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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

Posted on Dec 9, 2019 4:22 AM

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Posted on Dec 12, 2019 2:53 PM

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


5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 12, 2019 2:53 PM in response to chris_g1

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


Dec 11, 2019 6:18 PM in response to amalgamsab

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 your Mac screen goes black


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!

Dec 17, 2019 2:40 PM in response to amalgamsab

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 :(


Black screen for no reason

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