Flickering Thunderbolt Display

Dear Bruce

I had this problem with a new Thunderbolt Display a few weeks back. The screen would go black and come back on again frequently and most annoyingly. They replaced the all in one cable and that fixed it. Guess what, the reason I am now having a groan is that I have another brand new Thunderbolt display with exactly the same problem. Clearly, the all in one cable that is built into the monitor is being poorly made. I'm assuming this is not soldered in but just a plug type connection, so I would say they've made a dodgy batch of cables. I have a 3rd Thunderbolt display that I'm just about to deploy to someone else. We have quite a lot of these displays, but any purchased before November last year seem OK so far. If the 3rd new one I'm about to deploy has this problem also, I will be having a very big moan indeed. They are rather heavy to carry about a mile to the Apple Store. Considering it's DOA they should really pick it up and send a new one, but taking it to the Oxford Authorised Repair Centre is the easiest way to get service. Once repaired I will confirm whether it was the cable or not.

Cheers, John.

I had flickering about 3 years into a LED Cinema display; in my case, the cable was fine but the display itself was going bad.

I took this into the service center but alas no fault was found. Very annoying. I've given it back to the user and so far the problem has not resurfaced - but knowing for a fact there is a lurking problem can disturb ones peace of mind. The other new display was perfect so far, so let's hope there aren't too many more dodgy cables or other bits!

Cheers, John.

You're under warranty, so why are you risking voiding the warranty by doing a self repair?

Well well this is interesting. Take a look at http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1372018

This thread was about the USB ports dropping out on the display.

The note from RuralVoice says "

I AM ADDING THIS SINCE I HAVE RESOLVED THE ISSUE FOR MY SITUATION--

This turned out to be an "All-in-One" display cable or display electronics issue. The way I isolated it was to unplug the Thunderbolt connector of the All-in-One display cable from the computer (leave power connector to computer plugged in). I then plugged in a regular Thunderbolt cable between a Thunderbolt port on the computer and the empty Thunderbolt port on the display. In this configuration everything worked (as I had bypassed the Thunderbolt portion of the All-in-One cable). Everything plugged into the other display ports worked and the display sound and display video camera worked fine.

Apple replaced my Thunderbolt Display which was under warranty.

Hope this is of some assistance.

Barry"

I'm a betting man. Twenty quid says it's the AIO cable....

Also RPG says "

I have all the same problems.

I've tried a host of solutions. I now use a separate TB cable and that works. But I agree - very frustrating."

So it sounds like anyone having any kind of problems with connectivity/blackouts on their displays should try a separate Thunderbolt cable straight away as I'm starting to think they are all just flakey....

yep having the same problem, and took your advice and plug in a different thundbolt cable to my mac pro and it works.

I have exactly the same problem with my Apple Thunderbolt Display (27 inches), the problem started appearing right after I did apply the firmware update V1.2 to the monitor which was made available by Apple last November (my monitor was working flawlessly before applying this firmware update so I am pretty sure there is something wrong with this firmware version and this is the cause of the problem). Does anyone here did apply this firmware as well?

We have just received 2 Brand New Thunderbolt Displays, and they are both exhibiting this problem from the moment of plugging them in. The thing is - they are both for the same user. He is using one on a mac pro, the other from a macbook pro. Quite rightly, he is very upset, and so am I as Apple know about this problem and are still sending out untested displays with poorly fitted/manufactured cables. It's about time they updated the displays anyway. Come on Apple - get your act together.

The problem is one of design. Apple made two errors that compound each other.

The first is that the power/Thunderbolt cable cannot be used without radically bending the display cable near the plug.

The second is that the cable does not plug into an exterior socket on the display to facilitate easy replacement.

I've experienced all the same problems described: flickering or no display at all and loss of peripherals that connect via USB.

My temporary fix is to use the separate power cable that came with my Macbook Air, so the Thunderbolt display can have a straight run to its port.