Thunderbolt USB not working in Yosemite

My screen went blank from yesterday to today. I have yosemite and a mbp with retina and thunderbolt. I tried the firmware 1.2 update but no matter what I do it says 'no thunderbolt display detected". Is my display dead? Its dark...

I noticed issues with USB after the 1.2 update. For me, if my MBP sleeps then the TB Display USB ports stop working and everything I have plugged into an external USB hub also stops working (cause it's plugged into the display). On top of that, I noticed that when this happens I also lose the ability to change the brightness of the display!

No idea what's going on there, if it's firmware or OS X related, or what. Unfortunately I don't have applecare on the display so I can't really get Apple's help with this. For now I'm going to try NOT sleeping my MBP to see if that resolves the issue. If you want to call that resolving it.

Having the same problem - sort of. MacBook Pro Retina and Thunderbolt display. I have a couple of USB devices plugged into the display - a smart card reader, an Apple DVD Superdrive, and a wired apple keyboard. Everything works except the keyboard. Before the 10.10.1 update I was able to 'jiggle the handle' and get the keyboard to work through the Thunderbolt display. After 10.10.1, no dice - I have to plug the USB keyboard directly into the MBP. The DVD drive and the smart card reader have worked and are still working through the Thunderbolt display.

This only happens with a Thunderbolt display. A Mac Pro using two 27" Apple LED Cinema Displays doesn't have the issue and the MacBook Pro doesn't have the problem when hooked up to a 24" Apple LED Cinema Display. It's only the Thunderbolt display with Yosemite on the mac that exhibits this problem.

Did you try adding an extension to the keyboard cord? This works for many for some reason.

Actually, that did work! Thanks for that useful tip!

How obscure and weird - wonder how that was discovered.

Thunderbolt Display Firmware 1.2 broke the USB inside the display.

See: Thunderbolt Display Firmware 1.2 broke the USB inside the display.

No solution yet. I have a call in w/ Apple Support later today. I recommend you all start calling them.

Symptoms are: TBD connected, Mac goes to sleep or hibernate...when it wakes, USB (including Audio) is inoperative. Unplug/plug TBD back into Mac, item restores.

SMC and PRAM resets do not work permanently...restarting Mac (whether MacBook, Mac Mini or MB Air) doesn't work permanently.

The audio card in the TB Display is a USB device. If you look in your system report you'll see that it's connected.

Here's another thing you can try...Start FaceTime...You'll notice your FaceTime camera doesn't work (in the display) either. It's USB also.

I would strike a guess that the USB driver got borked on the firmware update.

Everything is working for me except for the apple keyboard. I have to plug it in the macbook pro. My USB mouse and scanner both work on all the USB ports on the display. FaceTime works on the display.

A Thunderbolt is a new technology and new devices connected by it usually has installed USB3 to fully use available transfer speed. Unfortunately Yosemite has issue with USB3. Some of USB3 devices works and some of them not. If you try to connect removable drive with USB3 cable, as temporary measure try to use USB2 cables instead (most of USB3s support USB2 as well). Note that regular Micro USB cable used to charge smart phones can be connected to USB3 (some of cables connectors do not match nicely because of "little hooks" mounted on the connector itself to prevent the cable from disconnecting from phone but you will find one it works). When you use this cables, Thunderbolt device will recognize your drive as USB2 and it should work. At least you will have access to your stuff (slow but better than none). Sorry it will not help with keyboards or other devices with fixed cable. As recommended by tbirdvet try use extension for USB cables for this devices (this way you will downgrade connection to USB2.

Hard drives worked for me, but a printer (HP Inkjet) was not recognized through the display's USB. A reset of the display (disconnect from computer, then disconnect all peripherals, disconnect from power for 30 seconds, connect with computer, connect peripherals again) did solve the problem.

My thunderbolt display only displays in 1280 x 720 -- I have lost all my high resolution and the MBP with retina display only shows 2 resolutions that + 800 x600 since installing the 1.2 update and the display constantly cuts out -- it never did that before the update.

same issue here. after a restart, USB on the Thunderbolt display works, but after waking up next time USB on the display is useless.

This isn't a new problem. This isn't a Yosemite problem only issue either. If you search back for TBDisplay problems, they started back in 2011. I have two TBDisplays hooked up to a 2013 MBPro Retina under Mavericks. I daisy chain the two displays. The second TBD often doesn't wake up from sleep mode. It could be forced sleep or a regular sleep due to inactivity. I've also had the first TBD not wake up too. It has also blanked out on me for no known reason. I've spent many hours on the phone and online trying everything Apple support has asked of me. I've been dealing with this problem from day one for nearly a year now. I'd like to know how we force Apple to do something other than wearing us out with "try this" or "try that" or "I'll get back to you with a fix in a day or two". My last tech hasn't responded to my emails or phone calls for a couple weeks now. I think Apple knows they have a design issue and they are just putting off current owners until they come out with a new TBDisplay design or waiting for everyone's warranty or service contract to expire. I think it is time for us to do something more radical. Apple has wonderful products, but this TBDisplay issue seems to not be one of them.

Here are some of the other links to TBD problems:

First post September 2011:

Thunderbolt Display turns off randomly

October 2011:

Thunderbolt Display will not wake up after sleep!!!!!!

My external keyboard would not work when plugged into the Thunderbolt Display after the MBP went to sleep. I plugged the keyboard directly into the MBP to see if there was possibly a keyboard issue, and the keyboard worked right away (aha! Thuderbolt Display USB port issue). After seeing the entry on the "USB extension cord", I unplugged the keyboard from the MBP and plugged it into the Thunderbolt Display. Keyboard didn't work. Plugged a USB extension cord into the Thunderbolt Display and plugged the keyboard into it... keyboard works.

The external DVD drive has been installed, plugged into a Thunderbolt port ever since I set this all up the first week of December, and it has not failed, nor has the display. Truly strange...

I recently managed to fix a number of issues with my Thunderbolt display.

1) It would not wake with my computer

2) The USB ports would no longer work and did not have power

3) The sound output selection for my TD speakers was not available.

I was able to make it work after a fashion by opening my computer, then disconnecting and re-connecting the thunderbolt cable. But finally that died.

What i did to fix it was to buy a short Apple thunderbolt cable and use that to connect my computer to the display via the spare thunderbolt port on the display. Perfect, all functionality was restored. So the problem was the normal thunderbolt cable not working. I don't think I will bother replacing the normal cable since I now have perfect functionality with the $40 thunderbolt cable.

Hope this is of value to others.