Thunderbolt Display won't connect to my 2019 Mac Pro

Question

Level 1

5 points

Thunderbolt Display won't connect to my 2019 Mac Pro

I just got a used 2019 Mac Pro that works great on one of my monitors but won't connect to my 2019 Mac Pro. It will work fine still with my old computer (black trashcan Mac Pro), but there's something not working between the 2019. I used an adapter I got from apple to adapt the thunderbolt 2 to a thunderbolt 3 and have tried it in various ports on the computer. I've also restarted it a few times. Still nothing. Below are the computer specs.

3.5 GHz 8-Core Intel Xeon W

AMD Radeon Pro 580X 8 GB

384 GB 2666 MHz DDR4

Sequoia 15.1.1 (24B91)

Can anyone offer any suggestions? Thank you.

Mac Pro, macOS 15.1

Posted on Dec 28, 2024 5:39 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

samtenor

Level 4

2,074 points

Dec 28, 2024 6:37 PM in response to macnpchz

2013 Trash Can Mac Pro uses TB 2 -- and the TB display works.

2019 Mac Pro uses TB 3 -- with adapter -- then TB display won't work; is that the description you tried to convey?

My suggestion and possible scenarios would be:

1.The TB2-TB3 adapter might be faulty.

2.The Octopus cable has been the culprit for the connection problem.

You can get a TB2 cable (Apple manufactured 0.5M and 2M) and use the "additional port" at the back of TB display + adapter to connect between Mac Pro and TB display.

Best

Reply

Answer 2

macnpchz Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 29, 2024 12:25 PM in response to samtenor

YOU’RE MY HERO! Thank you so much! The new adapter from the octopus didn’t make a difference, but the direct TB 2 cord with the adapter worked. The strange thing is, the octopus cord works fine with the trash can, but not with either Apple brand TB 3 to TB 2 adapters to the 2019 Mac Pro.

Reply

Answer 3

samtenor

Level 4

2,074 points

Dec 30, 2024 1:21 PM in response to macnpchz

Welcome to the community.

Glad my 2 cents helped.

Best

Reply

Answer 4

Jan 3, 2025 6:01 PM in response to macnpchz

macnpchz wrote:

The strange thing is, the octopus cord works fine with the trash can, but not with either Apple brand TB 3 to TB 2 adapters to the 2019 Mac Pro.

The version of macOS running on the new Mac Pro might be less tolerant of display transmission errors – more willing to cut signal entirely when it sees any.

Reply

Thunderbolt Display won't connect to my 2019 Mac Pro

Similar questions