Mrrbailey

Q: MacBook Pro mid-2012 OS X thunderbolt screen won't wake up

For no apparent reason thunderbolt screen started to hang my MacBook Pro mid-2012 when I tried to wake up the screen. When I disconnect screen MacBook works fine. I unplugged the screen and left it powered off for few hours and reconnected it to a direct power socket and it woke up. Moved back to the original power socket which I've been using for years without issue and it's not working again. All connectors look fine, it doesn't ever move from my desk. I applied latest updates, tried to reset nvram which brings me to OS X utility for some reason (Cmd option P and R) after startup sound. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Apr 6, 2016 12:11 AM

Close

Q: MacBook Pro mid-2012 OS X thunderbolt screen won't wake up

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Allen A,

    Allen A Allen A Apr 7, 2016 10:31 AM in response to Mrrbailey
    Community Specialists
    Apr 7, 2016 10:31 AM in response to Mrrbailey

    Hello Mrrbailey,

     

     

    The article linked below details a number of troubleshooting steps that can help restore functionality to your Thunderbolt Display and MacBook Pro.

    Get help with video issues on external displays connected to your Mac
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201177

     

     

    Cheers!

  • by Mrrbailey,

    Mrrbailey Mrrbailey Apr 8, 2016 2:06 AM in response to Allen A
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Apr 8, 2016 2:06 AM in response to Allen A

    HI Allen, thanks for the prompt response on this.

     

    I've completed the following steps, and sadly each time I plug the Thunderbolt cable into the Macbook Pro it hangs and is not accessible.

     

    - Confirmed Firmware on Thunderbolt is up to date. I managed to communicate with the screen somehow and the response back was firmware is up to date.

     

    - Disconnected screen, checked all cables, left off for several hours, and reconnected from a different direct wall socket to eliminate surge protector.

     

    - Tried using Macbook power cable, with Thunderbolt connector, same issue, Macbook hangs as soon it's connected.

     

    - Tried connecting screen while in sleep, when Macbook awakes up, screen is hung.

     

    - Reset both NVRAM and SMC.

     

    - Booted up in safe mode, same issue.

     

    - Rebooted from old cloned drive, same issue screen hangs as soon as it's connected.


    Do you think trying a separate thunderbolt cable might help?

     

    I'm working on getting a friend with macbook pro to see how another machine might react, is this also worth trying?

     

    I was thinking to perform a clean install of OS X Mavericks on my spare cloned drive, and seeing if booting up from that makes a difference, is this worth trying?

     

    Other than the aforementioned I can't think of anything else accept taking it into Apple ....

     

    Any further help will be greatly appreciated.

  • by Allen A,

    Allen A Allen A Apr 13, 2016 6:23 AM in response to Mrrbailey
    Community Specialists
    Apr 13, 2016 6:23 AM in response to Mrrbailey

    Mrrbailey,

     

     

    Thank you for using the Apple Support Community. Due to the nature of your issue or question you may find more relevant information by using another one of Apple's support resources - https://getsupport.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.action.

     

     

    All my best.