Apple Thunderbolt Display 27 does not work with NUC gen 10 (NUC10i7FNH)

andrewdbate · ‎02-05-2022

Hello,

I have been struggling with the exact same issue as reported in this post.

The Apple Thunderbolt Display does not work with the NUC10i7FNH due to a firmware bug.

In that post, Intel Customer Support confirmed that this is an issue with the firmware on the NUC10i3FNH.

The last update on that post was on Feb 2020, which confirmed that a fix from Intel is required, but no ETA was given.

I am very disappointed that I am unable to use this display with my Intel NUC

Would it please be possible for Intel to release a workaround that would allow the Thunderbolt Display to be used with the NUC10i7FNH?

Alberto_R_Intel · ‎02-07-2022

andrewdbate, Thank you for posting in the Intel® Communities Support.

"which confirmed that a fix from Intel is required", as you can see in the post that you provided, what it says is: "currently we do not have the plans of including a similar BIOS feature to support these types of Apple* Thunderbolt Displays, however; I will be sharing this good idea internally to the team in charge, but we cannot ensure that this will be included soon. So for now, this seems to be an unsupported display."

Keep in mind that we do not recommend the use of adapters/converters/docking stations since some of them might not work as expected or might not be fully compatible with the Intel® NUC.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000026412/graphics.html

Thank you very much for your observations as well, for Intel® all the feedback provided by all of our clients is very important, so I will also send your comments to the proper department for them to be aware of your remarks for future implementations in order to improve the customer's experience while using Intel® products.

We advise to get in contact directly with Apple support to report this scenario and to confirm if they have additional suggestions on this matter:

https://support.apple.com/

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

andrewdbate · ‎02-13-2022

There is clearly no technical understanding of the issue here.

It is well-known that the Titan Ridge thunderbolt controller is not fully backwards compatible with some Thunderbolt 1 devices, including the Apple Thunderbolt Display, whereas the previous Alpine Ridge thunderbolt controller from Intel was fully backwards compatible.

The BIOS workaround is required only because of the lack of backwards compatibility in the Titan Ridge thunderbolt controller. The issue is with the thunderbolt controller, not with the Apple Thunderbolt Display.

I was asking for a status update to see whether this will be fixed with a firmware update (either to the thunderbolt controller or a BIOS workaround).

Asking me to contact Apple customer support is an unhelpful response to a legitimate enquiry. It is Intel's responsibility to fix their buggy firmware.

Previous generation NUCs, such as the NUC 8 which also has Thunderbolt 3 support, are indeed fully backwards compatible with thunderbolt 1 devices because they used the Alpine Ridge thunderbolt controller. To reiterate, the issue is with the Titan Ridge thunderbolt controller.

If Intel do not intend to fix their buggy firmware, then Intel should not advertise their current generation NUCs as being backwards compatible with Thunderbolt 1.

Alberto_R_Intel · ‎02-24-2022

Hello andrewdbate, Thank you very much for your response.

We will do further research on this matter. For us to be able to do that, please attach the SSU report so we can verify further details about the components in your platform, check all the options in the report including the one that says "3rd party software logs":

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows-?product=91600

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

andrewdbate · ‎02-24-2022

Thank you for this. Please find the logs you requested attached.

Alberto_R_Intel · ‎02-25-2022

andrewdbate, You are very welcome, thank you very much for providing the SSU report.

Based on the SSU document, we can confirm that the graphics driver version currently installed on your computer is 27.20.100.8681. There is a different driver version, which is 30.0.101.1191, validated for your Intel® NUC, please try a clean installation of that driver following the instructions in the links below:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19350/intel-graphics-dch-driver-for-intel-nuc.html?wapkw=nuc10i7fnh

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057389/graphics.html

Also, there is a Thunderbolt™ 3 Firmware Update Tool" for you to test, version 62:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19794/thunderbolt-3-firmware-update-tool-for-nuc10ixfn.html?wapkw=nuc10i7fnh

And a Thunderbolt™ 3 and 4 DCH Driver for you to install, version 1.41.1193.0:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19402/thunderbolt-3-and-4-dch-driver-for-windows-10-for-intel-nuc.html?wapkw=nuc10i7fnh

Once you get the chance, please let us know the results so, if necessary, we will do further research on this topic.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

andrewdbate · ‎02-25-2022

Thank you for the reply.

I have installed the new graphics driver (version 30.0.101.1191) with a clean install as per the instructions. I had previously upgraded the Thunderbolt firmware to version 62, and the tool reported that version 62 was already installed, but reinstalled it anyway to see if that would make a difference. I also installed the Thunderbolt 3 and 4 DCH Driver version 1.41.1193.0.

For completeness I have attached a new SSU report after taking these steps.

However, unfortunately, this has not made any difference. The Apple Thunderbolt Display does not connect to the system.

Here is a screenshot of the Thunderbolt Control Center when the Apple Thunderbolt Display is attached to the system.

I still believe that this is a thunderbolt firmware issue, which could possibly be worked around in BIOS in a manner similar to how other vendors such as Dell have worked around this issue on their systems.

Thank you.

Alberto_R_Intel · ‎02-28-2022

andrewdbate, You are very welcome, Thank you very much for letting us know those results and providing the updated SSU report.

We are sorry to hear the issue persists after trying the troubleshooting steps provided previously. We will now do further research on this matter, as soon as I get any updates I will post all the details on this thread.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Alberto_R_Intel · ‎03-03-2022

Hello andrewdbate, I just received an update on this matter.

After reviewing the case, we can confirm that the Intel® Thunderbolt™ 3 controller JHL7x40 series is backward compatible with earlier Thunderbolt computers, cables, and peripherals.

But we do not know whats the extent of this compatibility and when it comes to Apple we do not ensure compatibility since Apple customizes its technology to work only between Apple devices.

That was the reason why we suggest to get in contact directly with Apple support so they can confirm those details:

https://support.apple.com/

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician