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Blank (lighted, but black) screen with cursor at bootup

iMac running Mavericks 10.9.2, went to sleep one night--tried to wake it the next morning, and ever since have had only a blank screen as described above. A hard restart includes a chime, the apple sign, the spinning wheel, and then a black UNLIT screen. Pressing a key or clicking the mouse illuminates the black screen and shows the cursor--just as mentioned in the title. Also, while the cursor is showing, I can hear error sounds if I press a bunch of keyboard keys.

Stuff I've tried:

1) Boot in safe mode: same results

2) Reset PRAM/NVRAM: same results

3) Boot to Recovery Partition & Repair Disk in Disk Utility: all of this worked, but restart included the same results

4) Re-install Mavericks from Recovery Partition: same results

5) Re-install Mavericks from Bootable Drive: same results

What's next?

Any help would be great! Thanks.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Mar 13, 2014 1:55 PM

Best reply

jesseinma

Level 1

47 points

Posted on Mar 17, 2014 6:10 AM

I had the same issue with my 2008 iMac and Apple support walked me through the fix yesterday...

1. Shut the computer down by holding the power button for 10 seconds

2. Restart the computer and press shift at the same time until you see the progress bar start moving

3. Once you reach the point where your screen goes dark and you see the cursor, type the first letter of the username for your computer, then hit Enter, then type your password, then hit Enter.

4. After a moment, you should see the spinning beach ball

5. Your screen should then move on to something along the lines of "Completing OSX Installation" (I can't remember the exact wording). Let it finish. After that it should go to your normal desktop and the issue should be fixed. (If your screen goes pitch black during this process, hit the space bar. I thought it wasn't working, but the screen was just sleeping).

Apparently it's an issue with an automatic update that never quite got past the login screen.

Hope this helps!

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24 replies

Aug 5, 2014 7:10 AM in response to 213JB

213JB's solution worked for me! The only thing I had to do different was not capitalize library and preferences. Thank you so much 213JB !

timgarvi

Level 1

0 points

Sep 26, 2014 1:59 PM in response to David.G.Henderson

Thanks. It didn't work but I tried somebody else's suggestion and it worked. I'm not real good with computers but I think it was starting it up in safe mode.

timgarvi

Level 1

0 points

Sep 26, 2014 2:04 PM in response to 213JB

Thank you. Took a couple of tries but it fixed my problem. All of you on this site that provide things to try are great people. Wish I knew enough to help others.

Sep 28, 2014 12:31 PM in response to 213JB

Thanks for the solution. The first one did not work for me but probable because I Forget my userName. The command prompt worked for me once I decapitalized library and preferences. Many thanks! I was considering getting a new computer!

Oct 25, 2014 8:33 AM in response to 213JB

Worked for me! Macbook.
Thanks!

Quick fix didn't work, or I typed the wrong username.

But from root - worked perfectly!

denisea

Level 1

4 points

Dec 4, 2014 8:00 PM in response to David.G.Henderson

Just had this happen on a brand-new MB Air with Yosemite. The jesseinma fix didn't do it, but the 213JB solution DID work! Thank you very much.

svf6

Level 1

0 points

Dec 30, 2014 11:28 AM in response to 213JB

It worked! Yay! *does happy dance* Thank you 213JB!

Jan 9, 2017 8:41 AM in response to jesseinma

Solved my "black screen with cursor" issue on Macbook Air!

Jun 13, 2017 12:26 PM in response to 213JB

I got to the black screen with the white text but I didn't see root#

Blank (lighted, but black) screen with cursor at bootup