. S/N is C02G88HBDJGR, if that means anything. How do I report this ?

Sep 27, 2011 4:17 PM in response to gadget_aussie_man

I have the lastest Mac Mini Server: Hooked up the new Thunderbolt 27 display. There is no on off switch.

On plug in via the new Thunderbolt cable the screen came on. I ran the firmware updates as advised by Apple.

Now, the screen shuts off randomly. The screen is off right now.

The screen will not come back on unless I take out the cable and then re-insert. This technique brings the screen back to life.

Very odd.

Any fixes out there?

Hacir

Level 1

0 points

Sep 27, 2011 5:01 PM in response to AlohaSpirit2

There are no fixes at this juncture. I have the exact configuration you do and have tried 10.7.2 beta and various cable combinations with the same result. The good news is that Apple is working on identifying the root cause and is doing so aggressively (I've spoken with customer support a couple of times). I am certain a fix will be out ASAP.

Sep 27, 2011 8:35 PM in response to Hacir

Apple tells me new screen is in order as this is not to occur. Call support and get new screen...mine went off a second time while I was speaking to tech...would not restart with the cable pull method.... A real hassle.

Sep 27, 2011 8:37 PM in response to AlohaSpirit2

Correction would not restart without the cable pull method.... Cable pull restarted monitor...

Sep 28, 2011 6:53 AM in response to gadget_aussie_man

Same here, the display worked for 5 minutes, then turnded black, got back for some 15 seconds and turned black again... Cable Pull DOES NOT restart the monitor. I can see the power plug is charging my macbook, but on the router my display ethernet port is not lit, same for USB connections to the display - they are not powered by the display!

JEBIII

Level 1

6 points

Sep 28, 2011 11:14 AM in response to gadget_aussie_man

The same thing has happened to me multiple times since I downloaded the firmware update. Today the monitor AND my macbook pro shut down because of this.

Sep 28, 2011 3:25 PM in response to gadget_aussie_man

I am having this issue as well. Just received the thing. It turns off about 2 times an hour. The Apple web site does not even recognize the serial number.

Thunderbolt Display turns off randomly