Thunderbolt Display turns off randomly

I get random blackouts as well. Prior to the latest firmware update it was happening 1-2 times a day. Didn't happen again until now.

To fix it I have to ...

- Open MBA to get alternate display.

- Pull the cable and put back in again.

Sometimes though this disables one or more item plugged into the monitor. So I have to reboot instead.

VERY annoying.

Just another victim of this black out problem. Mine just started today, after about 2 weeks of perfect operation. The TB display and my MBA will both go blue, then either both displays return to normal, or I lose the TB display, and only the MBA works. Very random. At one point it was flipping back and forth every 5 seconds or so. Now it appears stable, but I had one black out about 10 minutes ago. No expert, but I would say this is a defect with the monitor, or with the firmware.

BTW: I downloaded the TB firmeare 1.0 update, and it tells me I cannot run it on my machine. I am running a MBA with Lion. It is about 2 weeks old. I have run ALL SW updates.

Okay here is my new info.

After at least a week of no blackouts, I plugged a USB mouse into the USB port on Thunderbolt and on reboot the screen shut off.

I pulled power cord to restart it and of course pulled out USB mouse.

So, USB and blackouts.

I told tech support. Awaiting their response.

Anyone else have the USB blackout connection?

I am on my second Mac Mini Server and Thunderbolt Display and have the same issues. I did not upgrade the firmware this time and the display is more stable, but when I try to do serious work (i.e. video/photo work) it will flicker and shutdown frequently. It's as if it can sense when I really need to use it 🙂

Apple support has been very good to work with, as always. They are a world class team. However, I am returning for a refund (so I can purchase a display from another vendor) - I have serious work that needs to get done that has been delayed. When this is officially resolved, I'll take another look at the display. Best of luck everyone - it's an awesome piece of hardware when it works.

Here is the latest from me as I have posted about a week ago, I have been in contact with Apple Support, they have run a diagnostic test on my mini server and I sent them the file, since then, I have been using the display on my 15" 2011 MacBookPro and have not had a problem with it and the blackout problem. It seems to be isolated to the 2011 mini server, I have many USB items plugged into the TB display including a mouse and keyboard. Apple is suppose to get back to me on Tuesday with an update from Engineering on the problem.

Blackout problem is on my mini server(mid 2011) and thunderbolt display, too. Solution yet?

For what i can tell the blackout only occurs, if something is connected to the display using USB. When i connect all these USB Devices to the Macbook Pro, everything is fine... anyone else?

That was my experience. (The USB having something to do with the power out).

I would have hung on to the display in hopes of a firmware fix, but when the fan came on it sounded like the bearings were blown so I called Apple for a replacement.

My new one comes Thursday. Fingers crossed.

Adding on to my original post:

I only have my MBA plugged into by TB display. Nothing else. No USB or FW or TB devices.

In the past couple of days I have had one or two "blue outs."

jliv

I have an MB Air and 27 in TB Display and am experiencing random blackouts on the display. I followed the advice of one of the posters here to set Energy Saver to 'never' but just experienced another blackout during a Facetime call. I was able to continue by pulling and replugging the TB cable on the MBA, but this is not an acceptable workaround for me considering the chain of USB and FW drives I have plugged into the monitor, all of which were of course improperly unmounted at that point. Also the Facetime camera reset itself to the MBA when I plugged it back in. Most bizarre. Really waiting for Apple to give us an update that will fix this.

Same here. MBA and MacMini Server.

Today I called ACCS to inquire about this issue. The first guy couldn't really help me referring me to his superior in the tech center to whom I was talking about half an hour discussing possible solutions.

PRAM/ SMC reset, which I already performed at the time. Then he told me to delete the com.apple.PowerManagement.plist in /library/preferences/system management > reboot. In sysprefs set 'Display Sleep' to 'Never' and in sysprefs/ displays: activate 'Automatically adjust brightness'.

Later he consulted with another colleague, who apparently told him - and that's the interesting part - that besides the firmware update for the TB port already released, there might also be a seperate firmware update for the cable in the near future. I was no more than surprised he let information about "future releases" slip this easily to a customer. Normally they say, they don't know.

He also said, that if one uses the seperatly sold extension cable to connect the display with the computer, only the plug connected to the Mac will be updated, not the plug at the other end which is stuck to the display. So in order to update both plugs, you'll have to reverse direction on the cable and do the update again.

I'm really not sure what to make of this, and whether it's related to this issue or not, but it sounds reasonable to think a cable firmware update could bring a solution to these random blackouts.

My main problem with this issue is the fact that Apple has not communicated any real answer about how it can be fixed. There are multiple postings on this website about people having this issue and Apple has simply offered to give them a new monitor without the promise that it will not happen again. I also noticed a few postings that have indicated the issue has happened even when a new monitor was issued. This is my first time dealing with Apple (and I have been very impressed up to this point) so I hate to be skeptical but what is the end game here?