black screen after login, Mountain Lion on Macbook Retina

Can't believe it! Apple called me, unsolicited, to query me on what I had done to work around this problem. They seem to want to replace my MacBook before diagnosing the problem - but I'm not sure if they understand that this means I'll have to transfer EVERYTHING including software that has been 'registered' to this computer. If it's really a hardware problem, I don't mind doing that, but if they are using me to debug their problem, then it can be a realy pain the ....

I am still am impressed with the attention they're giving me on this problem though - quite impressive.

Same exact thing happened to me! I posted about the black screen after login issue.

Apple support called me just based off of my support forum post here. How awesome is that!

Any computer or gadget can have issues, but what other company pays this much attention to their customers!

Anyway, they gave me an appointment at my local apple store, at the time I chose, and I'm told I'll have a brand-new macbook waiting for me to take home.

The only complaint I have is that I'm on my 4th retina macbook now. The first 3 were due to scratches (due to manufacturing problems verified in store) and this one is being returned because of the black screen. I think after this much hassle, Apple should give me some money back or something. One of the reasons I spend so much on an apple laptop is because apple treats their customers right! Hopefully when I go for my apple store appointment, they'll realize how many times I've had to return my laptop, re-load all my apps, data, etc, that they'll give me a few bucks!

Apple also called me a couple days ago.

They asked me several questions about the problem and what I did to workaround it. Then they sent me an application to gather system logs and details and asked me to send them the results.

The funny thing is that I have not been able to replicate the problem ever since. I now run with a scaled resolution and without autologin. 10 boots and no BSOD. I even disabled the Guest and deleted all user accounts but mine from the system. The systems just runs as it should.

I also asked a friend with another rMBP to try to replicate the error by configuring his OSX in the same conditions I had when I was getting the BSOD and he had no problem.

😕

There are some certificates I am hesitating to install since after you activate them they will only work for ONE computer and I still think I may have to have this one replaced.

What I am affraid of is that this problem will re-occur in the future to me.

It is good that the Apple guys are taking this seriously.

Regards,

R.

Interesting but ... I was waiting for a patch. I have the same problem, currently bypass by staying in the "Optimized for Retina" setting.

So ... I have to post in this discussion to be called by Apple too. For me it's not material, it seems to be more of a software problem and I just can't stay stuck with the "Optimized for Retina" setting only.

Anyone with some fresh news about a patch ?

PS: Sorry for my english, I'm from France.

Hello,

I have exactly the same issues. I hope it's software too, not hardware. I posted in this thread about this:

My Macbook Pro Retina keeps freezing on up...

For now I have checked the auto login option, it seems to work, no black screen after login.

But sometimes I have had another issue, not easy to reproduce: my session opens normally (no freeze), but the system becomes really instable when I launch an app which makes use of the Nvidia graphic card. For example, Adobe Illustrator. In that case, Illustrator freezes when opening a file, and the whole system is slowly becoming unresponsive an unstable, even after a force kill of that application.

It's really annoying, as a Web Designer & Developer I'm not confident when working on that machine... it's as if the Nvidia graphic card (or the switch between the two graphic cards) were half dead.

Thanks to all for this thread,

Fred

PS: I'm from France too 😉

Really in the same situation, I bought this macbook pro to work on it as a graphic designer ... I haven't made the complete transition so I haven't try to work with the MBP Retina for now, but you frightening me with your feedback.

We have to keep this thread alive.

Richard

I don't know what to think at this point...

At the beginning of the week Apple was extremely interested in taking my Retina Macbook Pro and replacing it.

By the end of the week, they went completely silent. Calls and emails to their Executive support team went unanswered.

So, now, I have a laptop that takes multiple boot-ups to work with no solution in sight.

I hope Apple hasn't changed their mind about reaching out to us on this problem.

Wow! One more black screen after login here after a lot of regular reboots. As before, hard shutdown, boot and login/out from guest user was enough to login normally into my usual account one more time.

It seems that I had a less number of fault logins (actually only 2 times) than you all?!?

No setting changed till last fault experience: 1900x1200 screen res.

Waiting/hoping for apple solution :O

Oops, my bad, it will still do it with automatic login enabled and both monitors connected, just not as frequently it seems. The only real workaround seems to be to give up a monitor.

Your solution looks to be close to what I have noticed. My MBP with retina display is brand new and came with Lion. I configured for multiple users just to keep the admin user separated from regular use for security. Everything worked fine and I made the foolish mistake of taking the free upgrade to ML. Now, when I log in, sometimes I will get a black screen. Today, when I booted and I tried to log into admin, I got the black screen. I held the power button down until it shut down and rebooted. I got the black screen again when logging into admin. I forced a shutdown and logged into the regular user and no black screen. Both the admin and regular users have the same preference settings. I logged back out of the regular user and logged into the admin and this time it went in clean. This problem did not start until ML so it looks like a software issue.

Today is the fourth day that I start my MacBook retina using automatic login. For now everything is fine, no problem.

Yes, we already know that solution, as good as staying in the right resolution but they aren't long term quality fix. It isn't normal to have to be limited to solve a problem like this.

I too have the Black Screen problem on my MacBook Retina notebook. It occurs once in a while, and may be more likely to happen when the notebooks works for a few hours at a time. In Energy Saver settings, I have monitor Display Sleep 30 min and Computer Sleep 3 hours.

When Black Screen happens, I cannot just re-start to fix the problem, I have to try to do different things and cannot point out which one actually fixes it: re-start in recovery mode, change Automatic graphics switching. When I log in with Guest user, it typically does not have the issue, which allows me to research the web and see which steps to take to perform those recovery actions.

Very frustrating. I understand that Apple may be working on the issue. But I wish they could provide a workaround for people to apply until they find a permanent solution. If this a manufacturing defect, Apple should be honest and open about it quickly and provide replacements to people who are affected. MacBook Retina is an expensive piece of equipment. Brand loyalty is at stake here.

Hope it is resolved soon.

Does anyone recomend going to the Apple store or its just a lost of time??

Hi All,

Same problem here, I get through to the login page put in my login and password and the computer screen goes to black.

I can tell the computer is running as I can turn volume up and down, it just seems the screen wont make the transition to the operating screen.

So, I then hold down the power button until it shuts down and reset the PRAM, Command+alt+P+R for three reboots and then let it go and it starts normally.

This feels like a software issue, I have a 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7 with 16 gig of RAM and a Retina display and Flash Hard drive running system 10.8

Now this does not happen all the time, not sure yet what the different scenarios are. im runing the screen under "More Space" rather than the Retina.

Any news would be appreciated as this is my main work machine, and losing it will cause me so much hassel. ( What really ***** is I just wiped my old MacBook Pro which I kept for a week and low and behold a few hours later this problem occured. )

Lets hope Apple find a solution quickly and it is simply a software issue.

Rick OZ