macbook pro turns on but screen stays black — my solution
The Apple Macbook Pro would turn on, but the screen would not. The screen would stay black. I could tell the computer was on because when I hit the “caps lock” key, the green light on the key would turn on and off.
I fixed this the following way (this is basically resetting the Power Management Unit — PMU):
I disconnected the computer from the power cord, and from all other cables.
I held down the power button for several seconds to turn off the computer.
I let it sit 5 minutes.
I restarted the laptop while holding down the Shift key. This restarted the computer in Safe Mode, with the screen visible again.
After I logged in (in Safe Mode) to make sure everything was ok, I simply restarted the computer the normal way, and the screen behaved normally again.
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If that doesn’t work for you, you could try these steps, documented at apple.com:
Holding down Command, Option, P, and R to reset your PRAM and NVRAM
Resetting PowerBook and iBook Power Management Unit (PMU)
weird…i had this same problem, fixed exactly the same way today. I noticed that this is only a week after you…Perhaps an issue with a recent update?
I don’t know, Mark. But I’ve had to do this twice in the last 10 days. -Colin
oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness, thank you so so much!
The shift-key starting up was scary, it took ten minutes to boot up, and when I restarted it, it didn’t work, so I re-did it and did a PARAM reset, and now it looks okay, it restarted on its own without black-screening me.
Thank you!!!!!
Colin, thank you… much appreciated.
Guys how do i do a PARAM reset????? I mean i cant really see anything on the screen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have this problem but my battery won’t hold charge there i cannot follow these steps correctly
mine does it too… but if i put the screen in down position then lift again it comes on…
Thanks. The safe reboot worked. Curious what causes this? Is this a sign that the motherboard is near death?
Well, actually, yes, it may be a sign that something is near death. We finally took our macbook to the apple store and they replaced the motherboard or power management unit, I don’t remember which, because it was still within the coverage period. If the problem keeps happening, and you are still within the coverage period, I would suggest going to Apple and ask them if they can put in a new piece. -Colin
My mac went black while i was playing a game. now when i turn it on its stays black but i hear it load and run. i held shift and it rebooted again by itself but it stayed black. what should i do?
Ive tried everything and I still have made no progress! Someone please help! My macbook pro turns on and the disk drive initiates but the screen stays black. The indicator light stays on but nothing else happens. No start up chime, no light for caps lock, nothing! Ive tried taking out the battery and holding the power button down, starting up while holding shift, while holding cmd opt P R, holding C, nothing seems to work. I need help fast! Calculus test on Monday and the jags at apple wont help me unless I pay them 50 dollars, but he said he only knows one thing to try and if it doesnt work he wont refund my money. Thats messed up. You would think they would want to help since i spent 3000 on their product!
Oh my gosh this was so awesome. Food thing I didnt have to go to the apple store. this saved me
Colin ~ thank you so much. Maya from DK
Thanks for the shift tip, it did the trick with a little shake of the computer.
HOLYYY SHIIETTT,
THANK YOUU SOO F***EN MUCH ,YOUR A SAVIOUR ,YU MUST OF SAVED ME AT LEAST 400 BUXX,WORKX FINE NOW,BUT I DONT UNDERSTAND HOW IT WENT BLANK IN THE FIRST PLACE…ANYONE HAVE AN IDEA??LEAVE A NEW COMMENT IF YA DO,IM GUNNA CHECK THIS PAGE OUT AGAIN SOMETIME AGAIN TO SEE FOR ANY REPLIES THANX A MILLION N 1
Unfortunately another computer dead and gone. I tried several times with both options to reboot and it’s still dead! I think it’s an apple ploy in order to keep us upgrading and constantly buying the next best product they’ve got out. AH! I’m frustrated, any other suggestions before I ‘put it down’.
Awesome man!!! my machine is just booting up now with apple logo ON.
any idea why this happens?? is it a hardware issue or apple way to promote new models?
But you are a life saver..!!!
Thanks! Dude.. it works
Worked like a charm, thanks!
This was so helpful thank you!
Thanks for the straightforward solution. I went through resetting PRAM and the SMC, but it was still booting up to the black screen.
All I had to do was boot into safe mode then restart and now it works. You’ve saved me a lot of time and trouble; I can’t thank you enough.
Thanks foe the advice……I was so upset this am when my Mac screen was black. I’ve only had it for 2months. Your suggestions worked!
Thank you.
Thanks for posting this fix! Worked great for me today.
Thx a heap. Mine crashed when my son was on Minecraft & the cat sat on the keyboard. All good now. Very clear & simple explanation – thanks Colin.
17 months later just had the problem for the first time, plugged my mac into duel screen and searched straight to this site!!! saved me a trip to the apple shop and some cash£££ nice one dude your a star.. :-)))
my macbook pro 13″ will turn on, the keyboard lights up, and you can hear it start up. but the screen refuses to turn on, ive tried all these different steps, and it just wont, any ideas on what might be going on with it? not even the apple logo will turn on. its the whole top part of the macbook. you can hear the volume bleeps just fine. but yeah.. help?!
Thank you so much Colin, fingers crossed there’s no underlying issue and it stays fixed, you’re brilliant, God bless you.
I did the whole shift thing and also Command+option+p+r but the first method worked for about 6 seconds but the other methods didn’t work at all. SO when i used the shift method i could see a screen with a bottom loading bar and than it turned black again. Now every time i try to do the shift thing nothing appears anymore. Any tips?
Screen would not function after sleep
MacBook Pro Mod. A1229 running Sys 10.7.2 & Mac Software
Screen would not ‘light’ after a sleep period (about an hour).
Neither touching the SPACE BAR nor pressing the mouse button had an effect on the screen. However, pressing keys indicated a computer response.
Manual SHUT DOWN by holding power key for 10+ seconds.
Restart was somewhat normal but Apple Logo and ‘activity’ wheel appeared slightly larger than normal and not the same brightness contrast. After initial period the screen went ‘blank’ but there seemed to be some computer function – response to certain keystrokes. Subsequent retries produced the same result.
Based on Apple Support & Mac Support groups:
1. SMC reset
2. PRAM reset
3. Boot Safe Mode
No change.
Restarted holding Command/S to get UNIX start. The screen did function properly (my knowledge of UNIX is limited – I did NOT attempt a fix from this prompt).
Restarted from the ORIGINAL DVD that came with the machine and the START UP was NORMAL and the SCREEN was NORMAL. This DVD was an install DVD so I used QUIT from the menu bar and the system was still functioning correctly.
Subsequent tests of the SLEEP/WAKE cycles produced normal results with no screen problems.
There are still no problems after two subsequent use periods with normal shut downs and normal start ups.
Did not work for me… :(
The second method works for me but the screen still randomly goes black. I had a friend who works at the genius bar look at it and they couldn’t find any problems. Originally it would only go black when I tried to wake it from sleep mode, now it just occasionally goes black while I’m typing a paper or browsing the internet.
Is there something I need to do that will permanently fix this problem?
I had this problem with sleep/wake mode and screen being black. Discovered it was happening when I had my HDMI cable plugged in when I closed the book. After calling apple support and them not having any solutions, I just unplugged the cable before closing the book. But, yesterday my screen was blinking off and on – never had this happen before. No cable plugged in. I moved the mouse and it stopped. closed the book at bedtime, and it opened black. Unplugged, took out battery, plugged in and hit start. Could hear it start, but black screen. Tried start up with PRAM reset, and safe mode reset, no response. Next I tried the Command/s at startup and still nothing. Wait….keyboard has lit up, but nothing else. Key board went off. Well, off to the apple fix it shop.
this worked for me, thank goodness!!! Thanks so much for the tip!
I called Apple service under my Apple share plan, and although it had been expired for almost a year, I had reported the problem to them prior to the expiration of my plan. I explained the problem and also told them that the problem could be with a faulty video card that was under a class action suit. The company that manufactured these parts messed up, so someone filed a class action law suit against them and won and all the owners of computers they were put into were sent a letter and Apple replaced them free of charge. But I did not get a letter. So, Apple sent me to a Apple repair place with the computer to be diagnosed specifically for this problem, at no cost. If it was not this part, I would pay the diagnostic fee. They just called and said I was right and that is the problem and Apple will replace it free of charge. This faulty video card appeared in Mac book pro 15 & 17″ computers manufactured 2007, 2008 models. Mine was a refurbished computer I bought from Apple. Hope this helps anyone else out there get results.
Thank you for this very helpful information, Champ!
-Colin
It happened to me while running Windows under Boot Camp. Once I got my MacBook back up I went to the energy saver and set both to “Never” to minimize the chance of black screen while I was working. I Downloaded the latest update to Snow Leopard. I wasn’t sure if the update included new drivers so went to and downloaded the patch. Finally I changed energy saver back to defaults.
The link got erased: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1475
Thank you. This was a life saver.
YOU SAVED MY LIFE!!! THANK YOU SOOOOOOO UNBELIEVABLY MUCH!! Almost had a mental breakdown because I thought my laptop was shot, until I found this forum! I can’t thank you enough!
Thanks It worked and my wifes computer is up and running, From what she told me she unplugged the camera and didnt close it right.
Thank you Colin! My MacBook had an empty blue screen and the safe mode re-boot worked. Thanks be to God and to you!
thanks!!!!! I’m about to cry when I can’t fix my mom’s laptop but then I saw your article and it was really a BIG HELP! :D
The Apple Macbook Pro would turn on, but the screen would not. The screen would stay black. I could tell the computer was on because when I hit the “caps lock” key, the green light on the key would turn on and off.
I tried the control, option P R and got no results . Keyboard still lights up and cap and number buttons and sound. No other lights and just no response.
Help!
A million thanks. It took a few tries, but it worked.
Wow thank you!!!!! This really worked. Thank you
Do you have to start up in “Safe Mode” everytime you boot up????
Hi, thanks so much, both of my kids computers had this issue and now thanks to you both are fixed. I really appreciate it :-)
Colin,
One million thank yous. This is the first thing I read and in 5 minutes I was back on Mac. My brother is a tech guy he said I need to turn my Mac off more often. It’s ggod for the computer. I realized when he said this that I had not turned my computer off for about a month!
Thanks again! I’m very grateful.
Stacy
So i purchased a new battery for My dual core 2.8Ghz Macbook pro that will be 3 years old in October.
The battery would hold a charge of roughly 30 min at this stage.
While the bottom was off, I cleaned the fans with some dust destroyer / compressed gas duster (where there was a lot of dust) put the new battery in and closed it back up.
When I went to boot the computer back up I hear the chime but the screen doesn’t come back on (stays dark). I have taken it apart and checked all connectors – All is the way it was before.
I tried Resetting PRAM (no change), the computer won’t boot up in safe mode either (or I think it does, the screen just doesn’t come on).
Any advice / suggestions?