Apple Thunderbolt Display Troubleshooting

Ongoing, intermittent issue: (specs at bottom of comment)

I primarily have my sound coming through the 27 inch display. For the most part, it works fine. As I'm watching something on youtube (or hulu, or other), the sound will break once or twice for a second... . about 30 sec – 1 min later, the sound will stop. The video is still playing.

My current remedy (and possible marker toward the issue) is to unplug the 27" USB connection for about 10-30 sec. During that time the sound will often revert to the 24" monitor. Occasionally, the sound will be out of sync from the video.

When I plug the 27" USB back into the laptop, the sound returns & usually stays.

See system specs below

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)

3.1 GHz Intel Core i7

16 GB 1867 MHz DDR3

Intel Iris Graphics 6100 1536 MB

2 (non thunderbolt) Apple Cinema Displays connected through 2 thunderbolt ports

also have them connected via USB.

Display 1: 27" Apple Cinema Display

Display 2: 24" Apple Cinema Display

I am tying to fix mine with no screen, no usb but there is power to my macpro via magsafe.

I have replaced power board but same NO SCREEN.

Does anyone know how to test the 27” screen it self? I dont have fancy LCD screen tester

Tried all above and then some. Apple Thunderbolt model A1407 with 2013 mac mini ( I know- old but been doing fine). No matter what screen stays black.

My situation is the USB ports work so long as the Tunderbolt cable on the Thunderbolt Display is not connected to the computer. As soon as I connect TB cable into the port on the computer the USB ports go dead. Any thoughts appreciated.

Martin

I was having the same trouble with mine and the screen would randomly turn off. I tried using just a lighting bolt cable instead of the all in one cable and it worked but I decided to replaced the all in one cable anyway. Now the screen won’t turn on. When I have the display plugged into the wall outlet the USB ports and speakers work but the display won’t turn on.

Any suggestions would be great.

I got resolved somehow. Pretty sure the issue I was having with USB ports & audio on the display was a software issue not hardware. It was intermittent and when it appears I’ve been able to clean it up with a complete shutdown of the Air and then bring it up again it seems to clear up. I’ve been several days now with no issues. May also have had something to do with the fact this monitor is in a location I don’t visit for long periods of time; have no idea if that could have something to do with the issue. Good luck to all.

I have had the same issue with USB ports not working on the ATD. My solution has been to cut away about 1 mm of the plastic cover on the USB cable. That means that the male end of the USB cable connector will become 1 mm longer. Connecting a thus modified cable to the ATD solves my problem. The solution indicates that the female USB connectors in the ATD is mounted too deep into the ATD.

Hey, I have a thunderbolt display and for a while, the thunderbolt cable has been pretty shoddy. I was wondering if you can replace this part or not thanks guys.

please help, I got a used TD on eBay, it all went great, but then the screen went black, fist for a few seconds then after a couple of days completely black out. My USB hard drive was still up and running. I have change the All in one cable and now still NO picture but my USB hard drive is still working. Should I change the logic board ? EMI filter ? please help Thanks a lot !

My TBD powers my Mac Book Pro but shows no video. What could be the problem?

I can’t change the brightness or get the USB ports to work on mine. I can’t upgrade the firmware because it requires an older 32-bit OS (Maverick) and I’m running Catalina. Very frustrating.

I have found the following solution for an TBD displaying erratically : the USB male connector on the USB cable seems not able to go deep enough in the female connector in the chassi. I have cut away about 1 mm of the male connectors plastic cover thus making the metal part 1 mm longer. When putting it into the Female connector it goes deeper and connects better. I have done this with three TBD:s and they all became “living” TBD:s without problems.

Today, after many years of issue free operation, my 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display stopped working. Power was being delivered by the MagSafe charger, but the display was not being detected by the MacBook Pro.

I tested it against 2 MacBook Pros. One a mid2012 and one a late 2019. Neither were able to detect the display. I called Apple Support and we walked through many troubleshooting steps.

1. reset the SMC

2. reset the NVRAM

3. booted into recovery mode

4. ensure OS is up to date

5. put unit to sleep and then wake it back up

No improvement.

So next lucky step was to try plugging a known good Thunderbolt cable from my MacBook to the Thunderbolt port on the back of the display, and BINGO! I have full use of the monitor again. I also know now that the issue is either the power/TB cable hardwired to the display, or something directly related to the cable interface on display controller board.

I bought a 27” Thunderbolt Display in a used hardware shop, it has warranty and was just tested to be working… when I try plug it into my 2011 MacBook Pro, it doesn’t detect the display but usb and audio is working, this leads me to believe it’s a software problem with my Mac as I have previously tried to plug external displays in to find the same problem, even pressing detect displays does nothing.

Has this ever happened to anyone?

thanks,

mark

Thanks for fix it worked. I appreciate your post

I have 2 Apple Thunderbolt displasy daisy chained and its being powered with a 2016 Macbook Pro and one of the displays is very warm in color. I have tried calibration but it does not help it. Please advise

I'm having an issue with my macbook 2021 pro not working when plugging the thunderbolt connector into a mac screen. It has previously worked fine, and is still working fine with a different macbook, so seems the problem is with my macbook pro - but i'm not sure what it is! I've tried all the suggested options and nothing is working!

Any help much appreciated!

Thanks

Thanks so much!! It turned out to be the Thunderbolt cable that is hard wired into the monitor.

I was walking home last night when I found a 27 inch Apple Thunderbolt Display lying on the sidewalk.

The front glass was gone.

The case and front led were filthy so I cleaned those up.

Instead of a stand it has a Vesa mount on the back.

I have NO idea how to remove it.

After I cleaned the exterior I plugged it into a power strip & it didn’t go poof !

The edges of the aluminum on the sides look rusty though I understand aluminum corrodes and does not rust.

I’m going to get tools to remove the led.

The only Mac that I have might work with this is my Silicon M1 Mac Mini.

I can get a stand, glass and led display on Ebay if needed.

Could this display be salvaged ?

I recently rescued a neglected 27" A1407 Thunderbolt the seller said it hadn't been used for two years but insisted that it was working then but when I tried to turn it on while he was there it was as if it were dead.

Apart from a lot of dust, it looks good.

I tried plugging it in and turning it on but saw the MagSafe connecter does not light up, I connected it to my mbp to see if anything would happen. (but nothing.)

I removed the three-pin power cable plugged into the back of the Thunderbolt and connected it to a Mac mini M1 via the thunderbolt connector coming from the display into the Mac mini, but again nothing and still no light on the MagSafe connect.

Pete said it could be the IO board (Logic board) but would this stop the power?

If I open it up what should I look out for (blown capacitors?)

Thoughts, anyone?

Thanks.

Hugh

I had a 2022 MacBook Pro with Mac OS Monterry 12.6, and an Apple Studio Display that was bought in late 2022. When I connected the two using the thunderbolt cable provided in the Studio Display package, it did not work: the display cannot be detected no matter how I tweak it (I found a lot of complaints to such problems during internet search, and I tried many ways, with no success). However, the microphone, speaker, and video cam worked in a zoom meeting. Then, I used an old USB-C cable from the package of my old DELL wide screen monitor (not sure whether it is thunderbolt cable or not). Everything worked after that! It is a shame that Apple charged a premium price for their Studio Display but could not even make everything work! I hope that this post is helpful to many others who experienced frustration when they receive their new Apple Studio Display.

A couple of years ago I helped a friend to fix a ASD. I found that the Integrated Circuit board carrying the ports (especially the USB ports) was a tiny bit dislocated inwards in the ASD. The effect of that was that USB connectors did not connect. When I modified the USB connector so that it could be shoved a bit deeper into the ports, everything started to work.

I wanted to add that my studio display Thunderbolt cable was the culprit for the computer not able to show an image in the display. A new cable from Apple resolved the problem. The Apple studio display is 6 weeks old. It was functioning well until suddenly stopping conducting a signal between my iPad Pro and the display.

Hard to grasp how the cable stopped functioning after six weeks working well

That is sad to hear about the Studio Display having a cable issue. However, it is consistent with apples lack of internal resources for QA and continuous improvement at the lower volume and lower revenue generating products it sells. It would be interesting to know which assembly Plant manufactured your Studio Display because there has been anecdotal evidence indicating that different assembly Plant locations have different quality outputs.

Hey folks!

The Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 adapter $50 is most likely the culprit to most of our issues.

Although the cables are stationary and zip tied under the desk the Thunderbolt 2 cable does somehow loosen enough to not power the Display Speakers and cut off power to the Display USB.

Thunderbolt 2 docks will most likely correct this but for $299? I’ll deal with it for another year until my Mac Mini is deprecated next year.

Display is still perfect thanks to all of your input. Thanks!

Last year I was walking home and there was this poor Thunderbolt display sitting on the sidewalk.

The cables and connectors are in good shape.

The back and front were really dirty and I cleaned those off.

It has a Vesa mount that I cannot figure out HOW to remove.

But the issue with it is that the entire glass is missing and the bezel with the Apple logo on it was hanging from the front of it.

The aluminum sides have something that looks like rust on it but I am not sure.

I plugged it into a power strip & it did not go poof.

I would hate to recycle it and I have always wanted one to be able to connect it to one of my Imacs or Macbooks.

I do not know if it would connect to my Silicon M1 Mac Mini or not.

Is there a way to get this restored or does it have to go to the recycle place ?

The interior led is not smashed.

The apple thunderbolt no display sometime, but USB, speaker is working, I try to switch it on and off, sometime the display can resume.

is it the black light gone?

Thanks for all from your help!

It's been a long time since anyone posted on this topic, but here's a funny one for you. A client recently retired a Thunderbolt Display, so I decided to repurpose it by putting a vesa mount on it and hooking it up to my M1 Mac mini via Apple's "Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter". It worked great for a few weeks, then started taking awhile to wake up, and this morning wouldn't wake at all. I hooked it up to a 2015 MacBook Air, which doesn't require the adapter, obviously, and it works fine.

I've tried two different adapters, as well as a Thunderbolt 2 cable, connected to the Thunderbolt port on the back of the display, then to the mini with the adapter. I also tried unplugging everything for a bit and waiting 30 minutes or so. Either way, no go.

Any thoughts? I'm guessing that it doesn't like the adapters for some reason, but why did it work for awhile then stop? The display is fine, as evidenced by the fact that it works when attached to the older MacBook Air with Thunderbolt 2.

Color me puzzled.

I am using 2 of these with my M1 with no issues, the laptop does have to be plugged into the charger.

I ended up getting a Dell dock with a thunderbolt connection (not just USB C) and now just have that connected, one plug and I’m ready to go.

Care to share a link to the dock you're using?

What I don't understand is why the Apple adapter worked for awhile, and then quit working. It's definitely the weak link though...

I believe the Dock is the WD19 (the model number shows K20A) and the Thunderbolt adapter shows DP/N0J4W65 I Had the dock and had to poke around on the Dell site to find the adapter that supports the TB display.

I can send you photos: jeff@windgen.ca

Actually I found this link

dock

My issue just started today, after updating it still worked fine. 27 in Thunderbolt connected to m1 Mac mini with apple's own adapter as the main display with 2 cinema displays as secondary monitors through DisplayLink.

I left the computer asleep for a few hours and came back to everything working except the Thunderbolt Display. I tried power cycling, unplugging and reconnecting, connecting through display link. Nothing worked. So I figured I'd try my old MacBook Pro. Magsafe worked fine and to my surprise the display powered up and worked fine on the laptop.

I can't figure out anyway to get it to reconnect to my Mac mini.

Mac OS Sonoma Beta 14.4 by the way.

What fixed it for me was dusting off an old OWC Thunderbolt dock that has power. From some of the posts above, it seems that after a while the Apple adapter needs some added power to function. Definitely seems odd to me. (And mine still has trouble waking sometimes, but an unplug/re-plug usually wakes it again.)

I have no idea what happened but after leaving everything alone for 2 hours I came back to the display working fine. I agree seems like something to do with sleep/wake.

Something else I noticed is when waking the cinema displays sometimes would need a unplug/replug, but the Thunderbolt Display issue seemed different.

Make sure Hot Corners turns on screensaver or sleep only in the lower corners. The mouse appears on startup in the upper left. That’s where the Hot Corner is and could put the display back to sleep.

FYI, I come into the office and turned on my M1 Mac mini after being off for the weekend. I had my 2010 Thunderbolt Display flicker on and off a few times then would completely disconnect from my M1 Mac mini. I unplugged the power cable from the wall for the Thunderbolt Display for a few seconds then plugged it back in, working normally now. Give it a try.

Side note, the Thunderbolt Display had been plugged in for over 6 months continuously. Maybe a power cycle is needed every now and then??