Thunderbolt Display turns off randomly

Hi Foo.

From what I remember one of the cables didn't fit and another was routed to the wrong side making it impossible to reach the connector. It may have worked with some rewiring and using doner components from the faulty display but I could not find sufficient evidence online to try it. I was out of my depth and being so uncertain that it would work I opted to send the panel back.

good luck!

Thanks for that information miloze. I did notice from the teardown of the Thunderbolt Display and 27" iMac that I've seen that the connector on the back of the 27" panels were in different places. Like you said, it may be possible to do some rewiring and extend the cable lengths to fit but it would be an expensive experiment if it didn't work! I am actually a little surprised that Google doesn't have any results for people that have tried this before, considering that both the TBD and 27" iMac have been out for a long time, and that quite disappointingly it seems the dead panel syndrome is quite common on the Thunderbolt Display, judging from the threads here and on other forums. It is quite disappointing for such an expensive product.

My two TBD started doing the blank off routine. To get the screen to come back on, I had to reboot the MBPro. Then it started to happen when waking the computer from sleep mode. I tried switching the two TBD around without any change, so not a solo TBD problem. Since then I've tried the other recommended work arounds. So after my last Apple tech told me to re-install Mavericks, my two TBD are waking up when I click with my bluetooth magic mouse. It has been two days so far. Too short to presume the problem is fixed. To date I've done the hibernate mode change to zero, I've turned off automatic brightness control on both monitors. I've made sure that my brightness level is less than maximum. And I've re-installed Mavericks. Hopefully this last change will last longer than the previous change that lasted only two days. To play it safe, I've moved my external drives to a USB hub connected straight to the computer and not through either TBD hub. The other oddity I've had, is I'll come back to my computer to find that it rebooted on itself. The error message was something about wake/sleep issue. The error reports have been sent to Apple for analysis. My last Apple tech also told me that engineering is looking at the problem. So apparently someone knows there is a problem somewhere at Apple.

Nothing here was solution, not software update, not changing the power cable.

After some time, the same errors.

I talked with Apple Technician and show here videos of testing the display, while she said that I need to bring it back to Service (for 3rd time) and when I asked the service, they've told me that they can only change the parts - logic board, power supply or display and that they can't test it before they order, as they don't have any parts to test with.

I mean waddda f, Apple?

My TBD is still not always waking. So the steps Apple support has asked me to do haven't worked either. The display waking up is hit and miss. Sometimes it wakes up and others not. But at least I don't have to reboot to get the second display to wake up. I just need to pull the TBD cable and plug it back in. This is a real concern. Is this a TBD problem or a computer problem or software or hardware? I mean these displays are a thousand bucks. And any USB hard drive you plug into them gets "ejected" every time the TBD doesn't wake up. I don't know what happens with a device or devices that would be plugged into the TBD port on the TBD if those devices would be ejected as well. I don't want to find out the hard way. What's next? Apple support hasn't asked me to do anything with my TBD's.

I've had the intermittent flicker/shutdown of a new (purchased in May 2014) Thunderbolt display plugged into a MacBook Air bought at the same time.

I found a bash script on another section of this forum, and ran it in Terminal. The following is the result. The OP said to post it in the forum, and that someone might be able to see what's going on.

Start time: 20:26:10 07/31/14

Model Identifier: MacBookAir6,2

System Version: OS X 10.9.4 (13E28)

Kernel Version: Darwin 13.3.0

Boot Mode: Normal

Time since boot: 4 days 9:25

USB

My Passport 0748 (Western Digital Technologies, Inc.)

Diagnostic reports

2014-07-05 Captive Network Assistant crash

2014-07-17 Mail crash

2014-07-17 Mail crash

2014-07-17 Mail crash

2014-07-17 Mail crash

2014-07-17 Mail crash

2014-07-26 Empire Total War crash

Log

Jul 31 11:37:46 jnl: disk1s2: replay_journal: from: 148611072 to: 154030080 (joffset 0x3a38000)

Jul 31 11:37:54 jnl: disk1s2: journal replay done.

Jul 31 11:39:54 PM notification timeout (pid 2167, Messages)

Jul 31 11:41:38 PM notification timeout (pid 2167, Messages)

Jul 31 15:01:32 PM notification timeout (pid 2167, Messages)

Jul 31 15:02:02 PM notification timeout (pid 2167, Messages)

Jul 31 17:08:30 jnl: disk1s2: do_jnl_io: strategy err 0x6

Jul 31 17:08:30 jnl: disk1s2: write_journal_header: error writing the journal header!

Jul 31 17:08:30 jnl: disk1s2: close: journal 0xffffff801c3b5c20, is invalid. aborting outstanding transactions

Jul 31 17:11:28 PM notification timeout (pid 2167, Messages)

Jul 31 20:03:58 jnl: disk1s2: replay_journal: from: 155074560 to: 2007040 (joffset 0x3a38000)

Jul 31 20:04:11 jnl: disk1s2: journal replay done.

Jul 31 20:04:56 IOPPF: Sent cpu-plimit-notification last value 4 (rounded time weighted average 4)

Jul 31 20:05:34 IOPPF: Sent cpu-plimit-notification last value 1 (rounded time weighted average 2)

Jul 31 20:05:45 IOPPF: Sent cpu-plimit-notification last value 8 (rounded time weighted average 4)

Jul 31 20:06:04 IOPPF: Sent cpu-plimit-notification last value 1 (rounded time weighted average 2)

Jul 31 20:06:15 IOPPF: Sent cpu-plimit-notification last value 5 (rounded time weighted average 3)

Jul 31 20:06:26 IOPPF: Sent cpu-plimit-notification last value 4 (rounded time weighted average 2)

Jul 31 20:06:37 IOPPF: Sent cpu-plimit-notification last value 8 (rounded time weighted average 6)

Jul 31 20:07:00 process Dropbox[4482] thread 406921 caught burning CPU! It used more than 50% CPU (Actual recent usage: 55%) over 180 seconds. thread lifetime cpu usage 95.679518 seconds, (81.646807 user, 14.032711 system) ledger info: balance: 90002073598 credit: 90002073598 debit: 0 limit: 90000000000 (50%) period: 180000000000 time since last refill (ns): 161221790159

Jul 31 20:22:52 jnl: disk1s2: do_jnl_io: strategy err 0x6

Jul 31 20:22:52 jnl: disk1s2: write_journal_header: error writing the journal header!

Jul 31 20:22:52 jnl: disk1s2: close: journal 0xffffff801c3b5c20, is invalid. aborting outstanding transactions

Jul 31 20:22:59 jnl: disk1s2: replay_journal: from: 2007040 to: 8982528 (joffset 0x3a38000)

Jul 31 20:23:12 jnl: disk1s2: journal replay done.

Swap (MiB): 5256

Activity

CPU: user 8%, system 12%

CPU per process: backupd (UID 0) is using 82 %

I/O per process: backupd (UID 0) is using 2 MB/s

Daemons

com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

com.adobe.fpsaud

Agents

com.fiplab.MailTabHelper

com.fiplab.MenuTabHelper

com.fiplab.MailTabProHelper

com.oracle.java.Java-Updater

com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate

launchd

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist

- com.oracle.java.Java-Updater

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

- com.adobe.fpsaud

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

- com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist

- com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool

Library/LaunchAgents/com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate.plist

- com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate

Bundles

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Flash Player.plugin

- N/A

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin

- com.oracle.java.JavaAppletPlugin

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/MeetingJoinPlugin.plugin

- com.microsoft.communicator.meetingjoinplugin

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin

- com.microsoft.sharepoint.browserplugin

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/SharePointWebKitPlugin.webplugin

- com.microsoft.sharepoint.webkitplugin

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/Silverlight.plugin

- com.microsoft.SilverlightPlugin

/Library/PreferencePanes/Flash Player.prefPane

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Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Extensions/1Password.safariextension

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Library/Internet Plug-Ins/CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin.plugin

- com.citrixonline.mac.WebDeploymentPlugin

Apps

/Volumes/TimeMachine3/Applications/Dropbox.app

/Applications/Dropbox.app

Font issues: 21

DNS: 75.75.76.76 (static)

Safari extensions

1Password

Restricted files: 195

Elapsed time (s): 187

gonna go ahead and add my input on this ridiculous situation.

late 2013 Mac Pro owner. Plugged into 2011 thunderbolt display.

- had random flickering, occasional brightness degrading apon display restartup, and blackouts (some times lasting minutes to hours, to days).

- No macpro issue, have found mothers late 2013 Mbp and 2011 Mbp to create identical issues with display.

- Have tried external .5m thunderbolt cable to no avail.

- no warranty, Taken to apple store for a no charge (apple gave something for free!?) service to find issue.

- After two weeks without display they called up, psu, logic board and breakout cable fine. Lcd display issue.

- Tried to charge me £639 (included vat) for replacement and labour. Told them to suck it and took it back.

- assessed options, probably get zilch selling as spares on ebay.

- tried some open heart surgery, the fault does appear to be in the connector of lcd (the most expensive component).

- Claiming on house insurance.

I am disgusted that I had spent almost 1k on a display to find it's worthless. And that apple will take no liable action in order to reprimand a situation which is not of the customers fault.

as mentioned previously, this is the fault of display other than the funny macmini ram stuff that was added to this thread earlier. Stay safe. Cover yourself.

Here's my story:

- TBD from 2011, connected to 13" MBA also from 2011 (4GB RAM)

- worked fine until June 2014, when TBD started to go black in ever shorter intervals (USB and TB-ports were still active)

- brought it to an Apple Store 3 times: First they replaced the LCD Panel, then they replaced the Power Supply and Logic Board, then the third time (today) they gave me a new one

- the old one had the model No. MC914ZM/A, the new one MC914ZM/B -> so there might be some hardware changes in newer models

- after the first two repair attempts the problem recurred after a few days and then again in ever shorter intervals

Now I'm sitting here with a brand new TBD and fingers crossed...

Same situation for me. MBP and TB display purchased in May 2014. After flickering , the TB display is not even detected at boot. I had this one day, the day after it was OK and today it is not detected again. I finally regret I purchased this display.

I also regret the same thing. And I will have to think twice before I give my money away like this. Premium price for a non working product? Thanks, but no thanks.

This describes my situation exactly. Early 2011 MBP with TB.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/05/13/apple-remains-mum-as-complaints-mount- over-2011-macbook-pro-gpu-failures

I have a Late 2013 Mac Pro (cylinder) and two TBolt displays. I just purchased two 6" cables from OWC and it's reduced the problem a lot, but it's not entirely resolved -- I still get occasional blinks from one of my displays.

6" cables? Aren't those kind of short? Is that what you meant to type? I have the same setup as you, and still have the flickering issue. I have not tried to do a firmware update to the TBDs. Have to investigate that. I did hook up a third monitor, a Viewsonic 1080p and that has not had a flickering issue, just the 2 TBDs

I have a Late 2013 Mac Pro (cylinder) and two TBolt displays. I just purchased two 2m cables from OWC and it's reduced the problem a lot, but it's not entirely resolved -- I still get occasional blinks from one of my displays.

Thanks for catching my typo. I think I fixed it. ; )