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2017 MacBook Pro on Mojave - Black Screen (of death?)

My MPB screen has been flickering recently, and whenever it goes to sleep or shuts down it becomes totally unresponsive with a black screen. I have to force shut down my laptop using control + option + shift + power. The screen would stay black unless I press command + shift + p upon powering on (but I don't understand why) after which a small strip of white appears at the top of the screen, before eventually starting up. I tried to install updates on my MBP to see if it would fix the problem, but now it won't turn on at all. I can't go to the Apple store because of the COVID-19 crisis. Please help!

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.14

Posted on Mar 28, 2020 8:56 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 28, 2020 9:02 PM

Reinstall El Capitan or Later Without Erasing Drive


Please be sure you back up, if possible.


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately, at or before the chime, hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo and progress bar appear. Wait until the Utility Menu appears.
  2. Select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button.
  3. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list.
  4. Click on the First Aid button in Disk Utility's toolbar. Wait until the Done button activates, then click on it.
  5. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  6. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.


If this doesn't fix the problem, then:


Install El Capitan or Later from Scratch


If possible, back up your files.


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately, at or before the chime, hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo and progress bar appear. Wait until the Utility Menu appears.
  2. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on the Continue button.
  3. When Disk Utility loads select the target drive (out-dented entry w/type and size info) from the Device list.
  4. Click on the Erase button in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.
  5. Set the partition scheme to GUID.
  6. Set the Format type to APFS (SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
  7. Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.
  8. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  9. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.


Similar questions

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 28, 2020 9:02 PM in response to NidoKimiko

Reinstall El Capitan or Later Without Erasing Drive


Please be sure you back up, if possible.


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately, at or before the chime, hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo and progress bar appear. Wait until the Utility Menu appears.
  2. Select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button.
  3. Select the indented (usually, Macintosh HD) volume entry from the side list.
  4. Click on the First Aid button in Disk Utility's toolbar. Wait until the Done button activates, then click on it.
  5. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  6. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.


If this doesn't fix the problem, then:


Install El Capitan or Later from Scratch


If possible, back up your files.


  1. Restart the computer. Immediately, at or before the chime, hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo and progress bar appear. Wait until the Utility Menu appears.
  2. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on the Continue button.
  3. When Disk Utility loads select the target drive (out-dented entry w/type and size info) from the Device list.
  4. Click on the Erase button in Disk Utility's toolbar. A panel will drop down.
  5. Set the partition scheme to GUID.
  6. Set the Format type to APFS (SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
  7. Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.
  8. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
  9. Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.


Mar 28, 2020 9:09 PM in response to Kappy

Hi Kappy,


Thank you for the information! I did try to start up holding down command + r, and this has been very promising. I can see a sliver of the menu bar now above including the mouse. Unfortunately, the rest of the screen remains black and I cannot do anything. The Apple logo and progress bar do not appear on my screen.


Thank you.

2017 MacBook Pro on Mojave - Black Screen (of death?)

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