iMac screen is black and won't turn on

Just wanted to say I had this issue as well! I was looking at a website and hadn't touched the mouse for a little bit (truth be told, I was texting someone!), when the display turned off. I thought that was normal, until I couldn't wake it up! I tried multiple reboots with no effect...

I looked at Apple's support files and found this page: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204267

There are quite a few suggestions for fixing the problem, and the first one I tried (holding down the power button for ten seconds and then rebooting), fixed the problem for me! Hope this helps you guys!

(Using a 2007 Aluminum iMac)

I have precisely the same issue...everything fine on Saturday, Monday morning...no screen. I'm looking for the same support.

Same here.. stopped working yesterday. I can not get it to start. Hope to get some direction as well.

An Update:

Last week I had installed 16gb of new ram from Crucial - 4/4gb sticks. Thinking this was the only variance in my routine I removed the new ram and re-installed the original 4gb of ram the computer was shipped with (Samsung). Bottom line is that the iMac started right up without trouble.

I've got an RMA working with Crucial who will swap out the ram for replacement - they believe it is a defective stick.

I'm interested if you had made a similar change to your computer (upgrading ram) and if so whether swaping back to the original sticks helped the problem.

Crucial by the way is excellent to work with, they provided very specific support around the choice of ram that was precisely compatible with my 27" 2.8ghz i7 iMac which is probably why they suspect one of the 4 sticks was defective.

We'll see.

Try resetting the PRAM first.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

If that doesn't help, try resetting the SMC.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964

Try booting from the hardware test DVD and running the extended test. Easiest way to do that is insert the disk, reboot, and hold down the "D" key until the test appears. If it finds anything wrong that would be the first place to start.

Thanks Carolyn,

My computer was behaving exactly like the original poster, while my screen was black and the box itself was simply giving off a faint whirring sound (the HD running), I tried resetting PRAM but could not get the computer to restart. I unplugged it fully then restarted but there was no start chime just the faint sound of the HD spinning. While I think resetting the PRAM would contribute a lot, the computer was disabled beyond the point of that being possible. Also tried resetting SMC...same problem, no positive restart.

hello

try to replace both mouse and keyboard batterie

try to use if is possible a wired keyboard to wake up computer

Pierre

Hi All,

I'm having a similar issue however my screen will absolutely not come back on no matter how many times I turn it off and on. I was in the middle of typing an email and it went blank. I turned it off and then back on several times. I know it was on because I hit the volume up and down keys on my key board and they made the little popping noises that demonstrate the volume loudness. I also unplugged the power cord as someone else suggested. I checked the dim and lighter buttons.

Am I missing something?

It is the new iMac that came out this May. 21.5 inch screen intel core i5. 500 gb.

Thanks!

I've had my new iMac 7 days and it won't come on. I've tried everything I know.

Mac people, please respond b it's hard yo get you on the phone!!!

Hey did you ever find out the solution?

Hi, I hope you find this information useful:

A few years ago, we purchased iMac 27" 11,3 (Mid-2010) (with i7 2.93Ghz, ATI 5750 1GB VidRam, etc.) for our offices and software development team. They were originally shipped with Snow Leopard and worked as expected and without any problems. However, a year later, we upgraded to Lion and all of machines immediately exhibited the same problem: the screen would go to sleep by itself and would require a hard reboot or sleep on/off. (Only the screen was asleep and the rest of the iMac continued to function; this was confirmed by screen sharing to the machine.)

Due to the severity and impact on our business, we immediately contacted Apple and their genius bar staff in New York/SoHo. They were unable to determine the root cause, so they replaced all of the logic boards, video cards, and screens, and got us back online asap. This resolved the problem, but we were curious to know why. After days of rigorous testing, we concluded that the issue is caused by a bug in MacOS. Specifically, faulty Kext files (Kernel Extension files extend the functionality of the MacOS Kernel) for the ATI drivers. So, why did the replacing the hardware work? We think that the Kext files that were released and distributed with Lion (and later MacOS versions) correctly supported the newer hardware revision of the replacement components, but not the older ones.

If you're experiencing this problem, short of replacing the components or waiting (for another 3+ years) for Apple to hopefully fix their OS software, you can lessen the effects and be able to recover faster by doing the following: (Please bear in mind that these are not permanent fixes.)

1. Turn on "Hot Corners" and assign one corner to "Put Display To Sleep". When your screen goes to sleep, move your mouse (which still works) to that assigned screen corner for a second, then move it again. This will wake your screen. You may have to do this a couple of times, but it's much faster than a hard reboot or a sleep on/off for your iMac.
2. Turn the brightness of your screen to a low setting (10%-15% of the total brightness).
3. Turn on screen sharing, so you have a last resort method of accessing the machine.

If you're not convinced that it's a MacOS software problem, then do what we did and see for yourself; install Windows 7, Windows 8, or Linux via Bootcamp or as the only OS on the iMac. Those operating systems and drivers worked flawlessly for us; the bug does not occur and the screen does not go to sleep, but if you dual boot and switch back to MacOS, the bug reappears because the iMac is loading faulty Apple MacOS software.

Good luck!

I've same iMac 27" Mid 2010

I've similar but inverted problem !

Using maverick there's no problem

Latest Boot Camp:

Using win 7 & 8 : there's no problem but sleep mode & hybrid sleep mode does'nt work ! NO wake up

Using win 8.1 : power saving(turn off screen) & sleep mode & hybrid sleep mode does'nt work ! NO wake up

I've tried also a win tool associated to a key:

Alt + F1 = nircmd.exe cmdwait 1000 monitor on

Alt + F2 = nircmd.exe cmdwait 1000 monitor off

Also the same a can turn off monitor with Alt + F2 but with Alt + F1 does'nt wake up 😟

Is there a solution ? I cannot call Apple to change hardware because it's too old..

Having similar problems, I move the mouse and screen goes black. No apparent way to awake the screen or to fix it with mouse and keyboard connected. Alternate Keyboard and mouse has not created problem so far. Having both keyboards and mice connected (each keyboard in separate USB ports) has not reproduced the problem.

OS X 10.10.2

iMac21.5, mid 2011

8GB ram

Used mac, but keyboard and mouse (both USB) came still wrapped in cling film as if new and untouched.