Mid-2013 Macbook Air screen goes black?

Oh, I didn't get your argument at first, because I didn't realise that there was a difference between

1. putting your computer (hard-drive) to sleep, by either selecting from the apple and clicking "sleep" or the combination cmd+alt+power button
2. puting the display to "sleep" (ie. turning it off) by taping quickly the power button.

For me it was/is the same thing. Any way I can force my MBA to crash by preventing it from turining of the display and also going to sleep. In both cases it works.

I hit all kinds of buttons, all worked. I also tried the power button -sleep inducement. Still no black screen. My solution, to those who missed it earlier: Display setting, untick the "Automatically adjust brightness".

All I can say is congratulations to you if you have a MacBook Air from mid 2013 that doesn't have this problem, because there seems to be a lot that do.

During lunch today I will go to a Mac store and try to reproduce the problem with ”automatically adjust brightness” turned off. Great if that makes it unreproduceable, but I'm doubtful…

I've got automatic brightness adjustment off since before Mavericks, and I can reproduce the problem almost every time.

Nah, i tried that and it worked for a while but after sometime, the problem reoccured. So unticking the "Automatically adjust brightness" did not solve it for me.

Just as I thoguht… 😟

Didn't have time to go to a Mac store during lunch, so haven't tried to reproduce on the units there. But I'm quite sure I'd be able.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Let system idle and wait for display to dim (based on power settings).

2. Wait a couple more seconds for screen to go black.

3. Wait a split second more for keyboard backlight to begin to fade.

4. Before keyboard backlight is completely off, press a key or swipe the trackpad (as if trying to prevent the system from sleeping, thus requiring re-entry of password)

Expected Results:

I would expect the system to wake up and let me continue with what I was doing.

Actual Results:

When touching the input as the keyboard backlight is fading, the backlight illuminates brightly, but the screen stays black. The CAPS LOCK key will toggles its light on/off. No other action will wake up the system. Only a hard boot will bring system back on.

Please joing the facebook group related to this issue.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/326421004166133/

It is frustrating, now my computer has been wiped out for the second time, I made sure to mention the problems with 2013 mba and the black screen.....in their survey, people should not have to be having all these troubles.

Thanks for your suggestion. I am going to try this. I too have a macbook air (from July) with this problem. I let it go past the 90 day support period as this happens so rarely (maybe monthly) that I keep thinking it has gone away.

Hello everyone, I bought MacBook Air November 2013 in India. I am facing the same problem in my MBA after 6-7 days of buying date. Since it is my first device from Apple so I am following all instructions by the resellers and service center persons.

First I spoke to the reseller, he suggested me sometimes due to third party apps it may happen. When it happened again then he suggested me to go to service center. In between that I selected this discussion on Apple support community and started to get the comments about this issue. Then I chatted online with apple persons they instructed me to check settings of SMC and PRAM and suggested to go to service center. Then after, 3 times I have taken my MBA to service center:

1st time: they changed the settings in it and gave back to me by saying to observe the problem.

I observed for 2 days problem occurred and I informed

2nd time: they kept it for 4 days with them to observe and gave it back by saying that we have fresh installed the Mac OS10.9 since this issue was due to I have updated the Mac OS from 10.9 to 10.9.1

Within 4-5 days it happened again with one more problem of showing battery drain significantly by spot light. I continued to observe these issues for few more occurrences. In between that again I chatted with apple person and discussed both the issues.... amazing... again he told me the same settings as previously and observe.

3rd time: I took it to service center and told compete issue about the discussion with apple persons too. They kept it for two days and simply said that we have to chat with Apple technicians then only we say something. They chatted with Apple technicians and suggested me to keep the machine as it is till the Apple people update the firmware… When I asked… How much time it will take…? They said, “Do not know”!

Interesting point is that in front of service center person I showed this issue how screen crashes and how the battery drains happening and showing energy used significantly by spotlight. Even then those persons told me to wait for firmware update by Apple.

After take from service center, one more thing is happening with my MBA if I put my finger in front of webcam brightness of display goes dim.

When I asked to replace it or upgrade it to another machine then they simply raise their hand and we can do nothing for this. And told you have to speak with Apple persons

Now what to do? I am helpless…!!!

All you describe is what happened to me. I spoke to the store manager at Apple Store and got money back which I used against a retinaMBP.

Apple agreed there was a problem that WOULD be fixed with a firmware update but could give no date. That was in late December. So people are still waiting. There is no clear agreement to offer refunds, so it depends on the local manager/local policy.

Re. the Webcam dimming display, I think this is OK - you are covering the sensor and the MBA thinks that it is dark, so it dims the screen so you are not dazzled.

Hi to all,

I also bought a customised 8GB RAM MacBook Air in November 2013 and I was having the black screen issue as well. Totally random and I was never able to reproduce the problem by myself, it just would happen randomly.

Using the live chat support from Apple, I was pointed out to the SMC and PRAM reset pages and... it worked!

So far, and it has been more than 2 weeks, I never got the black screen again.

I guess the system was "programmed" to 4GB while there was 8GB installed and it didn't recognise it, can this be possible?

Either way... all is great and I'm glad I didn't have to replace the Air for a Pro. I love Air 🙂

Good luck with all of you.

Thanks, but I think it's easier to reproduce this way:

1. Have the MacBook Air (Mid 2013) running with the display/lid open.

2. Hold down the ”cmd alt/option” keys and press the power key (this will cause the MacBook Air to enter sleep mode)…

3. …then immediately after pressing the above key combo, press random keys on the keyboard in an attempt to wake up the computer.

After the first or a few tries you should have a hanged MacBook Air, i.e. black screen and not responding to keyboard input.

Or like suggested before, simply press the power button a few times, which sleeps (turns off) and wakes the display.

I think most people in here have tried both an SMC reset and PRAM reset. It doesn't help. Very interesting if it did for you!

So you're not able to reproduce the issue following the three steps in my post above?