By Neil Hughes

Published: 02:37 PM EST (11:37 AM PST)

Issues when connecting a 24-inch Cinema Display to a Thunderbolt port have persisted since the high-speed data and video port debuted early this year, but there is an indication that Apple is aware of the problem and working on a fix.

A growing thread on the Apple Support Communities website is filled with users who have experienced issues with their 24-inch Cinema Displays when used with a Thunderbolt port on a new Mac. The thread began in February, just after the new MacBook Pros were released, and new posts continue to be added regularly with users who have experienced screen flickering on the discontinued 24-inch display.

AppleInsider reader David Batista sent an e-mail on Friday explaining his own similar issues experienced with multiple 24-inch displays that he owns. He said that none of the Cinema Displays can be used with his new MacBook Pro equipped with Thunderbolt.

"I myself have been on the phone with Apple at least six times now over this," he wrote. "All they can say is that the engineers are looking into it and hopefully they can find a fix soon."

Batista said he's surprised a fix hasn't been issued considering Thunderbolt ports have been added to new Macs released throughout 2011. The 24-inch Cinema Display was discontinued in 2010 along with the 30-inch model. Apple now offers a single display at 27 inches.



An updated 27-inch model, dubbed a "Thunderbolt Display," was unveiled by Apple in July. It features Thunderbolt I/O and built-in docking cables for Mac notebooks, and is available for $999. Orders for the display began shipping last week.

Before Thunderbolt was released this year, Apple's Cinema Displays were driven by the Mini DisplayPort standard Apple has included in its Macs for years. Thunderbolt ports are the same size as Mini DisplayPort, and are mean to be backward-compatible with earlier hardware, while newer Thunderbolt-equipped devices can handle both video and data over the same 10Gbps copper cable.