Q: Mid-2013 Macbook Air screen goes black?

I read that you got a refund for your macbookair by demonstrating the problem to the Mac retailers. Can you explain how to crash the MBA? At this point, I want to go in and show them that so I can exchange my machine. I am so sick of the black screen of death and having to do a hard reset.

Yes, I did get a refund (well, actually I opted for an exchange to a retina MBP and paid the difference).

First some background - I bought my MBA from a local Apple Store and returned it for an identical replacement after 8 days due to the problem.  As Apple in UK has a 14 day refund/replace arrangement, this was no issue. The new MBA did the same after a few days.  At the time I was doing some legal work in court and reading from the screen during the trial.  I needed the battery life to be maximised by utilising the sleep facility but also needed it to wake from sleep with a touch to the trackpad as soon as it slept IF I was reading from the screen at the time. This was just the situation which caused the MBA to freeze with a black screen and the keyboard illuminated - necessitating a reboot by holding down the power button.  As you can imagine, this caused serious problems in the setting I was in.

By reading advice on various threads here I learned how to replicate the issue, tried it out repeatedly on my MBA and then on MBA's in a local PC World.

I then went to my Genius Bar appointment. The genius was familiar with the issue but had not seen it.  I demonstrated it on my MBA and then took him over to the display machines and replicated it on a couple of these (there was one 13" MBA I simply could not do it on).  He was convinced, spoke to the manager and agreed a refund or exchange even though I was a couple of weeks beyond the 14 day return period.

So here's how I did it (note there are a couple of other ways to do this - including rapid opening and shutting of the clamshell):

Go to the Apple menu and select "sleep". The moment the screen goes black (it typically dims for a second first but wait until it is completely black) hit a key (I use the spacebar) TWICE in quick succession. The screen should stay black and the MBA will be unresponsive - the only option being a hard reset by pressing and holding the power button for about 10 seconds, releasing and pressing it briefly again to restart.

Two points:

1. I did this using OSX 10.9.1.  I do not know if it still happens under 10.9.2, as some have reported it is resolved or much harder to replicate.  All MBA's in Apple Stores will now be on 10.9.2.
2. Practice doing this on your MBA, and if it works, try it out on an MBA in store BEFORE approaching the staff - you don't want to make an issue and then be unable to demonstrate it!

Good luck .

I think I may have found the reason as to why the screen suddenly goes black...

Its due to the "Hot Corner" functionality. The screen has 4 programable Hot Corners that functions like an additional set of TrackPad gestures. When you move your mouse near one of the four corners the function kicks in. Whether its view Dashboard, Mission Control or PUT DISPLAY TO SLEEP.

The Fix:

In the DESKTOP & SCREENSAVER folder in the system preferences, click to SCREENSAVER page. At the BOTTOM RIGHT corner is the Hot Corner button. Click that then change all of the hot corners to - (null) or whatever function you want it to be.

Hope that helps.

Jesus, someone close this thread and put us all out of our misery! This problem is sorted, hot corner is not the issue... Which you would know if you could be arsed to read the thread!

Is there any update in this issue. I still have wake up failures in my MBA. Please provide some updates.

Hey! It seems it worked for some people and not for others. After 10.9.2 update, i've not experienced it again and it's over a month now so it seems fixed at my end. Others have had to return it for a refund or switch to a MBP. Hope you find a solution.

I have a Macbook Pro mid 2013 and have the same issue. I even had it taken in for repair and it just happend again.

Is there any update on this situation? Thanks.

I'm seeing this on mine as well.  I've had it several times for repair (including a full logicboard replacement), but it's never been propely fixed.

Today morning there were couple of official updates for osx, which ment to fix some problem in MBA (but I guess not exactly sleep wake up issue but it sounds similar, I think they have carefully chosen the words).  But apple fails again, I got the issue  after the update. Good luck, for those who are hoping that this update will solve their issue.

Nope happing to me now 2.8 15in macpro

Have had screen saver issues sence i bought this now the mouse wont show after waking and scrren goes back and the battery recharge cycle indacator logs recharges even if it is left plugged in.

3rd one in ten months , will not buy anouther mac...

The apps are great

the build is nice

the support is 8 out of 10 but the software interaction is trash with mavericks......Most of all my work is PS6 and video and the loss of work is just not acceptable at all. I have 2,8 15 16 g macbook pro for sale , and super drive , with cables.. 

I got a refund on my MBA and went back to my MBP.

At 25 months old, the hard drive failed without warning. I spoke to the technician who repaired it, he sees this all the time. His only lasted 6 years.

I've never had a hard drive fail in any machine I've owned. I have a 12 year old Compaq that cost a fraction of an Apple and it's still fine, just too slow for modern programs etc.

The technician told me I should ditch the poor quality Apple hard drive for an SSD but that's another £400 having spent £2,000 on a top end 17" MBP!

Two days later my 3rd Gen iPad failed.

Apple products are a nice idea but lousy quality.

Lesson learnt, don't buy Apple products, the quality is appalling, you'll just have to buy something else after wasting a large sum of money.

To all – what about this? http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1749?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

@MDN64

Lesson learn: someone's personal experience with a company's product doesn't necessarily mean they apply to everyone.

That EFI Firmware update didn't solve the problem. I had the wakeup issue 3 times in two days after the update

That *****. :(

But are we sure it still happens for all MacBook Airs of the affected generation? Is it also happening to the ones released this year? I think it's time to go to an Apple store and explain the situation, or maybe you've already done that?