Black screen for no reason
My iMac (2009) screen suddenly goes black and the Mac still seems to be operational. I have to reboot all to begin again. How to stop the screen ‘dropping out’ and rectify all?
iMac 21.5", OS X 10.11
You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.
My iMac (2009) screen suddenly goes black and the Mac still seems to be operational. I have to reboot all to begin again. How to stop the screen ‘dropping out’ and rectify all?
iMac 21.5", OS X 10.11
Chris, Many thanks for that. I will do it if the prob arises again, as my frustrating remedy (hopefully I don't jinx it just talking about it) worked for now.
What I did was : In the Energy Saver in Preferences, I unchecked the 'Put hard disks to sleep when possible' and 'Wake for network access'. Plus I set the 'Computer sleep' to 'Never'.
So far so good. (Hopefully I haven't jinxed this).
But if this black screen affair appears again I will use your 'System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac' solution.
Many thanks for the advice
Steve aka amalgamsab :D
Chris, Many thanks for that. I will do it if the prob arises again, as my frustrating remedy (hopefully I don't jinx it just talking about it) worked for now.
What I did was : In the Energy Saver in Preferences, I unchecked the 'Put hard disks to sleep when possible' and 'Wake for network access'. Plus I set the 'Computer sleep' to 'Never'.
So far so good. (Hopefully I haven't jinxed this).
But if this black screen affair appears again I will use your 'System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac' solution.
Many thanks for the advice
Steve aka amalgamsab :D
Hello amalgamsab,
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities! I understand that the screen on your iMac goes black unexpectedly, however it's resolved with restarting the Mac.
Let's start by trying the suggestions in the following resource:
If you're still experiencing the issue, I'd like to have you reset the SMC, then restart the Mac in safe mode next:
Keep us posted on the results.
Cheers!
Hi amalgamsab,
Glad to hear things seem to be working OK right now. Thanks for letting us know the solution as well! Please reach out if you do encounter the behavior again and it's not resolved with the previous steps.
Take care.
The black screen problem has returned. Now, even worse.
I've done the SMC remedy repeatedly but black screen is returning now more than ever … even when I'm half way of putting in my password.
Someone suggested it could be a virus but Apples don't get viruses. I've run CleanMyMac a few times and the problem is still there.
Please help.
Steve aka amalgamsab :(
amalgamsab again
My iMac prob has been solved a better way. Because the thing was 10 years old, I’ve purchased a new iMac ... now w better configuration. Then it’ll be a hope that all old software works w Catalina.
Many thanks to all advice re the black screen affair. 👍😸
Black screen for no reason