How to fix MacBook Pro with black screen?

The most possible reason for this problem is that a pin for the backlight close to the display is sticking out. If you can get the pin to reset, it will start working again. If you want the link to a youtube video describing the fix to a similar problem, just ask and i will send the link.

After several tries of doing the recommended solution...

1. Turning off power.
2. Pressing power button and holding down Command + Option + P + R until apple pogo comes on.

It worked!

Definitely not happy with Apple right now.

I had this issue with a MacBook Pro 15” 2018 just a week old. The escape key was lighting up on Touch Bar, the caps lock was lighting up, the track pad was clickable and the screen would be all black. If I lit a bright light on the screen I could see that it was on but no back light. After trying all possible things I managed to bring the computer back to life by resetting the NVRAM.

1. Press power button for 10 sec (switch off)
2. Press power button and immediately press Command + Option + R + P and hold until the apple logo appears and the computer will boot as normal.

Hopefully the helps you as it helped me.

Shift-control-option-power. Press all at once, release together. Press power. Mac reboots. You lose three minutes of your life never to recover it. Repeat about every couple of hours. The only comfort is knowing how absolutely crappy PCs are. Precious little comfort, I say.

I have a similar issue with my wife's 2012 17" Retina display. The computer boots up. Using Screen Sharing, I get a display that is almost square, like one would get with a headless Mac mini, rather than a display window proportional to 2880 x 1800. In addition, it does not recognize any external monitors. Occasionally when trying to reset SMC and/or PRAM, I can get the display to work for a few minutes, but then it goes black again. I've tried disconnecting the battery, removing the solid state drive (and booting off an external drive), and other standard trouble-shooting tips, but to no avail. I reinstalled the latest compatible OS (10.13.6), but the issue persists. I did manage to do an extended hardware check once when I had the display working, but it gave no hints of any problems. I am at a loss.

One odd thing: the battery had been giving a warning indicating need for service/replacement. After fiddling with it, it now says it is "Normal". But I also get the problem with the battery disconnected.

Any ideas?

My MacBook is still broken. I first posted a reply to this thread in October of 2018. You'd think with all the attention this issue is getting on here now specifically with this happening to MacBooks with Touchbars, that something would be done about it. All the recommended "resets" DO NOT work. I plugged my MacBook in the other day for the first time in months and the screen came back on--briefly. Back to a black screen again. No idea what is causing the issue. But I know I'm not going to pay $500+ to replace it either. ****** company. Second MacBook that has broken on me. My first MacBook (Air)'s hard drive crashed during finals week (Apple recall so they fixed it for free). APPLE, PLEASE ADDRESS THIS ISSUE WITH MACBOOKS WITH TOUCHBARS.

You would already have a fix by now I guess, but I had the same problem. I never knew that the ID button on the touch bar actually could be pushed down like a normal button (I normally just place my finger on it to unlock the computer). This turned the computer off. Pushed it again and the computer started up like normal. Boom fixed.

Same problem with 2018 15" w/touch bar running Mojave. Used a flashlight to view the login screen; logging in brightened the screen. I imagine if that hadn't worked, I could have increased brightness from system preferences.

This worked the 3rd time I tried it. Don’t give up!

1. Press power button for 10 sec (switch off)
2. Press power button and immediately press Command + Option + R + P for 20 seconds

Thanks for that. I tried that. But I got the same problem three times in a week. I came to the Genius Bar and they recommended to replace my one (MBP 15in 2018). They scanned the logic board and found no defect. I wonder that did the problem happen to you many times?

I had the "same" problem (fama2434 describes my symptoms well). Resetting PRAM/NVRAM would get me out of it but the problem recurred. Resetting SMC did nothing. Even the 10.14.3 (18D109) OS update didn't fix it. Since rebooting in recovery mode and reinstalling the OS the problem hasn't come back.

UPDATE: My "solution" didn't solve anything. After reinstalling the OS on my original 2018 MBP (2.9Ghz with 560x GPU) the problem did come back. I returned that machine and bought an even more ridiculously expensive MBP (2.6ghz with Vega 20), and have experienced the same problem. I thought maybe it was bad hardware, or a GPU bug, but that seems unlikely since I've seen it on 2 machines with different GPU's. I think this points the finger at Mac OS Mojave. No surprise given the growing list of Mojave bugs I've compiled in the few short weeks I've been using it.

For me this seems to only happen when restarting with an external monitor attached via a hub. Anyone else? I'm hoping to try an HDMI to USBC cable (bypassing the hub) but I'm already $4k deep in this buggy thing and tired of bleeding money on it. When this black screen happens, try closing the lid and immediately reopening it. That has turned the screen on for both machines I've seen this bug on. It comes up in recovery mode, but you'll probably have to reset NVRAM anyway.

It could be external monitor problem.

I have 'DELL P2715Q' connected with USB-C to DisplayPort cable -

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Choetech-USB-C-to-DisplayPort-Cable-Type-C-DP-4K-for-Macbook-Pro-Samsung-Mate-10/264014083197?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649