Thunderbolt disconnects when MacBook sleeps

Well I spoke too soon. I'm still having wake up problems with my two TBD. One wakes up, the other doesn't. I have to unplug the 2nd TBD from the first and plug back in to work. The latest apple support person had me uncheck the "automatic brightness" setting on both displays. He also asked me to make sure that both display's brightness was not near full bright. Mine are set at about 2/3rds brightness. We will see if this fixes the issue. If not the tech said the next step was to reinstall OSX Mavericks. I asked if the apple engineers were working on this issue. The reply was this is a known problem and he assumes the engineers are working on the problem. Let's hope.

Another update. This afternoon one of my TBD didn't wake up. I had to unplug and replug in the 2nd TBD. So the next recommendation was to re-install OSX Mavericks. That's on the to do list. Hopefully..................

So after my Apple tech told me to re-install Mavericks, my two TBD are waking up when I click with my bluetooth magic mouse. It has been two days so far. Too short to presume the problem is fixed. To date I've done the hibernate mode change to zero, I've turned off automatic brightness control on both monitors. I've made sure that my brightness level is less than maximum. And I've re-installed Mavericks. Hopefully this last change will last longer than the previous change that lasted only two days.

My TBD is still not always waking. So the steps Apple support has asked me to do haven't worked either. The display waking up is hit and miss. Sometimes it wakes up and others not. But at least I don't have to reboot to get the second display to wake up. I just need to pull the TBD cable and plug it back in. This is a real concern. Is this a TBD problem or a computer problem or software or hardware? I mean these displays are a thousand bucks. And any USB hard drive you plug into them gets "ejected" every time the TBD doesn't wake up. I don't know what happens with a device or devices that would be plugged into the TBD port on the TBD if those devices would be ejected as well. I don't want to find out the hard way. What's next? Apple support hasn't asked me to do anything with my TBD's.

Thanks for the tip! Setting Hibernate Mode to '0' solved the issue for me. No more wake up problems. This needs to be fixed by Apple. It indicates a software problem. I chose to set Hibernate Mode to '0' only when in Powered Mode. Great workaround!

Try putting them on a seperate power strip with an on/off switch that is easily reachable for you. When my display did not power up, I just flicked the power switch and it came on alright. Not the cleanest way, but better then unplugging the display all the time - no wear and tear on the connector.

Hi, just curious... my problem was solved with the Setting Hibernate Mode to '0' fix, but with the latest OS update I reset it to 3 and it seems to be fine now, without setting Hibernate Mode to '0'

Anyone else?

Hi skiphunt: I tried setting hibernate mode back to 3, but no improvement here. Running OS X 10.9.5 on a MBP. My Thunderbolt connected Apple Monitor would not wake after sleep this morning. I had to toggle power to the monitor to wake it. I am setting hibernate mode back to 3.

It's been a week now that I've had my hibernate mode set to the default 3, and my energy saver setting to go to sleep in 15mins (both computer and display) and I have yet to not have it wake up. Haven't had any issues at all.

That being said, are there any benefits to keeping the hibernate setting at 0?

Setting the hibernate mode to 0 is not a fix. If they claim otherwise, then they cannot sell the Thunderbolt Display in the United States.

The reason? It is a ENERGY STAR 6.0 certified device, a requirement for all consumer electronics, yet MALFUNCTIONS UNDER THE SPECIFICATION and has to be put into an always-on mode to operate.

Not only is it not meeting the certification requirements, it also has the potential for data loss. APPLE needs to correct this issue. This is not a new problem as Thunderbolt display has been malfunctioning since its release. And the problem still exists in Yosemite.

I am especially perturbed by this problem because I use Apple hardware in my business (an love most of it) but I also happen to live in state with the highest power rates, Hawaii. Putting hibernate mode to 0 is not an option unless someone else is going to compensate for the increased power bill. Furthermore, every time it "Disconnects the drive without ejecting" it takes hours for OSX kerneltask to sector scan those drives before they will mount again.

after seeing some activity here I tried changing my setting back to 3 on the awesome little program/script/whatever that was generously written for the clueless like me before I went home yesterday-- just got here, no wake up for me, moving back to 0! early 2011 MBP

I can offer a definitive solution that worked great with my MBP Late 2011 + 27" Thunderbolt Display that has had wake from sleep problems right from the start and no other method posted here was effective.

• Do not use the display's built-in Thunderbolt cable
• Buy a separate Thunderbolt cable and use it to connect the MBP to the display, using the connection on the back/left side of the 27" monitor.

It just does work (at least for my MBP)!!! 🙂

Ok i'll be brief...

use a late 2011 13" MBP connected to the display in question; OSX is Yosemite (was using Mavericks originally when got the Monitor and the problem); have had numerous Apple calls and still have an ongoing chat with them.

Apple walked me through many different configurations plus SMC & PRAM resets AND numerous restarts.

All efforts to wake monitor failed whether manually put to sleep or computer put itself to sleep.

As of today this is what i can report with my specific situation:

at any one time I have a minimum of six apps open

My default browser is chrome (no commentary please)

Have a USB Apple Keyboard, USB & 800 FW EXTernal Drives all attached to Monitor

Settings: Monitors selection is on mirror mode. Put Hard Disk to Sleep is unselected.

I restart my computer depending on the situation once in 1 -3 weeks. It only is put to sleep; unusual to turn it off.

During the last Failed wakeup, (Apple technician and i hadn't spoke for 5 days), on the call yesterday she suggested I restart the machine without any of the peripherals attached to the back of the monitor. We then plug-and-played and with each new configuration put Computer to sleep for a couple of minutes and upon pressing the external keyboard the monitor would awaken (With the computer). Yay!

At that point we decided the only two elements left that could not be checked simply, (I would get in touch with her today after my findings) were third party apps (Duh) and Time!

So whether manually applied or letting the machine go to sleep by itself Monitor turned on every single time at 30min, 70min, and at 105min.

Now, this is where I had an "Ah Ha" moment as I realized two applications I had not reopened purposefully (as they take awhile to reload) when the computer was restarted originally yesterday: Direct Mail and Chrome.

I added them both back did some work then put the machine asleep. 4hours later came to see if it would awaken and NO!

I immediately realized since Chrome is my browser of choice it is ALWAYS open before the computer goes asleep in any of these scenarios!

I quit Chrome put the computer to sleep and 10min later I decided to check and indeed it awoke; no restart. Wow!!

I left all the apps I use opening running except Chrome and let the computer go to sleep; keystroked the USB keyboard this AM after 6hours and Monitor awoke.

I did more tests myself and have come to the conclusion:

if allow computer to go to sleep or manually put to sleep with Chrome running with other apps the monitor never awakens when pulling computer from sleep; Any other time the computer always awakens the monitor as long as Chrome isn't running.

My solution: quit Chrome when leaving computer for longer than 15min as that's when it puts itself to sleep.

I understand many of you have found a solution using the terminal command; that's great. I prefer not to do that as I was clear my situation was third-party related since all configurations testing and time testing worked out.

If I find that longer time (Beyond six hours and Chrome closed) and the machine does not awaken the monitor, I will report back.

Thought I would share my findings here and maybe it could be a solution for one of you. Thanks! Peace

Yesterday Apple issued a new Thunderbolt Display Firmware Update 1.2. According to its description, it does improve reliability when you connect devices to an Apple Thunderbolt Display. The update also addresses a rare issue that could cause the display to go black.

Now, after various unsuccessful tries, I discovered that my 2013 Thunderbolt Display was already up-to date, so apparently I can't apply to it this "new" firmware. And guess what? If I connect it directly to my Late 2011 MBP, my Apple monitor won't wake up after sleep. Surprise, surprise!

So, is this "new firmware" a hoax or what? 😠

I was hoping the OS X 10.10.x and the firmware upgrade on the Thunderbolt Display would fix the issue, but unfortunately not. I set the hibernation level back to 3, manually put the computer to sleep last night and was disappointed this morning, when the display again would not wake up. I might try a new thunderbolt cable next - who knows, may be it is a cable issue. But for now I can live with hibernation mode set to 0 in a powered state.