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macbook air stuck on black screen cannot shut down or restart

When I try to wake up my 2011 macbook air 13" I just see a black screen. No cursor. I can't tell if its still asleep or if the screen is just blank. I tried a power shut down (holding down the power button for 10 seconds), but that didn't work. No key combination seems to make any difference. I have tried it plugged in and on battery, but not difference. I can't try a PRAM reset or SMC reset, because I can't get the macbook air to do anything! Help!

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Apr 30, 2015 1:21 AM

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Posted on Apr 30, 2015 8:00 AM

Press the Caps Lock key. If its green LED illuminates, the MacBook Air is still on. If it is, force it to shut down by holding the power button long enough for it to shut down, five to ten seconds.


Then, attempt the SMC reset. Be sure to read the procedure carefully and follow all the steps exactly as written, even if they seem inapplicable or trivial.


If that does not help, make sure it is really shut down as before, and perform the NVRAM reset.

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Apr 30, 2015 8:00 AM in response to Paul Davis9

Press the Caps Lock key. If its green LED illuminates, the MacBook Air is still on. If it is, force it to shut down by holding the power button long enough for it to shut down, five to ten seconds.


Then, attempt the SMC reset. Be sure to read the procedure carefully and follow all the steps exactly as written, even if they seem inapplicable or trivial.


If that does not help, make sure it is really shut down as before, and perform the NVRAM reset.

Apr 30, 2015 9:21 AM in response to John Galt

Thanks John. While waiting for a reply, I tried again to force it to shut down, but nothing appeared to happen. I had Filevault 2 on, so I'm wondering if that startup page was appearing, but the screen was black so I could not see it nor click on the icon to enter my password. Anyway, I then tried plugging in an external hard drive and then turning on the hard drive -- the screen lit up about 15 seconds later. The MacBook Air was evidently still on. After that, I turned Filevault 2 off and did the SMC reset. The MacBook Air now seems to be waking from sleep properly. Do you think that I can turn FileVault back on?

macbook air stuck on black screen cannot shut down or restart

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