macbook pro turns on but screen stays black — my solution

The Apple Macbook Pro would turn on, but the screen would not.  The screen would stay black.  I could tell the computer was on because when I hit the “caps lock” key, the green light on the key would turn on and off.

I fixed this the following way (this is basically resetting the Power Management Unit — PMU):

I disconnected the computer from the power cord, and from all other cables.

I held down the power button for several seconds to turn off the computer.

I let it sit 5 minutes.

I restarted the laptop while holding down the Shift key.  This restarted the computer in Safe Mode, with the screen visible again.

After I logged in (in Safe Mode) to make sure everything was ok, I simply restarted the computer the normal way, and the screen behaved normally again.

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If that doesn’t work for you, you could try these steps, documented at apple.com:

Holding down Command, Option, P, and R to reset your PRAM and NVRAM

Resetting PowerBook and iBook Power Management Unit (PMU)

470 Comments

  1. Hi, I am having a similar issue.
    All good on the power side – green light
    Push power and i get the chime
    Screen flashes on – grey colour then goes black.
    Have tried ALL the methods above with out any luck.

    help!!!
    Thanks in advance.
    Anthony

  3. If these solutions do not work consistently and you are still experiencing problem- let your computer battery drain to zero and then try. it fixed my problem. also, have been running both VM ware and using external monitors– both seem to be recurring themes for causing this problem

  8. THANKS !!! This worked perfectly for me with my older “Air”. Although my shift key light did not turn on and off as original poster observed, I knew it was on since it felt warm and I hadn’t powered it down the previous evening after use. Once I followed posted steps to turn it off, the unit cooled down so I knew it was actually powered down. I let it settle for about 15 mins and followed instructions. Such a relief!

  14. Not working, I keep coming across these same instructions but my macbook screen will not come on. This is the third time this has happened. My friend had some guy fix it twice for me but after 2 weeks of getting it back this time, it happened again. The second time this happened, was in the same time frame. IDK if just ironic or what.

  17. Hey.
    Iv tried all the methods I can find on lien for this and none have worked.
    My laptop was working perfectly before and the screen seems to be displaying the diagnostics etc fine.
    Just won’t do anything else and goes back to being a blank black screen with the cursor showing.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    What could be the issue, does any have any idea?

    Thanks

  19. My macbook pro 2012 has the screen off, but when I put a flash on the screen I can see that my screen is on. Does this means that is something wrong with the screen or it can be fixed??

  21. Pram and Nvram reset worked for me. This makes sense too considering PRAM is used to store startup information such as display, speaker volume and other things. If PRAM gets confused/corrupt then it doesn’t know what to display. I use a 2 and 3 monitor setup which may have contribute to the issue when it occasionally does happen. Cheers, Sean

  22. Hey guys i have mac book of 12 mid and my macs screen went black and not turning on i tired all the methods but still same result nothing happend please can anyone help me i have a important file which i need to access ???

  25. Please my MacBook Pro retina model number a1502 has a black screen…I have done a pram reset still no change…please I need help

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