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Q: Macbook pro Retina black screen...with a twist

As it has been described by numerous other users in various threads my MacBook pro Retina 15'' 2012 tends to have the black screen issue when booting. It only happens when I shut down/restart and never when it goes to sleep mode. The trick to make the screen work is to connect an external monitor (no signal goes on the external) and disconnect it. The moment I pull the cable out the built-in monitor works.

 

My biggest problem is that I can't use an external monitor because the mac doesn't seem to detect it. No monitor shows up in the Preferences > Display panel, even when I press the option button and click on "Detect Displays". I have tried both thunderbolt and the HDMI port. When I unplug the monitor though, even though it had no signal on it, the laptop's screen goes black for a blink of a second like it normally would.

 

Some things I've tried but failed to change anything:

 

- Make sure the brightness is on

- Reset the SMC

- Reset the NVRAM

- Try different external monitors and make sure they work on other laptops

- Upgrade the OS. I'm on Sierra 10.12 at the moment

 

I can't perform a Hardware test by pressing D when I boot my laptop since the screen is black and the plug/unplug trick doesn't work before booting has reached the login screen point.

 

Any help/suggestion is welcome. :-)

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Sep 26, 2016 1:09 AM

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