Thunderbolt display with MBP drops USB/Ethernet ports

Question

Thunderbolt display with MBP drops USB/Ethernet ports

Hi just bought a new TBD and use it with my MBP (15inch, early 2011) running Lion 10.8.2 with all updates.

I have a mighty mous and an apple usb keyborad attached to the monitor. In addition, I am using the ethernet

port on the display.

The problem is that every other day the MBP looses the connection to the ports on the display. This will

happen most of the time when waking up from sleep but sometimes also while the MBP is in use. So,

the MBP will wake up when I use the mouse bout the keyborad and ethernet will not function. Moreover,

any other item plugged into a usb port of the TBD will not work. In particular, unplugging and reconnectiong

the keyboard on the TBD will not fix things (connectiong a usb device on the MBP will work fine).

THe usb/ethernet will work again when I disconnect and reconnect the TBD. Sometimes only usb will

work after such a reconnect and I have to do it twice to get ethernet working again as well.

I saw a number of related problem and I am wondering if apple is working on a fix?

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Jan 9, 2013 2:21 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 10, 2013 1:31 AM in response to Gerald Teschl

I've only had one problem with my USB ports - and my setup is pretty much like yours ave my MacBook pro is a late 2011 model.

The USB ports on my ATD stopped working. Everything else was functioning fine except anything to do with the USB hub. I thought I had tried everything. Finally, I disconnected the display from the power source for about 5 minutes, plugged it back in and - voila! - everything was working again.

I don't know that this will be the solution to your problem, but I'd give it a try if I were you. Sometimes the most complex issued can be fixed with a very simple solution.

Good luck,

Clinton

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Answer 2

Jan 13, 2013 11:57 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

Thanks for your help! As I mention in my post, even unplugging the thunderbold cable for a moment will make things work again. So it is no big deal, but still a nuisance.

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