Thunderbolt Display Flickering Epidemic - Extensive Testing

I didn't think it would be possible to test your brightness setting change, since previously my TBD wouldn't turn on at all when I plugged it into my MBP. However this time, after sitting unused for a week or two, the TBD worked long enough to show up in the Displays system preferences panel, so I was able to turn down the brightness. So far, the TBD has continued to work for a few of hours with only a rare flicker. It will take a lot longer for me to consider this much of a fix, but it is certainly the only positive direction this ordeal has taken in months, so thank you indeed for making your post!

This suggests to me that there may be some overheating issue that is exacerbated by high brightness levels. Whatever, it's still something Apple needs to address -- if only to publicize the work-around, presuming that this is a somewhat reliable work-around.

Stanley

It has now been 10 days since I turned the brightness down as described. The monitor has not failed or flickered once after several months of it regularly failing. The minute I turn the brightness back up - it fails within 10 minutes.

As you point out, it would 'seem' to be something overheating when driven too hard.

Given that the monitor was somewhere around A$1,400 and is 2.5 years old, then like you, I don't consider a compromise like this to be a solution. That's a great deal of money for a monitor that only lasts 2.5 years. And besides - its a lot nicer on full brightness.

But at least I am not chasing my tail anymore trying to find out what causes it.

It has been three weeks since I turned off the automatic brightness though I left the manual setting at the highest setting. At the same time I had updated the firmware to version1.2. During these three weeks I have experienced no more flickering or blackouts. After reading the most recent messages from Stanley Kaufman and masevans_aus, I restored the automatic brightness and left the setting at the brightest. In the past 28 hours I have had no problems.

At the risk of repeating a one-note samba, I'd like to review my experience in the hope there might be something there that will provide a clue to a solution.

1) Like others, I experienced flickering and the screen going black beginning perhaps a year or more after I bought the TBD. My solution was usually to reboot or reconnect. As time passed, I resorted to prayer as well, a desperate measure for an atheist.

2) In June while updating the OS and some apps, I found Thunderbolt Display Firmware Update Version 1.2 listed among the available software updates. (It has actually been around since 2014.) As described earlier, this was intended to increase reliability and to address a "rare issue that may cause the display to go black." I installed the update, and before it had finished received an error msg that said something to the effect that the installation could not be completed and that I should track the installation on the MBP. However, when I closed the message and returned to the software update page, the Firmware was listed as having been installed.

3) Despite ostensibly having been installed, the problems continued and after a few days Firmware Version 1.2 was again listed as an available update. I installed once more, received the same message, and had the same results. This occurred four times.

4) When the Firmware 1.2 update (I still have no idea what exactly it's supposed to update) was again listed as available, despite ostensibly having been installed four times, I remembered what the error msg had said about tracking the installation on the MBP. So, leaving the TBD connected, I opened up the MBP display and proceeded with the installation. At the end I received an "installation complete" notification on the MBP display but not the TBD. There was no error message. I closed the MBP display, and the TBD has worked fine since.

5) I am still testing the brightness adjustment and keeping my fingers crossed.

6) I have absolutely no idea what has been going on and am as disappointed with Apple as everyone else. I did a Google search on Thunderbolt Flickering and found this problem has an interesting history (since 2011) and that Apple has been trying to deal with it quietly.

Bonne chance

Mine is still going perfectly after almost 3 weeks of having turned the brightness down. As soon as I turn it back up again - it fails.

Five days here, and my TBD is still working also at lower brightness settings, as you report. Surely this is an important clue for Apple engineers. I've emailed this finding to the higher-level support person with whom I spoke and emailed a while back. No reply so far, but I will continue to bug him about this. Apple owes us at least a confirmation that this hack is the best fix that we're going to get from them. It would be nice to use the display as it was intended to be used, but if it at least works this well, that's certainly better than it being a doorstop.

Thank you for chasing Apple

I would certainly be interested if they acknowledge a problem to you and offer to recall/repair these units. Mine is no longer covered by warranty but I was hoping it would last more than 2.5 years for the money it cost. When it works, its a fantastic monitor - so clear and crisp.

I'm no engineer, but given the symptoms it would seem like a hardware issue don't you think? Although there are some earlier posts on other threads that some users had all the internal electronics replaced and still had the same problem. Maybe there is more than one issue for some people?

Mark

I think Apple truly owes you more than a confirmation; it owes you and all the rest of us an explanation and a solution. Has this problem been covered by any of the Mac magazines?

Since turning the Automatic Brightness back on and putting the display at the highest setting, my TBD continues to work as it did when I first got it. I haven't turned my MBP since then. so maybe...

The support tech I spoke with made it quite clear that Apple did not think that there was a problem with the TBD at this point, and out of warranty was out of luck. That's why he asked me to collect "evidence" that there is widespread discontent out here to "convince" the engineers -- which seemed odd to me since Apple should be monitoring their own products and not relying on disgruntled customers for information like this. Perhaps that was just a way of putting me off. If I cannot rouse a response from him, it will be hard to think otherwise.

Actually, I think that they don't really know what's going on with these displays; that was certainly the impression when I took mine in under AppleCare and they spent days first investigating my MBP and then replacing something in the TBD. They couldn't exactly explain what was the problem or why what they did fixed it, and eventually it didn't stay fixed. I suspect that they don't want to bother figuring out this issue, since they're laser-focused now on selling phones and music and developing cars. I can live with this TBD for the time being, but I can't imagine buying a new one with the new MBP I've been planning to buy -- even if Apple continues to market TBDs. Maybe Apple wants us to buy Samsung monitors instead. Now THAT would be ironic.

I can only suggest that they Google "Thunderbolt Display Flickering" and read what comes up. I got 158,000 results. Not all deal with the Apple Thunderbolt, but there is still enough to give one pause. A number of the items lend credence to the notion that Apple has been trying to keep this one quiet.

I use a local approved Mac repair shop because its a lot less painful than standing in the Apple Store in a busy shopping mall for ages waiting for service. They couldn't make it fail for the 5 days they had it, but that was before I had worked out that the brightness setting affected it. I notice that if you plug it into a Mac for the first time (I swapped it from my MBP to my Mac Mini to see if it failed) that it automatically reduces the brightness and as such did not fail. Although I hadn't worked out that this was the case at the time.

I'll take it back to them again I think and tell them to turn the brightness right up. It will fail for sure.

I'll let you know what happens.

I have been following this thread since my Display just out of the blue started flickering about four weeks ago. After contacting the third party seller i purchased from via Amazon they informed me as it was 16 months old there was nothing they could do and contact Apple Support ( Clearly do not understand consumer law ) However booked an appointment last week at my local Apple store for them to access for any possible repair. The morning of the appointment cancelled and told them i would download the latest OS and see if the problem still occurred and guess what, It did.

After reading about several possible fixes decided to set the Brightness full on and select Automatically adjust brightness in the Thunderbolt Display Settings and seemed to work. As i did not want to stare at a fully bright screen purchased Shades from the APP store £0.79 and now also able to adjust the brightness independent of the system settings. It's been a week now and touch wood not one instance of flickering. Also had problems connecting / disconnecting peripherals such thunderbolt external hard drives, Track pad etc when the screen would also flicker for a short while but again now does not seem to happen. So for now at least it's happy days.

To me clearly there is a problem with either the Firmware or OS settings or both and like other people on this forum would ask APPLE to sort it out once and for all as it's not ideal for users to come up with their own fix when you have paid nearly £900 for a product.

Out of curiosity are those with the flickering probleming using their macbook? And have you tried unplugging the magsafe cable/charger from your Macbook when it happens?

Flickering display / powering off goes away with disconnection of magsafe

Was wondering how all you folk were going with this? did turning the brightness down fix it for you?

Mine has been 'flicker-free' for 6+ weeks now with the brightness turned down. As soon as I crank it back up - it fails within 10 minutes.

Nonetheless, I would like it to run at full brightness and have booked an appointment at the apple genius bar on Monday. I spoke to them last week about the issue and they said based on the symptoms that they thought it was the backlight unit and would cost me somewhere around $150 for the part.

I'll let you know how it goes.

I started to have some of these issues between my MacBook Pro my Thunderbolt Display.

Spoke to a good friend who well versed with mac and he recommended resetting my PRAM and SMC APART from the Thunderbolt display.

see links:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18761?locale=en_US

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

The symptoms we have been dealing with fit the reasons to re-set the above so give it a shot - do this on your MacBooks while NOT connected to the thunderbolt display.

Hope it helps.

Update from the 10th October,

Thunderbolt display still flicker free apart from two occasions when it seem to flicker for a split second but not sure if it was related to this thread. Will be buying a MacBook Pro shortly and will be curious to see what happens when i connect to the display!.