Blank screen at start up

Question

Blank screen at start up

Two days ago, I shut down my MacBook Pro with no problems. I hadn't shut it down in several weeks (jut closed the lid to put it into sleep mode) so I wanted to give it a rest. Today when I went to turn it back on, I pushed the power button and the front light came on and I could hear the fan running but the screen was completely blank. I tried the screen brightness adjustment to make sure it wasn't down all the way for some reason but got nothing. After pushing the power button again several times I finally got something on the screen. It was the apple logo with a loading bar (as if it were downloadin something) and then went straight to asking me to reset my password as if I had forgotten it even though it never even asked me for it. I went ahead and reset it since I had no other options. As soon as it was reset and I clicked restart, it went back to the blank screen. I could feel the heat from the computer and can hear the fan running so I know it has power but the screen just stays blank. It was perfectly fine two days ago when I shut it down. I have no idea what happened to cause it to go blank.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Mar 20, 2015 11:37 AM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Mar 20, 2015 11:39 AM in response to usarmywifetso

Mac OS X- Gray screen appears during startup

Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive

Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.

Reinstalling OS X Without Erasing the Drive

Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.

When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility and press the Continue button. After Disk Utility loads select the Macintosh HD entry from the the left side list. Click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If Disk Utility reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit Disk Utility and return to the main menu.

Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Alternatively, see:

Reinstall OS X Without Erasing the Drive

Choose the version you have installed now:

OS X Yosemite- Reinstall OS X

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet

if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

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Answer 2

Mar 20, 2015 12:03 PM in response to Kappy

I Tried this with no luck. Nothing happened when I pushed the Option or Command+R keys. Either the screen remained black or (after powering off and on a few times) went back to the load bar and reset password screens.

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Mar 20, 2015 12:16 PM in response to usarmywifetso

Good chance the hard drive has failed. You will need to have it replaced.

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Answer 4

Mar 20, 2015 12:37 PM in response to Kappy

Is there any possible way to recover my files? I honestly don't even care if I can never use the computer again if I can just get the pictures of my kids off of it.

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Answer 5

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Mar 20, 2015 1:10 PM in response to usarmywifetso

It depends on whether the drive is still accessible. The only way to find out is to remove it from the computer, put it in an external enclosure or drive dock, then connect it to another Mac and see if it mounts and can be accessed. In some cases where that's not possible data may be recoverable with the proper file recovery software such as:

General File Recovery

If you stop using the drive it's possible to recover deleted files that have not been overwritten by using recovery software such as MAC Data Recovery, Data Rescue II, File Salvage or TechTool Pro. Each of the preceding come on bootable CDs to enable usage without risk of writing more data to the hard drive. Two free alternatives are Disk Drill and TestDisk. Look for them and demos at MacUpdate or CNET Downloads. Recovery software usually provide trial versions that enable you to determine if the software would help before actually paying for it. Beyond this or if the drive has completely failed, then you would need to send the drive to a recovery service which is very expensive.

The longer the hard drive remains in use and data are written to it, the greater the risk your deleted files will be overwritten.

Also visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on Data Recovery.

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Answer 6

Gazza01

Level 1

0 points

Mar 22, 2015 2:16 AM in response to usarmywifetso

Hi all, new to posting but this issue is driving me nuts. I have found the link below but am not confident enough to try the solution.

http://www.imore.com/black-login-screen-your-mac-heres-fix

i think the actual issue is a known problem from Mavericks onwards. I have posted feedback to Apple but it would seem from all the forums that they are not responding.

cheers

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