Screen stays off after unplugged from monitor

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Screen stays off after unplugged from monitor

I have a MacBook Pro Retina 13 I primarily use it at my desk with the lid closed, connected to power and two external monitors (one HDMI one Thunderbolt). When I disconnect the monitors & power (without opening the lid) and then try to open the lid to use it seems not to wake up.

The lights-behind the keyboard are not on, the apple-symbol on the lid is not lit and the screen does not power on. I've tried pushing the power button, nothing. I've tried increasing brightness incase it somehow thinks that I had decreased it. No dice. The only solution seems to be a hard-boot (hold down power button for a while until I get an apple-symbol on the screen). It seems to happen intermittently I'm not sure what the cause is! It's definitely not a battery because it's fully charged and after the hard-boot it operates fine.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Sep 4, 2015 3:44 PM

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Answer 1

sterling r

Community Specialist

Sep 6, 2015 11:49 AM in response to kiiadi

Hi there kiiadi,

It sounds like your Mac isn't waking like it should after disconnecting your external monitors in clamshell mode. I would use this section of the following article named:

If your Mac doesn't sleep or wake when expected

Reset the SMC.

Reset NVRAM.

Disconnect external devices other than your Apple keyboard, mouse, and display. If that resolves the issue, gradually reconnect your devices, testing each time, until you find the device that is interfering with sleep. Then check the documentation that came with the device, or contact the device manufacturer.

Start up in Safe Mode to see if the issue is related to non-Apple startup items, login items, or kernel extensions.

Try to isolate the issue by using another user account.

Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.

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