macbook pro 2009 complete lcd panel made in china

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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

I have the same problem. After following your advice, I kept my computer on the sun for half an hour and it started working for a short period of time but then it turned off. Did you find a permanent solution?

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…..

The solution to that problem is to boot into Mac Recovery Mode, then use the Terminal to issue the following commands which move the old kernel extensions into a different folder.

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.

I have done all three of these, and none get my mac to boot regularly! I can only boot in safe mode to start up. I’m in desperate need of help on this asap please email if you have a real solution I’m running the latest macbook pro 13 inch plz email me

I have a macbook pro mid 2009 model. So the screen just went off like that. I tried SMC reset didn’t work plus others. When I power on my device you hear the clicking sound of the hard drive and the powers off again. What could be the problem?

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 have the same problem. Service ceter saying i have display problem. But i dnt think so. They ate just making money. My mac is only one year old. How its display goes dark.

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

Hit CMD and R at the same time and restart the sick mac this will start the full recovery proces of the OS , from there it is very easy First erase disk completely the mac was like new … not yet the assistant will show you also how to install a clean new version of IOS and voila it is done

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.

My Macbook Pro (2011) has had this issue twice in a row now, and both times, resetting the NVRAM solved the problem. I’m wondering, however, why would this same issue occur twice in a row and be solved by resetting the NVRAM both times? How can I avoid this in the future?

I turned off Automatic Graphics Switching and this seemed to work. I had other problems from a recent Mojave update, so I had to go to an earlier backup of my computer and then got this problem. Now it seems I’m running normally again! Thank you!!

Out of nowhere I kept booting into a grey screen on my MacBook Pro (mid 2015), tried everything, resetting pram, smc and various keystrokes, draining the battery, anything I could find online. Nothing worked. Then I plugged in the external monitor from my desktop Mac Pro with a hdmi cable to see if I could actually see recovery mode that way and suddenly the MacBook screen came to life!

I had this on my early 2013 MacBook pro retina because of a hardware fault, not exactly sure what’s faulty but I think it’s the graphics chip caused by a faulty screen.

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!!

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!

What worked for me was to let drain the battery completely out. Finally a “Low Batt” logo appeared on display and only after I connected the cord and was able to start it normally.

your last suggestion to connect an external monitor to my MacBook Pro late 2013 2.3gh DG 16MB 2BM works very well although having already replaced the logic card I can stil also ssume that the display I`s also faulty.

i have a 2014 MacBook Pro, None of the solutions worked for me then, I plugged my Mbp into an external monitor via hdmi and I can access everything. I’m in the process of backing up now….and will begin display troubleshooting once backup is complete.

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.

After trying all 3 including putting in the password anyway it did not work for what seemed like ages but then it randomly turned on. The result may not always be immediate. I have the MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012).

If all the above solutions dont work, a faulty video chip driver, bad nvidia gpu chip or ram can cause these issues, although bad ram normally produces beeps upon startup.

Had this problem after running CleanMyMac3. Ran through all four solutions which did not work. Looked on another forum and found a modification to the fourth solution.

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.

Today when I work up my MacBook pro didn’t start.I was worried and started to search for solution.I have tried to start my MacBook pro with those solution but none of them were working.When I tried your solution my MacBook pro start.

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.

on macbook with dual graphic cards. have laptop on and wrap it in blankets. after about 15 minutes. power down and reboot. the heat makes it switch to onboard graphics card. Working fine now for over a week.

CHECK ALL SYSTEM UPDATES (as soon as your screen lets you see where your mouse is, or if you have the appropriate cable connect it to another monitor and run all system updates). Cheers for this solution page :)

This has already happened to me 2 times so I will tell you what I have done, I do not know what part of the process is what really works but it works.

3. (I THINK THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO ME) I let the battery run out completely on safe mode and then I charge it being off… I wait a little and READY, it is normal again. Maybe it “overloaded” or something.

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.

I read here that booting may have been completed so on a whim I connected external monitor. Kapowie!! :) The external monitor worked and then the laptop screen sprang back to life briefly afterwards. The resolution was wrong but after disconnecting the external monitor it went back to correct resolution.

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).

A big kiss from france since the keypress sequence solved my problem, which was completly unexpected. Had already done NVRAM and SMC, tried turning the mac target mode to access it. Thought screen was dead and/or Partition corrupted. Panicked. honestly thought this keypress was just a desperate hope. Jesus that saved my day :)

I tried all possible ways and nothing works for my macbook retina display 2012. I’m very disappointed, cos I never had problems with the previous mac computers I had.

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 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!!

third option worked for me thank you… This is the second mac item I have fixed by myself… First item was my cell phone they wanted almost 300 dollars to take an unbroken screen off to look at my microphone…. I told them no way… I went outside and goggled my possible options and sure enough there was a feature in settings that was off and should have been on and it cost me zero dollars to fix it. Second was this item apple wanted 500 dollars up front to diagnose a problem once again they wanted my money…. I’m now realizing that Apple is a terrible company that is all about the money not about the customer….

My MacBook Pro is a 2011 i7 2,7gig dual-core processor, Inted HD 3000 graphic card, 4gb of RAM, 750gb standard harddisk; loads of plug-ins (667 pro audio plug-ins to be exact), heavy profesionnal applications, gamin clients, etc – but the hardisk is hardly two thirds full!

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!

Another fix is to boot while holding down the option key, those lets you select which drive to boot from. Simply repointing the boot to MacHD caused it to boot properly the next time.

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 :)

Okay, here’s one more thing to try because while the solutions published in the article above did not work for me, a different procedure got my wife’s mid-2009 MBP running again.

I tried every thing, resetting the PRAM, SMC, Safe Mode..etc…nothing worked. Finally, I unplugged the power cord and turned on the the blank screen and let the battery run down completely. I plugged it back in on the power source, and within 1 hours, the computer came on by itself..problem solved. I have seen others with similar experience, so this was not an original idea.

question: trying to blindly login, and was wondering if my apple ID password is the same for both computers? I tried both the new password for the new computer and the old password on it. it didn’t work. it keeps saying there’s a problem with my ID. My apple ID is the same for both computers insofar as the email address.

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.

I tried all of the above and they didn’t work for me, BUT I got really frustrated and typed in my password, hit enter and voila I was is. I have the new Mac OS on a 2012 MacBook Air, so I am guessing there are some software incompatibility issues that is causing this problem I’ve never seen before.

This happened after I put my macbook to sleep. Tried first 2 solutions, did not work. All I could see whenever I restart or reboot is the login screen. Before trying PRAM reset, I decided to try a password reset instead.

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!!!

I finally booted in Safe Mode (hold Shift for a few seconds while pressing the Power button just once). In a Guest user session, I performed a quick scan of the system with Disk Utility, and finally I enabled FileVault in Preferences which prompted a reboot that took me back to normal.

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.

When my wife’s 2012 macbook pro does this I just plug in an external dvi video adapter and the video comes right back. It’s a whole lot quicker and easier than resetting everybody.

Guys you are awesome. I can’t thank you enough. You have taken a huge weight off on shoulders. The third method worked perfectly on my MacBook Air. The first two didn’t. Thanks agin

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.

a mi me paso lo mismo, no me funcionaron las 3 soluciones esas, abre la macbook y desconecte la batería y la volví a conectar y así me volvió a funcionar

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.

After reading various articles I relaxed a little as it was unlikely to be a hardware problem, and I tried different combinations of connections during startup.

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 have a late 2011, MacBook Pro. I tried everything and didn’t have any luck until I tried the PRAM reset and bingo! It worked! Thanks for the advice

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.

What a nightmare with the back screen!!! 1st time it happens in the nearlz 3 years I have the MacBook Pro … scary!! 2 hours trying the 3 options, 2,5 hours shut down, 15 minutes trying again and cha chan! it worked! how???? not sure… it was after a cmd+option+p+r WITHOUT the computer being plug to the electricity !!!!!!!!???????

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

It has been 1 month or 2 that I have this problem regularly. Sometimes resetting the PRAM works (alt-cmd-P-R at the start of your mac), sometimes it’s resetting the SMC (plug your mac, shift-ctrl-option-power, then only power button).

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 use dual display (external and MacBook Pro built in display) and had this issue after using the laptop without the external display. Tried all these options and nothing worked! Turns out somehow the display brightness was just all the way down which keeps the display off!

The first option worked for me! I was going to pay $100s to have it fixed but I couldn’t make my appointment. I rescheduled for another, in the meantime I decided to google the problem. This website was the first option! Thank you so much! I am so excited to see my computer come back to life. Saved me money and time! Yay!!

Third method worked but it took me 5-6 times repeating the procedure. What happened what the second chime did not happen until the very last try. Thank you very much.

Used the PRAM solution and it worked! Brilliant thank you as I was worried that £1000+ worth of laptop (MacBook Air) hAd conked out and was close to getting very annoyed indeed to put it mildly! (Ps tried the hold down control option etc but that didn’t work so just a note to try several solutions and not give up!!) thanks again to altruistic good internet Samaritan who took time to share this solution!

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.

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

I had also the same problem, I could´t use my mac many months, I did all resets pram smc many times, and I tried many other solutions. Then I read on some forum, that a problem sometimes is graphic card. So I opened my mac, and graphic card was so dirt, from the heat dust was like a chewing cum. I cleaned slowely, now its working as a new :)

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!

Only difference is when I tried connecting the macbook pro with an extended display, the apple logo and progressing bar showed up. But after reaching around 40% the apple logo disappears and the bar is stuck at 40%.

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!!!

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?????

I had reoccurring issues every couple of weeks with these symptoms and related startup issues. Since disabling Filevault on my Mid 2012 Macbook Pro I’ve not had these issues.

I have tried every single thing known to man and still have the same issue. I have a 13′ mid 2009 MBP and have tried everything on here and just replaced the whole top assembly. No apple lit up and screens not coming on…. It’s not my graphics card cause I can still run it through my tv and everything else runs fine

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.

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!!! :-)

I like Mac OS and Windows machines alike, find them to be so similar I could care less which operating system I’m using. Low-end windows machines are garbage. Macs and regular to high-end windows machines are great… but could we just stop pretending Mac’s “just work” already? The ridiculously careful wording to pretend that all these issues are extremely rare drives me nuts. In the first two paragraphs, the author mentions that it’s issues are rare THREE TIMES probably out of fear that an army of fan boys will start screaming ‘Macs just work!” at the author. You know what? They don’t. Mac OS gets viruses. Mac OS needs to be reinstalled. Mac OS crashes. Mac Apps crash. Macs get error 36 interacting with any non-mac computer. Macs need plist files remove to fix software issues. Macs need to be restarted to solve issues. Accept it! It’s ok. Computers are complicated. It would be a huge step forward for all Mac users as forums could stop being filled with fanboys demanding a problem doesn’t exist and instead would just focus on solving problems for the user.

same MacBook Pro (14 months old), same behavior at booting up, same suspicion about the closed lid… It happened when I was 5 minutes away and my Mac was in Closed-Lid-Standby. Haven’t got it to work yet, but i would suggest connecting a external monitor to sort out a broken display. And try to boot into Target-Disk Mode to get your data from your drive (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201462).

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.

Looking at all the comments on here this isn’t a rarity as the article states. I have tried everything and no success even tried apple support. Top of the range mid 2015Mac book Pro and its dead. Going back to the shop tomorrow hopefully this is an easy fix our I’m going to lose it.

Forced a shut-down with the power button as suggested and on restart it all came back. Apple error warning said failure to waken properly from sleep.

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!!!!

I have a mid-2010 macbook pro and I almost sold my computer as broken until I found this fix. I could hear the ding for booting, but no display. I even tried an external display and it didn’t work. It ended up being the PRAM reset that fixed the problem for me. However, it took some patience because the computer booted halfway before the screen came back on.

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 have a 2014 Macbook Pro and I tried all 3 options, but non of them seem to be working. Ive tried the PRAM reset, but it only makes the booting sound 3 times. Nothing actually happens. Help!!!!!

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?

The PRAM worked for me. Then it prompted for some password reset screen, clicked on the option for the keyboard not working, and then it allowed me to reset my password and unlock ‘filevault’. Reset the computer and everything is back to normal.

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.

3013 MacBook Pro? Amazing, what’s it like living a thousand years in the future? Pretty cool that Apple is still making MacBook Pro that far in the future! Amazing! Even cooler the PRAM reset trick fixed the future MBP!!! Wow!

I had this problem and tried everything here… it did not boot. I picked up the machine and sort of patted down the back, to try to seat any loose chips or connectors. It started up fine.

I think the problem was either a loose connector, or possibly since the macbook was near the window it may have been too cold until I picked it up, then it warmed up and started again. If you have the problem, try hugging your mac.

Unexpectedly, this one worked for me. I tried the 3 solutions above for hours (I do not give up easily). Then I read this post and applied the same process. I patted the back of my mac book pro, squeezed it lightly, and pressed the power on. Seems to work now :-)

My question is: can we repair the instalation on this product? the problem started about a week ago when it’s user reported Outlook 2011 crashing but we tryed reconstructing the database to no effect.

Brilliant – tried loads of tricks but the PRAM one worked first time- many thanks!! This was my first problem ever on a fairly new MacBook Air – am so relieved!

Great article. My MacBook Air (early 2014 model) locked up after trying to install El Capitan. It would turn on, chime, then the screen would go grey. That’s as far as it would boot. Nothing worked until I tried the tip about holding down control-command-p-r. worked like a charm. Thank you!

Thank you so much!! I was really worried for a second. I tried all your options and it is working properly again now. Though, I’m not sure what one did the trick. Anyway thankyou!!

Tried everything on my 2011 macbook pro, but nothing worked until I followed the suggestion to hold down the Shift key on the reboot. This finally brought up a login screen in Safe mode. I logged in twice to reach an OS update screen. After updating, the macbook works again!

yay! omg thank you thank you. the PRAM option worked. the first time i tried that option i dont think i was quick enough to the chime but the second one worked perfectly. had to hold for a little over 10 seconds though. i have a 2014 macbook air 11. thank you so much

The first option worked for me after having water damage in my mac book air , I tipped it upside down and let it dry for about 5 days , turned it back on and my screen was blank bt the power up sound chimed. I tried option 1 and I can’t thank you enough, my MacBook is alive!!!

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. :)

About your files and projects; It’s always a good idea to complete full and regular back ups of your Mac if you don’t already do so, setting up Time Machine is an easy solution bundled with OS X, you just need an external drive to select as the backup destination, you can find more details here:

The first option worked for me! Yea!! Thank you so much! I was freaked out! I have an older MacBook Pro, 2009 and as soon as I did this it booted right up! I’m on vacation and really needed my computer!