Thunderbolt Display Flickering Epidemic - Extensive Testing

I have had the Thunderbolt running for a few weeks now problem-free and, at the risk of sounding like a click-bait headline, you won't believe what fixed it for me. The monitor was useless at this point (see my earlier posts in this thread). Even with a new MacPro.

As I was troubleshooting a keyboard issue (good for another thread!) I saw people found success by plugging in an old keyboard then plugging in the new one again. It seemed to clear some miscommunication within either the port or the keyboard.

So I dug out two crummy low res monitors, one connected with HDMI, the other with a StarTech inline video card USB connection. I made the HDMI the primary monitor. I figured even if I just have it occasionally I would add the Thunderbolt as the third in screen order. It worked. After a few hours I switched it to be the primary monitor and it has worked flawlessly ever since.

Hi Tim, did the other option of using another TB cable ever give you any problems at all before the tech went to change to your house to change the integrated TB cable?

****SOLVED****

It looks like there are a number of reasons this can happen. I had this same problem, went through tech support, tried a ton of different things, new cables, different bus's, reboots, disabling various apps / blah blah blah..

Turns out it was all one thing -- the "Automatically adjust brightness" setting. I was having it happen multiple times / day before, and haven't had it happen in about 2 weeks since I disabled this setting -- my brother was experiencing it as well, and he has also not had it happen since.

Hopefully this helps someone else.

this got it for me.

I have a MAC Pro (late 2013) running Yosemite 10.10.4 with two 27inch Thunderbolt displays. One was flickering (perhaps one or twice an hour) - i'd get a black screen for about 1/2 a second before it returned to normal. In my case, not catastrophic, but annoying nonetheless. Checking the display settings, I had one set to automatically adjust brightness, and the other turned off. (not sure why - I guess before I added the second monitor I must have fixed the brightness). Turning the second to not automatically adjust seems to have cured the flicker for me.

I see that some people have resolved this issue with a new cable but I am not sure which cable is needed. Can someone give me a link to the part info for the replacement thunderbolt cable? Is it just a new cable that is the a duplicate of the one that came with the TB, or is it a different type of cable? Thanks in advance.

this is the one that they had me purchase (which didn't do any good) -- http://www.apple.com/shop/product/MD861LL/A/apple-thunderbolt-cable-20-m?fnode=5 1

if you haven't already, you should try turning off the automatically adjust brightness setting under "System Preferences" -> "Displays" -> "Automatically adjust brightness"

Thank you, Bulbous. I did turn off "Auto adjust brightness" but didn't have immediate success. Then, I unplugged my monitor for about an hour. Since replugging it in, so far so good, but we'll see.

Just to thank you for your solution: I got the flickering issue today (out of the blue, nothing changed recently on the system - but I have had the USB devices not responding after sleep issue connected with the flickering problem, as linked to in another post in this thread). After I tried the replacement cable trick, everything seems to be working fine again🙂.

My setup: MBP 15", 27" TBD, external Western Digital TB 4TB harddrive.

Original wiring: Mac -> builtin TB cable to TBD -> TB cable to harddisk: flickering started suddenly today after about 2 years of no issues

New wiring: Mac -> TB cable to harddisk -> builtin TB cable to TBD: no flickering!

OSX 10.10.4 Yosemite, all firmware updates installed as far as I can tell.

Time will tell if this also fixed the non-responding USB device (external, wired Apple keyboard) after sleep issue. Only drawback is that I now need to use the regular MBP charger instead of charging via the display cable.

Hi everyone I want tell my story ..I have MBP (dual graphic cards Intel/nVidia) mid 2012 with TB 27 inch, after 1 year of use the TB display start flickering out of nothing and after sleep I have to reconnect the TB, aproximatly two months ago start the problems:

I try

1. reseting NRAM, SMC,

2. format an install Yosemite from cero with no TMachine

3. try format with mountain lion from cero

No Solution

What I did and think now TB is working fine

1. I buy a new UPS Tripp Lite 1000 VA electronic because a bad electric charge could be the problem

2. I take out the MBP cover and take out the processor Fans an clean them they have some dust particles

3. also check for HDD disconnect and reconnect Sata cable to make shure its firmly atachatted

4. take out the Ram and clean them with contact cleaner and microfiber and reconnect

5. update Yosemite to 10.10.5 and itunes 12.2.2

So far 5 Days and I have no Issues of TB flickering and Sleep mode and awaking are now prefect

also I notice a better Image and video quality in Thunderbolt(TB)

I too have been experiencing occasional flickering or having the screen go entirely black, usually when my MBP is awakened from Sleep mode. There is a Thunderbolt Firmware 1.2 update that is supposed to "address a rare issue that may cause the display to go black." I have tried several times to download the update only to get an error message telling me the update could not be completed. Yet, the Update page says the update has been installed twice on July 27 and yesterday. However, as I write this I am looking once more at the black screen of my TBD, which is connected to my MBP. Closing the MBP does nothing. Usually disconnecting the TBD from the MBP and reconnecting has resolved the problem, though this time I haven't yet done it.

The current instance followed waking the MBP from sleep. Interestingly, when I did so I received an error message saying that my external hard disk, which is plugged into the TBD, was incorrectly disconnected. This has happened previously as well.

2011 TB display -> developed this blacking-out problem in 2013. Apple at that point replaced the logic board in the TB display after extensive testing (and under extended AppleCare). Now in 2015 the problem is back -- flickering then blacking out. None of the rostrums suggested here work for long -- not the external/nonintegrated TB cable, system prefs settings, etc. Congrats if you find a "solution" works for you for a while, but I'm afraid it's just a matter of time until you've got an expensive paperweight. There's something fundamentally wrong with the design or implementation of the hardware, firmware, or software with this display. Really too bad, since it's a gorgeous display when it works.

I have discovered another source for my flickering screen. It turned out that the power cord had come loose and was intermittently losing contact. Since I pressed it in tightly, the problem has disappeared. I had also turned off the automatic brightness before I discovered the cord, so I don't know if that played any role.

As for the Firmware, I note that "Thunderbolt Display Firmware Update 1.2" has once again turned up among the software updates. This, despite the same update being listed three times under under "Updates Installed in the Last Thirty Days"! Has anyone been able to install this sucker successfully? I'm not certain I have.

bad news... what I think is working is the cleaning of inside funs and memory plus the UPS new installed ..but nothing of this has work my TB after 8 days of working fine start flickering again to sad I have tried everything but nothing is working. the only things left to do is changing the thunderbolt cable

I too am having these issues with my 27" TBD, 3 year old. MBP Retina late 2013. Yosemite 10.10.5

Display goes black - increasing regularity - now maybe once every hour. Only resetting power to TBD brings it back. While it is black, other functions are working (USB ports) and MBP 'thinks' its still alive. (Windows aren't gathered on the monitor screen when TBD fails). When I do power display off and on and it comes back - it flickers for a while.

Here is what I have tried:

1. Took the monitor to a Apple repair centre and left it there with them - they were unable to reproduce the fault after a week

2. Brought it home problem still there

3. After reading this thread, tried buying a Thunderbolt to Thunderbolt 0.5m cable and used that instead of the cord on the TBD - problem still there

4. I ALSO have a MacMini with a Thunderbolt port. Tried the display plugged into that - same problem - screen goes black when plugged into MacMini also.

So it seems the problem is with the Display - not the MBP.

Maybe my problem is different to all of yours and really is hardware, but am reluctant to start replacing hardware given what I have read in this thread...