Thunderbolt Display turns off randomly

I'm running the latest updates and have similar firmware versions except for the cable:

Cable Firmware Version: 1.0.16

Did you try a new Thunderbolt cable? I did have the same kind of hardware and issues and buying a new (black) Thunderbolt cable did solve the issues.

The issue remains that I bought two of these displays that have a built in thunderbolt hub. If I use a separate TB cable, it defeats the TB hub. TB hubs are rather far and few between and not cheap. On the other hand this display is $1,000. There are many 27" monitors out there without TB hubs for hundreds of dollars not one thousand dollars. What if your mac only worked half the time? Would you be happy? If you could get it to work all the time, but crippled without say a usb connector, would you be happy? I'm not.

Bought new tb cable, 2m black, blackout issue fixed.

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After more then 6 month, from that patch written by chimps. i'm happy.

Hi

I have been reading all the posts regarding these similar issues as I had been encountering. My specific issues have been:

• Slight flickering and then going blank/black. USB & Thunderbolt devices connected all worked fine after blanking screen
• Turning on from stand by, blank screen
• Just going blank when it felt like it

The use of the screen/thunderbolt was my first thought. Tried many things i.e. not using it but having it on, watching videos, general light use etc - all circumstances resulted in inconsistent results (sometimes would go blank, sometimes not)

So, what have I tried to resolve the issue:

• Different cables, new cables, not using the built in cable - Blank screen in all attempts - Again all random with various time periods before it went blank
• Different Mac - I mainly use it with a Mid 2011 iMac 27" - Tried my MacBook Pro - happened in just the same way
• Tried all various of the above Mac/cable, not having devices connected, different power strips (I even stood on one foot for a while but it still went blank)

I finally bit the bullet, and booked into to the 'Genius' bar. As soon as I did (appointment was set for 4 days time) the screen stopped going blank. It was just worked, day in. It got to the day of the appointment and I thought, sod it, not going. 1 hour past the appointment (which I missed) the bloody screen goes blank.

The screen had been going blank on and off for 2-3 months (I had a dev release of Yosemite). When it went blank, I could always get it back with unplugging it and leaving it for 5mins. After I missed the appointment with Apple, the screen started taking longer and longer to come back to a working state e.g. 3 or 4 hours.

Bare with me, you'll love the ending!!

So, after 8 hours of it not working even after reboots, pram & smc resets etc I resorted to mading another booking with Apple. I carefully packed it up and took it along with my MBP. Low and behold - It was bloody working and didn't go blank at all (Obviously it didn't want to look bad in the store!!). Anyway, they took it in for testing and further investigation.

2 days later I had a call, saying they had got it to blow, and that they thought it might be the logic board or the LCD panel. They proceeded to replace both these components 2-3 days later after ordering then in. I then had a phone call saying the items that they had put in were not working (Something about the pins not aligned under the microscope). They had to order a new logic board and LCD panel. After a long wait and numerous conversations, they completed the repair.

I have just picked up the screen for Apple - All working!!

How old was my display? Oct 2011 - I think, so just under 3 1/2 years old. Now comes the fun part.

Due to EU consumer law, A product of this nature should last up to 6 years. Therefore I have a nearly new thunderbolt display that, touch wood, will not go blank..... And it cost me nada!

Contact me if you want anymore info.

Steve

New black cable did not solve the problem for me. I have two T-Bolt displays and they worked fine for years, one on an iMac and the other on a Mac Mini. They're both acting up on my new Mac Pro.

I followed someone's recommendation to use the original laptop charger instead of the one from the TB.

I had to unplug the TB power cable and wait a few seconds, plug it back in, then connect the original laptop charger to the laptop, then TB woke up.

It has been about 15 minutes, and it has not flickered or died yet. It would normally die within a minute. I hope it permanently fixes the issue. I will be back to let you guys know if it worked!

I have exactly the same problem with my Apple Thunderbolt Display (27 inches), the problem started appearing right after I did apply the firmware update V1.2 to the monitor which was made available by Apple last November (my monitor was working flawlessly before applying this firmware update so I am pretty sure there is something wrong with this firmware version and this is the cause of the problem). Does anyone here did apply this firmware as well?

Well, it has been a day and it has not died! Looks like using the original charger instead of the one the monitor came with works better!

Try it out guys and let me know if it fixes your problem.

Bearheart, that is a drag. I was hoping that the new TBolt cable would do the trick. I just bought a brand new MBP and my 2 year old thunderbolt display has been doing exactly as all have described. It did it on my old MBP also. I bought a 2Meter black TBolt cable yesterday, and so far so good. Problem solved for me? Lord, I hope so.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday morning... still good. The new thunderbolt cable and not using the power from the Thunderbolt display to my laptop has, until now, seemed to solve the problem. There has not been one flicker or black screen, and I would have experienced it 100 times in the past 3 days if I was still connected to the integrated Thunderbolt cable.

The EU consumer law section is interesting. We had 2 new displays which had this problem - one went in for repair with a replacement all in one cable - unfortunately the new all in one cable is no good. The other unit is already in for repair, so when that is returned we'll send the first faulty one back again.

I believe the failure rate for less than 30 Thunderbolt displays is around 20%. And they are still coming out with dodgy cables.

I am now putting my foot down, and refusing to buy any more displays.

what model is your TBD? is it the 2011 one? coz I have 2 TBDs one is a 2012 model and the other is 2011 model the 2011 model is the one that gives me the most frustration... and if anyone on this thread has the same setup will it work if I connect the standalone "New" thunderbolt cable to the TBD I/O ports for both my displays?

I've been struggling with problems with my two TBDisplays for a year now. I'm working with one Apple tech now for 3 months. I keep sending them data captures with failures on every different setup they would like me to try next. After two weeks of silence and no replies to my emails, the guy comes back with the error reports are inconclusive. REALLY. That is the opposite, the results are conclusive, the TBDisplays are failing with every possible setup they ask me to do. How is that inconclusive? Who do we have to call to get these displays recalled? Who do I have to call to get my money back? I'm tired of this crap. This is BS pure and simple.

MIne is a 2011. Two weeks almost and I have not had a single flicker since I switched to an aux thunderbolt cable.

But haven't you lost the ability to continue the thunderbolt chain? If you aren't going to add another TB device, then this might work for you. But it doesn't fix the overall problem. This just works around the problems.