Static sound coming from the Thunderbolt Display speakers

I've spend tens of hours reading and testing this issue, as well as being on the phone with Apple Support and looking for any possible fixes. I don't have a solution that is 100% perfect but I did make a lot of progress and I got the noise to stop. I've spent a lot of time documenting everything I tried and read, and hopefully my research will help get you going in the right direction no matter if you are having a problem that is closer to the "cracking/popping" sounds or more similar to the white noise / hissing sound or even the fan noises. So, here's my research, testing, suggestions and sort-of solution.

I have the same buzzing problem on ONE of the two 27" TB displays that is running on my desk. I am fairly confident it is not a ground noise issue since it is only happening to one of the displays and not the other, in the same identical environment. They are both plugged into the same surge protector, I have tested them individually connected to my rMBP, daisy-chained, and plugging each into the two TB ports I have on my rMBP. The buzzing noise is still only occuring on one of the displays and not the other.

I have also tried connecting them to another MBP with the same results (i.e. the "defective" display still buzzing away). The defective display is over two years old, the non-buzzing display is about one year old.

I took mine to the apple store @ San Diego, definetly a "power" issue, here is the Repair Estimate

Item Number Description Price Amount Due

661-6048 Power Supply, 250W $ 67.05 $ 67.05

S1490LL/A Hardware Repair Labor $ 39.00 $ 39.00

Total (Tax not included) $ 106.05 $ 106.05

I am experiencing the same backgroud noise on my 3 days old Thunderbolt Display. I run it with a Macbook Pro Retina 15" Mid 2012 and Mavericks 10.9.1.

IMJ: Save yourself a hassle. Return it now.

I tried fixing mine to no avail, even taking it to the apple store. They claimed it did not do it there.

I "fixed" my problem by giving the piece of junk Thunderbolt Display away. Then I bought two Matrox DS1's, new HDMI monitors, external speakers, external cameras, etc. (Yes I know, not everyone would be so wasteful with money, but I wanted to be able to use my Mac Air at work and home). One of these setups is less than the cost of a Thunderbolt and works like a champ. It is unusual that an Apple product is so faulty AND Apple refuses to fix it.

I'm curious if anyone has tried unloading the Audio kext's - I updated my blog entry because I found a way to do it in one command line - and its just a temporary change that automatically gets restored to normal after rebooting - so basically a quick test that is easily undone to see if it is a driver issue.

After all my research I'm believe that the background noise ( not static popping noises or humming noises ) are because of a driver issue. I hope Apple is aware of this and working on a fix.

A few days ago on January 23, 2014 Apple sent out a "seed notice" telling developers they could download a pre-release version of OS X 10.9.2. It has some release notes with it that don't give much details about what is included but it does have this in it:

Focus Areas

- SMB2

- Mail

- Messages

- Graphics Drivers

- VoiceOver

- VPN

I'm crossing my fingers that the driver issue will be addressed in this 10.9.2 update.

I've two of these monitors. Both have considerable quescent noise (hiss) and it's patently obvious that this is a design issue as they've implemented a "squelch" circuit which turns off (mutes) the audio amplifier after about 30 seconds of no input (if it weren't an issue, why implement a squelch?).

The reason they can't hear it in the stores is the high levels of ambient noise. Install the monitors in a quiet environment and it's irritating to hear.

Apple won't be fixing this as there's no cost benefit to them; they have your money and it's not a safety issue.

Therefore you can either put up with it or get rid of the monitor.

If you are looking for a way to connect your MacBook for docking purposes, do not buy a Thunderbolt Display. There are better and less expensive options. If you just bought it, demand a refund; so you can get something that will work. Do this as a favor to the community of others stuck with this critical failed product, otherwise I agree with Glenny2Lappies there will never be a fix.

TLDR: Power supply needed replacing.

So I tried fastwater's methods on his blog and unfortunately none of them worked.

The sound was extremely random as to it's occurances but I could never leave the monitor on for more than a couple of hours without it starting to happen. I made sure to stress this single way to 100% reproduce the issue to the Apple store helpers. I also informed them it was probably the power supply. I had good reason to believe this as I once managed to reproduce the issue with only a phone usb charger connected to the plugged in monitor (no macbook plugged in) and the display off.

I've since taken it in and started using it again and it seems fixed. The power supply needed replacing. I hope this helps others with the issue.

I have a 15" MacBook Pro, Early 2011 connected to a 27" Thunderbolt display I bought new at the end of 2011 and have been experiencing the same static sound for about 6 months.

Like others have mentioned, the noise got louder when I turned the brightness up on my monitor. It was annoying but tolerable, until this week. I was hesitant to take it to the Apple Store after reading many less than satisfactory results from other posts but I am glad that I did.

They replaced the fan and I am happy to say that three days later the only sound I hear is my typing on the keyboard.

Item Number Description Price

922-9936 SVC, Blower $ 17.05

S1490LL/A Hardware Repair Labor $ 39.00

Total (Tax not included) $ 56.05

Thank you to fastwater for posting this research blog post: http://techblog.willshouse.com/2014/01/21/fix-thunderbolt-display-static-noise-o n-os-x-mavericks/. After 6+ months of dealing with varying levels of static squelch I read the section about Ground Loop Feedback and tried plugging my monitor into the wall instead of the power bar I had been using – immediately the noise stopped. 🙂

Update: 4 days later and the sound was back. Took monitor back to my Apple Store. They replaced the Power Supply and credited me for the initial work. That appeared to do the trick. One month later and my monitor is quite.

UPDATE: The fix of plugging into the wall only lasted a short time. Eventually the squelch came back. I usually end-up just unplugging the display. Mine is connected to an iMac. Going to take it for repair this week - crossing fingers!

FYI, I have a TBD connected to 2012 Mini and have no background noise at all. I have had my TBD for about a year.