Q: macbook air screen goes black

Check your setting for 'hot corners' for whatever reason my Macbook air had it enabled and when my hands rub the trackpad it would accidentally activate the hot corner to put my screen to sleep. This was my problem and it annoyed me for several months until one of the techs at the Genius bar figured it out. Check my post a little bit up form this one. Someone also posted that a strong magnet placed in the right spot can do it as well, since the computer interprets that as you closing the lid. I hope this helps!

I'm having the same experience as btollison, my screen seems to just turn black sometimes when I have MS Excel on. It tends to happen right after I wake it from sleep then the screen just goes black for a few seconds, the screen would only turn back on when I press the power button but all the windows and software that I had on would be there as if nothing had ever happened.

I looked into elejaces' suggestion and I don't have any hot corners set to initiate Sleep Mode so I'm not sure what's going on.

Symptom hasn't happened in a while but what I realized is that I also didn't use MS Excel in a while.

Help!

My screen just went black. I checked if there were any 'hot corners' enabled but there isn't. So my issue wasn't because of hot corners but something else...

So, the problem has been known for a year.  Other than the folks who were accidentally hitting the hot corners, there are still many of us who have disfunctional equipment.      After all of these months,  what is Apple doing to solve this defect?

I have a macbook air, late 2010 model running 10.7.5.  Like others posting here, it blanks out, but comes back in a few seconds. 

I'm actually glad to know others have this problem over time, and it doesn't seem to mean that the computer is dying.  Over the years, I have replaced two macbooks because the wiring to the screens got damaged/wore out/stopped functioning, and I was thinking that was way too soon to be happening again!

I checked 'hot corners', and it is not enabled.  No magnets/other computers involved. 

Look forward to hearing a response from apple. 

My Hot Corners were enabled. I don't know why, but I turned them off in System Preferences, Mission Control and selected Hot Corners in bottom left of screen.

Thanks for the help. By the way, My Macbook Air often sits on top of my Macbook Pro, so that "Macbook Air on top of Macbook Pro" might still be an issue. (I don't know why I haven't sold that Macbook Pro yet anyway.) We'll see.

A few hours after turning Hot Corners off, my Macbook Air screen went black again. So now that "Macbook Air on top of Macbook Pro" might be the cause. I put the Macbook Pro away and will see if the problem returns. Since it was happening several times a day, every day, a week should be more than enough to verify the cause.

It isn't 'hot corners' - disabled.  and it isn't putting it on something metal.  it happens when plugged in and when on battery.  maybe excel is a factor, as someone mentioned.  I wouldn't know, because I pretty much always have excel open - this is my work computer, and I use excel most of the time. 

mysterious

same problem here. brand new mac book air (mid 2012, mountain lion 10.8.2). simply turns black and comes back. no hot corners activated. not on top another mac book. no metal involved. what´s wrong.

Just bought a Mac Air today.  I'm experiencing the same issue.  This is rediculous.

That was happening to me alot, just about everyday. Someone mentioned that they had their Macbook Air on top of their Macbook Pro and that was the source of the problem. So did I have my Macbook Air sitting on top of my Macbook Pro. Ever since I put the Macbook Pro away a few weeks ago, the problem went away and has not returned. If your Macbook Air is not sitting on top of another notebook computer, I would try using your Macbook Air in a different location for awhile and see what happens.

i'm having the same issue.  The screen goes black but I can see the cursor. 

But my Macbook air has no hotspots enabled, it goes black on the screen and doesnt come back for at least 15 minutes! What should I do!?! I reboot it still does not come back. The two ways I have been able to understand are:

-either put the screen down and pick it up

-force shutdown from the power key and leave it for half hour.

I am scared, I am 14 and I live in India, where there is possibly the least apple support! I havent told my mum yet, because she will think I have screwd the mac! Help me someone! Today is Sunday, so tomorrow I will be able to call Apple Support. It is an absolute new macbook air 11", Model is "Mid - 2012"!

The black screen also happens with iMacs and Mac mini.  I think it is something tied to Lion and ML.  My 2009 iMac was working fine for over two years, after upgrading to Lion then ML I started getting the black screen.  It's so bad now that it's no longer usable more than a few seconds before going black.  My 2011 Mac mini has Lion and recently started black screening, not to bad but progressively getting worse.  I have a MacBook Pro and MacBook Air both on snow leopard and do not have any black screen issues.

You can press ctrl + shift + eject then any other key which should get your screen back on.  This may last a few hours or a few seconds before getting the black screen again.   Very frustrating.