MacBook Pro boots to Black Screen?

Okay mleap29, I did some searching online and found this. I will try these when I get home and I hope this helps fix both our problems.

First, Reset the System Management Controller to Fix the Black Display on Boot

The first thing you’ll want to do resolve nearly every power related issue on a Mac is to reset the SMC, or System Management Controller. This will dump and reset settings for anything power management related, and is long known to resolve problems with things like fans, heat, sleeping problems, and of course, display issues.

On any modern MacBook Pro or MacBook Air with a built-in battery, which is just a bout all of them nowadays, this is how you do that:

1. Shut down the Mac and connect it to your MagSafe adapter and a wall outlet as usual
2. Hold down the Shift+Control+Option+Power button at the same time for a few seconds
3. Release all keys at the same time, then boot the Mac as usual

Older Macs can find directions here for the same process on their machines, it’s slightly different if you can take out the battery.

When the Mac boots, hopefully the black screen has gone away and you’re back to normal, but if it doesn’t… reader Nathan D. wrote in with the next tip.

Second, Try a Keypress Sequence to Ditch the Black Screen

Regular readers may recall that we covered some OS X keyboard shortcuts for the Shutdown, Sleep, and Restart controls of just about every Mac, and this little key press sequence takes advantage of those. Oddly enough, it seems to work to resolve some of the mystery Mac booting into black screen issues. Here’s the precise sequence to follow:

1. Press the Power / OFF button once – this will bring up the dialog box which you can’t see
2. Press the “S” button – this is the shortcut to sleep the Mac
3. Hold down the Power button until a hard shut down is forced
4. Wait about 15 seconds, then hit the Power button again to turn it back on

This key press solution was discovered by reader Nathan D., who found it tucked away on MacRumors Forums, and it has worked for several other commenters there as well. Some other users on the MR forums suggest that resetting PRAM helped them too, but most power issues are resolved by the SMC reset.

Finally, Try a PRAM Reset to Resolve the Black Boot Display

If the above two tricks failed, a PRAM reset can often do the trick, as many of the commenters on this article can attest to. As a potential solution to the black screen on boot, this is done upon restarting the Mac similar to an SMC reset:

1. Reboot the Mac and as soon as you hear the boot chime, hold down the Command+Option+P+R keys together
2. When you hear the boot sound again, the PRAM has been reset so let the Mac boot again as usual

At this point your Mac should boot again as usual and no longer have the black display, loading OS X as usual.

If you happen to run into this unusual issue with your Mac, let us know how you resolved it, and if the above tips worked for your MacBook, whichever Pro or Air model it may be.

My Macbook did something similar last night on reboot. It was fine before the reboot too I just restarted to clear out memory. My screen remained blank after restart but the keys on the keyboard were lit like normal. I forced quit and restarted several times with no screen. It did flash for a brief moment showing the apple logo with the status bar but then went black again. Hope we can figure out what's going on. At least your screen came up to rule out a bad screen or wiring. Good luck.

@mleap29... My previous post with three things to try worked on mine tonight. I'd gone through all three and nothing helped then I started over with the first one and BAM, the screen came alive and all is back to normal again. Good luck with yours.

Thanks a lot for posting this, my mac froze with the black screen and the method you described worked for me to reboot

it.