Q: Mavericks installation question.

The shift key does not light the screen. I'm not using one Mac to install on another, no.

How can I tell if the installation process is still going on? The bottom of the computer is very warm, but the screen is dark.

More info: it's been about 8 minutes since the Mac went into restart mode, and then went dark. I don;t know how long it's supposed to stay dark like this.

Upgrading from 10.6.8. As for the duration, I assume you mean from the time I hit "install" to the time it went dark an emitted the chime. I'd estimate that to be about 3-5 minutes. Connection is wireless., but very close to the router and strong. The Macbook is a 2011 edition. The bottom of the case is still very warm, indicating something is going on. But the dark screen puzzles me.

The bottom of the case is still very warm, indicating something is going on. I can also hear a very faint hissing-type noise from inside the computer.

no peripherals. All system requirements were verified.

Touching it lightly does nothing. I may have accidentally put the thing to sleep earlier when I hit the start button for a second or two. I did not hold it down for 5 seconds, though. Is there a way to force the screen to light up again?

I closed the lid, reopened, but it did not resume anything. But I do notice that when I  shut the lid, the little power light indicator on the front of the case slowly blinks on and off. That light actually comes on before the lid is fully shut. Once the lid is fully reopened the blinking stops and there is no light. What does that mean? EDIT: I just discovered the light I;''m referring to is the "sleep indicator light":, if that helps.

The light I referred to in the above post(the "edit" feature of this page isn';t working) is the "sleep indicator light", if that helps.

Yes, that;'s what it's doing--but only when the lid is closed. When it's open, the light does not glow on and off. Should I try to wake it up? If so, how? How long should I hold the power bbutton down? And y es, I backed the thing up before trying to upgrade to Mavericks.