ejkitchen

Q: Macbook Pro and Thunderbolt USB problem

I have read a few threads regarding problems with the Thunderbolt displays and Macbook Airs. None of the suggestions in there work for me including doing an SMC Reset.

 

Here is my problem. I have a brand new Macbook Pro 17", 2.5Ghz Core i7,  8gb ram, 750Gb HD etc., new Thunderbolt display. Running OS X Lion 10.7.3.

 

In the back of my display I have plugged in a USB mouse from Logitech, an Apple full size keyboard and my wired ethernet connection. The monitor and peripherals stay at work and I take the Macbook Pro home every night. If I do not follow a certain sequence every morning, my computer freezes. I put the power connector in first, open the lid, wait for the screen on the laptop to show the login prompt, login and then and only then can I plug in my Thunderbolt connector. Once I do this, my second screen lights up and my mouse, keyboard and ethernet connection works. But if I plug in the Thunderbolt first before power up or if I plug it in before logging in, then I have a high probabilty that the USB hub on the back of the monitor will stop working altogether. Then I have to move my mouse and keyboard over to the laptop and everything works great (my ethernet keeps working fine though). My mouse scroll for whatever reason goes into high gear and starts scrolling much faster and I have to slow it down.

 

Now, this works 90% of the time. But there are days, like today, where this process does not work. And when it doesn't, either I have to move the USB devices over or like today, the machine freezes and no longer responds to any input. It appears to still be working as the screen updates but I can never regain control of it via any keyboard or mouse.

 

My co-worker has the exact same setup and exact same problem. We also have 10 Thunderbolt displays here (all new) and same problem with ANY I choose. So this is not a hardware issue. Something is wrong with the driver code for some device. And my co-worker has an Apple mouse so that's not the issue either. If this can help Apple with debugging, here is another interesting tid bit. 3 weeks ago, I had a non Thunderbolt display. And for 6 months with an older laptop, I had issues with it's USB hub. Same kind of problem. Some days, the USB hub in the monitor would work and others it would go dead until a reboot was performed.

 

I think a driver needs some fixing somewhere.

 

Thanks,

EJK

Posted on Apr 24, 2012 7:03 AM

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Q: Macbook Pro and Thunderbolt USB problem

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  • by kneedrag,

    kneedrag kneedrag Jul 30, 2012 7:33 AM in response to ejkitchen
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    Jul 30, 2012 7:33 AM in response to ejkitchen

    Same problem here.    TBD connected to late 2011 MBP 17.

     

    *USB peripherals never accessible when plugged into TBD (only thing plugged in an Apple keyboard), but work fine when directly connected to the laptop.

     

    *When TBD is plugged into MBP, it is usually no longer detected

     

    *Sometimes the MBP will detect the TBD but the TBD will remain black and inactive, leaving the MBP with a blank unusable desktop.

     

    I've taken my TBD to the Apple store and recently picked it up after a $1000 warranty repair that replaced the logic board, LCD panel, and cables.    The fix did not work.   I am going to go back and ask for a new unit.

     

    --Sam

  • by ejkitchen,

    ejkitchen ejkitchen Jul 31, 2012 3:09 PM in response to ejkitchen
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Jul 31, 2012 3:09 PM in response to ejkitchen

    I have good news and bad news.

     

    • Good news: Mountain Lion does not appear to have this issue and seems to work great. Only a few days of data but looking very good.
    • Bad news: I have not seen a fix posted for Lion.

     

    I did call Apple about this BTW two weeks ago and they acknowledged the issue and are working to provide a driver/software update. But they couldn't give me a timeline. Apparently this is on their radar and up there in terms of bug fixing priorities.

  • by FullBleed,

    FullBleed FullBleed Aug 1, 2012 7:38 AM in response to ejkitchen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 1, 2012 7:38 AM in response to ejkitchen

    That's all well and good for you, but I'm stil having the same problem and more.

     

    Now, in addition to my original problem, if my MBP(2011) goes to sleep while connected to a Thunderbolt Display, when I wake it, only the laptop wakes, and the display and any connected peripherals are as good as disconnected from the MBP. I have to disconnect and reconnect the Thunderbolt connection to get everything back.

  • by ejkitchen,

    ejkitchen ejkitchen Aug 1, 2012 7:53 AM in response to FullBleed
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Aug 1, 2012 7:53 AM in response to FullBleed

    The best thing for people to do at this point is to call Apple and complain at 1-800-263-3394. Because if you don't and they decide to only offer the fix to Mountain Lion customers, then you might become a minority voice very quickly and be forgotten. The people at Apple have told me they are very aware of this thread and we can all keep posting and providing more information about this problem but it won't help because this is no longer an "unknown". They know exactly what the problem is and it's a software driver/firmware issue. They just need to release it as part of the next updates to Lion now.

  • by Chatlanian,

    Chatlanian Chatlanian Aug 1, 2012 9:52 AM in response to ejkitchen
    Level 1 (13 points)
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    Aug 1, 2012 9:52 AM in response to ejkitchen

    Mountain Lion also have this same problem. So upgrading to Mountain Lion will not fix the problem.

     

    Besides not everyone too keen to get the Mountain Lion update. It makes older (one year old) MacBooks run slow. And not everyone is excited about the 5 new features on it. I could not care less about fasebook or twitter. To me Mountain Lion is a minor and useless update.

  • by ayito21,

    ayito21 ayito21 Aug 1, 2012 10:03 AM in response to ejkitchen
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    Aug 1, 2012 10:03 AM in response to ejkitchen

    I've had this issue for almost 6 months now. The first fix, came to let the computer start up completly, and the plug the power, wait 5 seconds, and plug the thunderbolt.

     

    I've upgraded to mountain lion and the issue seems to be fixed, perhaps it wasn't the mountain lion, maybe just reinstalling the OS made the difference.

  • by Chatlanian,

    Chatlanian Chatlanian Aug 1, 2012 10:39 AM in response to ayito21
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    Aug 1, 2012 10:39 AM in response to ayito21

    Yes unplugging the Monitor from the power helps a bit (Lion or Mountain Lion does not matter)

     

    Shutting down the MB before unplugging and starting it back up after plugging also works. (most of the time)

     

    It is the going to sleep while connected to one TB and then waking up while connected to the other TB does not work. This is when all the problems start to happen. (At least in my case)

     

    I have updated my wife's MacBook Air we got her for X-mass in 2011. Not a very old machine at all. Thus we thought that the update to Mountain Lion would fix the problem. Nope. No such luck. The only thing different is that her MB is now running sluggish. But the USB problem remains. Thus we had to factory restore that to Lion.

     

    I am not too keen on updating my MBP to Mountain Lion just yet. Not after the fiasco with the MacBook Air

     

    In any event I hope Apple publishes the update soon. This is very annoying.

     

    ayito21

    How is you MB running after the update, do you see any performance problems? How old is your MB? Are you using it just for web and email or do you do something more demanding like software development?

     

    Thanks

  • by kneedrag,

    kneedrag kneedrag Aug 2, 2012 8:30 AM in response to ejkitchen
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    Aug 2, 2012 8:30 AM in response to ejkitchen

    My problems were reported previously on this same page.    I had hoped that upgrading to Mtn Lion would fix my problem, as some had suggested.   

     

    No such luck.   Nothing any different for me and this TB display under Mtn Lion....same problems.   

  • by Chatlanian,

    Chatlanian Chatlanian Aug 3, 2012 8:22 AM in response to kneedrag
    Level 1 (13 points)
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    Aug 3, 2012 8:22 AM in response to kneedrag

    Status update.

     

    Took a change with Mountain Lion yesterday with my MBP that I got earlier this year. So it is not that old at all.

     

    Good news is that the Mountain Lion installation went fast and smooth. The MBP did not get any slower, no sluggishness, the MySQL still works, the development environment also works fine and it did not mess with my settings at all.

     

    The only thing the update did mess with is the sleep. But that was cured with a quick SMC reset.

     

    Bad news is that it also did not address the problem with Thunderbolt Display. The problem remains as it was on Lion. Thus all I got for $20 is a new notification bar thingy and a sleeker looking dock.

     

    Apple. If you guys are reading this. We all want that update from you, Lion and Mountain Lion users. Please fix the Thunderbolt bug. We are so spoiled with Apple products working smoothly that this is just too Micro$ofty for our taste. Bad form.

     

    Best wishes.

  • by jspiro,

    jspiro jspiro Aug 6, 2012 2:43 PM in response to ejkitchen
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    Aug 6, 2012 2:43 PM in response to ejkitchen

    +1 -- I would throw the monitor out of my window if I hadn't had to take a second mortgage to buy it

     

    Mountain Lion does something nice: It allows you to log in TBD instead of the laptop display. HOWEVER on my machine, even with nothing plugged into USB, it kernel panics every single time and restarts -- this used to be okay on Lion. So now I MUST take the crapshoot of plugging it in after I am fully booted, then plugging in USB devices, and pray that it doesn't freeze the machine.

     

    Maybe I should throw the monitor through the Apple store glass. I'll tell the police I got the idea from their 1984 commercial and wanted to be ironic.

  • by spirossi,

    spirossi spirossi Aug 16, 2012 1:55 AM in response to ejkitchen
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    Aug 16, 2012 1:55 AM in response to ejkitchen

    I have a MacBook Air (late 2011, Mountain Lion) that is connected to the TBD. The Apple USB keyboard I’m using is connected to the TBD. I’m runnig in clamshell mode, i.e. when I come into the office in the morning I attach the MagSafe connector and the Thunderbolt connector to the Air (which is usually in sleep mode), click a few times with my magic mouse and the TBD wakes up.

     

    Starting last week (after a clean install of Mountain Lion) the keyboard was occasionally not working after I did the above. This could usually be remedied by un- and then replugging the TBD or – in some cases – after a reboot (with everything connected).

     

    Yesterday, everything worked fine in the morning. Returning from lunch and waking the Mac from sleep the keyboard was not working (the TBD wasn’t recognized as audio output either). And I didn’t get it to work even after trying the various suggestions made on this thread. As I didn’t want to waste any more time I gave up and hoped for an update/fix.

     

    Today I had another look around and found this thread and followed its suggestion to delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist. Now everything works fine again or at least everything I tested: keyboard and audio.

     

    Hope this helps someone!

  • by Chatlanian,

    Chatlanian Chatlanian Aug 20, 2012 1:54 PM in response to spirossi
    Level 1 (13 points)
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    Aug 20, 2012 1:54 PM in response to spirossi


    spirossi wrote:

     

    Today I had another look around and found this thread and followed its suggestion to delete /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist. Now everything works fine again or at least everything I tested: keyboard and audio.

     

    Hope this helps someone!

     

     

    @spirossi I did this. That is I removed the /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist file and so far so good. 4 days and counting. Pluggin and un plugging my MPB between different thunderbolt displayes so far no problems.

     

    I want to see if this lasts during the next two weeks. And if so we just might have a winner!

    Thank you for sharing this with us.

     

    MBP 2012 Mac OSX 10.8

  • by Chatlanian,

    Chatlanian Chatlanian Aug 20, 2012 7:39 PM in response to spirossi
    Level 1 (13 points)
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    Aug 20, 2012 7:39 PM in response to spirossi

    Nope. I spoke too soon. It did not help. Today the problem is back.

  • by spirossi,

    spirossi spirossi Aug 21, 2012 12:21 AM in response to Chatlanian
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 21, 2012 12:21 AM in response to Chatlanian

    ****, just when I thought I had won this. ;-)

     

    Anyway, it is still working for me but I’ll keep an eye on it and report back in case it stops. Did you check if that file, /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist, reappeared? I expected it to but it never did.

  • by Chatlanian,

    Chatlanian Chatlanian Aug 23, 2012 11:34 AM in response to spirossi
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Video
    Aug 23, 2012 11:34 AM in response to spirossi

    OK Boys and Girls. Apple released an update for Mountain Lion in which it mentions Thunderbold fixes among other things. Let's see if this has fixed the problem. The Jurry is out for a week or two as far as I am concerned, but maybe - just maybe we got a fix with this update - no?

     

    Will report in 2 weeks... Unless it blows up sooner of cause.

     

    Cheers.

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