BW Lee

Q: macbook pro connected to thunderbolt displays will not wake up

I just got a new MacBook Pro 15 2.5 i7 OS X 10.11.5 to replace my 2013 model.

 

Everything seems okay except when I connect to my dual 27-inch thunderbolt displays in clamshell mode. This is key for me as I need all that screenspace for work. With my 2013 model everything works perfectly. Anytime the machines were asleep, I could walk up, hit a key on my external keyboard and everything would wake up instantly.

 

With my new MBP, if the machines are asleep for any significant amount of time, say an hour or longer, I cannot get the computer and displays to wake up. When I hit a key to wake everything up, the apple on the back of the laptop display will flash for a second and the external monitors will illuminate black screens and just be stuck that way. Sometimes I will then disconnect the thunderbolt and power from the MBP and then reconnect and even then it still won't work correctly. The first monitor plugged into my MBP will show something that is a strange amalgam of blocks of what the display should be but rearranged in some weird bizarre pattern. On the few occasions that the machine does wake up, the external monitors will blink a black screen one or two times before settling on the correct desktop display. Also if I ever disconnect the MBP from the external setup when asleep, at times the MBP's display will stay stuck on a black screen after I wake it up.

 

Everything still works correctly with my 2013 MBP. The problem only occurs with the brand new machine.

 

I have tried resetting the SMC as well as NVRAM. Neither fixes this. Also, when I try to reset the NVRAM a lot of times instead the computer will boot into recovery mode, which I know includes some of the same keys but I assure you I am holding down the correct combo of keys as I've been doing this procedure for well over a decade with various apple laptops. But this happens consistently enough to mention. I also wiped my hard drive and reinstalled OS X 10.11.5 and the problem still persists.

 

Both of my displays are up to date with firmware. All power cords and connections are secure.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm worried this means I have a bad video card or logic board or thunderbolt connection or something. But if anyone has any insight or something to attempt I haven't tried yet, I would love to hear it. Thanks all!

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.1), MBP 15 i7

Posted on Jul 3, 2016 6:44 AM

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Q: macbook pro connected to thunderbolt displays will not wake up

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  • by BW Lee,

    BW Lee BW Lee Jul 5, 2016 4:18 PM in response to BW Lee
    Level 4 (2,564 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 5, 2016 4:18 PM in response to BW Lee

    Anyone else experience anything similar? I'm pretty convinced this is a hardware issue...

  • by jndupuis1,

    jndupuis1 jndupuis1 Jul 5, 2016 4:46 PM in response to BW Lee
    Level 2 (470 points)
    Jul 5, 2016 4:46 PM in response to BW Lee

    This is about the best article I could find on the matter. I must point out in the article that the Mag Safe needs to be connected and have a well established connection. Please read the section Disconnect your Mac notebook from display after use

    In the support document it states:

    "If you aren't sure whether your display supports this feature, put your computer to sleep before unplugging the display."

     

    Use your Mac notebook computer in closed-display mode with an external display - Apple Support

     

    I hope this gets you pointed in the right direction

     

    Cheers!!

  • by BigGee42,Apple recommended

    BigGee42 BigGee42 Jul 5, 2016 6:58 PM in response to BW Lee
    Level 2 (253 points)
    Jul 5, 2016 6:58 PM in response to BW Lee

    That sounds like a hardware issue, although make sure the Mac is up to date as there have been a number of Thunderbolt & firmware updates over the last few years. If it's new they should be on there already, but it can't hurt to check.

     

    As a test, try the same process with only one Thunderbolt display connected and see if you get the same results.

     

    If you do, I would recommend you take it to an Apple Store and get them to look at it, especially since it's under warranty. They have advanced diagnostic tools that can check for hardware issues.

     

    Take a backup of your data first though.

  • by BW Lee,

    BW Lee BW Lee Jul 6, 2016 6:57 AM in response to jndupuis1
    Level 4 (2,564 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 6, 2016 6:57 AM in response to jndupuis1

    Thanks. I've seen this. The only thing is I've been using several prior MBPs like this and they would be able to wake up the external displays immediately. This computer definitely does not seem to be working right and not being able to wake up an external display is a bug. Appreciate you sharing the link.

  • by BW Lee,

    BW Lee BW Lee Jul 6, 2016 6:59 AM in response to BigGee42
    Level 4 (2,564 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 6, 2016 6:59 AM in response to BigGee42

    Yeah that's what I'm thinking: hardware issue. I have an appointment at the genius bar later today. Let's see what they say. I'm also one of those people who are maniacal about backing up their machine so that's never a problem as I learned that the hard way years ago.

     

    Interestingly I will tell you the machine seems to be able to wake more consistently when connected to only one display versus two, though it still has problems. That, for whatever reason, also makes me suspect hardware. I'm all up to date with software and firmware. I hope I can get it fixed quickly.

     

    Thanks!

  • by BW Lee,

    BW Lee BW Lee Jul 21, 2016 7:25 AM in response to BW Lee
    Level 4 (2,564 points)
    Notebooks
    Jul 21, 2016 7:25 AM in response to BW Lee

    Okay here's an update. I wiped my hard disk and reinstalled the system. The problem pretty much went away but would still flare up now and then. Talked to an Apple genius and they actually just gave me a new machine to start from scratch since the other one was barely 2 weeks old.

     

    Here's the weird thing. Same problem. Then I wiped the hard disk and reinstalled the system on the new machine. Again the the situation greatly improved.

     

    I'm seeing the same thing when I connect my 2013 MBP to my thunderbolt monitors as well now. So I've tested it all out with 2 different MBPs and 2 different thunderbolt monitors in various configurations.

     

    My current theory is that it all goes back to the 10.11.5 update. I never had any issues before then. I also think there's something about the way the OS is installed on new machines that isn't very thunderbolt display friendly. 2 brand new MBPs improved greatly once I reinstalled the system myself. I've yet to have the monitors fail to wake up since the 10.11.6 update as well, though it's only been a couple of days. But hopefully it's something in the software that is getting resolved.

     

    I still have the monitors sort of blink or flash once or twice if I am waking the computer from a long sleep. But that's far better than having the monitors just stare at me as they are stuck with black screens.