Thunderbolt display noise

I've recently noticed my display making noise when I have it on. It sounds similar to a truck idling, but is not very loud. After awhile the sound seems to disappear. (Either that or I just get used to it) I'm thinking it might be the fan. It has gotten colder where I live and I was wondering if that could account for the noise (metal contracting and expanding).
My display is connected to my macbook pro.

Some of the earlier displays had some fan noise and were fixed with the latest firmware update. Be sure your display is up to date. However, you could still have a noisey fan that may need repair or perhaps cleaning.

Similar Messages

My thunderbolt display makes a noise when plugged into my macbook pro laptop

my thunderbolt display makes a noise when plugged into my macbook pro laptop. It sounds like an electronic noise which doesn't come through the speakers. Any advice how to eliminate this?

Could be a poor ground. Try plugging the monitor directly into the wall (no power strip) and see what happens.

Random sound/noise coming from bottom left of thunderbolt display?

Hey everyone,
I bought my Thunderbolt display in September 2012 and it worked well until a month ago. The screen started turning off, and USB and Ethernport ports would stop working from time to time. I took it into Apple and they gave me a new display after being unable to fix the problem.
But now I have a new issue. There is a sound that comes from the display at random times. It sounds close to, but not exactly, like the sound a Mac makes when moving an item to the trash can. It appears to be comming from the bottom left side of the display.
I've tried raising and lowering the volume, but that didn't have any effect (sounds the same no mater where the volume is). Even when the display volume is muted, or even sound output is sent to my USB DAC, the display still makes this noise. It can happen once every 30 seconds, or once every 30 minutes. There's no consistancy as to when it ocures.
I tried connecting my Fiance's MacBook air to my display thinking it may be my Macbook Pro, but the noise still occured.
I've tried connecting the display power to different outlets and different surge protectors, including a Sine Wave UPS, but neither helped.
This has been an issue with 2 brand new displays Apple gave me. I'm still using the second display but getting ready to return it for a third. But before I do, I wanted to post a question to see if someone had any other idea on what it could be and to see if this is something I could fix myself.
It appears to be hardware related, and from my testing it seems to be an issue with the current new Thunderbolt Displays.
Anyone have any thoughts?

I have a similar issue. Both output and input sounds are setup to come out of a USB speaker system I have attched to the display USB ports. However when emptying the trash, the sound Macs make when doing so comes out of the display speakers. No options for that sound are available. Very odd. There does not seem to be a relation between the volume control either and the volume of the display, the display is loud, even when my mac system voulme is low.

Thunderbolt display emitting noise.

My Thunderbolt display continues to emit a noise. I first posted about this back in Februrary:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/21260561#21260561
Now, it's much worse. It makes the sound no matter whether the display is actually plugged in or the level of brightness, as long as I use the power from the Thunderbolt display it makes the noise, albeit softly. When I plug the Thunderbolt display in as a second monitor, it gets REALLY loud - to the point where I cannot use the monitor any longer.
There were some weird quirks about when it make the noise (for instance, I could unplug the power from the Thunderbolt to the MBP but left the TB connector in), but now it doesn't seem to matter as long as there is some type of connect from the MBP to the TB display it will make the noise.
It's unfortunate that Apple does not stand behind their products. I had 2 non-Apple monitors that I paid $200 each in 2001 and they lasted until 2013 when I finally took them to be recycled (even though they still worked). Too bad Apple seems to want to boost revenue by making people pay for poorly build products instead of building something of quality that will last longer than 1.5 years. I switched to Apple because I thought they were better, unfortunately I'm learning otherwise.
Someone let me know if Apple every decides to fix the problem it created...

Possible Solution for under $2.00: Plug the display into one of those ground eliminating plugs that allow you to plug grounded cords into old style two prong receptacles.
I took my display to the Apple Store. They could not reproduce the sound, so they were unable to do anything to fix it. While the Thunderbolt display was on vacation at the Apple Store, I thought more about what MAD SCI described as the possible source of the problem ["THAT MEANs that all these devices are now connected. Problem being is that the audio is not protected from ground noise…"]. The fact that the display worked fine at the Apple Store, lead me to think the problem was with the electricity in my office, since it is in a historic building in an old downtown area. I suspect my electricity may have ground noise since I have to plug everything (Wi-Fi modems, phone modem, external network drives, copier, printer, lamps, etc.) into the same circuit.
When I got my display back I decided to try plugging the display's power cord into one of those little plugs that converts a three prong into a 2 prong, by eliminating the ground prong. I plugged the display into the ground-eliminating plug, then into the surge protector. While I confess it has only been a few days that the display has been functioning under these conditions, there is no hiss sound. Last time I thought I found a solution, I performed experiments to recreate the hiss and it never went away; so this time I have decided to be superstitious rather than scientific. So you should take this report as an anecdote only.
Additionally, I do not recommend this solution, because eliminating the ground may cause problems. [As described by MAD SCI: "It is only protection against lightening really. So if you wonder why apple has done this and not fixed it yet, it’s more political than you think…."] With this in mind, I believe there is a risk the described fix could turn your display into a useless piece of junk, if there was a power surge from a lightening strike that was not eliminated by the expensive surge protector it is probably plugged into. Of course, since my noise was so loud, the display was already a useless piece of junk (until I eliminated the hiss with this "kludgy" fix), I figure I have nothing to loose.

Thunderbolt Display Fan Noise

Today i bought a new 27" Thunderbolt Display to use with my 15" MBP but i have notice a disturbing fan noise for the first 10 to 15 mins when i plugged it in... I found this thread here (27" Thunderbolt Display Fan noise), i downloaded the firmware v1.1 but it says your thunderbolt doesn't need it.
Is there any other firmware i should install? or any other software? What is the other one that guy installed, any clue?
Please advice!

Read this thread before you try to use firmware upgrade Thunderbolt Display "dead" after firmware upgrade to Version 1.2

Thunderbolt display long beep when plugged in to macbook

I have a MacBook Pro and connect it to a Thunderbolt display. After downloading Yosemite, whenever I connect to my display it makes a long, continuous (about 1-2 minute) beeping noise. The noise repeats every few minutes. It is loud and high pitched. I have connected to other Macs and the display does the same thing, so it is not coming from the computer. Any ideas?

If you still need help, download the Thunderbolt Display manual here.
Give it a minute or two to download then use the Command + F keyboard shortcut then type: troubleshooting

I urgently need to know how I can connect 8 thunderbolt display, I was thinking with the new mac pro will come out, but I wonder if it is possible to connect an iMac to 4GB of graphics card, but suffers from the imac. thanks

I urgently need to know how I can connect 8 thunderbolt display, I was thinking with the new mac pro will come out, but I wonder if it is possible to connect an iMac to 4GB of graphics card, but suffers from the imac. thanks

I tightened all HD screws and it didn't help. With the machine running and side of the case off, I physically stopped both the video card fan and the front case fan with my finger for a couple seconds and the noise continued. I also took all hard drives out one by one and rebooted each time. Again, the noise continued until I took out the Mac HD in Bay 1, rebooted, and I had a very quiet, silent machine. The issue is the hard drive in bay 1 that shipped with the computer, it's without a doubt causing the hum/woosh sound. I still need to know if I can safely swap the Mac HD from bay 1 to bay 4 without any issues to the operating system. I would like to try that to see if it dampens the noise but I also want to make sure this swap won't screw up my machine at all.

Thunderbolt display won't power up at all

Hi I recently purchased a new 2.5ghz i5 mac mini and a thunderbolt display and when i plugged it all in the display wont power up all. Tried the hdmi connection on my hdtv and it worked fine. Tried a display port to hdmi adapter in the thunderbolt port to my hdtv and that worked fine. updated the mini to the latest software, checked all the cables, reset the pram still can't get it to power up. Am i missing something? There is no power button on the display that i can see, from what i understand it is supposed to come on when the mac powers up. For all the people that own a working thunderbolt display when going does it make any kind of noise or anything that you can tell that it is going, apart from a picture being on the screen. Because mine is seems to be dead doesnt make a sound, screen is blank. So far its a worthless piece of junk & i'm 3hrs away from the nearest apple store to get a replacement or get it fixed. Really starting to wonder about purchasing anything apple, just have one problem after another, first it was the apple wireless keyboard not pairing with lion os now this. Any help appreciated

I suppose the TB cable could have gone bad. If you get a another TB cable and plug it in from your MBP to the TB port of the display and see what happens. If it powers up and all ports work then it means the built in cable is bad. If nothing happens means the TBD is dead and will require repair.

Product bug: unknown unicast traffic storms from thunderbolt displays

Hi All -
Periodically, a random Thunderbolt display will launch a wire rate unknown unicast traffic storm into our LAN and only stop when unplugged from the network. This typically leads to unicast flooding or at least massive trunk congestion (we now use Cisco's storm-control and block (unknown) unicast).
In any given event the transmitted frames are all the same and appear to be random data from memory. They make no sense as traffic: they have garbage MAC addresses and hence the "unknown unicast traffic storm".
We have very roughly 100 and about 1% malfunction this way once a week. We don't think it's the MBP behind the display because we switched to Thunderbolt ethernet adapters (directly on the MPBs) and have not seen an incident for over 7 weeks.
Here is a LogicMonitor record; the trailing edge of the event was when we unplugged the display.
Here's what a packet capture looks like from the outage:
Here is trace data from a different event.
The destination MAC address is an ASCII string that spells out "vertcp". Although Wireshark identifies the frame type as LLC in the first example, we believe this to be a coincidence; it's a random 436-byte piece of firmware memory. A safe conclusion is that both the LLC tag and the completely invalid ethertype in the first event is just random. Nothing in the captured frames makes sense because they aren't ethernet frames, they are random data passed to the driver due to a bug.
Thanks
Branden

We have experienced the same issue with increasing frequency as more Thunderbolt displays are introduced into our environment in the last year. On a gigabit port, the display has no problem generating 800mbit/s or more of traffic (~500kpps) - which is then flooded to every port in the same VLAN (~400 user ports in our case). For 100mbit/s users, this essentially floods them off the network.
Here is a detail I don't see mentioned above -- this happens even when a laptop/computer is not connected to the display. The first case we had of this happening was with a display that had no thunderbolt parent device attached. Shutting down the switchport and no-shutting it (bouncing the link on the display) resolves this until the next time it happens.
It looks like whatever crap resides in various buffers is used to construct the resulting Ethernet frames. I did not perform a packet capture this time, but the last time it happened the entire Ethernet header was null bytes with the body being mostly-null but the same random-looking noise in the rest of the frame. The frame was interpreted by Wireshark and others as a type of Fiber Channel, but I think that was just the default case that matched many of the null characteristics. The exact same frame was reflected in each packet sent (as opposed to each frame being different/randomized from the predecessor)

My Thunderbolt display fan running unnecessarily

For the last 6+ months, I have used the MBP retina (Yosemite 10.10.1) connected via lightning cable to a 21" Thunderbolt display. My problem is that I have the fan running first thing in the morning when booting the MBP, as well as sporadically through the day. Placing my hand on various parts of the display shows it to be quite cool, while the fan is on (and even when the fan is not on). Nevertheless, the fan kicks-in regardless of:
brightness set to 50% or set to 100%;
use of 6 alternative spaces (of video desktop) or 1;
CPU processing at 50% idle or at 95% idle.
It is a complete mystery why the fan has to come on AT ALL. I've been through the following display-related Firmware updates, but each exhibits the same issues.:
Thunderbolt Display (September):
Firmware Version: 22.1
Port:
Status: Device connected
Link Status: 0x2
Port Micro Firmware Version: 2.1.3
Cable Firmware Version: 0.1.18
Cable Serial Number: C4M2064015CDNWFA9
Thunderbolt Display:
Vendor Name: Apple Inc.
Device Name: Thunderbolt Display
Vendor ID: 0x1
Device ID: 0x8002
Device Revision: 0x1
UID: 0x0001000100467B10
Route String: 1
Firmware Version: 22.2
Port:
Status: Device connected
Link Status: 0x2
Port Micro Firmware Version: 0.0.21
Cable Firmware Version: 0.1.18
Cable Serial Number: C4M2064015CDNWFA9
Port:
Status: No device connected
Link Status: 0x7
Port Micro Firmware Version: 0.0.21
Any ideas?

TBD fans are on all the time. That is be design. Don't worry unless it is making some strange noises. I assume you mean 27" display and not 21?

Thunderbolt display: devices not discovered after using Mini DisplayPort–to–VGA adapter

I have an interested problem related to using my MacBook Air in clamshell (closed) mode, connected to a Thunderbolt display. The problem appears to be related to moving my MacBook air between my office and my home.
At the office, I use the MacBook Air with an external VGA display, connected via the Mini DisplayPort–to–VGA adapter. At home, I use the MacBook Air together with a Thunderbolt display. An Apple USB keyboard is also connected to the display.
Mini DisplayPort–to–VGA adapter implicated
The following sequence of events causes the problem to occur:
Use the MacBook air (open) together with a VGA display, connected via a Mini DisplayPort–to–VGA adapter (depicted at right);
Put the MacBook Air to sleep by closing the lid, and disconnect the Mini DisplayPort–to–VGA adapter (I am not sure if the order of these two steps is significant—I usually perform them almost simultaneously when packing up my MacBook Air and getting ready to leave the office); and
With the MacBook Air still closed, connect it to a Thunderbolt display with a connected USB keyboard.
At this point, I would expect to be able to wake up the MacBook Air by tapping on the space bar of the keyboard. However, what I have observed is that this does not wake the MacBook Air.
I can wake the MacBook however by moving or clicking a Bluetooth mouse that is paired with the MacBook Air.
At this point, although the MacBook Air is awake, and the display is working, the USB keyboard connected to the display still does not work. This is the problem, in a nutshell.
Unplugging the USB keyboard from the display, and plugging it back in causes the MacBook Air properly to identify the keyboard.
I used Apple System Profiler to save a list of identified devices at two points in time:
Immediately after waking the MacBook Air by moving the Bluetooth mouse (at which point the USB keyboard was not working); and
After unplugging and plugging in again the USB keyboard (at which point the USB keyboard worked fine).
Many devices are enumerated in the second list that are missing from the first. For example:
Keyboard Hub@fe110000 <class IOUSBHubDevice, id 0x1000378ef, !registered, !matched, inactive, busy 3 (37993 ms), retain 6>
AppleUSBHub <class AppleUSBHub, id 0x1000378f2, !registered, !matched, inactive, busy 1 (37987 ms), retain 6>
IOUSBInterface@0 <class IOUSBInterface, id 0x1000378f4, !registered, !matched, inactive, busy 1 (37986 ms), retain 6>
Keyboard Hub@fe110000 <class IOUSBHubDevice, id 0x1000378f6, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (7 ms), retain 10>
AppleUSBHub <class AppleUSBHub, id 0x1000378f9, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (1 ms), retain 9>
IOUSBInterface@0 <class IOUSBInterface, id 0x1000378fb, !registered, !matched, active, busy 0, retain 7>
Apple Keyboard@fe112000 <class IOUSBDevice, id 0x1000378fd, registered, matched, active, busy 0 (112 ms), retain 11>
and many child devices…
Using the Mini DisplayPort–to–VGA adapter appears to be a necessary step to causing this problem to occur. If I merely disconnect the MacBook Air from the display, let it go to sleep, and then reconnect it again, the USB keyboard will work immediately and can be used to wake the computer from sleep.
Some devices are discovered even when the computer is in sleep mode. This is how it should work.
The problem appears to be that when a Mini DisplayPort–to–VGA adapter has been used since the last time the computer was connected to a Thunderbolt display, the MacBook air does not discover devices completely when it is again connected to the Thunderbolt display while in sleep mode.
Can anyone else reproduce this problem?

Hi glraczon.support,
It sounds like the external display you are using (projector) operates at a smaller resolution than your MacBook Pro. You may want to configure the display preferences in System Preferences for the external projector.
Here is an article that may help you with that process:
OS X Mountain Lion: About the Display pane of System Preferences
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5369
Thanks,
Matt M.

Is it possible to connect an external USB 2.0 hard drive to a Thunderbolt Display?

Hello,
Is it possible to connect an external USB 2.0 hard drive to a Thunderbolt Display and back up a MacBook Air to the external hard drive using Time Machine?
I intend to connect my MacBook Air to the Thunderbolt Display using a Thunderbolt cable.
I would also like to connect my printer via USB 2.0 to the Thunderbolt Display. Will this also work?
Effectively using the Thunderbolt Display as a USB hub or docking station.
Regards,
Ben

Ok, thanks.
My 1 cable to ThunderBolt Display objective
MacBook Air -> (via 1 x Thunderbolt cable) -> Thunderbolt Display -> (via 1 x USB cable) -> USB 2.0 external hard drive
I would like to know if this configuration is possible and Time Machine will run correctly.
Your 2 cable suggestion (I think)
MacBook Air -> (via 1 x Thunderbolt cable + 1 x USB cable) -> Thunderbolt Display + USB 2.0 external hard drive
This configuration requires 2 cables to disconnect/reconnect from my MacBook Air.

MBP Bootcamp install of USB Windows 7 , Thunderbolt Display

We need support from APPLE! BootCamp
Here are my issues.
Like many users, I must abandon the marvelous os x, and head to the darkside - Windows 7 for work.
I have a MBP early 2011. I must use Bootcamp, because of the resource hogging the 3d CAD programs I use. have tried to in the past with VMWARE, Parallels ect. with no luck
I have a Corsair Force GT ATA 120 gb SSD III, installed and my optical drive removed to accommodate my original Hitachi.
Remember, not to Install that Hitachi drive, until you have used a CD only install of windows 7 onto the SSD.
Why?- You can not boot from a USB disc that I am aware of, or use an external optical drive case, for your superdrive.
This is not ok, we need the capability to install windows 7 from something other than a CD. I went to reformat my SSD I was forced to open up my MBP case again. to reinstall the Super drive. Install Windows 7, then remove my superdrive and reinstall my 500gb Hitachi.
This is a royal, pain in the butt.
If a mac air has the capabilities of installing windows 7 from a usb APPLE, please give same rights to MBP.
Additionally, my osX runs like absolute garbage on the SSD, I rarely if ever use it because of the constant pinwheel I receive, I have researched this error, with
little or no luck, using apps like TRIM seem not to help.
I also own a thunderbolt display, and the fact that there is no support on connecting it without restarting the computer is also an issue.
Bootcamp Development -should add in fan speed Control,

Buddah1200 wrote:
We need support from APPLE! BootCamp
Here are my issues.
Like many users, I must abandon the marvelous os x, and head to the darkside - Windows 7 for work.
I have a MBP early 2011. I must use Bootcamp, because of the resource hogging the 3d CAD programs I use. have tried to in the past with VMWARE, Parallels ect. with no luck
I have a Corsair Force GT ATA 120 gb SSD III, installed and my optical drive removed to accommodate my original Hitachi.
Remember, not to Install that Hitachi drive, until you have used a CD only install of windows 7 onto the SSD.
Because you will need the internal superdrive to install Windows.

How can I tell my MacBook Air to automatically detect my Thunderbolt Display?

I have a brand new MacBook Air (13", mid-2011) running 10.7.2 (and all updates) and Thunderbolt Display (with firmware 22.2, the latest)
When I plug the thunderbolt plug into the port, I expect the MBA to recognize the display and automatically start using the display based on the last settings (arrangement, etc.) This is how every other display (Apple or not) has worked with a MacBook I've owned. This is one of the nice little touches that I really appreciate about Apple products.
What actually happens when I plug in the thunderbolt display is.... nothing. The MBA will work happily as if there is no external display plugged in until I bring up the Displays control panel and "Detect Displays". This is contrary to how it worked in the past and based on that experience, I consider the current behavior to be a bug.
Is there some setting I'm missing to make this work properly? It is pretting annoying to have to many times a day (in the morning and every time I take my MBA away from my desk). Is this a known issue that Apple will be fixing soon?
Thanks,
Paul Philion
Acme Rocket Company
Mac Owner Since 1985

It's definitely not supposed to work like that...when you plug the display in, it should just turn on and adjust your displays. It works like that on my MBP. Kind of a silly question, but do you have the MagSafe from the display plugged in your MBAir too? Thats a requirement. Beyond that, it should "just work."
Not sure if there is some setting to enable...i haven't seen it. Call to support?

Cinema display VS Thunderbolt display

Hi!
I'm about to start a bidding on an Apple Cinema display 24" bought in july 2010. Now, besides general opinions about this display, are there any fundamental differences between the Cinema display (CD) and the newer Thunderbolt display (TD)?
What I already know is that the TD has 3xUSB, 1xFireWire, 1xThunderbolt and 1xEthernet on the back where the CD only have 3xUSB. Also, the TD only need the thunderbolt cable to the (i e) MacBook to function where the CD need to have the USB cable in addition to the cinema display cable connected to function.
Have I got that right?
I have the newest MacBook Pro with thunderbolt output, but do I still need the USB cable to get the 3xUSB hub on the display? Or is it enough with the cinema display cable from the display?
Hope I didn't make it to complicated to read =)
The price right now is almost 500$.
Oh, that's right - one more thing! I've read a little about compatiblity with different displays and computers. My MacBok Pro has thunderbolt output, but is it still possible to connect the Cinema display that does NOT support thunderbolt?
Jonas

I googled my question and found this article:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20043524-263.html
I quote the article:
"The new port is backward compatible so it can still be used to connect to DisplayPort devices; however, only the new port can be used to connect to Thunderbolt devices.
This means that while you can physically connect a Thunderbolt device to a Mac with DisplayPort, the device will not work, but if you connect a DisplayPort device to a Mac with Thunderbolt, then the device will work."
Helpful picture:
http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim/2011/03/15/ThunderboltChart_270x130.png
So if you believe in this, I actually can use the Cinema display with my MacBook with thunderbolt port. Or am I getting this all backwards?
Jonas

Thunderbolt display noise

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