Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with thunderbolt

Macbook Pro will not connect to Thunderbolt display

digitalprimate — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 11:26:19 -0800

MPB late 2011, Thunderbolt native running 10.8.2 will not light up Thunderbolt display I bought today at the Apple Store. The basic problem seems to be that under System Preferences -> Display the "Arrangement" tab does not appear.

The Thunderbolt display has power (fan on lower left corner blowing, will power both MBP and external drive). I have zapped the PRAM, reset the SMC, run everything imaginable under Onyx, disconnected and reconnected every thing (Thunderbolt, power, etc.) from both the MBP and the display in every possible iteration.

I had a third party app called "airdisplay" running at first, but I've nuked it.

Applecare in the US had no idea and suggested I just take it back to the apple store in Amsterdam where I bought it today. This is less than convenient. I've tried googling, the Apple support forums and stackoverflow...Help?

Consistently connecting to an external monitor

roofus — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 08:25:09 -0800

Is there a correct sequence for turning on, and plugging in, my MacBook Air, to make it play nicely with a generic HP external display? My Setup: 2011 MacBook Air, with an HP L1910 external monitor, connected via the thunderbolt port with a mini-dvi to VGA adapter. I like the external display as an extension of the MacBook screen, not a mirror.

The Problem: When I plug the mini-dvi adapter in, the MacBook display fades blue and fades back again as it changes screen resolution, but the external display does not consistently "turn on". I end up in a frustrating roundabout of unplugging and replugging the mini-dvi adapter, repeatedly hitting "Detect Displays", trying to adjust the screen resolution, and turning the external display on and off. Some or all of these things are usually eventually effective, but I am not clear what it is that eventually makes the external display spring to life.

The Question: Is this a screen resolution problem, or something about the sequence of switching on / unsleeping the laptop or the display, or related to the timing of plugging in the connector? Or are these connections just flaky?

Looking for portable Firewire drives that daisy chain correctly

alms — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:33:06 -0800

I'm looking for bus-powered portable Firewire drives that daisy chain correctly. Desired size is 1 terabyte. By "daisy chain correctly" I mean that I should be able to attach two or three of the drives to my computer in a daisy chain.

I'm asking this question because I made the mistake of buying a pair of Western Digital My Passport Studio drives. After two weeks of fussing I found out that you can't put more than one of these drives in a daisy chain. You can only daisy chain them with different drives. Yeah, right.

Well, that's not what I want. I don't want a bunch of different drives. I want to have two or three, bus-powered, portable, 1 TB Firewire drives, all the same model, that I can daisy chain to my Mac. Reliable, fast, and good looks also desirable.

In case it matters: I'm using a MacBook Air with a Thunderbolt to Firewire adaptor. (As far as I know, USB 3 is not an option. Feel free to let me know if there's an economical Thunderbolt to USB 3 adaptor. That would give me many more drive options.)

Thunderbolt for windows?

empath — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:53:13 -0800

How do I get my windows box to work with my Thunderbolt display? I'm trying to get rid of an extra monitor. I'm willing to invest in a new motherboard and/or video card. Has anyone done it?

"SD Card Unexpectedly Removed" - except it wasn't!

deliciae — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 01:49:25 -0800

Weird random SD card removal error messages on Android phone Last summer, I would randomly get messages on my phone: "SD Card Unexpectedly Removed" or some such. Following this, the camera would not work because the phone was not reading the SD card (which had NEVER been removed, incidentally.)

Now, the message is back, but I have discovered that if I reboot the phone, the camera will work and the phone will read the SD card again. I've got an HTC ThunderBolt.

I brought the phone to the Verizon store last summer while it was going on and they had no clue what was happening. There's nothing about this online that I have found - what the heck is going on here?

Not a techie but can figure stuff out - if I need to offer more detail about operating system, etc, just tell me what number I am looking for and where to find it.

Help me keep my Workstation quiet!!

Rafaelloello — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:55:45 -0800

I like to keep my home office incredibly devoid of machine noise. To that end, other than my sound system (where I choose the noise), my workstation consists of 1.) A Mac mini running Lion Server on Raid 0 3.5" drives (2 x 500GB) and 2.)A Lacie quadra 1TB drive doing Firewire 800 Time Machine backups every hour (I put up with the Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, every hour without being annoyed). I need more storage, but don't want to increase the (lack of) noise factor... ...I have a couple other external USB 2.0 drives in enclosures for overflow data, but I can't stand them being on for more than a couple minutes because they seem so loud compared to everything else. What would a be a good addition of extra storage that wouldn't add to the noise factor? It doesn't have to be redundant or safe, just quiet. Thinking outside the box, please also consider maybe a.)long Firewire 800 or Thunderbolt cables so the drive(s) can be farther away or b.)Simply replacing my 1TB drive in my Quadra time machine backup with a 3TB? I don't like the second idea so much, but I read that you can store other data next to your Time Machine backups, right? I only have 1 TB of storage and 1 TB of backup right now(right at my workstation, which is fine), I probably only need an extra TB or two to keep me happy for a while. I wouldn't say price is *not* an option, but I'm in for 4 or 5 or maybe 600 bucks if things stay quiet.

Thunderbolt vs. Mini DisplayPort

Brocktoon — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:43:48 -0800

What is the difference between the Apple Thunderbolt cable and a regular mini display port cable, if any?

What kind of BSA motorcycle is this?

leecohen — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 06:28:13 -0800

What kind of BSA motorcycle is this, and should I buy it? So I finally found a beautiful BSA bike here in Bamako, Mali. The owner claims it's a Thunderbolt from 1960. I doubt the year, but he could be right about the model. Can you tell from this photo?

Extra-credit: Do you have any experience with BSA Thunderbolts? I want to take it for long countryside drives, and don't mind doing maintenence work on it, but would prefer to not do that work on the side of the road in the 120 degree heat if possible.

He's asking roughly $6,000 for it, but I can't afford that. Will try to bring the price down as much as I can.

Thanks Internet Collective!