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F150Wahoo Author

Level 1

2 points

Audio Problem with 2012 MacBook Air and Thunderbolt Display

I'm experiencing an audio problem when I connect my 2012 MacBook Air to my 27" Thunderbolt Display. When playing audio of any form (e.g., iTunes, Skype, streaming music via Chrome), the audio starts out sounding fine. After about 1 minute and 40 seconds, you start to hear static mixed in with the audio. After about 3 minutes, the audio is completely overcome with static; the original audio is totally indecipherbable.

I only experience this problem when playing audio through the Thunderbolt Display's speakers using my 2012 MacBook Air.

The problem does not occur when playing audio through the 2012 MacBook Air's speakers.

The problem does not occur when playing audio through the Thunderbolt display with a previous-generation (mid-2011) MacBook Air.

I have installed all currently-available software updates.

Is anyone aware of a solution to this issue? Any help you can offer is much appreciated.

----

13" MacBook Air Specs

Model ID: MacBookAir5,2
Processor: 2 GHz Intel Core i7
Memory: 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
OS: Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4

27" Apple Thunderbolt Display (MC914LL/A)

MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2012), Mac OS X (10.7.4)

Posted on Jun 23, 2012 10:08 AM

234 replies

NSZombie

Level 1

0 points

Jul 17, 2012 2:32 AM in response to JofArnold

Same problem here with my MacBook Pro 15" i7 Late 2011.

The problem also exits when I plug in my ear phones into the MacBook Pro.

bh1969

Level 1

0 points

Jul 17, 2012 3:02 AM in response to F150Wahoo

Same problem here. After the first few hours in use Thunderbolt speakers started to produce distorted sound. Now the sound gets distorted everytime I start to use Skype or iTunes after a few minutes. Called dealer tech support. They are not aware of the issue and I will have to bring the dsplay and book to them for check (a few days....)

MacBook Air

13-inch, Mid 2012

Processor 2 GHz Intel Core i7

Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4000 512 MB

Software Mac OS X Lion 10.7.4

Thunderbolt Display:

Firmware Version: 22.2

Port:

Status: Connected

Link Status: 2

Port Micro Firmware Version: 0.0.21

Cable Firmware Version: 0.1.18

gaowi

Level 1

0 points

Jul 17, 2012 6:19 AM in response to F150Wahoo

I have the same problem, using a MacBook Air (2012) connected to the Thunderbolt Display. The sound of the speakers becomes noisy after playing music for several minutes (10-15 minutes). First of all, I thought the monitors has a fabrication error cause the error was evident the first time but now…

In order to get rid of the problem i switch in the system preferences >> sound from the display audio (thunderbolt monitor speakers) to the internal speakers ( Macbook Air ) and return after some seconds to the display audio soud device (thunderbolt monitor speakers) again. Unfortunately, the noisy sounds comes back after one hour.

Chipfork

Level 1

0 points

Jul 17, 2012 10:42 AM in response to F150Wahoo

Same problem exactly. I ran my 2011 MacBook air 11" on TD with no audio issues. I updated to 2012 MacBook air 11" and the problems began. Audio distorts after a few minutes, switching sound source fixes temporarily. Haven't had the chance to do anything about it yet, but relieved it not just me...

Jul 17, 2012 10:57 AM in response to Chipfork

It ain't just you @chipfork

Finally we are getting some PRESS! And its not "small quanitity of users"...I exchanged my macbook air 2012 and my thunderbolt display twice EACH...same problem.

fix por favor @apple.

Jul 17, 2012 10:59 AM in response to Marco Meneses 11

¿También hablas español Marco? Hay que comunicárselo a Applesfera. 😝

Jul 17, 2012 4:23 PM in response to F150Wahoo

Same issue here...

Tried:

Disk Utility

Apple Hardware Test

Reformatting

Nothing worked....

Jul 17, 2012 5:20 PM in response to human.virus

This is very likely an issue with a driver, and happens sometimes when an audio output device is not initialized properly. Though rare, I've had it happen to several M-Audio USB interfaces, and it appears a similar issue is happening with Apple's Thunderbolt display's audio controller on some systems. It may simply be that the Thunderbolt bus handling is still relatively new and bugs need to be ironed out, and I suspect it should be fixable with a small software update from Apple; however, there is also the possibility that the root of the incompatibility is firmware-related. Ultimately we'll have to wait and see what Apple finds and fixes.

Jul 18, 2012 9:57 AM in response to F150Wahoo

Yep same problem with the latest supped up 13" MacBook Air and 27" display. I have an external hardrive USBd up in the back of the display. Noticed it for the first time today whilst listening to tunes on Spotify as no one is in the office. I have been putting it to sleep and waking it up to fix it. Will try the Prefs > Sound fix mentioned, but only as a temporary fix. Sounds like a software update should sort it out. Hopefully very soon. I don't really want to this back.

😟