imac lcd panel black factory
I got this strange ‘dust problem’ on my Mac. In December 2009 my dream came true and I purchased new lovely Apple iMac 27”, 2.66, i5. One day I have noticed dark grey smudges on both sides of the screen (left and right). I actually didn"t notice any spots until I changed the background to pure white (or any other solid color really). At first, I thought it was fingerprint smudges or something. I cleaned the entire screen and it still remains.
I contacted with Apple service and they said iMac is very sensitive to dust. They call it ‘interlaminar dust’in matrix. As time passes, dust accumulates inside the machine and irreversibly penetrates the LCD itself, causing the dark stains. They blamed environment in my room! My Mac is placed on a normal work desk with lots of space around it and not more dust then in a normal house. Not that I am surprised that iMac is very sensitive to dust but I am so woefully disappointed.
Most people believe it was a factory defect on the LCDs. The only trouble they say is how to convince Apple Service to make a replacement of LCD under Apple repair program. They say if you pushy enough might get lucky and Apple might fix it for you.
A cracked glass screen or LCD display is no fun, especially if you were in the middle of working on something important when the damage occurred. If your broken or cracked Apple iMac monitor still has working components, you don"t necessarily need to replace the entire display. You can fix it easily yourself with one of the many affordable iMac replacement screens available on eBay; installation usually only takes minutes, so you can get back to work or play quickly.How does a replacement iMac screen work?
The iMac LCD glass replacement screen has a built-in magnetic perimeter which holds it into place on the display. The LCD panel attaches to the display via cables that supply the power and data to the screen. As long as you have a properly functioning display base and cables, it should be easy to install a new glass display and LCD panel without the need for expensive tools.How do you choose the right iMac 27 LCD screen?
When purchasing an iMac 27 LCD, you"ll need to make sure that the model you select is compatible with your specific computer model. eBay has tons of new and used iMac LCD and replacement screens available to select from. You can use some of these helpful search options on eBay to select the right type of screen or display for your needs:Brand compatibility: You can choose from OEM or unbranded screen replacements that fit your device and budget.
Custom bundle: Some offerings include a custom bundle that includes everything you need to replace your screen, including an opening wheel and adhesive strips. This can make the job quicker and easier.How do you know if the LCD panel is broken?
LCD or liquid crystal displays use liquid crystals to produce color and images on the screen. The crystals themselves don"t produce any light, so they get the light they need from a backlight. If the LCD panel is broken or cracked, you might notice strange lines or patterns on the screen, black or blurred spots on the display, or the screen might be totally black. In this case, the LCD panel might need to be replaced and not just the glass.Which computer is the iMac 27 LCD screen compatible with?
eBay offers a variety of replacement glass and LCD displays for the iMac computer. You can find compatible replacement displays and screens for every model, from late 2009 models up to 2015 models.Content provided for informational purposes only. eBay is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple.
If your Mac or MacBook screen goes black suddenly or if it goes straight to a blank screen every time you start it up, don’t panic. Often it’s just a temporary problem — one you can fix quite easily. Common issues include faulty monitor cables and flaws in third-party software.
Unfortunately, there may be more serious reasons why your Mac gets stuck on a black screen. For example, your Mac’s power supply could be failing, or you might even have issues with the motherboard that would be too difficult and expensive to fix.
That’s the worst-case scenario, though. Before you give up on your Mac and send it to the trash, you should try to eliminate other possible causes first. And that’s what this guide is about. Whether you have a MacBook Air or Pro, a Mac mini or an iMac — follow these steps to work out why your Mac’s screen is black so you can fix it.
A black screen on your Mac can be the result of malware. Stop that from ever happening with MacKeeper. Its real-time antivirus keeps a lookout for your Mac, alerting you if viruses or other nasties find their way onto your machine. It also offers privacy, optimization and junk-cleaning tools.Try it out today, with one free fix for each tool.
We’ll start with the most common ways to stop the black screen problem on Macs and look at what you should do if you think you have a more serious hardware issue.
It’s possible your Mac’s screen isn’t actually black but just very, very dark. This can happen if you accidentally lean on the brightness keys on your keyboard. To check this, simply use those keys to try to turn up the brightness on your screen.
But how do you restart your Mac or MacBook when the screen is black? You have a couple of options:Press Ctrl + Cmd + Power button. This will force your Mac to restart, without asking you to save your open documents.
Press Ctrl + Cmd + Media eject. This will restart your Mac too, but you’ll be asked to save your work first. Obviously, you won’t be able to see it if your screen is black, but you might be able to get away with pressing Entera few times in response to any save prompts that might be open.
Macs with Intel processors have a System Management Controller (SMC). This controls how they manage power, and resetting it can often alleviate all kinds of problems with your Mac, including the dreaded black screen of death. How you do this depends on whether you have a MacBook or a desktop Mac and when it was made.
Your Mac’s NVRAM is a small amount of memory reserved for certain system functions like volume levels and display resolutions. Resetting it can sometimes fix issues, including if your Mac suddenly went black. This only applies to Intel Macs, though, because NVRAM works differently in those with Apple silicon.
Sometimes, external devices can interfere with the normal operation of your Mac, particularly if they’re faulty. For that reason, it"s a good idea to try unplugging everything from your Mac to see if it helps with black screen problems. This includes USB mice and keyboards, network cables, Bluetooth devices — everything other than the power and the monitor cables.
Try turning on your Mac like this and see if you still get a black screen. If you don’t, plug each thing back in one at a time to see which one is causing the problem.
Macs, like other computers, can withstand a fair amount of heat, but if they get too hot, they will often behave in unpredictable ways. They may simply shut themselves down. They might run more slowly. Or they might give you a black screen — especially if the graphics processor starts to struggle with the heat. A safe operating temperature range is between 50ºC and 95ºC.
If your Mac’s screen goes black intermittently or after a few minutes of being on, it could be caused by malware. Running a virus scan may be able to help you, if you can get a scan to run.
When you start your Mac in safe mode, it starts up only with the software and drivers that macOS came with. If it starts up in safe mode, then it’s likely your black screen issue is caused by third-party software, rather than a hardware problem.
macOS Recovery mode lets you restore your Mac to factory settings. If there’s a serious problem with macOS and you can’t fix it, this might be your last option. It’s a drastic move, but if your Mac is having intermittent black screen issues or doesn’t display a black screen in safe mode, it might be worth it.
If your monitor is the cause of your Mac’s black screen problems, no amount of toying with your Mac will fix it. If possible, try your monitor on a different computer. If it works, then it’s most likely your Mac which is at fault.
No computer lasts forever. Macs usually last for many, many years, but if you’ve had yours for a long time, it’s possible it’s displaying a black screen because a piece of its hardware is broken. That could include the motherboard, the hard drive, the RAM, the graphics card or the power supply.
If you have a Mac laptop or iMac with a display that’s been damaged or no longer turns on, but you’re sure the computer is still functioning, a repair may not be required to extract all its data or continue using it.
All Mac laptops and iMacs of the last many years support an external monitor, though the particular adapter and type varies based on the vintage of Mac:
Black screen on MacBook Pro? It"s the situation that you hope will never happen, and when it does, it often seems to be at the worst possible time. We rate Apple"s MacBooks among the best laptops for creatives, and we"ve found them to be very reliable on the whole. But as with any laptop or desktop computer, sometimes things can go wrong.
We won"t deny that a MacBook Pro black screen can sometimes be bad news, but often it"s not actually such a big deal and can be fixed quite easily. Many of our writers and creative contributors use MacBooks day in, day out, so it"s a problem we"ve come across a few times. Below, we"ll suggest the series of steps that we usually try if we"re faced with a black screen on MacBook Pro.
A blank screen of any kind, (black, grey, or blue), will appear once or more when you startup of your device, but if your MacBook gets stuck on a blank screen, these steps may just bring it back to life, whether you"re using the laptop"s own screen or an external display. On that note, if you"re looking for a bigger screen, see our pick of the best monitors for MacBook Pro. We also have a roundup of the best MacBook Pro deals in case you decide it"s time to upgrade your laptop.
Any number of issues can cause a MacBook Pro black screen. Sometimes it can happen waking your laptop from sleep, and sometimes it can be caused by broke disk permissions or a software error. Below we"ll outline the steps to try if the problem is a black, or otherwise blank screen, on your MacBook Pro"s own display. If your problem is with an external monitor, skip to how to fix a black screen on a MacBook Pro external monitor.
To boot into Safe Mode, power off and let your MacBook Pro sit for 20 seconds. Turn it on again and immediately hold down the Shiftkey. Release the Shift key when the login window appears. You should see "Safe Boot" in the upper right corner of the window. Sometimes you may be asked to login twice, and your computer may take a longer than usual to start while it carries out diagnostics. After it"s completely booted up, you can restart again in normal startup and see if the black screen is fixed.
The Mac"s Systems Management Controller (SMC) controls things like temperature, keyboard, display and fans. Resetting the SMC is another possible quick fix to resolve a black screen on MacBook Pro. Turn of your MacBook and unplug it for at least 15 seconds before plugging in again. Then, with the power still off, hold down Shift + Option + Control + the power button all together. Release the keys when your MacBook starts booting up.
The steps above should help you resolve a MacBook Pro black screen, but if your laptop"s own screen is working but an external monitor is blank, there are other things to try.
The black screen on a MacBook Pro external monitor may be caused by simply closing your laptop. By default, this automatically puts your MacBook Pro to sleep. If you want to be able to close the lid of your MacBook Pro but still use the laptop via an external monitor, you"ll need to change some settings. Go to System Preferences > Battery > Energy Saver > Power Adapter, and move the slider to Never. Note that you"ll also need to have a keyboard and either a mouse or trackpad connected to your MacBook Pro or it will still sleep on closing the lid.
Having a black screen on your MacBook is frustrating. It’s hard to work and even harder to figure out what’s happening. In this article, we’ll discuss seven techniques to help you fix a black screen on a MacBook. From resetting your computer to removing hidden files, we’ll have you up and running in no time. So read on, and don’t let a black screen ruin your day!
There are a few different reasons your MacBook might display a black screen. One possibility is that something is wrong with the motherboard or CPU, and you’ll need to take it in for repair. Another option is that your computer has been infected with malware, and you’ll need to remove the virus before fixing the issue. If none of these solutions work, restoring your system from a recent backup may be your best Option.
The fifth step in fixing a black screen on a Macbook is to reset the SMC. This process will help resolve any underlying issues that may be causing the black screen, and it can usually be completed by following these steps.This can help you restore your computer’s original settings and fix any problems caused by incorrect or outdated driver installation. To do this, follow these steps:
If the black screen issue is with an external monitor connected to your MacBook Pro, there are a few things you can do. First, ensure that the display is working and the cables are correctly plugged in. Next, try restarting your Macbook and connecting the external monitor after it restarts. If this doesn’t solve the issue, you may need to troubleshoot further by checking for errors with your graphics card or drivers.
If you are using your MacBook and it suddenly goes black, hitting the power button will not turn it on. To solve this issue, try any of the following solutions:
So far, the tricks we have covered can help you fix most issues related to your screen not working. However, if nothing works and the black screen remains unblocked, proceed to ask for assistance from an expert who knows how to fix it properly.
Summary: A complete tutorial to fix iMac, MacBook Pro/Air that won"t turn on black screen issue. And how to save your files with iBoysoft Data Recovery in macOS Recovery Mode.
If you are facing the black screen of death issue after pressing the power on button in your Mac (MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, or Mac Mini), don"t be thrilled, even if you can"t use your Mac normally or access the data on it, it doesn"t mean the certain death of your device.
The other one is when you can perceive some response from your Mac, such as MacBook Pro shows a black screen with chime, MacBook screen goes black after a few minutes of booting, MacBook Pro screen is not working but keyboard lit, etc.
If you find yourself in this precarious situation, you"d better first rescue files from your Mac to avoid permanent loss. Then, follow the detailed solutions to fix the MacBook Pro/Air that won"t turn on due to the black screen issue.
To recover data from your Mac/MacBook that has a black screen issue, you need to run iBoysoft Data Recovery in macOS Recovery mode. For the best outcome, it"s recommended to watch the above video.
Sometimes, the MacBook shows a black screen only not playing the startup chime, or the MacBook Pro screen goes black after a few minutes of booting. In this case, check if the battery of your Mac is charged with enough power to run the startup procedures.
If you can hear some spinning noise from the hard drive or fans at startup, or the keyboards light, it means that the black screen issue is not caused by the lack of power.
A situation that very often results in the black screen problem on your MacBook isn"t a startup problem, but due to the monitor having been dimmed down.
If you see a black screen on your Mac with the cursor, it means that the machine gets stuck on the black screen for a moment and then gets into sleep mode.
To stop your Mac from sleeping, you can type the first letter of the user name and hit "Enter". Mac will recognize that you type in the wrong information and give you a response, and consequently, it will withdraw from the black screen situation.
Mac"s NVRAM stores in-memory settings including display resolution, startup disk selection, recent kernel panic information, etc. So, resetting NVRAM may be helpful for fixing the MacBook Pro"s black screen of death.
Booting into Mac Recovery Mode can be a solution when your MacBook Pro/Air screen goes black and unresponsive at startup. It happens due to your system drive may be corrupted. Those corruptions can be in the partition table, the file system, or the file system, etc.
You might find that your M1 MacBook Pro/Air is stuck on a black screen after restart. As reported, this issue commonly appears on the M1 Mac in using an external monitor, especially when the M1 Mac is on wake from sleep mode.
Even though the iMac is packed with the latest processors, faster memory, Retina display, and phenomenal graphics, it also can"t avoid the black screen issue still.
When your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro won"t turn on but boots into the black screen, it"s not the end of the world. You can find solutions in this post or get assistance from an Apple store specialist.
I love you man i solve this after i reset everthing on my mac book pro with no anwser and in the black screen i put my password and enter it and is solve !! Have a great day !!
for 1 year I have loved mac book book pro which lights up with a black screen. no external output via hdmi so for me this is not the cause of the graphics cards but a problem of login and especially of the smc chip. Despite the manipulations known as the smc and nvpram reset nothing conclusive. I removed the internal peripherals from the motherboard starting with the battery, and plugged into the mains only once on 5 images but as soon as a restart plus image I tried the same thing without ssd. What was revealing was when I disconnected the trackpad cable suddenly but not permanently, but the keyboard still works. Remove the internal keyboard cable and I plugged in an old g5 power pc keyboard. and the miracle the image came back i was able to reset the ssd via thunderbolt and fire wire from my old g5 erase the ssd in targert mode. reinstall high Sierra and the image and still present, so I reconnected track pad and keyboard then while it was turning the capo open I replanted sofa battery the image of the discharged battery after reset smc and restart the image is fixed finally
Have the black screen, no start up sounds, the 3”ram issue” beeps….nothing has worked yet. I’ve tried everything with no luck. It’s very frustrating. It was working fine until I tried upgrading the OS. It froze in the middle of update, I turned it off and it’s never come back since.
I’ve got the same problem you have. I did all that was suggested, got the onboard sound back but still have the black screen. My 2015 MBP works fine with an external monitor. I even opened it up, unplugged items as suggested on a YouTube tutorial, no luck. It appears I have a cable problem which I’ve read is not uncommon on this year MBP. It began as an intermittent problem but is not full-time black. I don’t have dual cards on this one. Mine appears to have been dropped by the previous owner, but it worked great for about a year before the black screen. No OS upgrade, just black out of the blue.
none for me either … but now after 3 days it worked, I just turned it on closed the MacBook so it goes to sleep, then opened the screen very slowly and waited 2 second… now when I open the screen all the way it turns black again
Hello, I recently bought Macbook Pro 2020 13 inch and my screen has gone black twice – both of the times I was on Zoom and I also had an interface connected to the laptop. The screen only came back on when I closed and opened the lid. What sort of of troubleshoot should I do as I do not wish the screen to go black ever again! Please someone advise. Thank you!
please some one help i have an old macbook black edition 2009 maby its boot to a black screen and i have tried all above methods any one have idea to solve it
Hi, a black display occurred to my MacBook Pro (2014) in September 2019. I am not into computers at all but knowing the Macbook had chimed and that by connecting it to the TV set via HDMI cable it was still working, I took it to the nearest Apple store and was told the display was dead, burnt, and that I had two alternatives, either to repair it at the cost of 450 euros or to continue using an external monitor. I chose the second and bought one for 80€ and used it until July 13th, when all of a sudden on switching my MacBook on I had a shock…I could see the bitten apple and then my desktop and it’s been working okay since then and it’s a complete mystery to me! Maybe it depends on the latest version of the system update, maybe I had started using the combination keys to shut it down recently, I have no idea, but it is working. I expect it to go black again but next time I ‘ll try your tips and I’ll see. Thank you.
It happened again, yesterday, on my first DAD (online teaching) day after the latest dpcm, my Macbook went black without any apparent reason. Just three months of normal summer use and when I need it most it deserts me. I have just tried all of your tips and tricks but nothing’s worked. I do believe it’s been scheduled by Apple somehow, no idea how but it is very very annoying…..
My 12″ Macbook went into black screen by idle sleep in battery mode. There was still haptic feedback to touchpad but no keyboard back-lit. When I tried to connect to external monitor, there was no display too. At least, I knew that it won’t be the display panel issue. I tried power on/off several times, no success.
Thank you so very much! After a full day of rigamarole, booting up an old pc, trying to find my manuscript on my back-up, working in a different version of Word, and the build-up of stress, I searched one more time for something that might restore my mac from the Black Screen of Death. Saw your three steps above, and it booted up perfectly. Can’t thank you enough. Post saved and shared on my personal and business facebook pages. God bless your talents and you for sharing them.
For about two weeks, my 2015 pro would just randomly shut down on me throughout use. Today, I decided to install the new software update -in hopes that it would fix the problem. It would download halfway, then shut down. After retrying 2 times, my screen decided to just go completely black every time I tried to log in. Thank goodness for this article because I seriously thought my mac was done for and I’d have to spend money on either fixing it or replacing it. The PRAM suggestion WORKS!!! Thank you!
Just thought I’d share, I ran into this problem after do an update. Half way through install the screen went black, so I did a restart, did the same thing.
I just had this problem on my 2012 MacBook Pro, although pretty old i never have problems with it. i tried all of the recommendations above and none of them seemed to work, after i tried the PRAM reboot, i started looking online for different fixes (on my phone obviously since the laptop wasnt working). while i was searching, my wallpaper came back and the black screen was gone, but the menu bar at the top of my screen along with the folders that are usually on my desktop havent popped up yet.. im hoping giving it some more time will let it fix itself
The mac had never give me a black screen since then . So apple this problem is recurring since 2014 on macbook pro , this left me with a bad taste about your respect of your customer
My Mac book booted up to a black screen a couple of times, but entering password and hitting return resolved the issue. The last time that it booted up to a black screen non of the suggestions above worked and it was booting keeping to boot up to a black screen for almost one month. After trying almost any method, I tried to SSH to my laptop from another computer and the dark screen suddenly gone… the positive point is that after experiencing several boot ups to a black screen I noticed that all of the dark screen incidents happened after my macbook went to the “sleep mode.” After resolving the last balck screen incident I changed the setting such that it never goes to “sleep mode.” Fortunately I have not experienced a black screen anymore at least up to now.
One night this happened as I was shutting down the computer, the next morning the screen would not come on.. just black.. and external monitors connected wouldn’t work either, so I think it may have damaged the graphics chip by powering down during the scrambled screen.
Every time I booted the machine after this I would get the black screen and would have to use the same method as above to switch it on even though I tried to uninstall all CUDA drivers etc.
My theory was that the GPU was damaged but the computer was still trying to use it which results in a black screen, tricking it to switch it back to integrated graphics fixed it. Maybe there was some code somewhere telling it to use the GPU.
Unfortunately after the install the screen is now permanently black.. I did manage to get it to come on once.. but don’t know why.. I shut the machine down and closed the lid, left it for about half and hour thinking the computer would never run again.. I opened it up and hit the power button and the screen came on!! After booting Mojave for the first time, I was notified about the absent graphics driver and given the option to download a CUDA driver from the internet, which I did and installed.. hoping that perhaps the problem was just some faulty code on my machine somewhere.. I then plugged an external monitor in hoping the external screen would work, and everything went black again!!! Since then I’ve not been able to get it working, and not sure if I ever will!!
The first method Control+shift+option+power helps me get the Mac on. I know this since caps lock turns on. But the screen is still black. So I typed my password and it logged in and still black. So I tried clicking randomly with the click pad and my older tabs with Netflix started playing. Once the Siri spoke. Still black screen though.
I have two accounts on my macbook, and black screen was affecting just one of them – whether I logged into it from boot or via fast user switching from the other account, both of which obviously require the password. So it would log in and immediately fade to black. Having tried everything else, I tried entering password again (despite having only just used it to log in) and hitting enter – and it worked!
Same problem here, occasionally my MBP mid 2010 boots to a black screen. Entering the password solution works for me but that doesn’t fix the cause of the problem. So after some digging, I figured it out. In my case, it’s the automatic graphics switching. Once disabled, no more black sreen boots.
Same problem here, occasionally my MBP mid 2010 boots to a black screen. Entering the password solution works for me but that doesn’t fix the cause of the problem. So after some digging, I figured it out. In my case, it’s the automatic graphics switching. Once disabled, no more black sreen boots.
If no software solution resolves the Black MacBook screen problem, you may have a hardware problem and should take the computer to Apple or an Apple Authorized Repair center to address and diagnose the hardware issue.
In my case, the screen works until after I login, then it turns black. If I hold down option and restart into recovery mode, the screen works fine. I tried the PRAM and the brightness and other things, nothing works.
If the screen is not black when logged in as the new user, that suggests something is up with the primary user account you are using, in which case you’ll want to investigate the login items, launch agents, etc, for the user account that is turning the screen black. It’s possible some app or process is loading at the user level causing the issue.
I had the black screen happen in the middle of searching the internet. I tried restsrting it a few times, and then I found your article. I tried all three steps and nothing…I had the startup sound and it flashed white a couple o times but even resetting the PRAM didn’t work.
PRAM reset + password fix worked. Before black screen would come on, it was updating software. Finally finished updating after PRAM reset. Battery charger remained yellow until PRAM too. Can’t blame this one on the cat though he does chew through cords!
Tried all the options and the PW reset worked on my MacBook Pro. Then it finished with an install (15 min) left. I get this black screen issue quite a lot—usually it’s the brightness turned all the way down. Not sure why/how that happens. Thank you for the help, needed my computer this weekend to do my mom’s taxes and for a paper due on Sunday, these solutions saved me much frustration!
my 2011 macbook pro was in sleep mode for a week or so. woke to a black screen. rebooted to black screen. tried all these but none worked. found something crazy elsewhere that worked.
I’ve dealt with this all morning – tried all online fixes including wrapping laptop in blanket and singing to it…. I found a video instructing to gently press the black strip at back of laptop when laptop is closed, which DID help enough for the screen to flash on and off, or be fully dimmed but slightly readable (none of this was easy)..
Battery went flat. I connected charge, started charging and pressed power on with charger connected (charging successfully). Black screen for about 10 seconds, then apple logo with progress bar at about 90% flashed up then back to black screen. No matter what I did I was back to same scenario after about 20 varied attempts.
Came for more of an explanation of what went on, having already figured out my macbook was on but the display was black. I tried logging in and it worked! Yay! So an upvote for that solution anyway.
I love forums. I have a 2014 MacBook Air. I recently have been broadcasting it to a 2018 32in Samsung TV (via HDMI converter) to give myself a bigger monitor. Over the past couple days I noticed if I just had my laptop (away and unplugged from the TV) my screen would be almost black. My F2 and F3 buttons would sporadically work. I found this forum and tried the “Try a Keypress Sequence to Ditch the Black Screen”. Bippity Boppity Boo. She is running like a pro again on both screens (I am mirroring them at the moment).
I dropped my macbook and then got the black screen problem. These steps didn’t fix it and an external monitor worked, so I figured the drop had jiggled something loose. I closed the laptop, flipped it over, and mashed on the upper right corner. All fixed!
I never usually leave comments of articcles, but this saved my day. This morning I tried to turn on my MacBook but the screen was black. I freaked out and immediately searched online, found this article. Option 1 worked for me, thank you so much!
I had the Black Screen issue then flickering lines. Did all the solutions posted on many sites and none worked. Have got a USB self booting updated to High Sierra and then when loaded tried UNSELECTING Automatic Graphics Switching in System Prefs. My mackbook Pro 2015 is now working again without screen issues. Hope this helps.
My mac book pro was on when I closed the screen and kept it for about a day or two without using it. I opened it and hit the power button. For some reason the screen was dark bluewish and won’t come up. I did a hard shut down and rebooted the system. On pressing the power button, all I could hear is a boot sound and the screen is black with no keyboard light. I tried rebooting it with no success. I connected it to my LG tv using the hdmi cable and found that the system was actually booting successfully but the screen wont display. However, the keyboard light was back. I then try the Pram reset as demonstrated in a video on u-tube by pressing the command, option, R, P and power button together until I heard two boot sounds, then released the buttons at once. I heard a third boot sound as mentioned in the video. It still did not work. I kept the system for about three days trying to figure out what to do. Then just about now I tried the pram reset again as described here. I press the power button and after the booting sound I pressed command, R, option buttons then the screen just resume before I press the P button. I think the Pram reset would have work for me the first time if I had done it as described here. Thanks a lot.
I tried everything and nothing worked. I know there is nothing wrong with the screen since I Frankensteined it with a Mac a year newer and it worked perfectly. Also mine flashed the two times I rebooted it before I got the black screen.
I tried all the different tips but it seems like PRAM worked. I heard the reboot sound twice but the screen was still black. I was pissed off, doing something else and I think I assumed it had gone in sleep mode although I clearly couldn’t see it. So I hit the power button and suddenly light appeared! At this point I was convinced it really was the screen that was broken as the apple logo on the back wasn’t lit either – now it is. I also removed a sticker in front of the webcam because I saw people here wrote about brightness and I wondered if it was unable to adjust properly, so whether it was the sticker or PRAM not sure. But I believe PRAM despite me first thinking it didn’t work, so make sure to try that power button again afterwards! I’m working on my thesis at the moment (had done a back up) so pretty glad it decided to work again as I haven’t the money to go purchase a new one.
I tried all of these and none of them worked! When I turn on my MacBook Pro I hear the chime noise. The screen turns on but, it’s just black. The lights on the keys don’t work either. I fell asleep while holding my laptop and it was still open. I woke up to it on the floor on it’s side, open. I freaked out. I tried closing it and opening it, no luck. I tried plugging it in and pushing the power button. I heard the chime noise but just a black display. When I look at the Apple logo on the back, it lights up but, just a black screen. Please, please, please help me!!
Same here, I tried all of these solutions but the screen still was black – then we UNPLUGGED the Mac cord and it started rebooting. No idea why or what solution worked; but something did. Thank you.
This happened to me as well. Actually, weirdly enough, this happened out of the blue while the mac was *open and *working! It turned into a black screen. I checked the brightness, and it wasn’t related to hitting the brightness button accidentally.
Eventually after about 5-6 failed reboots, it worked fine. It’s weird cause the black screen booted after about one third of the loading bar was done?!
second methode worked for me! i tried many things, after i reinstall the system i still had this problem! after this simple trick , no blackscreen anymore! saves me alot of money! thx alot!
Thanks for the great article! I accidentally let my Macbook Pro 2011 run completely out of power on the battery. I knew my black screen was a software related backlight issue. I made it through step 1 and 2 with no success and then tried shining a flashlight through the Apple logo on the back side of the screen. Sure enough, I saw my user icon, clicked it, entered my password, and everything came back just fine. Sounds like step 3 would have probably worked too…but sometimes a flashlight helps :)
Symptoms: black display, no startup chime, apple logo on back of display not illuminated, keyboard backlighting not working, and caps lock key not lighting up. Could not reset PRAM, SMC, or do anything else. All keys were unresponsive and I could only hear the HD spinning if the computer was on. So after forcing power off by holding the power butter I tried turning on power and immediately closed the laptop case. After 30 seconds or so the apple logo lit up. I waited a few more seconds, opened the laptop and like magic everything was working again. Was then easily able to reset PRAM and even got the startup chime working again.
OMG, THANK YOU for such a thorough list of suggestions for the black screen boot! Was starting to have a mild panic attack, since I could not get the laptop to start in either Safe or Recovery Mode (or, it may have, but the screen was still black, so not the solution, clearly). I had to reset the PRAM twice, to get the screen to come up, but that fixed the issue.
nothing working so far to get the black screen to go away, but resetting the pram did something; it shut up the voiceover. This is the Imac running Sierra, 8 yrs. old. my cat knocked it off the table so I suspect a hardware problem. it starts up in text mode it says. no screen, says it’s running Chrome in the back ground. checking with flashlight I see nothing. I’ve been doing these tricks in case it wasn’t a hardware problem, but it did hit the floor pretty hard on one corner…soo..I bought a new Imac. still I’d like to get the old one working if I can learn how. It also makes funny noises now, so must be hardware.
Nothing helped for me on top. But i solved it differently and i guess it has to do with booting with my usb stick connected in. It somehow stuck and the black scrern never gone away even after all solutions and restarts. So i choose to boot in recovery mide option R. Reinstalled Sierra on top of old System. I rebooted and it worked again. Then i saved all my files. Downloaded fresh new sierra from appstore. Made a new usb stick of it. Then i booted into it and wiped the old system wholy and reinstalled a fresh copy of sierra and all important apps i need mostly for now…
I tried all the usual pram smc resets without success. In the end I shined a torch through the apple logo on the lid of my computer. I saw the login box faintly through it and then I logged in as normal and my MBP came alive again and the black screen disappeared
I tries all of the above with no luck. Funnily, what worked was to leave it on while the screen was black, close the lid and then open the lid again. It’s back to normal now.
Thanks for these great tricks. My MacBook Air 2013 wasn’t rebooting when turned on and it kept showing only a black screen. Of course I was feeling bummed and thought about going to the Apple Store but your help allowed me to fix it myself. The first two suggestions did not work but luckily the last one did! Thank you!!!
After none of the 3 options worked, I turned my MacBook Pro back on and as soon as I got back to having a black screen with just the cursor , I just clicked on the screen (any place should work) then blindly typed in my password and hit enter. This brought me right back to where I was at before the problem and it hasn’t happened since. Hope this helps at least one person.
I own a late 2013 MBP. My screen was black but I could hear the startup chime. I tried all 3 of your options to no avail. I knew my monitor was not simply too dark because I have it hooked up to an external monitor as well.
My girlfriends 2010 macbook pro had this happen. I could log in but then the screen was black. Checked all the basics, screen brightness etc. Did PRAM, Safe Mode, and SMC. Did not fix. I knew the desktop was running because I got a notification in the top right corner about “No backups for 379 days” on top of the black screen.
I had the problem of my mac starting and the screen being blank but with the longer showing. I could 4 finger scroll and the dock would appear then disappear as soon at I moved the pointer. Simple fix was restart to the black screen and type my password in and hit enter. It worked. It looks like the login screen was there. It not showing.
Thank you so much. The Pram reset plus typing my password in randomly when the black screen came back, as a comment above suggested worked. It is three days until Christmas and buying a new computer was not in the Christmas budget. I’m thrilled this worked. Thank you so much.
After many failed attempts, I turned on the Mac. It loaded and the black screen was still there. I then took a shot in the dark and typed in my password to login. The screen flickered on and then quickly back to black. Then I typed in the password again and the screen came back to life!!!
I tried the four given solutions multiple times, and I was going to give up until I read this post and thought, what do I have to loose? I turned on the computer, shut the lid quickly, and opened it. Actually, I did this twice. The second time it worked. It’s like a miracle. I did notice that my Macbook pro 2015 decided it was dark enough to turn on the keyboard lights, and my screen – though still black – was brighter. I don’t know if this was part of directing the laptop back to lighting the display correctly. And closing the opening the lid a couple of times. This was a lifesaver, thanks!!!!!
I tried all the options except the dropping of the device(macbook air). I have dropped iPads before to get the screen working. Anyways, on this Macbook Air which I had connected to an external monitor, I went into displays and opened the arrangement tag and changed the white bar from one monitor to the next to make the external monitor my primary monitor. Suddenly my screen came to life, after sitting here writing this up for a couple of minutes the screen went black again, I thought it may have just gone to sleep, but no…. bugga.
none of the above solutions worked, but i fixed it this way: my problem was after the hard reboot i see the login screen for only 3 seconds then goes black, so i rebooted again and this time i kept moving the mouse and clicked on the guest user as fast as i could before the screen goes black, then surprisingly it opened the guest user account normally so everything was load up, and i saw the notice of the updated new OSX which was installed automatically and i think that was the problem. so i clicked on the apple logo and restart. this time everything load up fine and the screen didn’t go black on me on select user page. so logged in to my account normally and everything was fine. i hope this can help other users. cheers
This came about from trying to troubleshoot a FileVault password issue where the keyboard and mouse became unresponsive on boot up while asking for a password. It was here the user held down the power button which caused the black screen problem.
I got the dreaded black screen on my MacBook Pro purchased 2011. None of 3 solutions worked for me after several attempts and reading suggestions provided. I contacted Apple Support who for the most part had me do the same things but none worked. I was desperate since I hadn’t backed up to the external drive for 6 months. The Support Tech was kind enough to help me schedule an appointment at my local Apple Store and got me in the same day. Again no luck at the store but my screen was beginning to get more white screen when rebooted to the point of a scrambled like screen this was about 6 hours after getting nothing but black. (Prior I would get a white screen for a second at reboot and the it went black where it stayed.) the support at the store told me I would need a part (sorry I can’t remember what it was). The part was going cost at a flat rate $283. Being an older laptop I have been already having problems with it. My main concern was my photos and videos which he was able to show me that they were still there by connecting to another Mac laptop. His suggestion was transferring my files to another Mac device which I do not have and would need to purchase. I thought my Mac was done but after waiting 24 hours (100%charge and left unplugged for the night) I tried rebooting it again and screen came back. It seems to be working fine but believe me the first thing I did was run backup! I don’t trust it. Someone mentioned they drop theirs and it worked and another recommended letting cool down… mine wasn’t overheated when I had plugged it in and got the black screen. It did have a 0% charge when I plugged in and immediately turned it on… Apple support online/phone is free and the in store support is free until they begin doing work on your device. Just be aware you do want an appointment if you go to store…they are known to be booked up to 2 weeks at my location. Hope this helps.
I’ve tried all the combinations. Sometimes it works and I use my MacBook with no immediate problems and then it just goes back to black screen again. This is so frustrating. I should have kept my old non-apple laptop.
I called Apple Support. They got me loading OSX Yosemite or something. The loading bar says it would take 1 hr and 40 mins but suddenly I heard a chime. Guess what? Black screen again with my MacBook running. The Apple Support person closed for the day while I was still loading the software.
This time I tried option 1 and it didn’t work. I tried turning it on again and waiting for the invisible dialogue box like option 2 said, and tried turning my volume up to see if I could get any noise. The black screen disappeared and the normal boot-up screen returned. I have NO idea why this worked and I have no idea if it can be replicated, but it worked for me!
I was in panic mode for greater than a day because my MacBookPro screen was black upon rebooting the computer. Thanks so much for the great suggestion above about turning off and again rebooting…fixed the problem. I can not thank you enough. TH
If your Mac continues to boot to a black screen after resetting PRAM and SMC, your computer may have a hardware problem. You should take it to a Genius Bar or certified Apple support center to get it looked at. Hopefully no water was spilled on the MacBook, that damages a computer. Best of luck, update back when you have a resolution!
Turned on my Mac, black screen of confusion ensued. Found this website, tried all three to no avail. Then freaked out a little bit, moved the computer to where it’s plug was and TADA!!! The first step worked. I guess I should have started with it plugged in like the directions said. Thanks for the help!!
I have a mid ’09 Macbook Pro 13-inch and the screen is black. you can tell it’s on because there is a light in the screen and the power light comes on. There is no chime, no picture on the screen, its just black, it runs OS X El Capitan. Pls help!!! I need it for work!!! Help me pls!!!
Update: got the second boot chime through the PRAM reset, but it still has the illuminated black screen. The apple and keyboard light up as well, but the screen doesn’t show anything.
I tried the PRAM reset and the second boot chime never happens. Instead there’s a male voice that says “to use English as the main language, press the return key.” I do but nothing happens. The screen is completely black but it still is illuminated and the brightness keys work for it. This happened after waking from sleep mode to a frozen screen, which just went dark when I rebooted it. Help?????
The first 2 options didn’t work and I don’t know how to get the 3 option to work since I keep my volume on mute when I’m in school. When I came home after school this black screen happened. Every once and a while I on the bottom of the screen I get a little white line flashing. Is there another way? I can’t get my volume working?
I tried the three options and it didn’t work. When using an external display via the the Thunder cable, I was able to see the login options, my account and guest account. When I typed in my password it started to load. The bar came up and then at 40% of the load, it glitches and goes dark even on the external. I tried logging into the guest account and it was the same thing. I was using the computer yesterday, opened it today and black screen of death. Any suggestions?
My wife’s mid-2014 rMBP had a similar problem. The display didn’t come on after waking, and still didn’t come on after rebooting. I tried multiple times resetting the SMC, resetting the NVRAM, booting in safe mode, single user mode. None of these seemed to help. When I connected an external monitor to the hdmi port (with the MBP already booted up) nothing changed. But when booted with the external monitor already on and connected, the external display worked perfectly. But System preferences/Displays didn’t show the LCD display at all. Also in System Information it seemed that the LCD wasn’t recognized at all. We were resigned to an expensive trip to Apple Store but for some reason I tried booting with the external monitor turned OFF but connected to the MBP by hdmi cable and surprise, surprise the LCD display turned on. Maybe this was just a coincidence but I thought I would mention it in case it might help someone else.
The Power button plus the S key helped shut it all the way down. I waited at least 15 seconds for it to be totally off then hit the power source and waited for the start up chime. I then hit the PRCommand/option and brightness buttons. I held these down through three or for blackouts the computer whent through.
I’ve had black screen issues before on my current and an older macbookpro and had to have repairs done due to graphics card overworked. Interestingly 2 days before this occurence happened I switched my desktop and screen saver to be from an album of extremely hi-res photos. Wonder if this is possibly linked?
My MacBook Pro after a shut down came back up with a black screen… Turned back off I would see a flicker of white and then shut down. I noticed that the panel did not have the lights on the keys and it was getting very hot real fast while in the black screen mode. I tried the first solution, hold down the shift, control, option and power for a few seconds then release. I did that and my Mac is back to normal again. THANK YOU!!! I’m going to print out these instructions for any future problems. Can’t thank you enough…saved me time, money and lots of heartache!!! :-)
The Power button-S button-hold the power button thingy worked for me!! Basically I had gone full screen on YouTube and then it had these flashy blurred screen and then a blackout….Cool…thanks…
13 month old macbook pro retina display. Black screen but managed to get it working with PRAM reset for 2 days. Now black again and no amount of suggested solutions work. Apple support not at all helpful, suggesting graphics card needs replacing but not offering to do so. Not convinced and I still think it’s a software issue associated with the sleep function when the lid closes. Unfortunately can’t get into recovery or safe mode.
I have a MacBook pro and having tried and cried several combinations of short cut keys, stumbled across this website and the PRAM reset worked for me. You are life savers and uni dissertation savers having written 1300 words and I was going to give up and take it to Apple shop after four days of black screen!!!!
Had the black screen issue with my 18 month old MacBook Air. Tried all the suggested keyboard sequences unsuccessfully and was about to give up. Then tried the final suggested one which was the PRAM one….
My macbook pro 13inch retina (2 years old come march) has been playing up for last 6 months. Keep getting the screen going black, I have done all the above fixes (worked for a bit) other times it doesnt fix it all. if leave laptop for a few days go back to it it might work for hour sometime longer sometimes only 5 mins till screen goes black again.
My MacBook Pro booted to a black screen after upgrading to the El Captain operating system leaving me concerned. I went into the Internet to learn from those who have had similar experience, thankfully the PRAM reset option restored my MacBook to its normal booting screen.
I had this issue come up today on a used MacbookPro 15″ (2012) that’s been working well for me. I first tried the SMC reset, without result. I then tried the Keypress Sequence, and the screen came on but with the black-flash problem, so I repeated it, and voila, problem fixed! Thanks a million.
The third option worked for me and I was so excited to think I’d fixed the problem…until this morning when I had the black screen all over again. I repeated the third option and it worked again, but am worried this is going to become the norm. Anyone else with a similar situation? Suggestions for a more permanent fix?
THANK You- all panic ensued after allowing my 8 year old on my Mac- I totally thought she dropped it and that is why the black screen- you saved us today with this great knowledge- thanks for publishing this freely!
Perennial problem with Mac Book Pro retina running Yosemite 10.10.5 I try never to turn the computer off as I get a black screen on start up. Tried using PRAM and SMC – still black screen. Best solution after reboot with PRAM or SMC and on encountering a black screen is to close the lid down and make yourself a tea or coffee. When you come back an open the lid the login screen is visible – mostly. Coffee tends to work better than tea.
ok look i done the boot camp thing and it required restart and then it just went black issues (I Have A TV Toshiba as Monitor , a wireless Microsoft keyboard ) So I Think I Am really >>> :3 !!!!! Any Help
Nothing has worked! But thanks for the help. Mysteriously when I try to Boot up, the computer cuts on, automatically cuts off, then automatically cuts itself back on to a Black screen with no sound that anything is happening in back ground.
i m trying to install mac os 10.10 yosemite on my windows pc.. i have downloaded the os and transferred to my flash drive using transmac but when i m booting my system for installation the screen is going black..pleasse help me
Was getting very scared and then sent the laptop to sleep and then force restart (had to guess because obviously the screen was all black) and then it worked!!! Seriously after 30 mins I was so panicked.
FINALLLYYYY!!!!! It worked. I tried the first and the third method. I dont know which one worked. Fingers crossed i dont run into the Black Screen Curse again!!!!
Only the last one, the PRAM reset worked. It happened, btw, after I had been using it with HDMI. Don’t know if any connection, but while watching movies on TV I would dim the screen to black. But it stayed black this time. Now fine! Thank you so much!!! Magic!
I tried everything. Was getting a black screen (nothing with flashlight…dead dead dead screen) with no lid light when shut. I depressed the “r” during startup, got a white screen with apple logo (first sign of life after trying all of the above). It must’ve done the diagnostic, re-started and then I got the dead black screen again. I kept restarting and depressing the “r” key and after about the third or fourth iteration, finally got a desktop screen. Hopefully it is more than a temporary thing. Thanks a bunch!!
I’m not sure what single thing or combination of things I did worked but I finally got it working. My problem began when my battery ran out. I plugged it in and rebooted to a black screen. I tried the three suggestions above several times and when it seemed like it was working, I kept getting the password reset window. After I reset the password I had to restart (not other option it seems) which then brought me back to the black screen, trying one of the tips, then reset password and repeat. Out of desperation, I selected an option (in the password reset) that my keyboard wasn’t working. The next screen asked me to disable the FileVault. I did then it restarted and voila! I don’t know how, what, nor why but something seems to have worked. Maybe someone can clue me in. :)
For the record, new iTunes recently installed. After the above fix, Aux monitor went black, macboMA stayed on, forced quit iTunes and everything returned to normal – just saying
Suddenly, without warning my screen went black. I rebooted and was presented with the same issue only every fine I rebooted it went black and then rebooted itself / maddening / tried all the options, the servings and rid PRAM rest finally did the trick, took 3/4 tried / thanks for the solution, I was thinking I was screwed.
I was freaking out when I turned my Mac on and had a black screen as I had a document for a client I need to send out tonight. I went through all the recommendations and the PRAM worked. Thank God!
Yay thank you!!!!!! The first 2 ways did nothing for me…the PRAM reset finally worked! I have a MacBook Air :) randomly it turned on to a black screen, but the pram reset got it back to normal!
This happened to me out of the blue, my computer had been connected to power and shut/asleep for days. The first option worked, but it took a while for the screen to light up, since I heard it thinking I gave it time while I read the next options. Then it came on! But when it did, it was at a password reset promot. I had no options but to give it a reason I needed to reset my password. I hit the back arrow and it froze. I rebooted and the screen took a while on black so I googled thr password reset prompt and read about a backlight issue, where you can see that the screen has content if you shine a light through thr Apple logo. It said at the password prompt to move mouse to top of screen to get the menu and pick restart. Then, shine the light through the back to pick thr user to log in as and type the password. Did so, my account needed an update so it loaded a while, then I was back in business. What a weird combo of problems. I assume all related, but still perplexing!
The PRAM reset worked for me. My MacBook started normally for a few days and again had a black screen start up. The PrAM reset worked again. Do you think I should take it in to have it checked out? Aaagggghhhhhh my life!
I was able to solve my boot-to-black problem, but only by deviating from your instructions. Pressing the reset-SMC key combo before booting, as per your instructions, did not work. Pressing the same key combo when the computer was already on, but with black screen, worked.
I tried the first soultion, it worked. However, after around 20 seconds it went black again. i tried the second solution this time and the same thing happened again, after few moments the screen shutdown again