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
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.
Posted on Jul 5, 2016 6:58 PM