My MacBook screen went black and now the screen won't turn on

I've had this happen twice. The solution for me was to remove the bottom cover, disconnect the battery from the motherboard. Wait 30 minutes, reconnect and power up. I'm not certain as to why the wait. This last time, it still didn't light up the screen until after an hour, as though there is a timer that waits one hour to reset the system. I learned of this work-around from another troubleshooting site, so it's not something I figured out, but it is something that works and I am not seeing others post the part about waiting. That last part is very important. It's also a bit gut-wrenching.

Problem:

1. Normal screen during power on, shortly after Apple logo, screen would get very faint, no backlight.

2. External monitor worked fine.

3. With battery removed, laptop screen and external monitor worked normally.

4. In "Firewire Target" mode, laptop screen worked normally, with or without the battery in.

Fix:

With battery removed, I found that all the screws holding the laptop battery connector in place were loose, tightened all, replaced the battery and the laptop has worked normally every since.

It seems that over time, this screws can work loose, please check all the screws in the battery compartment.

Hope this helps others. . . .

I am having this same problem with the screen being real dark on my daughter's Mid 2007 Macbook A1181. A few weeks ago it simply wouldn't boot up. So I replaced the logic board, heat sink & fan. It will boot up and run perfectly using only the mag adaptor without the battery in place. As soon as you put the battery back in the screen goes dark and stays that way. I have tried the following:

• resetting the SMC and PRAM

• lowering and increasing the brightness using the F1 & F2 buttons

• turning off all the energy saver settings under the system preferences

• I have gone back and disconnected the battery cable to the logic board and blown out any possible dust. Then reconnected everything and closed the case.

I still can't get the macbook to work properly with the battery.

Do you think it could be one of the following?

• I have a faulty logic board

• I need to replace the battery pack

• There's a problem with the battery that is on the logic board itself

Please help me! I have been trouble shooting this problem for two weeks now and it is driving me insane not being able to find a fix.

I am willing to purchase a new battery for $20 off Amazon, but I don't want to waste the money on one if it is not going to fix the problem.

What do you think?

Just to share:

Last Friday, I had walked away from my laptop to eat lunch, and when I came back - black screen

PRAM reset got it back working - for a week.

Left laptop working perfectly for a few minutes - came back - black screen.

I have tried a PRAM and System Controller reset - no dice.

I suspect whatever backlights the display has failed because the flashlight trick shows a live screen, and right now I'm working on an external monitor.

Very disappointing for a 2 year old laptop.

hey I just had this problem but this worked for me and now my macbook is working just fine!! As I'm feeling blessed I want to share what I did, just in case if you haven't tried it yet!

1. Make sure your Macbook is shut down.

2. Reboot the Mac and as soon as you hear the boot sound, hold down the Command+Option+P+R keys together!

3. When you hear the boot sound again, let go of the keys and hit the power button to turn on the Mac.

I hope this will help you as well!

If not then keep searching online. I hope you will find the solution!

God Bless you.

I tried this but to no avail. I hear the first startup chimes, then I pressed the Cmd+Opt+P+R and I hear another set of chimes then the screen flickers and nothing. Laptop is on with nothing on the flashlight trick... no idea what to do now.

I Have the exact same problem as thedc89. Does anyone have a fix for that issue? In short, I hear the disc drive engage but not the typical sound of the operating system booting and screen is black, no faint image at all.

THanks

I have MACPRO Notebook - Purchased March 2014-

Tried keys ( D/ R / SHIFT+COMMAND+OPTION/ SHIFT + CONTROL + COMMAND)

Nothing was working- Computer was getting hot with Hard Power down.

Let it cool down for the night. Went to PC & found more options to try from community.

Then signed into Support- (You need your Serial Number - mine was on box- because I have a black screen.

**The call was within 5 minutes and Tech Support called me- OMG Great Technical Service!!!!

WE - (Time 5-7 minutes to fix) Oh Yes!!!! Apple Pie

1) Keys ( R+P+OPTION+COMMAND)

2) Power Up

3) Chime

4) QUICKLY PRESS BUTTONS ABOVE

5) Wait until you have a white screen....

6) LET GO

7) Utility Box Opens- Verify your Hard Drive with a check.

If good Continue on.

8) Click red button to close

9) Choose to RESTART

10) USE APPLE DROP Down Menu Shut Off

11) Unplug Power Cord 15 seconds (to reset)

12) Power on - make sure you have wifi.

Note: My computer went black as I had installed updates and chose to shut off. There were programs running in the background that I thought was closed. So computer was confused-

With Updates Technician said to always restart- If your going to be using computer within 24 hours- Just put to sleep.

Thanks Apple Live Support. I was worried this was going to be costly. Took only 5-7 minutes and I was up and in business again.

Apple Pie!

I have MACPRO Notebook - Purchased March 2014-

Tried keys ( D/ R / SHIFT+COMMAND+OPTION/ SHIFT + CONTROL + COMMAND)

Nothing was working- Computer was getting hot with Hard Power down.

Let it cool down for the night. Went to PC & found more options to try from community.

Then signed into Support- (You need your Serial Number - mine was on box- because I have a black screen.

**The call was within 5 minutes and Tech Support called me- OMG Great Technical Service!!!!

WE - (Time 5-7 minutes to fix) Oh Yes!!!! Apple Pie

1) Keys ( R+P+OPTION+COMMAND)

2) Power Up

3) Chime

4) QUICKLY PRESS BUTTONS ABOVE

5) Wait until you have a white screen....

6) LET GO

7) Utility Box Opens- Verify your Hard Drive with a check.

If good Continue on.

8) Click red button to close

9) Choose to RESTART

10) USE APPLE DROP Down Menu Shut Off

11) Unplug Power Cord 15 seconds (to reset)

12) Power on - make sure you have wifi.

Note: My computer went black as I had installed updates and chose to shut off. There were programs running in the background that I thought was closed. So computer was confused-

With Updates Technician said to always restart- If your going to be using computer within 24 hours- Just put to sleep.

Thanks Apple Live Support. I was worried this was going to be costly. Took only 5-7 minutes and I was up and in business again.

Apple Pie!

I have MACPRO Notebook - Purchased March 2014-

Tried keys ( D/ R / SHIFT+COMMAND+OPTION/ SHIFT + CONTROL + COMMAND)

Nothing was working- Computer was getting hot with Hard Power down.

Let it cool down for the night. Went to PC & found more options to try from community.

Then signed into Support- (You need your Serial Number - mine was on box- because I have a black screen.

**The call was within 5 minutes and Tech Support called me- OMG Great Technical Service!!!!

WE - (Time 5-7 minutes to fix) Oh Yes!!!! Apple Pie

1) Keys ( R+P+OPTION+COMMAND)

2) Power Up

3) Chime

4) QUICKLY PRESS BUTTONS ABOVE

5) Wait until you have a white screen....

6) LET GO

7) Utility Box Opens- Verify your Hard Drive with a check.

If good Continue on.

8) Click red button to close

9) Choose to RESTART

10) USE APPLE DROP Down Menu Shut Off

11) Unplug Power Cord 15 seconds (to reset)

12) Power on - make sure you have wifi.

Note: My computer went black as I had installed updates and chose to shut off. There were programs running in the background that I thought was closed. So computer was confused-

With Updates Technician said to always restart- If your going to be using computer within 24 hours- Just put to sleep.

Thanks Apple Live Support. I was worried this was going to be costly. Took only 5-7 minutes and I was up and in business again.

Apple Pie!

If I may pick your brain a bit more... I'm new to Apple computers so I'm a bit green to their nuances. I recently purchased a used MGX82LL/A; 2.6 Ghz, 13.3", 256GB, 8GB (not sure what else is relevant). When I initially got it... no worries. Then after about 5 uses, when I started it up, the screen would flicker once and then stay black. I tried a number of troubleshooting items including, the flashlight test (nothing on the screen), the R+P+OPT+CMD = no change, etc. I do get the startup chimes each time and the light on the back of the screen/lid stays lit. I've tried starting it up probably 20 times since then and no screen now. Until today, it did flicker on once as I was adjusting the power supply. While it flickered, it looked semi distorted or off center and moving around... then it went black again. Was only on for probably 5 seconds total. Now again, I've tried another 5-10 times and nothing. I really can't afford the time or money to take this into an Apple repair center, but I'm very much willing to try and and all other troublshooting or even replacing components myself if need be. Does anyone have any further advice?

Thanks in advance

After I tried everything I could I finally called Apple and they picked up my Macbook and its all fixed! and it didn't even take 3 days!!! They really did a fabulous job!

In my case they replaced the display assembly. so it wasn't a battery problem.

If you haven't found a solution yet maybe its best you call Apple support.

God Bless you

MY MacBook Pro 2014 retina display, second time the display went caput in less than a year. Initially the screen started with a few flickering horizontal lines, then gradually multiplied then eventually blacked out and never turned on again. Luckily still under 1 year warranty. I take care of it so well and yet problem after problem. I'm an apple product user for a long time. Every MacBook and iMac I purchased, they all gave me at least one or two problems. Apple products known to be faulty. of course they are not the best machines. That comes with different branded components on board. Apple does not produce its components like other companies do. All components inside of macbook Pro and other machines are made by Samsung, toshiba, sharp, LG, etc. that's what happens when you put different branded components together to build a computer. at this juncture I'm determined that I'm done with apple. After wasting $3100 for this junk and prior to this had another MacBook Pro 2010, which also had hard drive crash and trackpad malfunction. My 2012 iMac also had a hard drive crash within the first year. Luckily they all went caput within the warranty period. Now it's my iPhone plus is acting up. The screen goes gray for a few seconds before it opens the home screen when waking up from sleeping mode. Just waiting for surface pro 4 to transition back to windows again. Goodbye apple. Over the years I made apple rich, and got nothing good in return from apple.

Thank you! I did not change the sleep modes to never because i was concerned About it shortening my computer life. It worked without me doing that. Spotify was also opening in the short periods that it was on So there may be something Related to that.

I got my screen to "reset" in two different occasions by NOT turning the computer off. I pressed CONTROL-SHFT-OPTION-POWER at the same time for approx 10 seconds. It turned OFF. I waited approx 10 seconds and held the POWER button down until I heard the "start-up" sound, release it and my screen came back up!