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

  2. Im having a probmlem with my new macbook, when i turn it on the power light is visible but the screen is totally black. Any help for me plssss. I need need help badly.

  3. My MacBook Pro is old (early2008) and even though I primarily use my iPhone and iPad, there are still some tasks I do on my laptop and I wasn’t ready to give it up. I experienced the same sudden black screen issue. I tried various ways of staring it using the shift key as described but nothing. I tried the command, option, P, R trick and still nothing. The second time I tried starting it while pressing command, option, P and R it came on to a disk utility screen with several options. However it wouldn’t react to any of the options. Then in the upper left under disk utility drop down menu I pressed restart and now everything is fine! Yea! Thanks a lot
    ,

  5. Greetings all. I have tried each and every one of these steps to make my screen come on and nothing has worked. The computer itself comes on, but the screen is black. When I flash a light against it, I see nothing and no matter what I do the screen will not turn on. Is there anything else I may be able to do in order to make this work?

  12. I tried the shift+power key. It didn’t work. I tried the command+ option+p+r solution. It didn’t work. The computer comes on, I can see the green light on the caps lock screen. However, the screen remains black. It will not start in safe mode or otherwise. Any suggestions?

  14. After an update on the OS my computer restarted and the screen went black, I tried the shift + power but it didn’t work so I tried the command + option + P + R solution and it works. Thanks a lot! it works well.

  15. I’ve tried every fix I can find online (shift, option+command+P+R, etc.) all to no avail. When I turn on my computer, I hear the tone, but the screen stays black. Unlike others have noted, my caps lock key doesn’t light up, nor do my volume keys.

    This happened once before, and the basic fixes worked for me. But now…???

  16. This didn’t work, but I found the problem – the backlight. Found this by shining a light from the back, through the Apple logo. Since I could then see the screen, the problem is the backlight.

  17. Simon,

    Mine is having the same issue. From everything I can tell, I need a new fuse but that requires soldering. I have been using it connected to an external monitor as a temporary solution.

  18. Recently all our small business’ Macs – MacBook Pros and iMacs – get the same problem(s), after an update session of Windows 7/8 in Boot Camp, there were several updates, we forget to prudently carry out the updates one by one :
    – all Macs with NVIDIA GeForce Graphics/Displays get black screen + keyboard not working at startup.
    – all remained ones : keyboard not working at startup.
    We solve the “keyboard not working at startup” by system restore (in Windows, using USB external WIRED keyboards ) to a stage earlier than the update session, then re-update.
    We solve the “black screen” by the link concerning PRAM & NVRAM at the end of Colin’s post.

    Many thanks, Colin !

    P.S. : with those Macs failed with the shift key, then with option + command + P + R keys, we have to replace the logic board battery, according to http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379 , and all are working now !!!

    • hmm. I don’t have any experience with Boot Camp, so would never have known this.
      Thanks for posting this, DZOO. Will surely help someone.
      -Colin

  21. We have an older MacBook Pro. This did not solve our problem. When power is applied the CD drive seems to check for a disk (its empty) and the CPU fans turn on, but that’s about it. Holding down shift on power on did nothing. Command, Option, P, R all held together did nothing either.

    Do you have any other thoughts on how I can debug this further?

    • David,

      Have you tried putting the original Apple OS cd into the CD drive when you boot up? Doing that might get the macbook to start in safe mode or let you re-install the OS…
      Colin

      • Good thought. We did upgrade to Leopard or Lion recently, but that was through a download. Now if we can only find the original OS disc. I will let you know.

        Thanks for your reply.

        Regards,
        David.

      • Unfortunately we found the original MAC OS X install disk (1 of 2) and when I put it in our laptop it spins for about a minute and shuts down. The guys at the Apple store tell us it has a bad motherboard. They want more than the computer is worth to replace it. Sad news if they are correct. The new models are so expensive that I hate to scrap this one.

        Do you know anyone who does repairs these or sells replacement parts at a reasonable cost?

        Thanks for your help.

        Regards,
        David.

  22. Same problem of the black screen with my friend’s computer, just tried the shift + power up now. Turns out his entire screen is dying — I realized this when the screen turned on when I moved the it slightly. Often these things seem to be the problem with the video card. His make is: Intel HD Graphics 3000. Check your video card, google it with the word ‘problem’ and see what other people have experienced, and see if there’s anything you can do about it!

  23. My MacBook Pro seems to have the same type of problem. No sweet Apple chord when I power on, but the machine is clearly getting power (lights come on, the kid’s cute light-up mouse lights up) and there’s some whirring sounds when I put my ear close enough. But no chord! That’s the scariest part. And a black screen. Also scary. Trying the suggestions here…..

  24. Christine,

    It will also do that if the volume is muted or turned all the way down before you power off or reboot.

    I have the same issue, and mine will actually “kick on” after putting it to sleep and then opening the display 5 or 10 minutes later. So from the beginning, power on and just a black screen. Wait until it is booted into the OS (you can tell by using the CAPS LOCK key – if it lights up you can close the lid.). Then wait 5 or 10 minutes and open the lid.

    In my case PRAM and SMC resets do not work.

  25. I’ve realized my Nvidia GPU is bad, or at minimum it has bad solder connections. A solder reflow may correct it (at least temporarily.)

    The integrated graphics work fine, which is why it eventually works after a period of time. gfxCardStatus is the app I used to make that determination, along with the Mac System Report utility. Both only show the integrated graphics (Intel HD4000) and it explains why the computer shows no display on reboot.

    While in Windows, the integrated graphics are not available, only the discreet GPU. I think this has to do with the initialization order of the graphics and NVRAM, along with Apple not wanting to do the work on graphics switching software for Windows. Since the GPU is bad, I would not be able to use Boot Camp at all.

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