Black/Dark Screen after waking from sleep

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Black/Dark Screen after waking from sleep

I have a brand new 15" Macbook Pro, 2.3 GHz, Intel Core i7 processor, 16 GB RAM, Mavericks.

After the latest firmeware update, when the computer comes out of sleep state, the screen remains dark... not so dark as to indicate that there is nothing there... but a very dark blue/almost black, making it impossible to see anything.

If I plug my VGA dongle in, it flickers on for a moment, but quickly returns to the dark state. No keystrokes change anything. The computer seems to be functioning normally otherwise. The volume up/down produces the expected chirps. The only way to fix it is to force a shutdown and then restart.

I have set the power management settings to never sleep for the time being, but I can't seem to find a fix. One post suggested restarting in safe mode to clear the cache and then shut down/restart normally. This did not resolve the issue. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5515610?answerId=23632225022#23632225022

I also tried repairing permissions, but that didn't help at all.

Finally, I logged in as Guest and this was NOT a problem in the guest account. It resumed its normal state when coming out of sleep state.

Ideas?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9), 2.3 MHz, Intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM

Posted on Nov 9, 2013 11:05 AM

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Answer 1

ariel s

Level 4

1,769 points

Nov 11, 2013 2:10 PM in response to TrekMan

Hi TrekMan,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. Since it sounds like you've isolated the dark display after waking down to being user-specific, I recommend the appropriate section of this article:

Isolating an issue by using another user account

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4053

If the issue occurs in only one user account

If you have isolated an issue to a single user account, then you should focus your troubleshooting on that user and specific application(s) that are problematic when logged in as that user. Mac OS X: How to troubleshoot a software issue provides some assistance with this, although if you are just seeing the issue in one account, you most likely do not need to reinstall any applications.

Make sure you're using the most recent version of Mac OS X. If you're using a version of OS X Lion earlier than 10.7.4, see this article for assistance.

If you are seeing issues with an application unexpectedly quitting in just one account, see this help article for additional assistance in OS X Lion. See this help article for additional assistance in OS X Mountain Lion.

Other, application-specific issues isolated to a single user account can often be caused by a problematic preference list or setting. Check the application's documentation or support website for instructions on troubleshooting specific preference or setting files. For example, iLife preference troubleshooting is documented in iLife: Troubleshooting Basics. If you are looking for assistance troubleshooting a specific alert message or issue, you should try searching the Apple Support website.

If you need further assistance with troubleshooting an issue isolated to a specific user account, you may wish tocontact Apple Support. If you work with AppleCare to troubleshoot the issue, be sure to let them know about any troubleshooting steps you have already performed and the results, and the text of any alert messages you have received. You may wish to take a screenshot of any messages (see this article for OS X Lion or this article for OS X Mountain Lion), so that you can use them for reference and provide them if needed.

Cheers,

- Ari

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