Thunderbolt Display will not wake up after sleep!!!!!!

My problem sounds like what is discussed in this thread, so I add my 2 cents to it:

My setup is a 2013 Macbook Air, hooked to a TBD (with several stuff hooked to the TBD like FireWire ElGato Sat tv receiver, USB hub with sticks or iPhones and one or more external USB hard drives) . Not always, but often when the MBA goes to sleep and I try to wake it by magic mouse click, the screen stays black.

This problem only appeared after update to 10.11 (or around the time when I did the update in November).

What helps for me is to unplug the TB cable from the MBA and replug it again. Then the screen comes up again. Doing so disconnects everything connected via the TBD, like FireWire EyeTV receiver (including interrupting potential running recording jobs) or USB volumes with open files. Therefore this is not a comfortable workaround in every situation.

What helps as well is to connect to the MBA via RemoteDesktop from another Mac. This shows me, that the MBA is awake and that it is only the TBD that does not wake up correctly. When connected via Remote Desktop, I see the screen of the MBA in the default resolution of the TBD. Navigating to the System Control Panel for the Monitor and changing the resolution to something different than the native one, makes the TBD show a picture again. Afterwards I can set the resolution back to the native TBD one and everything works again without interrupting the connections. Due to another Mac necessary for this procedure, it is not a comfortable workaround as well. That's why I hope that Apple will take care and present a solution for the issue with the next MacOSX update. 10.11.3 that would be.

I figured out my answer. The problem was hardware and it took three trips to Apple. It had to with the magnetic plug. They replaced it because the Thunderbolt display wasn't seeing the incoming power. It was before so I don't know what happened. So now my screen comes on 95% of the time which is a huge improvement.

95%?

All due respect natmac.

I don't understand half of what you said but I feel you and if I could post a gif here it would be Samuel L Jackson thumping the part of his chest were his heart should be with his fist. Staring at you sincerely. "Sheet, it's all Apple it'll just work!" Ha. I remember that.

I didn't read the 14 pages (not going to) and your post is last on the list. So, did 5 year old issue get solved, and whats the verdict?

The issue is resolved for me by accident. I bought an SSD ( Samsung 850 EVO 1 TB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD ) which is 4x+ times faster, to replace my magnetic spinning hard disk and now instead of the thunderbolt display doing the “won’t turn on until I unplug-replug the thunderbolt connector or reboot”, it wakes up immediately and the display turns on.

What solved it for me: listening to the many people who have posted - the built in Thunderbolt cable causes this problem. Buy a good quality thunderbolt cable and run it from the back of the display to the computer INSTEAD of the built in thunderbolt. Because the display itself is a thunderbolt "hub" it will work. This solved MY problem with the Thunderbolt display not waking from sleep, causing me to have to unplug and re-plug in (every time) the built in cable.

Good luck.

I also had this problem because of the thunderbird cable!

My CalDigit thunderbolt dock 2 always woke up my Macbook Pro when the monitor was connected to it's HDMI.

After changing the cable, this problem was gone! 🙂😁

Thanks for the tip!

It is a software glitch. Probably a heavy duty program jammed things up on sleep. Just shutdown and start your computer. It will start to wake up just fine.

As so many other respondents, I have the very same problem: TB display + MacBook Pro (OS X 10.10.5 Yosemite): I frequently put my Mac in sleep-mode. When trying to continue my work, the TB display is sometimes recognised en refired, but usually not. The only solution appears to be to disconnect and reconnect the TB cable. Restaring the Mac will also work of course, but that would be taking the long way home...

Does anybody have a solution that will work everytime???

Is it the built in TB cable? Should I change the TB cable? How would I know which other cable to buy that would solve the issue?

Any suggestions would be welcome!

Franky, I'm totally fed up with this issue and it's getting to boiling point.

One of the respondents on the forum suggested installing a light switch on the power cable of the TB display. Interesting! May be remote contrable with an app on my iPhone and iPad?

Apple must be aware of this issue. Why isn't anything being done about it? Is it technically impossible to resolve?

Thanks in advance for your contributions!

Best regards,

Frank (Amsterdam)

This seems to solve the issue for me. I have tried every suggestion in this post. None works till I set up my computer to never sleep. I suspect there is something to do with the latest OS (OS X EI Capitan version 10.11.4). Hope this helps.

Holly crap guys! A friend lend me a thunderbolt cable, and magic! it's working like a charm! 😮

@fyantorno: Anything special about your friend's magic TB cable? Where to buy?

@braprut: Thanks for your tip! I'll try it and will let know if it works for me too (I have not upgraded to El Capitan yet as I wouldn't be able to use some external systems that I use for work)

Hi Everyone,

My problem was solved by going to the genius store and having the magnetic power port replaced. My problem was that the thunderbolt display thought that there wasn't enough power coming from the magnetic power port. Eventually it stopped showing a light when it was plugged in. Maybe that's why these new thunderbolt cables are helping people.

I was having the same problem, although sporadically, then it got to the point where I had to unplug everything for a few hours until even that method started to be fail. I tried all the software suggestions without any luck. As a last ditch effort, I purchased a .5 m Thunderbolt cable from Apple and it solved the problem instantly and reliably. I'm happy that I don't have to shell out for a new Apple compatible display and give up built in speakers and iSight camera.

They broke it again. Everything was fine until I updated to 10.12.2. Now the Thunderbolt display will not wake up again unless I unplug and replug the Thunderbolt cable. Really Apple??