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Thunderbolt disconnects when MacBook sleeps

My Thunderbolt display was working flawlessly until I upgraded my 2012 15" MBP to OS X 10.9. Now, when the MBP goes to sleep the display will not wake, the MBP wakes fine. The USB drive plugged into the back of the display is disconnected as well.

I have to unplug the thunderbolt cable and plug it back in.


Do you know what might be causing this? Any solutions?

Thank you!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 26, 2013 3:56 AM

Reply
116 replies

Oct 10, 2017 4:50 PM in response to nicosen

Same issue. I have the big Apple Thunderbolt Display connected to my MBP. It does not wake up from sleep. On the Windows side of my MBP the DISPLAY preference allows me to chose the displays. When this happens on Windows....which it does. I select the MBP monitor and APPLY...The MBP display comes on after the display reset. I then select mirror displays and as it resets....both displays come back on.


Back to my Apple side....I shut down the MBP. After shutting down I restart and it starts up with both. I have noticed it more since Mavericks but am thinking it was there even before. I do not plug anything into the Thunderbolt display. And the fact that it does this on both Windows and Apple sides.....Methinks it is the computer.... That said...will resting the PRAM and SMC affect both sides of the MBP....Windows and Apple?

Rich Oas

Munising MI

Oct 27, 2013 4:20 AM in response to nicosen

I have the exact same issue. started with 10.9 upgrade. Now everytime I wake my 15" MBP (early 2011) from sleep, it reports that the disk connected to the Thunderbolt display has improperly disconnected (was not unmounted properly) and only the LCD screen of the MBP comes up. Only way to remedy the issue is to unplug and plug back in the thunderbolt cable of the display.

Oct 27, 2013 12:17 PM in response to ddo73

Yes i restarted it multiple times, yet when i press a button on the bt keyboard the led on the case turns on but the display stays off. When i then open the lid i see that only the mbp display was on and displays a message saying the hard disk was not ejected properly, although i didnt touch the cable before putting it to sleep. However i found out that if i put the mbp to sleep with the lid open then it will wake both thunderbolt display and mac display

Oct 27, 2013 1:44 PM in response to nicosen

I have se same issue. It started after installing Mavericks. After sleep my Thunderbolt display does not wake up.


I have restarted several times and the problem is not solved.


I can wake up the Thunderbolt - and my internet connection that goes through the Thunderbolt cable, by unplugging and then plugging it back again into my MBP mid 2012.

Oct 27, 2013 5:35 PM in response to emiliomkd

I did 2 things to solve this problem and need to test which one actually did it:


1. System Preferences > Mission Control > Checkbox for 'Displays have seperate Spaces' unslected.

2. Plugged my moshi keyboard directly into my 2012 15-inch MBP


Ever since I bought the Thunderbolt Display it's been wonky with the keyboard. The keyboard would have intermitent issues (backlighting blinked and keypresses did not work). I replaced the keyboard and even tried an Apple keyboard and had the same results. What always fixed things was plugging the keyboard directly into the MPB USB port vs. going through the Thunderbolt Display. Apple was unable to diagnose a failure in anything.


Over time, the issue seemed to more or less go away. I figured it was either a Thunderbolt Display firmware upgrade and/or an OS patch. After upgrading to Mavericks everything got wonky again. So I plugged the keyboard directly into the MBP and everything runs great.


Granted, this is not the configuration I wanted, but at least I'm only annoyed by having to unplug and plug the keyboard into the MBP. So much for the wonderful single cable Thunderbolt Display configuration! :-(

Nov 5, 2013 1:23 PM in response to Wirebrat

Same here (in other words, you're not alone guys). After 10.9/Mavericks upgrade my TBD is ignoring my MBP.


Tried the following w/out sucess - the problem still exists:


1) SMC reset

2) PRAM reset (I think it may have helped once)

3) Turning off the "Displays have separate spaces" settings

4) Connecting my wired keyboard to TBD, then to a USB hub, then directly to my MBP


What does work is unplugging TBD connection and pluging it back to my MBP. Only then it wakes up.


Apple. Your move.

Nov 6, 2013 2:29 AM in response to nicosen

Ok, so after several weeks of discontent with Mavericks + MBP + Thunderbolt Display, I think I discovered a solution (at least it works for now). Last evening, I disconnected my MBP 15" (early 2011 version) from the display to take with me to an iOS coding meetup, I dicsovered that my MBP would not go to sleep. Very troubling. So, I decided to just shut it down and took it on the road. After the upgrade to Mavericks, I guess the PRAM and SMC were pretty screwed up. When I was ready to head home from the meetup, I again tried to put the MBP to sleep. No dice. Shut it down for the trip home.


So, with that said, and when I returned home to plug my MBP back into the Thunderbolt display, I decided to take drastic measures and first reset PRAM and then the SMC before plugging the TB Display back into the computer. When I retired for the evening, I put the computer to sleep for the night.


This morning, I hit the return key and the display woke up along with the computer and it appears all is good now (let's see how long it lasts). But, for anyone else having this issue, I recommend the following steps:


1) Disconnect the display

2) Follow the instructions on resetting the PRAM and SMC on this web page http://gigaom.com/2011/07/26/when-to-reset-your-macs-pram-and-smc/

3) Once you are all done resetting the PRAM and SMC and the computer has booted normally, connect the TB Display back up.


Let me know if this works for you all, and I will update the bug I have open with Apple on this matter.

Nov 19, 2013 8:24 PM in response to g8k3pr

PRAM function does not work on my MBP. Nothing happens when I press those buttons. SMC function there is no way to know if it works or not. When I press those buttons my computer just turns on. I looked at that article and did all things they said there and nothing happens. This is just ridiculous. Never buying an apple product again.

Nov 20, 2013 6:41 AM in response to nicosen

Not sure what's going on, but Apple is looking into this. They contacted me to get system reports for an issue I reported about external drives being ejected when my mbp goes to sleep. I'm experiencing this issue often without the external drive being connected so it definitely looks like an issue between the mbp, Thunderbolt Display and OS X (Mavericks).


I've submitted several several system reports and describing the behaviors I've encountered so hopefully they'll be able to at least pinpoint the problem and begin working on a fix.

Nov 27, 2013 8:55 AM in response to nicosen

I had the same issue and through trial and error determined the problem has something to do with the USB ports in the back of the display. If nothing is plugged in, the display wakes every time, but even one USB device seems to trigger the disconnect. Of course, it's not ideal to have all those hubs and not use them, especially if you have a lot of usb devices and external drives.


I'm now routing all my USB devices through a powered hub (including external keyboard and bluetooth speaker dongle), which is the only thing plugged into the display, and haven't had any problems since.


Here's what I bought. Will post again if the problem recurs.

http://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Port-Speed-Power-Adapter/dp/B003Z4G3I6?Subscripti onId=AKIAJ27KPV45VTL2XA5Q&tag=plugabltechno-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=1 65953&creativeASIN=B003Z4G3I6

Thunderbolt disconnects when MacBook sleeps

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