A Solution For MacBook Pro Booting To A Black Screen

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Nov 22, 2014 - 616 Comments
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Rarely, a Mac may encounter some peculiar issue during system boot that can cause quite a bit
+ 8.391
of panic, like booting to a completely black screen. It would be easy to interpret that as a
potential hardware problem, and in some particularly rare situations that may be the case, but it’s
more often a software issue that can be resolved with some simple troubleshooting steps.
Case in point; one of our readers experience with his MacBook Pro, which out of the blue
rebooted to a completely dark screen. Though it’s rare, we figured this would be a good
opportunity to share three potential solutions to this problem, and similar issues, should you
encounter a dark screen on system start.
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
http://osxdaily.com/2014/11/22/fix-macbook-pro-booting-black-screen/ Page 1 of 94
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.
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Related articles:
Why didn’t the new MacBook Air get a black screen bezel?
Mac Setups: White MacBook with Black Keys
Mac Setups: Oreo MacBook
Mac Setups: Transitioning from MacBook Pro to MacBook Air
Posted by: Paul Horowitz in Mac OS X, Troubleshooting
616 Comments
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Wharf Xanadu says:

November 22, 2014 at 10:45 pm
I had this happen to me once because my cat walked on the keyboard and turned the
brightness all the way down
So turn up your brightness too. It can be the simplest things some times.
And cats like macs by the way
Reply
Joe says:
February 25, 2015 at 3:21 pm
None of the three solutions worked for me, but I found a solution for my case. I tried
hooking up an external monitor and Windows 7 worked fine on the external monitor
but still would not come up on the Macbook Air screen (the screen also worked fine
when running the Mac OS). Using the external monitor, I searched around the control
panel for the brightness control, and it was set all the way to the left. I moved it toward
the middle and it worked. Note that you have to do this separately for both plugged in
and not plugged in options.
That solved the issue, but the brightness and volume keys still did not work. I went to
the Bootcamp Control panel (accessed by clicking the grey diamond Bootcamp icon
in the pop up arrow on the bottom task bar), clicked through to get to the keyboard
tab, and there was a box that was checked stating, “Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as
standard function keys.” I unchecked the box, and the keyboard controls returned to
normal.
Not sure exactly how this happened, although my son turned the brightness way, way
down using the keys in order to listen to something on my computer overnight, and
this happened the next day. May or may not be related, but I would guess yes.
Hope this helps someone as I did not see this solution anywhere else and it took me
several days of experimenting to find it.
Reply
Dennis Ammons says:

March 13, 2015 at 5:47 am
The third option for the black screen worked. Thank you so much for your
assistance. I was in desperate need of the machine this weekend, and I had no
time to return to an Apple Store. Thanks again.
Reply
B says:
December 15, 2015 at 4:02 pm
Third option worked for me too. Thanks to whoever the credit is due!!!
Reply
Edward says:
Command,Option,P,R worked for me. thanks!
Reply
Caro says:
March 15, 2015 at 8:02 am
The third (PRAM) option worked for my new MacBook Air.

Thank you so much!
Reply
SG says:
March 23, 2015 at 3:41 am
The brightness thing worked! You saved me!!! Halleluya!
Reply
Karime says:
May 28, 2015 at 7:44 am
The PRAM reset did the trick!! It is a MacBook Pro 2014 with OS X Yosemite
Reply
tanj says:
September 28, 2015 at 10:34 am
The three options did not work for me because that wasn’t the problem. i
repeatedly did the above options, finally the screen remained black but option for
me to sign into icloud showed and the computer asked why wasn’t my password
working, followed by a password reset – saying No Internet…
1) I MOVED MOUSE TO TOP OF SCREEN THE MENU SHOWED, I TURNED ON

MY WIFI (re entered password)…
2) MOVED TO LEFT SIDE AND PRESSED THE APPLE SYMBOL, WHERE IT

GAVE ME 3 OPTIONS,
3) I OPENED “DISC” CLICKED ON MY MACBOOK DRIVE, SIGNED IN and

BOOM!!!! THE COMPUTER RESTARTED AND EVERYTHING WAS FINE.
essentially it was working but there was “no drive booting because it wasn’t
selected”, how this happened I have NO CLUE. but It’s working and I’m happy !
Reply
Julie says:
February 6, 2016 at 12:35 am
Life saver! I tried all the other suggestions and the password reset kept
popping up. Thank you, This totally worked!
Reply
Jim says:
PRAM reset worked on my wife’s Mac Book Pro. She thinks I’m a stud for finding
this fix for her. Many thanks.
Reply
Mille says:
October 28, 2015 at 4:35 am
The PRAM test worked!
Reply
Lance says:
Joe, I’m not at all surprised that the sleep button didn’t help YOUR WINDOWS
SYSTEM!!!! Often folks using Windows see a blinking cursor on black screen, or
they fail to notice the cursor and simply complain of a “totally black screen”…
but THIS IS NOT A WINDOWS QUESTION.
Reply
Zoom09 says:
None of this work for me and when I brought it to Apple, they said I need to
replace the whole panel which would cost 1200 (T _ T ) Though finally I just
brought it back and hook it up with external screen to use. Probably will
purchase the panel from ifixit to replace it myself. :(
Reply
Roc says:
November 26, 2015 at 6:40 am
The third (PRAM) option worked for my MacBook Pro.

Thank you!
Reply
graham says:
December 22, 2015 at 4:24 am
RE: That solved the issue, but the brightness and volume keys still did not work. I
went to the Bootcamp Control panel (accessed by clicking the grey diamond
Bootcamp icon in the pop up arrow on the bottom task bar), clicked through to
get to the keyboard tab, and there was a box that was checked stating, “Use all
F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys.” I unchecked the box, and the
keyboard controls returned to normal.”
>I can’t find this ‘bootcamp icon’ thing on my black MacBook but this could be
my problem…which ‘task bar’? can u post a screenshot pls?
Reply
dk Martin says:
January 24, 2016 at 7:36 pm
Thank you so much for the resolutions. I was desperate and just knew I’d have to
send it to the pros or make a 75 mile drive to an Apple Store. The first option,
reset the SMC, did the trick. Immediately it booted to a lighted screen. Thank
you, thank you!!
Reply
Steve Hamilton says:

March 23, 2015 at 9:55 am
PRAM reset worked for my MacBook Pro with OS X Yosemite. But I had to touch keys
precisely. Many thanks!
Reply
Michael says:
August 30, 2015 at 10:48 am
Same here. I was getting a little scared that none of the other options worked.
Reply
Federico says:
September 23, 2015 at 4:53 pm
Same here, but I have a Macbook Air 2014
Reply
Lance says:
Yes, I helped hundreds of folks with PRAM reset when I worked for Apple. The
trick is to use both hands, left for command option, right thumb and “pinky” for P
R.
Reply
Danil says:
April 21, 2015 at 2:53 am
Step 3 – PRAM Reset worked great for me. After the second boot chime my mac
brought up the white screen and password box. It then went to a loading screen and
then into a black screen with my cursor for a while. After that it required me to log in
again which brought up all my screens where I left them. Thanks for the help, you’ve
saved me a lot of time!
Reply
Ryleigh Loving says:

April 23, 2015 at 4:51 pm
Hey, I am a freshman in highschool and I have the most trouble with computers. I got
sooo scared when the screen went black because the computer wasn’t even mine. I
thought I was going to have to buy her a new laptop. But I tried the first step and Ta
Da! It worked! You guys are a life saver.
Thank you soooo much.
-R
Reply
Kay says:
May 15, 2015 at 6:01 pm
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!! I don’t have a cat so I don’t
know how turned my brightness down. Best guess: I have been using the number
keys quite alot so I guess I was also hitting the brightness key accidentally and
repeatedly until I hit one too many times without realizing it and turned the screen
completely black. I have my room light on so I guess I didn’t notice the screen getting
dimmer and dimmer. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!! Again. I
wasn’t even going to read the comments but thank goodness I did. You saved me alot
of money (we know Mac repairs aren’t cheep) and feeling like a big idiot if I had taken
it in for repair tomorrow, only to discover the solution was so easy and obvious.
Reply
SK says:
June 13, 2015 at 9:21 pm
PRAM worked for me!! Thank you so much, I have an exam in two days and all my
notes had been on there
Reply
GlennB says:
June 21, 2015 at 12:22 pm
None of the options worked for me although I did hear the right sounds when I
tried the PRAM option. Of course we’re on holiday with no access to an external
monitor. Any others ideas?
Reply
Meelis says:
June 14, 2015 at 11:51 pm
Third PRAM Reset solved the issue.
Macbook Pro Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014, with OS X 10.9.5
Reply
Andrea says:
July 25, 2015 at 10:21 am
Thank you, thank you! PRAM worked for me, it keeped resetting for a few mins
and it turned on out of nowhere. I had tried so many different websites and i was
about to give up!
Reply
RKB says:
July 27, 2015 at 7:47 am
I was transferring my data from my 2009 macbook pro using migration assistant to my
newer macbook pro Retina 13 inch late 2013, once the migration was complete which
took several hours byt he way,i found that my newer mac was powering on with
screen black, I’ve literally just tried all of the above 3 options and thankfully the PRAM
reset worked perfectly! thank you for the tip!
Reply
Marten Otten says:

October 11, 2015 at 8:50 pm
The black screen happend 2 me 2.

At first I tried all the above tricks to no avail.
Then I decided to UNPLUG ALL CONNECTIONS of my IMac and all of a sudden the
mayhem was over!
I advise in case of the frightening BLACK SCREEN to first unplug all extern
connections and than follow the (very good!) tricks above.
Keep courage, it is frightening indeed!
Reply
Per says:
Me also love cats. In my case the PRAM reset worked (after I bought a new MacBook
btw…)
Reply
Dave says:
I have had my Macbook Pro for a few years now. This is the second time in the past
few weeks that I have had this black screen issue. The first time the SMC reset
worked perfectly. The last time my screen went black, I had to try all three solutions
several times, and finally the SMC reset worked. This makes me feel that there is
something wrong with my Mac that needs repaired. I have never had this issue before
a few weeks ago, and never on my previous Mac. The article says that this is rare, but
it has happened twice now recently. Would upgrading to El Capitan help?
Reply
Jay says:
The Option Command PR worked for me, it restarted twice after I pressed it, but I
think it’s because I was only suppose to hold those keys down together for 4 seconds.
I held it down 8 seconds, and it should be done before seeing any light source in the
display. I’m hoping that the problem doesn’t persist, as this info was found in an apple
discussion. I’ve had macs imacs, older models and this has never happened to me
before, as this is a new MBP 2015, only less than 2 months that I’ve had it. So
hopefully no more issues! It’s a bummer since I expected newer models to be much
more advanced and have less issues. I’m use to my apple products to be working well
24/7.
Reply
graham says:
did all as advised inc removing battery etc on black MacBook and each time it boots
the black screen momentarily flashes white then goes black again. if this is a hardware
issue is it a DYI fixable one? how? thanks
Reply
Lachlan says:
March 17, 2016 at 10:20 pm
Hello.
Did you fix this issue? If so how?
Please!
Reply
Mystic says:
Happened to me before on Yosemite with my Mac mini. Apparently I too, as a way of

troubleshooting,opted to sleep the Mac followed by a forced shutdown and voila, back to
business. Who would’ve known that actually worked for others in the same predicament.
Reply
Rmgreg says:
Neither of these solutions worked for me. I would like to know if anyone has a another
solution that has worked.
Reply
Cleyton Joseph says:

Hi,
Maybe you can check if booting an OSX installation pendrive, to see if the graphics
start to work.
You can do like you´re going to do a fresh install, and reboot the mac when you see
the options to do so. This issue never happened with me so I´m just guessing and
trying to help.
Reply
Rmgreg says:
The display works just fine until the OS starts to boot then it goes to black with a
white cursor immediately.
Reply
Max says:
January 13, 2015 at 8:11 am
Did you ever find a solution? my Mac is doing the exact same thing, and I
have assignments due which is proper stressing me. balls.
Reply
Will says:
Try booting while holding Option+Command+P+R
James says:
January 20, 2015 at 12:21 pm
Just want to say that Will’s solution (Option+Command+P+R) worked

for me! Thanks Will!
david says:
January 20, 2015 at 12:31 pm
thanks Max. kudos to you. you saved my day. and provably my mac.
linda says:
January 22, 2015 at 10:09 am
I installed Yosemite weeks ago on Macbook Pro and Macbook Air. Not
sure if this caused the problem I had on the Macbook Pro but what
worked like a charm was the first solution in this article
1 Shut down mac. Connect to power outlet.

2 Hold down Shift+Control+Option+Power button at the same time for
a few seconds.
The computer chimed and when it booted WaHoo, the screen was
back. I did this connected to a secondary monitor so I could see what
was happening. The laptop screen booted first, as usual.
My first try using: Option+Command+P+R, didn’t resolve the black

screen for me.
Thanks for the help osxdaily
Mahdi Taghizadeh says:

June 13, 2015 at 12:27 am
Thank you Will! Holding Option+Command+P+R and then holding

power to boot up worked for me while I didn’t have a boot chime.
Ted says:
May 4, 2015 at 7:42 am
Tried all three, the PRAM fix was the only one that resolved issue/ THANK YOU
OSX 10.10.3 Mac Aire 13″ Mid 2013
Reply
Tony says:
Thanks! Second method worked like a charm :)
Reply
Jht says:
None of these. Worked for me at all:(. Any last suggestions? We are on vacation and I need
to login for work!
Reply
Jht says:
None of these worked for me at all:(. Any last suggestions? (Actually, I don’t know what the
pen drive means) We are on vacation and I need to login for work!
Reply
Brett Clarke says:

Try booting with an external display connected. Your inbuilt display may actually have
failed. I had this issue with a white iBook a while back…
Reply
Art Jacks says:

I am not sure if this is connected but prior to my initial upgrade the boot up to the log on
screen took 25 seconds or so, with the password entered the main screen was a further 3
seconds. After the upgrade it seemed to work the other war around, the log on screen was
there in seconds, enter the password and it took 20 seconds to get to the home page,
following the recent upgrade it has changed again, a black screen with the progress bar
taking 15 to 20 seconds to get to the log on page, the password is entered and the home
page is 2 seconds away. I will try the suggestions posted above.
Reply
Floyd Tolar says:

I installed Yosemite to a USB stick to see how Yosemite would behave on my MacBook
Pro. I got the black screen but it booted normally otherwise. Black screen, white progress
bar. I actually thought i looked cooler than the normal boot. If it works, leave it alone.
Reply
Maje Lije says:

Always thought that the BLACK SCREEN on my MacBookProRet during the boot was
standard until I saw the WIDGET update suggesting that this could be a prob….. NOW
SHOULD I BE WORRIED is something wrong with the machine that does everything I need
it to do as a movie editor et al ??
Reply
Maje Lije says:

Since the upgrade to YOSe and second ed, nothing bad has happened apart from the odd
sudden shutdown during web surf … otherwise stable during heavy editing on iMovie
(brilliant new version for me… always found FCP a tad OTP for my professional needs) and
chuffed with all other apps in use… well done guys for the constant upgrades and as usual
user friendly improvements …… Maje
Reply
Anis says:
By mistake on installing. Win7 on parallele something went wrong. And now have black
screen. When push power button. I hear fun noise. Mac is run. But black screen. I try. Both
solution mentioned nothing help I try other. Solution from web same. BLACK BLACK. ……
EVEN when connect to hdmi cable to tv is black. Any help will be appreciated Thx
Reply
Robbie says:
This is now a frequent problem for users of Mavericks and Yosemite, I tried everything with
my Macbook Pro but nothing worked. Even reloading Yosemite using one of the recovery
tricks. Finally I decided to Pay for Apple Support and was pleasantly surprised to find that
there is no charge for help with this problem on these two operating systems. The first
technician took me through all the things I had done, trying to boot into Safe Mode, trying
to boot into Recovery Mode even getting to the failure point and entering my password in
case it was just hidden. He then got a senior tech on the line and she said she could fix this
in 10 mins as it was a known issue. She had me power on and hold down the command
and S keys. Keep holding the keys until the screen fills with a lot of Dos like code. At this
point she dictated 3 lines of text with things like plst and library etc, sorry I cannot
remember much of it. Then we powered on and off and again the screen went black but she
told me to just keep hitting a few random keys and lo and behold the system came back up
and is now OK.The problem as I understand it is a corruption in some plist logon type files
which she had me delete and on the next boot the Mac rebuilds them correctly. So folks, if
you haven’t managed to fix it, call Apple and tell them about this. Good Hunting!
Reply
Ernest says:
I am reading through my error logs, and I am seeing this same plist error. I just do not
know how to fix it. Guess I will call Apple and hope that somebody there gives 2 chits
enough to help me fix it properly this time! Thanks for the post!
Reply
Eddie says:
Thanks for the suggestions, but none of these methods have helped. Gotta go see a genius
I guess.
Reply
David says:
I just used this for my Mac and it worked great. Thanks for the tips!
Reply
Roger says:
My MBA mid 2013 OS X Mavericks was totally locked with the black screen ana a movable
cursor. I have tried all suggested tricks but without success and HW diagnostics don’t show
any errors or warnings.
I decided to do a new clean installation of Yosemite and then restore my userdata.
Everything went fine and I was happy with my newly installed MBA until a couple of days
ago. Again I got the black screen after waking up from sleep :-( It has happened a few times
So far has the black screen disappeared after a while without any intervention.
Anyone have an idea what the issue can be?
Reply
jeszica says:
Had this issue but called apple support to fix it in 2 steps.

Steps to solve issue
(MacBook turns on makes the sound but no display or cursor, just a dark screen)
1) turn off system
2) push power button then immediately hold the command, option, and P and R keys and
don’t release until you hear a second turning on noise
3) jump for joy, or call apple support if problem persists
Hope this helps :)
Reply
Charlieg71 says:
Jeszica, this worked for me!! Thank you so much!!
Reply
Jess says:
Thanks, me and the oldest boy rolled thru all other suggestions, until finally this one
worked. Thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply
David says:
Thanks a lot!! This worked, after the second noise the screen was still black then I
forced it to shut down, turned it back on and the problem was solved!
Reply
Vincent says:
THanks! this worked for me finally!
Reply
Jamie says:
Thank you so much! I thought I was either gonna have to pay a TON of money to fix
my computer, or throw it away!
Reply
Danushka says:
Thanks a lot. your solution worked for me. You save my friend.
Reply
Tanvir says:
Worked like charm! Thanks
Reply
Kathia says:
May 17, 2015 at 9:41 am
Jesika this worked thanks a lot you saved my semester God bless you
Reply
Amber says:
June 21, 2015 at 3:46 am
This worked for me! I had three noises though before it loaded with the white Apple
logo, still, at least it’s okay!
Reply
MB says:
June 23, 2015 at 1:47 pm
This one worked! Happened to me just after using the migration assistant. Guessing it
could be related to dual monitors on the old Mac Pro, but not sure. Thank you!
Reply
pavel M says:
Yeah! this one works! whew, saved me the holidays)
Reply
Matt E says:
Resetting the NVRAM (we used to call it PRAM) did the job for me on a 2014 MacBook Pro.
Reply
Steve M says:
jeszica you’re a life saver. Many thanks. Anyone discovered the cause?
Reply
Josh K says:
SMC Reset Method Seemed to work
Shift+Option+Control and power button for several seconds.
Looking into a deeper cause. Considering the system unstable for now though.
Reply
Marie says:
YES!!! Thank you!! Worked first try. Saved my day! Will never panic again when I see the
black screen and hear the fan working so hard. Thanks again !!!
Reply
Feel Chic says:

Jezsica!! Yippeee OMG you saved my life!

Fingers crossed it will be ok now for ever!
Mega thanks!
Reply
K says:
I think the second tip is working for me! My computer is still turning back on. Do you think
this problem might have been caused by recently installing fluux (that program that dims
the blue light on your computer at night)?
Reply
Rolando says:
Wow jeszica!!! You are my life savor

!! The only result that worked for me after searching all thru YouTube and Google for help!
Thank you so much!
Reply
Sandro says:
Thanks Jeszica, your advice worked for me!
Reply
Stone says:
Thanks Jeszica!! You Rock! After trying all other suggestions as they come, yours work like
a charm.
Reply
Anna Bay Computers says:

OK Sportsfans
Just had a customer who had this issue, turned on the MBP 10.10.1 Yosemite with the
black screen after startup chime and then into reset your password screen minutes later.
The flashlight on the screen in a dark room reveled the login page as others sites have
stated, once I entered the new password I created on other attempts to fix the issue I was
directed to the Keychain page where I entered the orignal password in the update Keychain
password supplied by the customer and viola, straight back in and restarting as per normal.
I believe this to be a software issue that does not light up the backlight on occasion, sorry I
can’t tell you more on the actual sysptoms that caused the problem, but i’m pretty sure it
was when coming out of sleep mode.
Reply
Jeff Walters says:

June 8, 2015 at 8:05 am
This worked for me. Great tip about the flashlight in a dark room. Can’t believe it.
Reply
Kayla says:
I’ve had a dark screen issue on my late 2009 macbook since installing Yosemite as
well, can see desktop with a flashlight and works fine in clamshell and attached to an
external monitor. No other issues and the laptop screen lights up as usual on startup
and sometime when taken out of sleep mode but goes dark again within minutes.
Tried all of the resets, no go. Any other suggestions out there?!
Reply
tia says:
January 14, 2015 at 10:21 am
Thank you, this was so helpful! My mac book pro is working again! And no expensive repair
bill!
Reply
CloudyZack says:
January 14, 2015 at 11:36 am
Hi All,
I am so glad I came across this article in the midst of panicking over my computer’s black
screen. Thanks OSXDaily!
My MacBook Pro (Late 2012 Unibody 15″) running Mac OS X 10.9.5 just fixed itself.
I’d like to share something else about this problem for the sake of the poor souls frantically
trying to search for a solution in the future. It’s an add-on to the above solutions, and I hope
I will be able to help.
There are a few factors to the problem listed above, and the solutions for each of those
should definitely be tried at least three times. I’m not sure how the intricacies of the
resetting of SMC and NVRAM works, but you are sure as heck not going to get anything up
or running with a Mac-stove.
Apparently what happened to my MacBook was that it shut down with a VGA Cable
attached to it via Thunderbolt-VGA adapter. The cable didn’t do anything. The software
didn’t do anything. It started up again, but only on the external monitor, and with
ABSOLUTELY no tracking of the internal display whatsoever.
I was panicking when none of the solutions worked, and then I realized my MacBook was
severely overheated. Nearly scalded my hands holding it. I started it up, removed all
peripherals, put it to sleep (clamshell mode) and left it on the floor for 5 minutes cos all the
cool air-conditioning made the floor really cold. Then when I picked it up again after it was
all cooled, the screen just… worked. No flaws.
So, just in case all those solutions don’t work, don’t pull your hair out just yet.
Here are some points to consider:
1) Try touching the bottom of your MacBook. Chill. If it can fry an egg, PLEASE let it chill.
Even if it can’t fry an egg, let it chill just as much. Turn it off, or turn it on and put it to sleep.
Apply something cold (not ice please, more like blow at it with a fan or something) to the
bottom of the MacBook.
2) I personally tried SMC reset immediately followed by NVRAM reset on startup, then
immediately safe mode. I tried it while my Mac was heated up, so they didn’t work. Again,
check your MacBook and take care of it. Try all of these at once when your MacBook is at
optimal working temperature.
3) If it helps, try plugging your MacBook into an external screen and use it from there if you
have urgent work to finish. Then schedule a day to bring it to an authorized Apple Service
Provider.
4) Try it in this sequence: Step 1, 2, then 3 if all else fails.
I don’t know what could be causing these MacBooks to fail so much. Personally this
MacBook of mine has died 30+ times to count, and I have over 10+ slips of repair invoices
and even had all my receipts and numbers digitized for “easy paperwork” when required.
Yes, it got that bad…
But I learnt to understand and fix this MacBook on my own.

Surely, prevention is better than cure.
Learn how to use your MacBook properly, and take good care of it by putting it on even
places so it doesn’t fall, cleaning your keyboard, screen and trackpad regularly, and make
sure it doesn’t overheat. DON’T USE A KEYBOARD COVER. This aluminium unibody does
a horrible job at ventilation. So the air comes out from the keyboard, apart from the exhaust
in the joint. Keyboard covers are the one-way ticket to suffocating your Mac.
Way to go Apple, sacrificing so much for aesthetics.
At least, you know you’ve done your best in keeping the Mac in tip-top shape, so you can
roughly guess and zoom in on a software problem/ hard disk corruption if anything
happens.
Learn your Mac’s working temperaments well, and I’m pretty sure all of us will have a much
better experience in using our Macs :)
Reply
Aldo Jimenez says:

This happened to me today. The posted methods did not work, however, rebooting and
pressing Option + Command + P + R did.
Thanks!
Reply
Daniel Guzman says:

This happened to me today. I went to the Apple store and they had a two hour wait. I
was so tempted to just toss the computer in the trash. I got on my iPhone and found
this solution. Works fine now. I hope I don’t get this problem again.
Reply
Stanley says:
The second sequence worked for me. Thank you very much for the the. I love it when you
people upload solutions to the internet, and feel obligated to post a “thank you”. So here it
is, and from the bottom of my heart :-)
Reply
gregorylent says:
none of these work 2012 rmbp .. black screen, computer off, but keyboard illuminated ..
arrrrgh !!
Reply
rush says:
January 19, 2015 at 12:18 pm
Same issue, took me a few days to resolve. Try this sequence, stopping whenever you
get the white screen and chime to display upon boot up.
1) use (shift+option+command+power)
2) if you hear the chime but don’t get the grey screen do this:
3) hold down command option P and R keys at the same time until you hear another
chime (about 5-10 seconds)
4) At this point, if you’re still booting into black screen you’ve got to do a hard restart
by holding down the power key
5) Give it five seconds and then reboot. If there’s no grey screen, retry sequence until it
gets ya to grey screen (stick with it).
UPON REACHING GREY SCREEN:

http://osxdaily.com/2013/08/07/how-to-repair-a-mac-disk-with-fsck-from-single-
user-mode/
if that does not work, you’ve still got one more shot. Get it back to grey screen and
follow these instructions:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203176
(skip down to REPAIR WITH DISK UTILITY)
Repair until you get the OK, then go back into disk utility apps repair and run it in there
a few times. It worked for me, I doubted it but it did.
(Worked, but my lappy is still all jacked up and I’m coming to terms with stripping it to
the studs and reinstalling everything to see if it helps alleviate the issue. Once i just
smashed my keyboard after a few hours and that somehow worked too…) do not
suggest that last one.
Remember, this is a last ditch effort/desperation move. this is NOT good for your data
or computer. Upon getting it to load, have a hard drive ready and start grabbing the
important stuff. After that I’d suggest moving it all over, erasing and repairing
everything, and putting everything back on there. Best of luck.
Reply
Jay says:
SUPER THANKS YOUR SEQUENCE WORKED FOR ME!!!!! U SAVED ME DUDE!!
Reply
michael says:
Command + option + p+ r worked like a charm
Reply
Ryan says:
Thanks Will it worked for me too! Held down option+command+p+r…boom!!! Cheers man
Reply
Jacinta says:
Yayy!! Thanks for all the great helps guys! Using option+command+P+R+Power worked
Reply
Joshua Godsey says:

I did Option+command+p+r and it worked after all the other previous options had not.
On Yosemite, Macbook pro 15″ retina.
Happened to me after migrating data from old macbook pro.
Reply
Slimmy says:
March 4, 2015 at 10:00 pm
Same thing happened to me and the the 3rd option worked after doing the
Option+Command+p+r I had to do a second force quit then bam there it was display
in all its glory
Reply
Kartik says:
The ‘s’ key option worked for me. Saved my life ! Pheww :)
Reply
Tanios S says:
Will you’re a star!! Thank you! Option+command+p+r worked!
Reply
Maggie says:
January 24, 2015 at 11:13 am
I tried rebooting with option command p r and it made the chime. I turned it off and on
again and now it is saying to press the return key If I want the main language as English,
but it’s still a blue screen. Any suggestions?
Reply
Michael Nemtsev says:

just wanted to thank will again
(press option/command/P/Z at the same time)
IT WORKED!!!
Reply
Jessica says:
Option, command p & r worked for me-thanks!!!
Reply
Lisa says:
Hi- have tried all and this is not working for me. My MacBook pro was purchased in 2007
so very old. It starts but black screen. I have tried all suggestions above. Any one have
anything else to suggest?
Reply
Thao says:
Omg thank you so much Jessica it finally worked for me! I was totally freaking out couldn’t
sleep last night because none of the other suggestions worked!! So thank you so much
again
Reply
Josh says:
Option, Command, P & R worked for me too
Reply
Kelly says:
January 28, 2015 at 12:20 pm
Tried all of these multiple times and nothing worked.
Reply
Kungfupanda says:
Shift, ctrl, cmd & power finally worked for me. Unusual to have problems with Mac!!
Obviously a fault with the Apple software!!
Reply
Natasha says:
January 28, 2015 at 10:06 pm
Thank you Jeszica!! I tried all suggestions and nothing worked until I pressed power and
then held option, command, P,R until the power sound came on about 3 times and then
finally the screen restored
Reply
Calhoun says:
Option+command+P+R worked for me. Thanks!!!
Reply
Ryan says:
Will’s suggestion worked amazingly! The first options were a no-go.
Option+command+P+R
Thanks!!
Reply
Kate says:
Worked for me.
Had to get a torch to shine it at the screen though to get through the secure login! What is
previously black becomes just about visible. Can’t see the curser so use tab to move from
line to line in security.
Reply
Jim says:
It worked!!! I refer to the original suggestion of control option shift power button, followed
by normal press of power button. This may be the first time something I’ve found like this
actually did something!
Reply
China man says:

January 30, 2015 at 10:46 pm
I want to say option command r p power saved my life !! Thank you !!
Reply
Zeta says:
January 31, 2015 at 10:31 am
My MacBook pro is behaving funny… I fear something is wrong with video, the screen has
gone bezerk a few time, but a restart ‘fixed’ it. Lately it just kills itself to black. The latest
restart didn’t work and the black screen really scared me… Tried your first solution and it
worked. Many thanks, especially as am about to go on a work trip and need my computer!
Many thanks!
Reply
Lorraine says:
January 31, 2015 at 10:34 am
Option+command+P+R worked for me when everything else failed. Thanks for the tips.
Reply
Elissa says:
WORKED INSTANTLY! many thanks
Reply
Norman says:
Worked for me. Very useful!
Reply
AJ says:
Neither of the 2 published methods worked for me, but this one DID:
Try booting while holding Option+Command+P+R
Reply
Pete says:
Reply for Will:
YOU ARE THE MAN!!!! Option+Command+P+R worked perfectly!!
Reply
Jon Partridge says:

Option+Command+P+R worked for me
Reply
Laura says:
The Shift+Control+Option+Power button solution described above worked for me. Whew.
Thanks.
Reply
Kyle says:
Rebooting the PRAM worked for me! Thanks guys! I was wondering what the heck as my
Macbook Air is only two days old!! Thanks again!
Reply
Eric says:
Rebooting the PRAM worked for me! Thanks guys! I was wondering what happened to my
Macbook Pro is only 15 days old!! Thanks again!
Reply
Lia says:
PRAM method worked after trying the previous two. Macbook Pro Retina 15″ is less than a
month old but we were migrating data – who knows, just glad it is working again with a
really quick fix. Thank you.
Reply
TrueBlue says:
So it seems anything will work at some time or other I think CloudyZack has it nailed these
get too HOT wait till it cools down then try any of the methods listed I am going to drill
some holes in mine just under the fans better ventilation is sure to help
Reply
Scott Clemens says:

I hae a 2013 Macbook Pro. The PRAM method worked for me.
Reply
Brenda says:
PRAM reboot worked with my MacBook Air! Thank you! This black screen was driving me
nuts!
Reply
Michael says:
PRAM reboot worked for my MacBook Air
Reply
Blythe stoecklein says:

PRAM reset – yay!
Reply
Mischa says:
I tried the methods described with no luck. What WORKED FOR ME was calling Apple
Support(very quick response) and being transferred to a supervisor. He had me:
COMMAND S on startup to get into a safe directory mode
Then he had me type the following hitting ENTER after each line. Note the line with ” .old
“at the end. In the box I typed in it became two lines…I don’t know how it will show when
posted. It is ONE line with a space between loginwindow.plist and
com.apple.loginwindow.plist.old
mount -uw /
cd /Library/Preferences
mv com.apple.loginwindow.plist
com.apple.loginwindow.plist.old (THIS IS ONE LINE)
reboot
This worked for me and got me to the login page.

The tech said the code just sets your computer to find the last working startup. Hopefully it
will continue to work:)
Good Luck!
Reply
Mischa says:
Be sure to TYPE “reboot” at the end of the code, not power down!
Reply
Jonathan Stewart says:

March 7, 2015 at 7:49 pm
Mischa,
Thank you so much! Your code here just got me my computer back!!! I had a
black screen and could see pointer, but that was it.
I followed your instructions and bam, the login screen came up!!!
So excited!!
Jonathan
Reply
Carl M says:
The above method worked for me. I had tried everything including PRAM reset and
command+option+P+R. Nothing worked. I even reinstalled Yosemite from the recovery
option twice and nothing. But this last option worked. Thank you a million.
Reply
Vic says:
PRAM reboot worked for my MacBook pro!! Thanks!!
Reply
Simeon Hanks says:

The three fixes above didn’t help.
I fixed it by using a second monitor, holding Command + R, to get to the system restore
point, then selected shutdown in the menu.
Booted without issues.
Reply
Sarah says:
Hi, my MacBook Pro (retina, 13 inch late 2013) just did the black screen on boot after
having been left in car while it was 25F out (not sure if that’s what caused it). After fiddling
with brightness (had that issue before) I found this article and tried 3 solutions one after the
other. First 2 didn’t work but third one sorted it – made a couple of louder than usual
chimes and then apple logo appeared and log in screen as normal. Thanks!
Reply
Jen says:
The PRAM reboot worked for me. THANK YOU!!!
Reply
Antoine says:
Thank you so very much I went through all three of the props that was display and the last
one worked appreciate you a great deal.
Reply
Jay says:
I had the same thing happen and tried all the steps,
1.reboot
2. When the black screen came back up, power butten, “s” key, power off, restart…still
nothing.
3. Restart with shift+control+option+command+power button. Still, black screen.
4. Restart,upon the chime, press option+command+p+r until the chime comes again. Black
screen.
5. Boot up into recovery mode (command+r on boot) and verify and repair the disk.
Nothing. Still the black screen.
6. Boot up into save mode (command+s on boot) and gave the “fsck -fy” command. Still
black screen.
7. Back to recovery mode, reinstalled mavericks. Still, no success.
In conclusion, I have tried everything but the apple service, the black screen arrived out of
nothing and remains here, tormenting me. I’m really running out of options, so I’ll probably
have to contact the customer service In the end, unless someone has another idea?
Reply
Jay says:
Ok, so as I said, non of the 7 solutions above worked for me, here is what did:
What caused the problem apparently in my case was an update that which got stuck
somehow and I couldn’t get passed my log in. I found this solution on another
troubleshooting forum which dealt with the same problem.
Here are the steps that brought me back everything exactly how I left it:
1. Turn off your Mac by pressing the power button until your Mac shuts down.
2. Turn your Mac back on and hold the shift button. You will see a loading bar fill up and
then your screen will go back to black with your cursor visible.
3. Enter the first letter of your user name and hit enter
4. Enter your password and hit enter
5. The beach all will start turning. If your Mac goes to sleep mode wake it back up as usual.
6. An install window will pop up, for an update. Follow the steps to set up the installation.
7. You end up back at your home screen as you left it.
I hope it helps!
Good luck and hang in there!
Reply
Scott says:
MAGNETS!!
I had the problem described above but none of the solutions worked, and then when I
moved the MacBook to connect an external monitor the problem disappeared.
DOH!!
Now I know my circumstances are very rare. I’m the family “IT Fixit guy” and so I had 2
Macbooks at the same time. I had stacked the one I was fixing on top of the other one (with
the lid closed). What I didn’t realised was that the magnets in the bottom MacBook were
confusing the top MacBook. So the top MacBook thought the screen was closed (and so,
turned it off). Lift the top MacBook off the bottom one and the problem goes away.
Like I said, I doubt anyone else has this problem, but I thought I’d add it here for
completeness.
So, if you’re MacBook screen is going blank, make sure it’s not sitting on top of some
magnets that might make it think that you’ve closed the screen.
Keep smiling!
Reply
Brad says:
March 16, 2015 at 6:07 pm
YOU SIR ARE A GENTLEMAN AND A SCHOLAR!!!!!!!!! Thank you! This was driving me
crazy!!! At one point, I plugged in a USB drive and the screen flicked on, but I have no
idea why that would’ve fixed the magnet thing (unless I moved the other computer in
the process and didn’t realize that was the key step). I have a work MBP and a
personal MBP, and often put my personal MBP on top of my work MBP. I read this and
was like “no way is it something this stupid”, but sure enough, picked up my computer
and blink blink bam screen came on. Thank you!
Reply
Stmbtskier says:
After attempting ALL of the suggested fixes multiple time I finally called tech support. Ellen
had me hit the power button and then hit the shift key which started the computer in Safe
Mode. It brought up the login dialog box and once I entered my password the computer
brought up my regular startup screen. I clicked on the apple in the top left corner of the
screen and then hit restart. It brought up the login screen again and once I logged in
everything was back to normal – running real slow after loading Yosemite.
At least now I can do my taxes :-(-:
Reply
Pat says:
I tried all three options a couple of times without luck. Then I unplugged my MacBook Pro
for a few seconds, plugged it back in then did the
Shift+control+option+power buttons with success.
Reply
Joaquin says:
OMG your third option “reset PRAM” worked. Since I could not be sure the MacBook pro
shut down since the screen is black I (1) pressed shift+control+option+power keys, (2)
press power button to reboot, (3) and when I heard the chime, immediately pressed
command+option+P+R keys. It worked. Interestingly when the screen was happily visible
and I could log on a critical is update was ready. thanks!!!
Reply
Amanda F says:
Thank you!! The hold down the Shift+Control+Option+Power button at the same time for a
few seconds worked instantly! You’re the lifesaver!
Reply
Wade says:
I’m having this problem as I write this. I’ve tried all solutions written above and in the
comments. The one that seemed to work so far is a hybrid of two.
Hook up ur Mac to another monitor, I hooked it up to a TV screen using HDMI. I booted the
Mac into safe mode (hold shift) as the Option + Command + P+R resulted in an apple logo
with a never ending bar.
In safe mode the bar finished loading and I logged in, retarded and the Mac asked me to
install a software update, I did.
The Mac has restarted but is stuck at almost 50% of the white loading bar. I’m going to
leave it there for a while and force shut down if it doesn’t work.
Reply
Greg says:
This is the second time it happened on startup. Don’t remember what I did the first time but
probably the same as I did today and the last one did the trick command-option-R-P!
Reply
Ali says:
Holy crap.. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS.
The first two options didn’t work. The last PRAM reset worked like a charm and booted my
mac to life! saved a trip to the apple store.
Thank you again.
Reply
Tockly says:
Thank you.
First two didn’t work but the third one did on my sons week old MacBook Air.
Phew, happy son and even happier father!!
:-)
Reply
Leana says:
PRAM worked after 4 tries
Reply
Joe Libby says:

I’ve tried it all, with varying degrees of success. Sometimes the SMC worked, sometimes
the PRAM zap worked, but mostly the old unplug the machine from power, close the lid and
wait a few minutes was the key for me. The other problem was that I also was unable to
connect an external monitor, so when the screen is black I’m SOL. When I booted into safe
mode I was able to backup the drive and use a second monitor for a number of hours, so
Apple support walked me through trashing a slew of preference files and while they were
watching my screen it happened again- black screen at startup. So they recommended I
reinstall the OS. I went for a really clean install and erased my (already backed up drive) and
started the 2 hour Yosemite reinstall. I must have missed a crucial step because when the
machine restarted I saw a folder with a question mark, and when I tried to restart into
recovery mode all I get is the chime and a black screen. I can’t get anything to show up on
the screen now, I can’t use an external monitor, and I am royally hosed.
Reply
Joe Libby says:

March 2, 2015 at 7:08 pm
After many attempts I was able to finally get the internet recovery mode to work and
did a clean install of Snow Leopard (It’s what came pre-installed) but still had the black
screen occur, machine on just no display, built in or external and random shut downs. I
made the trip to my nearest Apple Store and was told about the video card
replacement program. It started a few days later here in Japan, so I was told to call
Apple on the start day and report my problem. The next day (Sat.) a courier came to
my office, picked up my machine and it was returned yesterday (Mon.) with the logic
board replaced. I am happy to say my external monitor once again works, and I have
had no re-boots or black screens (knock on wood!) in the past 24 hours.
Thank you Apple (better late than never!)
Reply
ticro says:
June 3, 2015 at 10:49 pm
Tried ”everything”, been researching all the forums and applied all including opening
the dam thing and having a look at the video cards,nothing nada hopeless. The only
solution that worked was to use time machine, had a backup on a hard disk.
First I saved the image of the HD on the same hard disk in a different partition so I still
have all the pictures and documents, rest was details so they don’t matter.
Wish you success.
Reply
Kevin says:
Booting to safe directory mode and moving the loginwindow plist file solution worked for
me.
The exact issue I was experiencing was that my machine would boot to a black screen (no
Apple logo) and not display the login screen until I slept the computer and woke it back up.
Reply
Sandeep says:
After trying everything mention above , still got black screen on my MacBook pro.
Then i attached with second monitor
Screen And tried these steps and it started working
Step1- switch off Mac while it’s connected with another screen
Step2- press the power button and as it’s sounding immediately press these keys option
command P and R together for few seconds untill it sounds again .
It worked and I got my MacBook screen again and got relief :-)
Reply
Karen says:
When using the PRAM reset on my MacBook air, I was told NOT TO power on first and then
press the other keys, I was told to press the PRAM keys and power key all at the same
time, listen for first chime, keeping keys depressed until second chime sound, which took a
bit longer. Thank goodness this worked.
Reply
Brant says:
None if the three worked for me. My screen went black after I had the Mac book pro
standing on edge and it fell over (only a few inches to laying flat). When I reboot I get a
lighter but still black screen. Did I frie some kind of screen connection?
Reply
Stacy says:
I have read all of the comments here and attempted all the solutions and nothing works. My
screen is black. And when I mean black; the screen appears “off”. However, the white light
comes on in the front when the power button is pressed on.
So when everyone is describing a black screen and then describing one of the solutions,
are you describing a screen that is actually clicking ON but has only a black background or
a black screen that appears to be off?
Again, I have attempted every solution described above and nothing seems to work.
Reply
Taylor says:
The PRAM reset worked on my MacBook Pro with retina display. That black screen scared
me as I just got my MacBook 2 months ago!
Reply
Jen says:
The third option worked for me (pr) phew! Just got this MacBook Air
Reply
Pip says:
Option & cmd & p & r worked for me too. Thanks so much for the tip – saved my weeks
outlook!
Reply
Rob says:
I’ve tried everyone of these suggestions, none of them have worked for me.
Reply
Amanda G says:
This is the second MacBook Pro Retina to do this to me. I bought my first one in December
2014, it did this within a month. I took it back to Best Buy since it wouldn’t come on they
just replaced it. That was about a month and a half ago and it just did it again. I tried all
three of the above solutions and was so happy when the PRAM reset worked! Thanks!!
Reply
ed says:
I have a 2014 pro that this happened to today. This morning I tried all of the different
solutions posted here and elsewhere, including the pram reset a number of times without
success. But after leaving it for a few hours and then guessing when to hit pram as I wasnt
getting chimes, it has eventually worked. Many thanks
Reply
Daniel says:
It just happen to me on my macbookpro 2009 and your solution “fix the black display on
boot” fixed it!
Yeah you guys rock (had a fright at first )
Reply
Erick says:
it happened to me and all i did was wait, i turned it on and waited about 5 mins and screen
came on by it self, dont know why or how but just be patient and wait a few minutes
without pressing anything and see if it works
Reply
Dawn says:
I tried the first trouble shooting option and I heard the noise it makes and the fan start up
then the screen flickered and it shut off. Now it wont turn back on. I do not know what to do
at this point.
Reply
Liz says:
Second method worked for me, thanks!
Reply
Nishan says:
Thank a lot. The third one worked for me
Reply
Kirsty says:
Thank you so much for this article, third option worked perfectly!! Was having a mild panic
as Mac exactly 1 year old today so warranty typically just finished. Thanks for the fix, very
grateful.
Reply
C Love says:
I had to try all 3, and finally the PRAM reset worked for me.
Thanks!!
Reply
Beef says:
THANK YOU!
Reply
MDF2 says:
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

The first 2 suggestions did not work for me but the second one did. This happened to me
once before and the genius bar fixed in in 10 minutes but this time I am in Vanuatu where
there is no genius bar. The third suggestion worked like a charm :-)
Thank you again
Reply
Faith says:
I arrived home tonight after seeing a movie and OMG I had THE BLACK SCREEN! I thought
about all the documents I just saved and how much time it was going to take to re-write
them. Hmmm…I should have at least printed them. A big lesson! I tried everything holding
all kinds of combinations of letters with all my fingers twisted but nothing worked until I did
the PRAM Reset exactly as said. I’m surprised all of you did not hear me screaming from
happiness. My husband put his finger over his mouth….in other words….SHUSH. Thanks
so much whoever from genius bar posted all the solutions. I’m so grateful.
Reply
shay Kennedy says:

March 1, 2015 at 4:05 am
Thankyou so much! Was getting pretty worried, I’ve only purchased my mac recently
Reply
Joe Libby says:

March 2, 2015 at 7:09 pm
If you haven’t tried it yet:

https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/
Reply
charlotte says:
March 3, 2015 at 3:56 pm
Thanks a lot, first solution worked for me :)
Reply
Desiree says:
March 5, 2015 at 7:56 pm
Option 3 worked for me. Just keep in mind, it may take a little while to hear that second
home. Try and be patient. It worked!
Reply
m4tias_r says:
March 6, 2015 at 7:37 pm
The PRAM Reset worked for me! Thanks!! you save me!
Reply
Shivvo says:
March 7, 2015 at 4:10 am
PRAM to the rescue (on an MBA with only five uses…)
Reply
Rachel says:
March 7, 2015 at 4:49 am
Option+Cmnd+P+R worked eventually … Took a couple of goes though, so was thinking

that timing ie pretty much immediately the chime starts is essential. I think I was a bit slow
off the mark the first time I tried it. The other options were tried with no success. Thanks for
the help.
Reply
Christian says:
March 11, 2015 at 3:06 pm
PRAM worked on the first try, thanks!
Reply
Roger says:
March 11, 2015 at 7:01 pm
The third option worked just fine.
Reply
Harry says:
March 12, 2015 at 10:14 am
PRAM reset worked ….
Reply
Wobble says:
March 12, 2015 at 4:32 pm
2nd option for me, MacBook pro 17 inch 2011
Reply
Magda says:
March 13, 2015 at 10:10 am
The first option you guys had with the shift control option power button hold worked for
me!!! Thank you!!!
Reply
Charla says:
March 13, 2015 at 6:21 pm
3rd option finally worked. Black screen appeared after downloading the latest update. I
noticed when I picked up my laptop the bottom of the case was hot. Don’t like this and
hope it doesn’t happen again.
Reply
Renee says:
March 13, 2015 at 8:38 pm
The PRAM option worked for me. THANKS!
Reply
Kelley says:
March 15, 2015 at 10:52 am
I used the third option and it worked. Thank you for relieving the panic.
Reply
Mike says:
March 15, 2015 at 7:17 pm
The 1st one worked. You saved me a trip to the Apple Store. Thanks!
Reply
Stu says:
March 16, 2015 at 3:24 am
The PRAM reset worked a charm on my 2013 MB Pro retina running OSX Yosemite. Tried
the other options with no luck but PRAM reset worked first try.
Found this blackout after performing a regular system update released by Apple.
Reply
Moonstar says:
March 16, 2015 at 5:43 am
The last, the PRAM reset worked for me. I just got this computer in January, and am a little
upset. This is my 5th Mac and the first time I have ever had any problem.
Reply
Mark Steck says:

March 18, 2015 at 5:47 pm
The PRAM reset, whatever that is, worked. Thanks so much for posting this fix, it saved my
butt.
Mark
Reply
Ben says:
March 19, 2015 at 9:07 pm
The pram worked for me!!! Thanks so much
Reply
rjrdd says:
March 20, 2015 at 8:25 am
Thanks a lot man..i got my mac on by PRAM reset
Reply
Kevin says:
March 20, 2015 at 11:38 am
Eureka! Option 2 worked for me.
Reply
Ivee says:
March 20, 2015 at 11:46 am
Hi, I tried all of the options but it didn’t work. I can open my Mac but right after I entered my
password it goes black after. I don’t know how to fix this, and I just bought it. Can anyone
help me. Please? Thank you so much!
Reply
Ivee says:
March 20, 2015 at 11:48 am
I’ve tried it twice, nothing happened. Can anyone help me? Thank you!
Reply
ginam says:
March 20, 2015 at 12:06 pm
Take it back to Apple, they will fix it.
Reply
sam says:
March 21, 2015 at 6:13 pm
The 3rd one worked for me thanks
Reply
Hasan says:
March 22, 2015 at 11:31 am
Nothing mentioned here worked but i tried my luck and here is what worked for me. All i did
was remove the battery the. Put it in again. Hope it helps someone
Reply
Carol says:
March 23, 2015 at 2:20 am
The PRAM worked for me. there are not enough thankyous in the world!
Reply
Hannah says:
March 23, 2015 at 7:42 am
Tried all three. The first two didn’t work but resetting the PRAM did, thanks!
Reply
Hillary says:
March 23, 2015 at 8:07 pm
Same as above. Tried all 3 and the first two didn’t work but the third one did luckily. I have a
MacBook Pro retina 13″ mid 2014 refurb that I’ve only had for a little over a month. I’m also
a brand new Mac user so this was super scary for me not knowing what to do. Thanks for
the helpful tips!
Reply
Antonio Nobre says:

March 24, 2015 at 1:46 pm
After dying on a ppt presentation, the machine kept booting till the black screen, only to re-
start booting endlessly. PRAM reset worked for me (see detailed instructions here
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH14222?locale=en_US&viewlocale=en_US). After
clearing the PRAM memory I could complete the boot, backup the system and go back to
work. However, apps became really slow, so I had to re-install the OSX Yosemite (easy with
the command R boot). Now I am back to normal.
Reply
Meeks says:
March 24, 2015 at 7:45 pm
Command option p r worked on my black screen. I have a macbook pro mid 2014 retina.
11,1 OSX Yosemite 10.10.2. The other options did not work at all.
Reply
Sarah says:
March 25, 2015 at 5:02 am
The third option worked for me. Had to do it twice though. Thanks so much. A mild panic
had set when I couldn’t see my year’s worth is research on my only computer.
Phew!
Reply
Suzanne says:
March 26, 2015 at 8:04 am
Thank you!!!!!!!!!!
Reply
Sarah says:
March 26, 2015 at 12:43 pm
OMG THANKYOU thankyou thankyou!!!!! Totally freaked out when I had this problem and
your second solution did the trick!!!!
Reply
Carolina says:
March 26, 2015 at 11:22 pm
The third option worked. Thank you!!!!!
Reply
becky badluck says:

March 28, 2015 at 2:39 am
after a few tries , PRAM worked for me. THANK YOU.
Reply
Dhiraaj Kesaria says:

March 28, 2015 at 10:27 pm
Thank you!
The PRAM reset worked for my Macbook Air
Reply
Paige says:
March 29, 2015 at 11:10 am
MacBook Pro (retina, 15 in, Mid 2014)
What a nightmare, pain in the boot. Not sure I agree the black screen is a rare problem,
since if you are unfortunate enough to have it happen and search for a solution it seems
MANY people have had the same issue.
Rebooting the Pram was the fix.
Thank you for your help.
Reply
Mark says:
March 30, 2015 at 11:54 am
The pram reset work for me, yippeeeeee! Ta very much :o)
Reply
Amanda says:
March 30, 2015 at 11:15 pm
The pram reset worked for me. Tried the others, was getting super worried because none of
those suggestions were working & then I tried the last one! Very helpful so thank you. I have
the MacBook pro retina, 13 in, mid 2014 model. So many thanks. Now off to watch some
Netflix lol.
Reply
wajid says:
March 31, 2015 at 9:38 am
Nothing worked but —-key command for switching to video mirroring

Fn-F7 :)
On new MacBook you can try..

Command-F1 (or try Fn-Command-F1).
Reply
Nicole says:
April 1, 2015 at 4:16 am
The PRAM reset worked for me! Thank you so much!:))
Reply
Ness-Jenill says:
April 1, 2015 at 7:45 am
I tried PRAM and it worked..
Reply
Kingtidemedia says:
April 1, 2015 at 9:47 am
MacBook Pro repair extension program for video issues
https://www.apple.com/au/support/macbookpro-videoissues/
Also could try disabling the video card,

Search gfxCardStatus
Reply
Jay says:
April 1, 2015 at 11:17 am
Hey guys,
I simply placed my mac in safe mode (holding down the shift key once you’ve heard the
chime) until a loading bar appears at the bottom.
Wait until desktop loaded then restart! Worked a treat!
Reply
Jason says:
April 2, 2015 at 11:54 am
3rd option (pram) worked…. Thanks!!!
Reply
Steve says:
April 3, 2015 at 5:54 am
PRAM route worked for me, been at this for an hour or so finally got it to boot again, now to
try to if the illustrator cs4 & yosemiti issue I think this one may take a bit longer.
Reply
Abdiel says:
April 3, 2015 at 9:34 am
Only the PRAM reset (3rd option) worked for me. Thank you so much.
Reply
Logan p says:
April 3, 2015 at 1:33 pm
PRAM reset worked for my Mac!!!
Reply
Kirstin says:
April 3, 2015 at 7:59 pm
MacBook Pro retina bought new in September 2014.

Nothing works and I tried everything that was suggested. The display part seems to be
dead.
I used my notebook then left the table closing it. Came back an hour later and the screen is
dead.
I made an appointment with Apple but the earliest one available is on Tuesday. Apple
sucks.
Reply
saiprasad says:
April 3, 2015 at 9:02 pm
PRAM rest option worked for me but you have to press the keys at the same time
accurately. Thanks for the post
Reply
Armando says:
April 3, 2015 at 9:42 pm
PRAM Reset did the trick !!!

Thank you
Reply
King Julian says:

April 3, 2015 at 11:50 pm
The PRAM reset option worked for me.
Thanks for the post.
Reply
Matt Worsfold says:

April 4, 2015 at 3:15 am
Thank you so much, my Mac rebooted on the PRAM technique
Reply
Monte says:
April 4, 2015 at 6:32 am
I followed the comment from Will (January 15, 2015) and it worked! Thanks!
Reply
g1za says:
April 4, 2015 at 2:57 pm
Tried all the above and the only way i’ve got it working at the moment is to let the battery
die and then, put it on charge as normal. For some bizarre reason the screen works fine
after this, but if i do a restart i’m back to square one!
Absolutely bonkers.
Reply
SajiGirl says:
April 5, 2015 at 12:05 am
I had this problem and PRAM reset worked for my macbook.. Great! thanks so much for
your tips!
Reply
Manpreet says:
April 5, 2015 at 10:32 am
Thank you so much. PRAM worked for me. 2010 model MacBook Pro
Reply
Michelle says:
April 5, 2015 at 10:31 pm
The PRAM step worked for me. But I still don’t get why it happened in the first place. Can
anyone help?
Reply
macfan says:
April 7, 2015 at 3:56 am
Command+Option+P+R keys together worked for me like a charm :) thanks
Reply
argh says:
April 8, 2015 at 2:41 am
PRAM worked for me – interesting that son also playing with brightness the night before
this happened.
Reply
Si says:
April 8, 2015 at 9:38 am
Option 3 worked great… THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH
Reply
Ruby says:
April 9, 2015 at 3:27 am
I had this problem, I tried the first two tricks they didn’t work. The last one did luckily thank
you so much I was so worried.
Reply
Jayjay says:
April 9, 2015 at 6:29 pm
A very helpful solution. The first two did not work, but the 3rd one (PRAM Reset) work
perfectly. Thank you so much for the very effective solution.
Reply
s says:
April 10, 2015 at 9:07 am
The PRAM reset worked, thank you! I tried each one on the list got nervous as each one
failed. I held my breath at the PRAM reset and was thrilled that it worked.
Reply
RJ says:
April 10, 2015 at 11:30 pm
None of these worked for me. So I tried plugging it into external monitor and still no picture
even on the external monitor, so when I unplugged the hdmi the screen popped back on.
That makes zero sense but okay!
Reply
Lolarose says:
April 12, 2015 at 9:34 am
I’ve tried Everything on here to no avail. I have a mbp retina display I think it’s a 2013
model.
I’ve tried everything all the resets and PRAM and all that. None of these have worked. I’ve
been trying for a week now. I connected it to the TV with an HDMI cord and everything was
perfectly normal. I disconnected it hoping it would be okay and it’s still black.
Please Helpppp!
Reply
Dan says:
April 13, 2015 at 8:32 am
Seems like you’ve got your brightness set all the way down on the laptop’s monitor.
Try to turn up the brightness.
Reply
Shimray says:
October 24, 2015 at 12:21 pm
Have a similar problem, tried all the tricks mentioned above but screen remained
black, then finally tried plugging in a TV scree on HDMI and voila. Managed to get the
machine started and copied all important files… but laptop screen still black.
Macbook Pro with retina or El Capitan.
Reply
Dan says:
April 13, 2015 at 8:30 am
Had the black/blank screen at boot on a mid 2013 11″ MBA after using Migration Assistant
from a 2010 Mac mini with Ethernet cables.
PRAM reset fixed it – thought Migration Assistant bricked the MBA, so thanks very much
for the help!
Reply
Jackie Friend says:

April 14, 2015 at 4:05 am
Thank you! PRAM reset worked.
Thought I was going to lose everything as I haven’t backed up computer — doing that
today!
Reply
Jess says:
April 14, 2015 at 5:22 pm
The third PRAM option worked for my MacBook Air! Thank you!
Reply
Angelica says:
April 14, 2015 at 9:21 pm
The first one worked for me, thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reply
Michele says:
April 15, 2015 at 11:05 am
PRAM worked for me…thanks!
Reply
Ariela says:
April 16, 2015 at 12:21 pm
The third aolution worked… I was teady yo try a hammer, thank you so much! A suggestion,
the “option” key was the “alt” key in my mac book pro
Reply
Martin says:
April 16, 2015 at 1:30 pm
Pram reset works for me, but problem keeps coming up again and again on MBP RET 15
MID2012. Never had that before Yosemite 10.10.3 ! This sucks so much – I can hardly work
!!!
Reply
paabl says:
April 16, 2015 at 2:08 pm
You are describing an issue with some OS X 10.10.3 Macs, You need to hold down the
SHIFT key on boot and go to the Mac App Store, download the OS X 10.10.3
Supplemental Update and install it.
http://osxdaily.com/2015/04/16/supplemental-update-os-x-yosemite-10-10-3-
released/
Reply
Mollie says:
April 16, 2015 at 7:22 pm
The third option worked for me on my MacBook Pro 2011 refurbished. I followed the steps
and then turned it off and on again once more. Now I can see my screen. Big thanks to the
author!!!
Reply
Roberto says:
April 16, 2015 at 10:22 pm
I have a Mac Book Pro Retina with Yosemite OS and the third option (PRAM) worked for
me, I also tried the previous ones but they failed.
Thanks!
Reply
Alena says:
April 17, 2015 at 5:13 am
Thank you so much!!! I was definitely in panic but third one helped me! Thank you soooo!!!
Russian webs knew nothing but repair store
Reply
alhawary says:
April 17, 2015 at 7:03 am
my MacBook pro 2015 has turned into a black dead screen after updating the software. I
tried every effort but no way, that was very frustrating to me. next morning I took it to apple
care agent (tradeline) in Cairo, the expert there have tried to solve it but at the end he told
me unfortunately this is a hardware problem (screen defect) and I have to go to another
branch of their agency after two days to fix this problem which will take time.
I went home started looking through the net, fortunately, I have tried your solutions. “THE
THIRD OPTION WORKED PERFECTLY”, THANKS A LOT TO ALL THE CONTRIBUTERS IN
THIS WEB SITE, I have subscribed to and I hope to get newsletters about the tips and trics
in MAC OS. THANKS AGAIN.
Reply
Ashok says:
April 17, 2015 at 9:07 am
Third option worked for me.. Thanks :-)
Reply
dr zeeshan says:
April 18, 2015 at 8:37 am
The third option worked for me as well thanks bro I had my heart in my mouth but u saved
me
Reply
Justin says:
April 18, 2015 at 7:08 pm
The third step fixed my MacBook, thank you for the good advice! I tied the first two with no
luck but the PRAM thing worked like a charm
Reply
Patti carey says:

April 19, 2015 at 7:32 am
Had this issue on my MacBook Pro. After numerous reboots using the shift key, nothing
worked. Found this site and tried option 1 and 2 to no avail. Option 3 the PRAM reset
worked finally worked. A big thank you as I was ready to throw my computer across the
room. My PC dies a few weeks ago so I am relying on my MacBook to job hunt!!! I’m going
to back up everything today just in case something like this happens in the future.
Reply
Rajan says:
April 19, 2015 at 10:00 am
Thx for me worked 3rd method really thx
Reply
Karen says:
April 19, 2015 at 5:06 pm
Hi, thanks so much. I had to try l three solutions and the third one worked, thank goodness.
Reply
Niklas says:
April 20, 2015 at 9:45 am
Wills solution worked fot me. Thanx alot!
Reply
Gabry says:
April 20, 2015 at 12:59 pm
The problem occured after Yosemite 10.10.3 Supplemental update. The first two solutions
did not work, but the PRAM Reset worked fine. Hope problem will not occure again.
thanks
Reply
Luke says:
April 21, 2015 at 7:42 am
The Pram solution worked for the mac mid 2014 with yosemite, many thanks.
Reply
Jodi says:
April 21, 2015 at 2:55 pm
PRAM option worked. Hallelujah – work laptop and thought i was in trouble. Thanks!
Reply
kim says:
April 22, 2015 at 5:44 am
This happen to me and the Pram restart worked… Thank you!

I was updating when it went black.
Reply
Ian Chua says:

April 23, 2015 at 10:47 am
PRAM reset worked perfectly! Thank you!
Reply
Timbos says:
April 23, 2015 at 8:57 pm
The third option worked for me. Thanks Mac heads. Stoked.
Reply
angel says:
April 24, 2015 at 8:10 am
The third option worked for me. Lifesavers you guys are. Thanks!!!!!
Reply
Tom says:
April 24, 2015 at 8:27 am
The third option worked for me on the second try. Thanks, I was really starting to panic
Reply
Mauser says:
April 24, 2015 at 11:37 am
I tried all three solutions and none of them worked… I was really, really sad. Then I tried to
connect it to a TV via HDMI and the moment I turned my MacBook Pro Retina on both the
TV and my MacBooks screen turned on!! …. Wow… I’m soooo happy ;-P
Reply
Brent says:
April 24, 2015 at 4:43 pm
Pram solution worked for me…
Reply
Nikolaj says:
April 25, 2015 at 12:37 pm
Pram solution worked out, many thanks. Saved my day
Reply
Dave says:
April 26, 2015 at 1:30 am
Thanks guys…. Third solution worked!!
Reply
House says:
April 26, 2015 at 7:43 am
Guys i found a really easy fix for my screen going black. I was using a foam case which had
a magnetic clip. i was resting my macbook pro on this case. This was then causing my
macbook to think the lid was closed and the screen would then go black. even mashing the
buttons and clicking the mouse would not bring the screen back on.
i then removed the case and magnetic field which solved my problem !!
Reply
Fredrik says:
April 26, 2015 at 12:03 pm
PRAM reset worked for me :)
Reply
Mac Fanatic says:

April 26, 2015 at 2:16 pm
I have a mid year 2014 Mac Book Pro with Retina display and recently encountered this
same problem one day with a “black screen boot.” I originally thought this was due to a
Yosemite update and thought this was normal. I have friend with the same Mac Book Pro
and when he updated his OS X and wasn’t having the same problem, I realized that the
black screen boot was affecting my computer only.
This tip on osxdaily.com helped solve the problem. I tried the first couple of suggestions
with no result, but when I tried the PRAM reset, worked like a charm! No more black screen
boot!
Thank you!
Reply
Chris says:
April 26, 2015 at 3:24 pm
PRAM reset worked great! Thanks for the article!!
Reply
Daniel says:
April 26, 2015 at 7:43 pm
When I tried to update some apps in my pc my mac screen went black, I solved my issue
restarting the pram, (command+shift+p+r), my pc was a macbook air 2014 model brand
new
Reply
Sean says:
April 27, 2015 at 11:39 am
PRAM reset.
Reply
Nanci says:
April 28, 2015 at 11:32 am
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I tried the first two tips (as well as another I found on a
different site) with no success. Then the PRAM reset worked!! Just got my MacBook Air a
couple of months ago, but was starting to think it was already busted. Thanks so much!
Reply
Virgilio says:
April 29, 2015 at 8:52 am
The last solution worked for me, was a bit scare. Thank you!
Reply
emanuel fernandes says:

April 29, 2015 at 9:59 am
only the good ol’ PRAM reset fixed this issue for me.
Reply
rubin says:
April 29, 2015 at 2:46 pm
First suggestion worked on my (spare) six year-old Macbook Pro. You guys are genius…
Thanks!
Reply
Sway Grünwald says:

April 30, 2015 at 2:52 am
The PRAM reset helped my MacBook pro 15” 2014
Reply
Bea says:
April 30, 2015 at 8:40 am
PRAM reset worked for my 2014 MacBook Pro 15″ too!
Reply
Charles says:
April 30, 2015 at 7:03 pm
Re: MBP 17″ (purchased 2011)
By using a combination of the suggested fixes I was able to get my MBP up and running for
a couple of weeks to a couple of minutes.
While searching for another possible fix I came across:
https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/
Apple has determined that a small percentage of MacBook Pro systems may exhibit
distorted video, no video, or unexpected system restarts. These MacBook Pro systems
were sold between February 2011 and December 2013.
The program covers affected MacBook Pro models until February 27, 2016 or three years
from its original date of sale, whichever provides longer coverage for you.
=======
I brought the laptop to an authorized Apple repair center yesterday. The replacement part
(he called it a logic board) arrived this morning, and I picked up my computer this
afternoon.
Problem (seems to be) solved. No charge.
Reply
Brandon Pelinka says:

May 1, 2015 at 10:31 am
PRAM reset worked for me. MBP 13″ Retina Mid 2014
Reply
Lily says:
May 2, 2015 at 7:27 am
PRAM reset worked!! You need to make sure you hold down the keys all at the same time
and right after you hear the boot chime. Thanks so much I was freaking out
Reply
Nond says:
May 2, 2015 at 4:45 pm
The PRAM option worked!
Reply
Helen says:
May 3, 2015 at 5:05 pm
After attempting the first 2 solutions, the 3rd one worked for me.
Thanks!
macbook air (11 inch, Early 2014)
OS X Yosemite V 10.10.3
1.4GHz Intel Core i5
4GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Intel HD Graphics 5000 1536 MB
Reply
Michelle says:
May 3, 2015 at 10:19 pm
Last too worked for me, pretty unimpressed that it happened though, only had it two
months!
Reply
Michelle says:
May 3, 2015 at 10:21 pm
Last option*
Reply
Ahmet says:
May 4, 2015 at 2:53 pm
None of them worked for me. I got the Macbook Pro to Apple store today. Genius guy
checks for failures. And told me there is a problem with motherboard. And it is must be
changing. They will change it for free because it is an factory production problem. Sorry for
bad english.
Reply
Lottie G says:
May 5, 2015 at 7:51 am
Third option worked for me on my MacBook Air (mid 2013 model), I cannot thank you
enough for saving me!
Reply
Mattie says:
May 6, 2015 at 10:06 am
Had this problem today and luckily this site PRAM reset worked for me. Thanks a bunch!
Reply
Daan says:
May 6, 2015 at 11:51 am
The third option worked for me. Thank you so much!!!!
Reply
Chauncy says:
May 7, 2015 at 7:48 pm
Ok….3 option = lifesaver!!!!!!
Reply
Markthg says:
May 8, 2015 at 11:05 am
Thankyou lifesavers….had a full on panic going on until I found your post.
PRAM option worked a treat for me.
MacBook Pro Retina 13″ Late 2013
Reply
Dee says:
May 9, 2015 at 6:35 am
Thanks so much for this …I was in a rel panic when I opened my MacBook to find a black
screen!!! For no known reason I might add.
Anyway tried all three and the PRAM reset worked! Cheers!!
Reply
Jev says:
May 9, 2015 at 11:28 am
hi, thanks for the tips
my macbook pro retina 15″ has this issue after latest update.
Pitch black when booting, and PRAM reset worked! Thanks mate.
Reply
Gordon says:
May 10, 2015 at 4:33 am
Option #3 worked for us. Thank you.
Reply
Dylan says:
May 10, 2015 at 2:26 pm
I’ve tried everything but nothing works! after i enter my password the white loading bar fills
up maybe a quarter then the screen goes black. Please help!
Reply
Laura lee says:

May 11, 2015 at 9:41 am
THANKYOU SO SO SO MUCH!! third option did the trick for my Mac air :)
What a relief!
Reply
Aafi says:
May 11, 2015 at 2:43 pm
Nothing worked for me. Afraid of it now :-(

Please suggest any option. MacBook pro 13.3′
Reply
Laura says:
May 12, 2015 at 12:22 pm
The third option worked for me………a lifesaver!
Reply
D.J. says:
May 12, 2015 at 8:01 pm
Just got my new macbook pro for less than two days and had everything updated. Then it
booted into black screen with a chime after did a migration through firewire. I tried every
combination of keypress after power on, no luck. Finally, the PRAM reset solved my
problem. Big thanks.
Reply
Venkata says:
May 13, 2015 at 7:06 am
The PRAM reset option fixed it for me. Thank you!!!
Reply
Renee C says:
May 13, 2015 at 9:10 am
The PRAM option worked for me thank god
Reply
Lisa Marie Mary says:

May 15, 2015 at 3:33 pm
Thank you so much for this post! Fixed me right up and was probably the quickest
computer problem fix I’ve ever had! :-)
Reply
Amanda says:
May 15, 2015 at 4:33 pm
Finally after many many times resetting the pram worked. Did some shaking a jolting too it
took a couple hours working at it to get the screen back up.
Reply
Bochimia says:
May 16, 2015 at 11:56 am
The PRAM reset worked! Thank you so much for the great information you offer!
Reply
Vijay baniwal says:

May 16, 2015 at 9:04 pm
Thx for the trouble shooting solutions. The 3rd option is just a right medicine for my my
coma air book. Just woke up. Thx for ur research. It save time and money both.
Reply
Colt says:
May 18, 2015 at 1:13 pm
I tried all of these fixes (mid 2012 Mbp retina) but it still was black screening. I took it in and
they ran diagnostic tools on it that revealed the logic board (MLB) needed to be replaced
($550). It was out of warranty, but somehow Apple covered it. Sounds like an internal
known-issue.
Reply
Elizabeth M says:
May 18, 2015 at 7:31 pm
Thank you Thank you Thank You! For this article! The PRAM method did the trick!
Awesome!
Reply
Mariela Miranda says:

May 19, 2015 at 2:00 pm
Hi! Thank u so much! The third option worked for my MacBook Air!
Reply
R-Mac says:
May 23, 2015 at 7:03 am
Tried all three tips to no avail. Finally tried disconnecting the power cord. Then held the
power button down for a few seconds again and … Shazam! the monitor lit up and an extra
long boot up commenced, culminating on a message saying it had been improperly shut
down etc.
Reply
Jason says:
May 23, 2015 at 1:17 pm
The three solutions did not work for me. But closing the laptop while on, waiting about a
minute and then opening solved the issue.
Reply
Rubeme says:
May 23, 2015 at 5:49 pm
Greetings to Everyone,
I have a late 2007 17″ macbook pro laptop that just died.
Well, it didn’t die yet, but the screen is completely black when booting up. I can hear the
hardrive spining and the power light is on but nothing on the screen.
Another observation is that the back light on the Apple Logo also does not turn on.
Does anyone know what the problem might be. Is it the screen or the graphics chip. How
do I find out.
Reply
adlzra says:
May 24, 2015 at 1:07 pm
Mischa, who posted February 11, 2015. Do you mind to contact me via email?
(adilahazirah@gmail.com) I think my MBP has the same problem as you. I dont really
understand the instructions you give in ur comment. I hope you can give me step-by-step
instructions on how to do the coding. thank you so much.
Reply
Clint says:
May 25, 2015 at 3:36 am
PRAM solution worked on my MacBook Pro retina the second time I tried it. You have to do
it hockey and precisely. Thanks for your help guys
Reply
Khurram Hussain says:

May 25, 2015 at 8:02 pm
I had the same issue with black display after boot. I could only hear the chime sound and
everything went black.
After failing the first two options, reset of PRAM worked for me.
Reply
metin says:
May 26, 2015 at 2:20 am
this happen after i replace another hdd to my laptop.Mabook pro 17-2011
start normally but blackscreen issue exist.
Not one above solution worked for me.Does anyone know another solution
Reply
Dinesh says:
May 27, 2015 at 2:54 pm
My macbook pro retina model boots up to a black screen. I tried everything here and
thought it was a logic board failure. But, a trip to the genius bar fixed the problem in five
minutes. It was some sort of connection issue between battery and display. He unscrewed
the battery secured the connection and boom everything is solved!!
Reply
Mo says:
May 28, 2015 at 7:44 am
I just resolved my issue with the PRAM reset. Thanks for the info!
Reply
Wim says:
May 29, 2015 at 1:41 am
Unfortunately the resets are not working for me, I will contact Apple to solve it at the
hardware level as mentioned here before, but in the meantime I can get my internal screen
back this way:
1. Start up and wait a bit until it’s (probably) at the now black login screen
2. Close the lid of your computer
3. Open it again
4. Plug a display adapter in the mini-port, wait for a couple of seconds
5. Unplug it again
Reply
Chelsea says:
June 1, 2015 at 6:29 am
The third option worked for me. What causes this?
Reply
Pablo says:
June 1, 2015 at 8:18 am
There can be a variety of causes for the black screen on boot, it varies per situation,
but fortunately it’s usually an easy fix. If the above tricks don’t work, often the Mac is
in need of some type of repair, perhaps due to hardware failure or software failure.
Reply
Nigel says:
June 1, 2015 at 2:14 pm
I had this on moving my MacBook Pro and was a bit panicked – working down the list with
no change I was really worried – fortunately the PRAM reset listed as the final option
worked! Great stuff and thanks for this :)
Reply
Kenzie says:
June 6, 2015 at 6:12 am
PRAM worked for me. thanks for the help!!!!
Reply
Gina says:
June 8, 2015 at 8:18 am
Like Joe (near the top) said, none of these worked for me either. However when I plug mac
into another monitor it’s still black. Any other suggestions?
Reply
brantown says:
June 8, 2015 at 8:34 am
As is mentioned in the article, if you have tried all of these solutions and the Mac
screen is still black, it boots to black, and the screen and external displays are always
black, you may have a hardware problem or a bigger issue with the MacBook, iMac,
MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or Mac Mini. In that case, you should take the device to a
repair center and have them determine if there is hardware failure. Any Apple Store
can diagnose hardware problems for you. Best of luck!
Reply
Jess says:
June 9, 2015 at 8:45 am
Tried all three methods and the third way (the PRAM reset) worked like a charm! Thank you
:)
Reply
Very greatful Ben says:

June 11, 2015 at 3:59 am
Third solution worked a treat! Thanks a bunch. Any idea why it happened?
Reply
sridhar says:
June 11, 2015 at 10:07 am
1 and 2 did not work. But third solution worked out right away.Thanks a lot.
Reply
Amanda says:
June 11, 2015 at 11:16 am
I have a MacBook Air and the PRAM reset worked for me. Thanks. I’m no longer stressed
out
Reply
Vanessa says:
June 12, 2015 at 4:40 pm
Thank you thank you… New to MacBook Pro, only had it a week, black screen prior to
urgent work commitment this morning and thought what on earth have I done… Tried all
three suggestions twice, second time around PRAM reset fixed it…. Saved your file and
hope it is not needed again any time soon.
Reply
Ritish says:
June 13, 2015 at 4:36 am
Gys neither of the above solutions helped me. I use both windows 8.1 os and mac os. I’m
getting this black screen only with windows. But I can see the cursor moving over there. No
problem with Mac OS. Can you just help me out gys ..!!!
Reply
DOh says:
June 13, 2015 at 9:22 am
If Mac works but Windows doesn’t on the same Mac computer, then your Windows
installation is obviously broken, these troubleshooting steps are for Mac hardware and
Mac OS X, you would probably need to re-install Windows, can’t help there.
Reply
Graham says:
June 13, 2015 at 5:07 am
I have a late 2007 MacBook (one of the white ones). My issue is that the screen goes black
pretty such straight away on booting:there’s a very quick flash but nothing more – its not
the “black screen with a white pointer” issue – it’s backlight off that’s the issue. I’ve tried all
three solutions and none of them work for me.
I’ve rescued all my valued data from the hard drive to a windows pc in order to allow me to
attempt a reinstallation of the OS from CD. In my case, its Snow Leopard. If I reboot with
the installation CD in the laptop, the backlight works!! However, partway through the install
the backlight goes out and the problem is returned.
This does tell me one thing: that I have a working inverter. It the inverter wasn’t working: the
laptop would be destined to be recycled.
One interesting aspect about the installation process is that my username/password is

prompted for at the start. This seems to indicate that, if my credentials aren’t effectively
blanked and started with again, the setting that’s probably somewhere on disk that tells the
display to be switched off is surviving as well. I think that the next thing for me to try is
installing to a new or zeroed-out hard drive.
I was wondering whether anyone can add anything to this.?

Anyway, I will update this reply with progress updates for the community.
Reply
Melissa R says:
June 14, 2015 at 5:06 pm
Hold down Shift+Control+Option+Power button at the same time for a few seconds.
This finally worked – but not the first time I tried it. Phew. None of the other options worked.
Reply
stanford says:
June 15, 2015 at 8:31 am
been having black screen problem for going on 3 weeks now. when i’ve been able to start
mac, i’ve left it on for days so as not to have to deal with the issue yet again. various tips
have worked after multiple attempts. today i used the touch power button, press S, hard
shutdown count 15 and voila it worked. but then it couldn’t find the keyboard or the mouse.
shut it down again and since, it will start but black screen is back and as it couldn’t
discover the keyboard before, the perfect S trick won’t work. i’m considering throwing the
machine out the window, even with all my music and getting rid of every mac i have.
Reply
sara says:
June 16, 2015 at 4:49 am
Nope nothing worked for me and I am super fed up…

s
Reply
Charly says:
June 26, 2015 at 10:42 am
None worked for my 2007 MacBook Pro either. I might try the window toss
recommended below.
Reply
Christina says:
June 16, 2015 at 9:46 am
PRAM reset worked for me. I have a new MacBook Pro. I am so glad I found your tips.
Thanks so much.
Reply
Jo says:
June 17, 2015 at 11:07 am
Thanks so much- options 1 and 2 didn’t work but the PRAM worked straight away
Reply
Gerard says:
June 17, 2015 at 11:14 pm
On my Macbook Air 11 also option 3 worked.
Reply
Ross says:
June 18, 2015 at 11:10 pm
Hey guys. I just encountered this problem with my 2009 MacBook Air. I have tried the P-
Ram reset and the SMC and it just doesn’t work. I used it last night and closed the screen
just fine. When I tried booting it in the morning it booted to a black screen. The keypad
switches on and it makes sounds which is why i think it’s a display problem. Please please
please help me.
Reply
Rachael says:
June 19, 2015 at 12:10 am
Thankyou so very much . Option 3 worked eventually ! So very grateful
Reply
Elizabeth says:
June 20, 2015 at 10:22 pm
I WAS DYING, I found the link for this site on a youtube comment and it saved me. I had
tried the first two previously but not the last ugh I’m so relieved it worked. Thank you so
much
Reply
Teddy says:
June 22, 2015 at 11:14 pm
In my case, none of the 3 solutions worked, and I was afraid my mac was dead, completely.
Few hours later I tried again- 99% sure it wouldn’t do the trick, but bling! my mac was
functioning.
Here’s a nice tip:

During my 1st attempts, I had numerous external cables connected to my mac, like
headphones, keyboards, mouses, etc.
Try it without them if these steps don’t work out.
Reply
Mr. Elevator says:

June 23, 2015 at 2:35 am
Thank you u so much for this article – solution #3 did the trick in my case! Would have had
to cancel my holiday/work-trip to Barcelona otherwise! ;) Cheers
Reply
David says:
June 24, 2015 at 9:48 am
I had the blank screen after leaving the MBPR in a 100 deg. car a few hours. When I
opened it again, I found it hat shut itself down. Bootup made sounds, and the keyboard
worked, but the screen wouldn’t show. I tried all the methods here several times without
luck. – However, forced sleep didn’t seem to work.
Here’s what did:
After leaving the laptop unplugged, open and on (but with a blank screen) for a few hours, I
closed it. When I opened it again, the login screen was displaying again. The battery had
decreased to 24% by that time.
My guess is that it was a battery controller issue that shutdown the machine Monday
evening at due to high heat or low power (running fan?), but failed to reset correctly on boot
the next day. Leaving it on for a few hours put it to sleep, and then the close/open wakeup
fixed the issue.
Reply
Jade says:
June 24, 2015 at 10:16 am
The 3rd option worked! Thanks guys!!!
Reply
Kitty says:
June 25, 2015 at 8:21 pm
OH MY GOODNESS!
THANK YOU SO SO SO INCREDIBLY MUCH!
My computer has been sitting for literally YEARS because I thought- even after bringing it
to a Mac expert friend- that the screen was dead forever.
I wanted to try one last time to connect it to an alternate screen and when that failed, I
googled black screen and found your page.
IT JUST WORKED! I used the key code (s)! Opening this computer is like a time capsule! It’s
been dead to me since 2011!!!!!
THANK YOU SO SO MUCH!!
Kitty
Reply
GrahamC says:
June 26, 2015 at 1:54 pm
PRAM worked for me on my MacBook Pro. And I am very grateful to you!!
Reply
Jack says:
June 27, 2015 at 9:02 pm
The PRAM option worked on my Macbook Air (2014) which I thought was done (my first
mac in the transition). Miraculous and thank you!
Reply
Wilson Hines says:

June 29, 2015 at 1:40 am
Core i7″ 2.0 15″ Late 2013 (IG) Specs (Retina Late 2013 15″, ME293LL/A,
MacBookPro11,2, A1398
For me it was option 4 that worked.
I must say, after a weekend of camping, coming home and totally crashing in the bed and
waking up 12 hours later at 4 a.m. to this black screen of death was not my ideal way of
either finishing off the camping trip (did I get water on it?) or starting my Monday (I have to
do my work).
The most fear for me was I was exactly three weeks over my 1 year Apple warranty, but I do
have a SquareTrade policy; I just didn’t want to have to use it, of course.
Reply
michael says:
June 29, 2015 at 11:49 am
option 3 worked but I had to do it twice before it worked.
Thanks a lot ! :)
Reply
Rich says:
July 1, 2015 at 8:18 pm
The Third option worked for me! Thanks!
Reply
Craig says:
July 2, 2015 at 6:30 am
Tried the first two without luck, but the third did the trick!! Thanks for the help.
Reply
Ravi says:
July 3, 2015 at 11:15 pm
Thanks a lot!!!, the provided solution worked well for my MAC and now MAC is working fine
without any Black screen issues.
Reply
Stephan says:
July 3, 2015 at 11:20 pm
PRAM reset worked for me on a MacBook Pro with OSX 10 after it crashed into a black
screen. Thanks!
Reply
Kelvin says:
July 4, 2015 at 6:34 am
The third one work for me! Thank you so much!!
Reply
Deb says:
July 5, 2015 at 3:21 pm
Third option worked. Thank you so much! You save me a two hour trip to an authorized
dealer
Reply
Don E says:
July 6, 2015 at 4:47 pm
This is what worked for me.
I had the same issue with my 2008 iMac and Apple support walked me through the fix
yesterday…
1. Shut the computer down by holding the power button for 10 seconds
2. Restart the computer and press shift at the same time until you see the progress bar
start moving
3. Once you reach the point where your screen goes dark and you see the cursor, type
the first letter of the username for your computer, then hit Enter, then type your
password, then hit Enter.
4. After a moment, you should see the spinning beach ball
5. Your screen should then move on to something along the lines of “Completing OSX
Installation” (I can’t remember the exact wording). Let it finish. After that it should go to
your normal desktop and the issue should be fixed. (If your screen goes pitch black
during this process, hit the space bar. I thought it wasn’t working, but the screen was
just sleeping).
Apparently it’s an issue with an automatic update that never quite got past the login
screen.
From https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5994694
Reply
Mike says:
July 7, 2015 at 1:25 am
None of the solutions worked. Just had my mac book pro fry itself less than 2 months ago,
had the flashing “?” In a folder appear, had it repaired, now this. Not good enough,
complete waste of my time. Heard good things about Apple so I bought one but will never
again after all this rubbish. Cheap laptop that looks good
Reply
Ahmed says:
July 7, 2015 at 1:54 pm
Nothing worked for me….pls suggest what shall I do :-(
Reply
Saji says:
July 7, 2015 at 3:58 pm
Thanks.. The third option worked for me..

Cheers !!
Reply
KeithC says:
July 8, 2015 at 5:26 am
No one is asking this question!
Why is Apple not fixing this problem? (they want to sell you a new one!)
Reply
Justin says:
July 8, 2015 at 2:05 pm
The Pram option just worked for me too!!! Thanks so much!!!
Reply
Preethi says:
July 8, 2015 at 8:18 pm
Thank you so much for this post… I had the same issue with my MacBook Pro running OSX
10.10.4.
I tried your sequence of steps 1, 2, 3 and then again 1, when my Mac finally booted up with
display!! Thank you!!
Reply
J says:
July 10, 2015 at 1:26 am
OMG. 3 one worked for me. Sorta. In a diff sequence. I shut my mac down. I was pressing
the keyboard sequence and then pressed the power button. Worked amazeballs. The chime
came and then the screen went completely black (looked like it was turned off) and then a
louder chime followed with apple logo then the log on page. :D
Reply
Ryan says:
July 12, 2015 at 9:54 pm
So much love for this forum. Option+command+P+R in that order worked for me.
Reply
Jon says:
July 14, 2015 at 1:59 am
Tried the first two options and was beginning to lose hope but the third one worked a
treat….thank you so much.
Reply
Jon says:
July 14, 2015 at 2:21 am
And to add to my previous post, my MacBook Pro (2014) now boots up so much quicker
than before…..absolute result!
Reply
ed says:
July 14, 2015 at 2:44 pm
The third solution worked for me, PRAM reset! Thank you! I’ve had this black screen issue
for a few months and now my MacBook is booting up fast like new!
Reply
Jayden says:
July 15, 2015 at 8:12 am
OKAY. WE GET IT.

THE PRAM METHOD WORKED FOR ALMOST ALL OF YOU. GREAT. I’M VERY HAPPY
FOR YOU ALL.
Can people PLEASE stop posting about it, now?

Some of us have much more pressing issues that are causing the same problem and those
of us that do are obviously unable to fix it using the same method. I’ve been on the hunt for
a fix for literally weeks now and tonight I’ve had to spend over an hour scrolling through all
of the comments praising the PRAM method.
Good gosh.
Post something new or don’t post at all, please. We get it. Congratulations, you fixed your
computer but those of us that can’t don’t want to read literally hundreds of duplicate
comments.
Reply
James says:
July 15, 2015 at 5:58 pm
I never had this issue with my Macbook Pro 8GB that I bought September 2013. My first
Macbook after running from Windows 8. I bought my wife the same Macbook Pro 8GB in
December 2014. 7 months and it happened to her 2 times, today was the 2nd time. She is
not technical, so I have to handle it. Had to use Google to find this webpage, again. Both
times it was the PRAM reset that resolved the issue. It would be nice to know exactly what
causes this issue.
Reply
Jeri says:
July 16, 2015 at 2:25 pm
Thank you, the PRAM do save me :)
Reply
Bb says:
July 16, 2015 at 9:49 pm
The scm reset worked for me, BUT IT

TOOK longer than I thought it would. I was on my phone searching for the next thing to try
when the apple icon screen popped up. So be patient!
Reply
Tp says:
July 20, 2015 at 10:19 am
Well I tried all three and got nothing! Everything did work to knowledge as for the resetting
but could not get the black screen go away. I did manage to fix the problem and I wanted to
add one more thing to the list, the password reset at the login screen after reboot, hard shut
down and press the power button twice it takes you to a safe reset that allows you to turn
the file vault off because you haven’t forgotten your password but your keyboard would let
you type (my keyboard worked just fine but willing to try anything) typed the password and
it turned file vault off and restart, back to reboot screen and no black screen… go back turn
filevault back on and everything is back to normal.. really weird 1st time ever havin this
issue but I wanted to share just in case those three do not work to get the screen back!!!
Thanks guys!
Reply
J says:
August 10, 2015 at 8:58 pm
This worked for as well, thanks a bunch for posting this!
Reply
dauglish says:
July 23, 2015 at 7:18 am
my macbook pro is not displayin after trying to reset it
Reply
Dimitri says:
July 23, 2015 at 3:44 pm
thank you, reset pram worked very good!!
Reply
Elton says:
July 24, 2015 at 6:53 am
Thank you!!
I love you!!! =P
Reset pram was the solution for me.
Reply
JDG says:
July 26, 2015 at 12:07 pm
PRAM reset worked for me. Not sure about this, but am suspicious. The problem happened
when I ran the battery down the first time after I installed VMFusion ware and Windows 8 on
my MBA 6,2.
Reply
Max says:
July 26, 2015 at 5:36 pm
PRAM Reset did the trick. Late 2013 Macbook Pro
Reply
Dave Young says:

July 26, 2015 at 6:51 pm
Thank you very much! I was pulling my hair out until I found this! I work on both Macbooks
and PC laptops and this was the first problem I’ve ever encountered on the Mac and I was
about ready to profane at Steve Jobs…
The second, “Try a Keypress Sequence to Ditch the Black Screen” worked for me, but I did
try the PRAM reset first seeing the comments.
Reply
‫ ﺳﻠﯿﻤﺎن‬says:
July 27, 2015 at 10:45 pm
ty man its work for me 2
Reply
dimitris says:
July 28, 2015 at 8:35 am
pram
macbook pro mid 2015
thanx
Reply
Jmh says:
July 29, 2015 at 8:37 pm
The 3rd option worked!!! Thanks!!!
Reply
Ali says:
July 31, 2015 at 1:40 pm
The third time I tried option 3 it worked! Make sure to try each step again if they don’t work
the first time.
Reply
tkomroi says:
August 3, 2015 at 12:29 pm
PRAM worked for me. Macbook Air
Reply
g says:
August 5, 2015 at 8:41 pm
Since none of the above suggestions fixed the black screen for me, I thought I’d share what
did. With the help of Apple Support, restarted in Safe Mode (hold Shift key while starting up
until Apple icon appears). This starts your computer without 3rd party startup items. We
then went into library folder and removed some items
Reply
g says:
August 5, 2015 at 8:44 pm
… items from startup items folder. Also removed items from root library startup items, and
user startup items. Basically a bunch of third party software extras. Then we restarted
normally and everything was back to normal. Thanks to person above who suggested
contacting Apple support. There was no charge either!
Reply
Abdullah says:
August 9, 2015 at 6:53 am
I tried the first soultion, it worked. However, after around 20 seconds it went black again. i
tried the second solution this time and the same thing happened again, after few moments
the screen shutdown again . What should I do now?
Reply
Jason See says:

August 10, 2015 at 5:49 am
Just like to say a very Big thank you for the help that I saw on the blank screen for
MacBook Air it did the trick with pressing the shift control command power button it now
works
Thank very much
Jason see
Reply
Ugen says:
August 11, 2015 at 4:49 am
I tried all three solutions and brightness as well but none worked for me. Kindly help me if
anyone has got other solutions. Thanks.
Reply
Chris says:
August 12, 2015 at 2:01 pm
I was able to solve my boot-to-black problem, but only by deviating from your instructions.
Pressing the reset-SMC key combo before booting, as per your instructions, did not work.
Pressing the same key combo when the computer was already on, but with black screen,
worked.
Thanks for your post nonetheless: it helped get me on track.
Reply
Pree says:
August 13, 2015 at 9:23 am
PRAM Reset Did the trick !!!!! Had to repeat this process a few times before I could see
MacBook’s screen back up during boot. YOu have to be Patient before you can actually
see the bootscreen for Mac to load back normally !!! Cheers
Reply
Nan says:
August 15, 2015 at 11:12 am
The PRAM reset worked for me. My MacBook started normally for a few days and again
had a black screen start up. The PrAM reset worked again. Do you think I should take it in
to have it checked out? Aaagggghhhhhh my life!
Reply
Joel says:
August 16, 2015 at 3:54 pm
Found another fix.
I tried all the tricks in the article, didn’t work. All they did was make the keyboard lights not
work anymore.
Then I turned the computer on (wait for the chord) and plugged in an external monitor, and
just like that everything is fixed! Yaaaay! That is, until next time I suppose…
Reply
Jim says:
August 16, 2015 at 9:12 pm
PRAM option did the trick. Thanks
Reply
Assile says:
August 18, 2015 at 5:09 am
OMG!! Thank you so much, i like just bought my Mac 2 months ago and I was scared it was
damaged.
The PRAM option worked out for me.
Reply
William Ivanski says:

August 18, 2015 at 7:26 am
My boss’ Macbook Air was booting a black screen, and PRAM Reset solved! Thank you.
Reply
Tasos says:
August 18, 2015 at 12:01 pm
Hi guys
Suddenly I have faced the problem in my Macbook Pro Retina 15”, OS X Yosemite.
I used the PRAM reset, with the following way:
having the laptop shut down (I did a hard shutdown), then keep pressed simultaneously
Option + Command + P + R, then pressed the Power On button.
Logon screen came up and everything seems to be OK, so far; I cannot understand why
this issue came up!
Thanks
–Tasos
Reply
Ian says:
August 18, 2015 at 7:14 pm
macbook air 2015. PRAM = LIFESAVER. Nervous moments. Thank you.
Reply
RelievedMedStudent says:
August 18, 2015 at 9:15 pm
Thank you! The PRAM reset worked! (MacBook Pro, Retina, 15in, Mid 2015 OS X
Yosemite).
I’ve only used the MacBook for about two weeks of school. It seems placing it in my
backpack and allowing it to heat was the catalyst for this issue (I’m studying enzyme
kinetics right now and couldn’t resist the pun). The PRAM reset worked on the third
attempt.
Reply
angel says:
August 19, 2015 at 6:34 am
Option 3 was amazing. Thanks!!!
Reply
Luke says:
August 20, 2015 at 10:34 am
The PRAM trick worked for my pro retina although the startup chime didn’t sound again as
described, it just booted to the Mac utilities. My mac stated up fine after that.
Reply
Fredrik Hed says:

August 20, 2015 at 12:12 pm
YES! Option three worked for me as well. Thanks :-)
Reply
Michael says:
August 20, 2015 at 1:24 pm
Thank you. I’m far away in Africa. Was thinking of how to DHL my mac back to apple in
Chicago and i came across your post. The PRAM worked for me. You saved me a whole
great deal. God bless you so much.
Reply
Catherine says:
August 20, 2015 at 5:36 pm
This happened to me out of the blue, my computer had been connected to power and
shut/asleep for days. The first option worked, but it took a while for the screen to light up,
since I heard it thinking I gave it time while I read the next options. Then it came on! But
when it did, it was at a password reset promot. I had no options but to give it a reason I
needed to reset my password. I hit the back arrow and it froze. I rebooted and the screen
took a while on black so I googled thr password reset prompt and read about a backlight
issue, where you can see that the screen has content if you shine a light through thr Apple
logo. It said at the password prompt to move mouse to top of screen to get the menu and
pick restart. Then, shine the light through the back to pick thr user to log in as and type the
password. Did so, my account needed an update so it loaded a while, then I was back in
business. What a weird combo of problems. I assume all related, but still perplexing!
Reply
Victoria Z says:
August 20, 2015 at 8:16 pm
Yay thank you!!!!!! The first 2 ways did nothing for me…the PRAM reset finally worked! I
have a MacBook Air :) randomly it turned on to a black screen, but the pram reset got it
back to normal!
Reply
J Tolson says:
August 23, 2015 at 7:09 pm
I was freaking out when I turned my Mac on and had a black screen as I had a document
for a client I need to send out tonight. I went through all the recommendations and the
PRAM worked. Thank God!
Reply
Lavalier says:
August 24, 2015 at 10:40 am
Thank you!! The SMC reboot worked like a charm! Whew!
Reply
Neblas says:
August 24, 2015 at 4:15 pm
PRAM solution was sleek and fast, thank you
Reply
Rach says:
August 26, 2015 at 8:26 pm
The first option worked for me! Yea!! Thank you so much! I was freaked out! I have an older
MacBook Pro, 2009 and as soon as I did this it booted right up! I’m on vacation and really
needed my computer!
Reply
Mike says:
August 28, 2015 at 8:29 am
I plugged my MacBook into a projector. The image showed up on both screens then I
unplugged the projector and now it works great.
Reply
Eric Butler says:

August 29, 2015 at 12:52 pm
Cmd+option+p+r worked
Macbook pro 11,2
Yosemite
Reply
symer says:
August 30, 2015 at 8:21 am
Works perfectly!thank you so much!
Reply
Michael says:
August 30, 2015 at 10:50 am
Thank you sooooo much! The PRAM reset worked. I have a lot of scripts and projects on
my mac. You are a life saver!
Reply
Paul says:
August 30, 2015 at 10:52 am
Glad to hear you have your Mac working fine again, the black screen on boot can be
pretty frightening until it gets sorted out.
About your files and projects; It’s always a good idea to complete full and regular back
ups of your Mac if you don’t already do so, setting up Time Machine is an easy
solution bundled with OS X, you just need an external drive to select as the backup
destination, you can find more details here:
http://osxdaily.com/2015/07/12/set-up-time-machine-backups-mac-os-x/
Reply
Michael says:
August 30, 2015 at 11:56 am
I have an asus router that you can plug an external hard drive into and use time
machine.
Thanks!
Reply
SCooper says:
August 31, 2015 at 10:31 am
Nothing worked. Even multiple attempts at PRAM reset, starting in recovery mode, above
tips.
I couldn’t see anything, but just entered my sign in password as if I could.
Several moments went by.
Then it woke up, screen and everything!
Weird.
Reply
Morten says:
August 31, 2015 at 3:23 pm
PRAM worked. Thank you so much. Have to be precise and very quick on the fingers to
make it work.
Thx again
M
Reply
Johanna says:
August 31, 2015 at 8:03 pm
Óption 3!! Thun you!!!!!
Reply
deb says:
PRAM reset worked on late 2010 Air running Mavericks, BUT ONLY after I did another hard
reset with the power button. (I was beginning to panic when none of the options had
appeared to work.) Agree with the others that you have to be precise–hit all 4 buttons at the
same time as soon as you hear the reboot sound. THANK YOU!
Reply
John says:
Suddenly, without warning my screen went black. I rebooted and was presented with the
same issue only every fine I rebooted it went black and then rebooted itself / maddening /
tried all the options, the servings and rid PRAM rest finally did the trick, took 3/4 tried /
thanks for the solution, I was thinking I was screwed.
Reply
John says:
For the record, new iTunes recently installed. After the above fix, Aux monitor went black,
macboMA stayed on, forced quit iTunes and everything returned to normal – just saying
Reply
Joanne says:
I’m not sure what single thing or combination of things I did worked but I finally got it
working. My problem began when my battery ran out. I plugged it in and rebooted to a
black screen. I tried the three suggestions above several times and when it seemed like it
was working, I kept getting the password reset window. After I reset the password I had to
restart (not other option it seems) which then brought me back to the black screen, trying
one of the tips, then reset password and repeat. Out of desperation, I selected an option (in
the password reset) that my keyboard wasn’t working. The next screen asked me to disable
the FileVault. I did then it restarted and voila! I don’t know how, what, nor why but
something seems to have worked. Maybe someone can clue me in. :)
Reply
Jhp2 says:
Third option worked. Thank you.
Reply
Ayman says:
PRAM reset worked for me.. thanks
Reply
Bob Swift says:

I did not read all the comments. However I tried a number of procedures to no avail.
But starting with the “r” key depressed led to a “hardware test” and thence to a solution.
This has worked for me before, as well, and I’m puzzled that it doesn’t appear in sources
such as David Pogue’s $25 “MissingManual.”
Good luck all!
Reply
Kirk says:
I tried everything. Was getting a black screen (nothing with flashlight…dead dead
dead screen) with no lid light when shut. I depressed the “r” during startup, got a
white screen with apple logo (first sign of life after trying all of the above). It must’ve
done the diagnostic, re-started and then I got the dead black screen again. I kept
restarting and depressing the “r” key and after about the third or fourth iteration, finally
got a desktop screen. Hopefully it is more than a temporary thing. Thanks a bunch!!
Reply
Julie says:
Tried everything…finally came across your article and the PRAM reset worked! My wallet
and I thank you so much!
Reply
S. Journer says:
Only the last one, the PRAM reset worked. It happened, btw, after I had been using it with
HDMI. Don’t know if any connection, but while watching movies on TV I would dim the
screen to black. But it stayed black this time. Now fine! Thank you so much!!! Magic!
Reply
Xavier says:
PRAM reset helped ! Thanks !
Reply
Mansur says:
Thanks. The PRAM reset worket for me. Thanks a ton again.
Reply
Eb says:
This should not happen on a machine that costs so much. :(

The 3rd option solved it for me.
Reply
Vicki says:
The PRAM reset worked for my MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014). Thank you!
Reply
Amarnath says:
The PRAM reset worked for me thanks buddy …..as its my office lappy
Reply
The X says:
The PRAM reset worked for me! Thank you so much!
Reply
naveed khan says:

PRAM worked for me
Reply
Za softcodes says:
Tried all three but didn’t work

Then I forced the Mac off and unplug the power source . then plugged the source back and
tried the first step And thanks to GOD it worked
Reply
Rupendar says:
Thank you its works… only the last trick 3rd one thank a lot
Reply
Toan says:
Thank you so much!!! third step PRAM works for me but I get to precisely hold the keys
(tried for a couple of times though).
Black screen issue I believe it was caused by out of battery.
Thanks again!
Reply
Jay says:
Third option did the trick for me. Thanks
Reply
Leo Puertollano says:

Thanks! it worked!
Reply
Hando says:
The last option worked for me. Thanks
Reply
Kevin says:
Option three worked for me. Thanks guys

MacBook Pro 15 inch retina late 2013
Reply
Niels Beijer says:

Almost everytime I shut down my MBP, I need to do the SMC-reset before I can boot. I
replaced the harddrive and the battery, I tried the PRAM reset, still this keeps on occurring.
Any ideas?
Reply
Dylan says:
The last option worked for me!!!
Reply
Noman says:
I tried all three solutions but none of them worked for me….
Reply
prabhakaran says:
Hi, I have the same issue. None of the above said methods worked.
Hope you have resolved it. If so could you pls tell me how to beak this black screen
curse?
Reply
prabhakaran says:
FINALLLYYYY!!!!! It worked. I tried the first and the third method. I dont know which
one worked. Fingers crossed i dont run into the Black Screen Curse again!!!!
Reply
Rebecca says:
The PRAM reset worked! Thanks! Can anyone tell me what I did to cause my Mac Air to not
turn on and need a PRAM reset?
Reply
Julie says:
I tried all 3, the PRAM worked but then after I logged in it all went black again and keeps
doing it Anyone any ideas?
Reply
Josh Soliman says:

lol really Mac never ceases to amaze me
Reply
Lauren says:
This happened after I tried to download the new OS X El Capitan. PRAM was the only thing
that worked for me.
Reply
Paulette says:
THANK YOU !
Talk about panic..
The third option worked for me
Reply
Charles Grimes says:

PRAM reset is what finally did the trick
Reply
Hannah Wood says:

I am using a Macbook Pro OS X 10.7.5 from 2011.
I tried all of the options and then tried it all again and all sounded positive on the third
option until nothing else happened!
Then I attached it to an external screen and tried it all again, still nothing.
Was getting very scared and then sent the laptop to sleep and then force restart (had to
guess because obviously the screen was all black) and then it worked!!! Seriously after 30
mins I was so panicked.
Sleep –> Force Restart –> Fingers crossed it works as normal.
Reply
james says:
It worked. I tried all three buh i think its the third one that worked.
Reply
Jenn says:
THANK YOU PRAM!!! thank you so much!
Reply
Ken says:
Well the Command+Option+R+P worked for me but only if I held those keys while
rebooting.
Reply
Des Richmond says:

MAc air 2011 11″. Mac was booting but just a grey screen displayed. Went through all your
steps and the last one fixed it. PRAM reset. Life saver! Thanks so much.
Reply
Shamssa says:
The first option worked for me after having water damage in my mac book air , I tipped it
upside down and let it dry for about 5 days , turned it back on and my screen was blank bt
the power up sound chimed. I tried option 1 and I can’t thank you enough, my MacBook is
alive!!!
Reply
Jhon Huamanchumo says:

The PRAM reset worked! anyone knows why this issue happen?
Reply
Mzonerz says:
October 13, 2015 at 10:28 am
3 red option worked on MacBook Pro 2014 OS X Yosemite,thanks all
Reply
Karthik says:
October 15, 2015 at 11:08 pm
Thanks a million! PRAM worked like a charm
Reply
Dave says:
Number three worked for me as well. Thanks for the tips!
Reply
vee says:
yay! omg thank you thank you. the PRAM option worked. the first time i tried that option i
dont think i was quick enough to the chime but the second one worked perfectly. had to
hold for a little over 10 seconds though. i have a 2014 macbook air 11. thank you so much
Reply
Dileep says:
October 17, 2015 at 10:41 am
Thank you very much.. it worked big time and thanks for saving before I hit the panic
button… great going
Reply
Mosab says:
Thanks PRAM worked with me
Reply
sherrlock says:
Tried everything on my 2011 macbook pro, but nothing worked until I followed the
suggestion to hold down the Shift key on the reboot. This finally brought up a login screen
in Safe mode. I logged in twice to reach an OS update screen. After updating, the macbook
works again!
Reply
Niclas says:
PRAM reset fixes this for me. This issue appear to happen every six months or so.
Reply
Lyn says:
I used the final option and my computer rebooted with a normal screen. Thank you
Reply
Cara says:
Thank you so much!! I was really worried for a second. I tried all your options and it is
working properly again now. Though, I’m not sure what one did the trick. Anyway
thankyou!!
Reply
craig says:
October 24, 2015 at 12:04 pm
PRAM Reset tip worked perfectly. Can’t thank you enough. Saved me a trip to the Apple
Genius Bar!
Reply
Ali says:
October 26, 2015 at 12:02 am
PRAM worked with me.. Thank you so much
Reply
Venina says:
Thanks God worked! Tried all three and the pram was the one that fixed!! Thanks!
Reply
Craig says:
Great article. My MacBook Air (early 2014 model) locked up after trying to install El Capitan.
It would turn on, chime, then the screen would go grey. That’s as far as it would boot.
Nothing worked until I tried the tip about holding down control-command-p-r. worked like a
charm. Thank you!
Reply
Tauqeer says:
PRAM reset worked. Thanks. I have a Mac Book Pro. The black screen occurred on update
to OS X El Capitan.
Reply
jack says:
none of the options have worked for me, Help!!
Reply
jack says:
none of the options have worked for me, Help
Reply
moon says:
thanks, it does work :]
Reply
Christine says:
October 28, 2015 at 10:02 pm
Thanks for this! The final solution, the PRAM, worked for me! So relieved :-)
Reply
Murat says:
My screen was black and i didnt hear anything, just the apple sign was showing me that i
had a power supply!
The third step helped to solve the problem! Thank u guys ;)
Reply
Salman says:
i m trying to install mac os 10.10 yosemite on my windows pc.. i have downloaded the os
and transferred to my flash drive using transmac but when i m booting my system for
installation the screen is going black..pleasse help me
Reply
jenicrob says:
I had this issue after turning the display brightness all the way off earlier in the day. Spent
an hour panicking & reading various forums trying to figure out what was wrong & how to
get the computer back on before I stumbled on this one. PRAM reset didn’t help, until I
unplugged from an external power source. Then it did the trick. Who’da thought. Thank
you, Marten Otten, for mentioning that in your comment!!!!
Reply
Michael Chung says:

Thanks just thanks,took the 3rd option that you advised to sort out my Mac air,after the first
2 failed I thaught was gonna be an expensive apple fix,once again thank
Reply
Michael Chung says:

Btw my fault happend after downloading an update
Reply
Julie Neal says:

Same here. Updated to OS X El Capitan and on reboot I got the blank screen. PRAM
reset worked for me.
Reply
Elizabeth t says:
Thank you. PRAM reset worked for me.
Reply
Judy says:
Nothing has worked! But thanks for the help. Mysteriously when I try to Boot up, the
computer cuts on, automatically cuts off, then automatically cuts itself back on to a Black
screen with no sound that anything is happening in back ground.
Reply
Charlotte says:
3rd option (PRAM) worked.
Reply
Ben Gurrola says:

Option #2: The key press sequence worked for me! Thanks!
Reply
Anastasia says:
Guys, thank you so much, third option worked!
Reply
Mary says:
This happened to me out of the blue.

Option 3 : PRAM reset worked for me.
Thank you so much!
Reply
Zoe says:
I had to reset my PRAM twice before it worked, as did another person who had the same
problem.
Reply
Edith says:
None of these worked for me until I saw a similar solution on another forum. Do step 1, then
immediately boot using step 3. Worked like a charm, and I was really surprised because
they didn’t work for me separately!
Reply
Carl says:
PRAM reset worked perfectly, thanks a lot!
Reply
Chris says:
SMC reset worked for me on second try. Made no difference the first time around, so I went
to method 2 and 3 without success. Then I tried method 1 again and all is well. Thanks!
Reply
Steve says:
Saved by the pram! Thank you !
Reply
Rizwanul Hoda says:

I try to all steps but the third one is work, its very helpful for us..I reset the PRAM then i got
my screen back…..
Reply
moahmed says:
ok look i done the boot camp thing and it required restart and then it just went black issues
(I Have A TV Toshiba as Monitor , a wireless Microsoft keyboard ) So I Think I Am really >>>
:3 !!!!! Any Help
Reply
Barbra says:
The pram reset worked for me. Thanks for the tips
Reply
Moniphia says:
PRAM RESET totally work, but you have to be VERY precise when holding down the
keys….thank you so much!
Reply
Connie says:
Pram worked mac book pro 2015
Reply
Debirah says:
Brilliant – tried loads of tricks but the PRAM one worked first time- many thanks!! This was
my first problem ever on a fairly new MacBook Air – am so relieved!
Reply
Mike Miller says:

MaxBook Pro
PRAM
Thank you!!!
Reply
Mohammad Ryalat says:

Thank you. You saved me.
MacBook Air.
PRAM reset fixed it.
Reply
Marcelo Pulido says:

The last one worked! Uff… Tks a lot!!
Reply
Jeff says:
PRAM reset worked for me.
Thanks for the tip
Reply
Sergio says:
Hello.
We have a problem with Office 14.2.5 on a MacBook Pro running El Capitan.
My question is: can we repair the instalation on this product? the problem started about a
week ago when it’s user reported Outlook 2011 crashing but we tryed reconstructing the
database to no effect.
All the folders are there but we can’t get Outlook to work again.
Any help will be appreciated very much.
Reply
Anon says:
The PRAM reset worked for me. The other two methods had no response.
Reply
Lancelot says:
Option/Comd P R worked for me this time but before I had to have the screen replaced.
What is the actual reason for having to do this reset in the first place other than the obvious
that it is dark.
Reply
Vicky says:
After a few hours my Mac turned on normally…. PRAM reset method worked for me….
Thank you so much man.
Reply
Morgan says:
The PRAM option worked for me thank you so much!!!
Reply
Brandy says:
Thanks so much! After trying the first two options with no results, the PRAM reset worked
like a charm! My blood pressure can go back to normal now!
Reply
Osita says:
Thank you.. I tried the first two options 3 times each and they did not work.This was after i
had tried an external monitor as well as the brightness key. The third method worked the
second time. Please edit the description and specify that the keys must be pressed
IMMEDIATELY the system makes the boot sound otherwoise it may seem not to work.
Reply
Rob Jolly says:

Thank God for this post the 3rd option works. Life saver as I had a presentation today, with
5 mins to spare my screens back. Option 3 worked brilliantly the others did nothing
unfortunately.
Reply
Steven says:
The PRAM was the ticket. Had to do it a few times. Saved my life….
Reply
Ade says:
PRAM worked for me on my new macbook pro 15 2015 model, thanks a million for posting.
Reply
Brooke says:
my MacBook is only 4mths old and only the PRAM reset worked for me. I had to try it twice
though. Thank you!!!!
Reply
Lupe says:
Thank you so much the PRAM solution helped. I already had a appointment at Apple. I will
be cancelling it right now. So happy:)
Reply
Breezy says:
PRAM did not for me (Macbook Pro Retina display). I finally connect my Macbook Pro to
my TV via the HDMI and this display began working.
Reply
Laura says:
The first option worked for me! Thanks so much I’m so happy this worked!! Very helpful
Reply
Lawrence says:
I had this problem and tried everything here… it did not boot. I picked up the machine and
sort of patted down the back, to try to seat any loose chips or connectors. It started up
fine.
I think the problem was either a loose connector, or possibly since the macbook was near
the window it may have been too cold until I picked it up, then it warmed up and started
again. If you have the problem, try hugging your mac.
Glad I didn’t throw it away.
Reply
Gilles says:
March 7, 2016 at 3:36 am
Unexpectedly, this one worked for me. I tried the 3 solutions above for hours (I do not
give up easily). Then I read this post and applied the same process. I patted the back
of my mac book pro, squeezed it lightly, and pressed the power on. Seems to work
now :-)
Reply
Aaron says:
Number three pram reset worked. Thank goodness. I had the same issue a couple months
ago and had t replace the logic board.
Reply
Kim says:
PRAM worked! MacBook Pro 2014
Looking at the comments, this seems to have the most success- why not make this the first
option?
Reply
Susanna says:
3rd solution worked for me.

Thanks
Reply
Carolyn says:
Thanks for the help! The PRAM reboot did the trick on my 3013 MacBook Pro iOS 10.10.5
Reply
wow says:
3013 MacBook Pro? Amazing, what’s it like living a thousand years in the future?
Pretty cool that Apple is still making MacBook Pro that far in the future! Amazing! Even
cooler the PRAM reset trick fixed the future MBP!!! Wow!
Reply
Andres says:
PRAM reset worked after trying it all.
Reply
Krystof says:
PRAM finally worked for me. Is it not a bit troubling that there are so many people with this
issue?!
Reply
Rod says:
Perennial problem with Mac Book Pro retina running Yosemite 10.10.5 I try never to turn the
computer off as I get a black screen on start up. Tried using PRAM and SMC – still black
screen. Best solution after reboot with PRAM or SMC and on encountering a black screen
is to close the lid down and make yourself a tea or coffee. When you come back an open
the lid the login screen is visible – mostly. Coffee tends to work better than tea.
Reply
Julien says:
Thanks so much for the tips. Holding control+option+shift+power brought my Mac back to
life.
Reply
Edwon Janobi says:
WOOH!
Tried all 3… first 2 didn’t work at all and then the 3rd tip did the trick! Thanks!
Reply
jay says:
PR reset worked!
thank jesus!
and this website!
Reply
dale says:
The pram reset worked on my macbook pro.

I don’t know which model year it is but it’s running an Intel i5 with boot camp and windows
10 64bit.
Thank God I found this post on my smart phone!!!!!
Great info guys!
Reply
Charlotte says:
The last one worked for me I have a MacBook Air. Thanks
Reply
Denise G. says:
The PRAM worked for me. Then it prompted for some password reset screen, clicked on
the option for the keyboard not working, and then it allowed me to reset my password and
unlock ‘filevault’. Reset the computer and everything is back to normal.
Reply
Britt Sumida says:

THANK YOU soooo much!! 3rd option worked for me!! Was in a panic because nothing else
was working!!
Reply
Tricia Moore says:

THANK You- all panic ensued after allowing my 8 year old on my Mac- I totally thought she
dropped it and that is why the black screen- you saved us today with this great knowledge-
thanks for publishing this freely!
Reply
Tricia Moore says:

Oh and it was the 3rd option for us- after a sinking heart twice before!
Reply
Kristin says:
The third option worked for me and I was so excited to think I’d fixed the problem…until
this morning when I had the black screen all over again. I repeated the third option and it
worked again, but am worried this is going to become the norm. Anyone else with a similar
situation? Suggestions for a more permanent fix?
Reply
Ron says:
Tnx for the post the third option do the work for me : ” A PRAM Reset to Resolve the Black
Boot Display”
Reply
Michelle says:
The PRAM restart worked for me only after having removed the power cable. (MacBook Pro
Retina 2014 OS X) Thanks!
Reply
Brandon says:
These tips didn’t work for me.

I did two things at the same time, so I’m not sure which did the trick…
1. Booted into safe mode by holding shift after pressing the power button (I’m not sure if
this ever made it to desktop)
2. Booted and held option down.

This brought up the boot picker and finally brought some light to the dormant screen.
Phew!
Reply
Katherine says:
I had this issue come up today on a used MacbookPro 15″ (2012) that’s been working well
for me. I first tried the SMC reset, without result. I then tried the Keypress Sequence, and
the screen came on but with the black-flash problem, so I repeated it, and voila, problem
fixed! Thanks a million.
Reply
Jeff says:
Third option worked the pram worked first time trying it thanks so much. The wife was
freaking out good thing this worked.
Reply
Cesar C. says:
I tried all options but the only one which worked for me was to leave my Mac on till’ it ran
out of battery; since, apparently, the issue has to do with the way the machine manages
power, everything works fine when you turn it on again when almost no battery is over
Reply
Herbi says:
PRAM worked for me too.

Thank you very much!!
Great article
Reply
Jessica says:
I have a 2014 Macbook Pro and I tried all 3 options, but non of them seem to be
working. Ive tried the PRAM reset, but it only makes the booting sound 3 times.
Nothing actually happens. Help!!!!!
Reply
R Carlsen says:
Early 2011 MB Pro Mavericks. Option 1 worked perfectly.

Thank you
Reply
Roseline says:
My MacBook Pro booted to a black screen after upgrading to the El Captain operating
system leaving me concerned. I went into the Internet to learn from those who have had
similar experience, thankfully the PRAM reset option restored my MacBook to its normal
booting screen.
Thanks for sharing these solutions.
Reply
Ada says:
Thank you so much!! PRAM is awesome and thank you for taking the time out to help
others!
Reply
Sam says:
Thank you – PRAM Reset worked for us to fix the black screen.
Reply
jennifer says:
AHHHH!!! THANK, YOU THANK, YOU THANK YOU!!!!

PRAM reset worked. You are AWESOME This just made my whole month!
Reply
Effay says:
January 14, 2016 at 12:14 pm
Like everyone is saying, the PRAM works like magic.
Reply
Logan says:
I have literally tried everything mentioned here. PRAM/NVRAM reset, SMC, shift on reboot,
CMD+S and terminal input…you name it… STILL doing the same thing! I even restored the
dang thing….NOTHING. I guess I’ll be on the phone with Apple tomorrow.
Reply
João says:
PRAM reset solved it for me. Macbook Pro Late 2012 on El Capitan.
Reply
Vicki says:
The third solution worked like a charm! Thank you SO MUCH!
Reply
Piz says:
Thank you so much ! That happened to me during exams time, you just saved my life ! (the
first two didn’t work but the last one did)
Reply
Beren Erchamion says:

PRAM worked for me. I have a MBP Retina 15″ Mid-2014 running OS-X 10.11.12 – 2.8 GHz
processor
Reply
Ryzer says:
My macbook pro 13inch retina (2 years old come march) has been playing up for last 6
months. Keep getting the screen going black, I have done all the above fixes (worked for a
bit) other times it doesnt fix it all. if leave laptop for a few days go back to it it might work
for hour sometime longer sometimes only 5 mins till screen goes black again.
It works fine when connect it to my tv via HDMI (screen still black on laptop) but can at least
use it.
I think mine is more hardware focussed, so I be interested in finding out if anyone has
actually had to get the screen replaced or taken to apple repair centre and had an idea
around actual costings?
Am debating just buying a new one and keeping this as a spare (hook it up to a separate
monitor) use as a steaming device instead.
Reply
Phil says:
Had the black screen issue with my 18 month old MacBook Air. Tried all the suggested
keyboard sequences unsuccessfully and was about to give up. Then tried the final
suggested one which was the PRAM one….
1. Pressed on
2. As soon as I heard the chime I pressed command+alt+R+P
It then shut down automatically and restarted a couple of seconds later without any
problem.
Thanks for making me feel like a tech genius.
Reply
Brent says:
January 27, 2016 at 10:54 pm
I have a mid-2010 macbook pro and I almost sold my computer as broken until I found this
fix. I could hear the ding for booting, but no display. I even tried an external display and it
didn’t work. It ended up being the PRAM reset that fixed the problem for me. However, it
took some patience because the computer booted halfway before the screen came back
on.
Reply
nick says:
PRAM worked for me – key is to wait till it starts to boot then boom! it worked.
Thanks for everyones comments
Reply
MJ says:
The PRAM solution was the only one that worked for the MacBook Air which is little more
than a year old. Thanks for the advice!
Reply
Taz says:
It worked- number 3. Took a couple of goes, I must have been a millisecond too slow a
couple times. I had just done the update to the newest iOS and it must have played it up.
Very much appreciated.
Reply
John says:
The PRAM worked a treat thank you
Reply
taro says:
thank you! i’ve been turning on/off my mac the whole morning and the display just won’t
show. the PRAM reset nailed it!! im so happy thank you!
Reply
M says:
None of these options worked for me and now when i connect to an external monitor the
macbook wont boot. Wtf
Reply
ruby2122 says:
I have a MacBook pro and having tried and cried several combinations of short cut keys,
stumbled across this website and the PRAM reset worked for me. You are life savers and
uni dissertation savers having written 1300 words and I was going to give up and take it to
Apple shop after four days of black screen!!!!
Reply
Mj says:
Third option worked for me thanks!!
Reply
andyg5 says:
After upgrading hard drive on 2012 rMBP problem appeared, pram reset worked a treat,
thanks.
Reply
JohnNew says:
Forced a shut-down with the power button as suggested and on restart it all came back.
Apple error warning said failure to waken properly from sleep.
Reply
JohnNew says:
Unfortunately it has come back. I think the system is not shutting down when the lid
closes and this is something to do with low battery.
Reply
Varun gupta says:

Thanks a lot guys. Third solution worked for me also.
Reply
Dan Hamer says:

This worked a treat!! Used the PRAM method. Sorted it immediately. Cheers guys.
Reply
Teresa says:
PRAM reset worked – the other two didn’t. Thanks for the article!
Reply
Doug says:
My 2013 MBPR 15 screen goes blank when running imovie. After this I hard shut it down.
Sometimes it will come back and others it boots to a blank screen.
Another oddity is the boot chime does not come on even when it boots properly.
I have tried resetting the SMC and PRAM and it seems to be more stable but Imovie always
crashes it.
I also Ran AHT (extensive test) and found no hardware problems.
Any advice??
Reply
Ben says:
Looking at all the comments on here this isn’t a rarity as the article states. I have tried
everything and no success even tried apple support. Top of the range mid 2015Mac book
Pro and its dead. Going back to the shop tomorrow hopefully this is an easy fix our I’m
going to lose it.
Reply
Swabs says:
PRAM worked for me on a MacBook Air, tried the first two solutions which you offered they
didn’t work. Thank you for the PRAM solution.
Reply
bob says:
13 month old macbook pro retina display. Black screen but managed to get it working with
PRAM reset for 2 days. Now black again and no amount of suggested solutions work.
Apple support not at all helpful, suggesting graphics card needs replacing but not offering
to do so. Not convinced and I still think it’s a software issue associated with the sleep
function when the lid closes. Unfortunately can’t get into recovery or safe mode.
Reply
me says:
@bob Haha, pretty funny, got the EXACT same error today…
same MacBook Pro (14 months old), same behavior at booting up, same suspicion about
the closed lid… It happened when I was 5 minutes away and my Mac was in Closed-Lid-
Standby. Haven’t got it to work yet, but i would suggest connecting a external monitor to
sort out a broken display. And try to boot into Target-Disk Mode to get your data from your
drive (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201462).
I’ll reply if i get it to work.
LG me
Reply
Matt says:
Finally the third option, resetting the PRAM, is what worked for me.
Thanks.
Reply
chris says:
I like Mac OS and Windows machines alike, find them to be so similar I could care less
which operating system I’m using. Low-end windows machines are garbage. Macs and
regular to high-end windows machines are great… but could we just stop pretending Mac’s
“just work” already? The ridiculously careful wording to pretend that all these issues are
extremely rare drives me nuts. In the first two paragraphs, the author mentions that it’s
issues are rare THREE TIMES probably out of fear that an army of fan boys will start
screaming ‘Macs just work!” at the author. You know what? They don’t. Mac OS gets
viruses. Mac OS needs to be reinstalled. Mac OS crashes. Mac Apps crash. Macs get error
36 interacting with any non-mac computer. Macs need plist files remove to fix software
issues. Macs need to be restarted to solve issues. Accept it! It’s ok. Computers are
complicated. It would be a huge step forward for all Mac users as forums could stop being
filled with fanboys demanding a problem doesn’t exist and instead would just focus on
solving problems for the user.
Reply
Chris says:
Did all 3… Still black. Then did step 2 and back to normal. Thank you
Reply
Katie Brugger says:

March 1, 2016 at 9:27 am
I have a 2008 MacBook Pro (with removable battery) and the first step worked for me.
Thanks!
Reply
Megan says:
March 1, 2016 at 7:28 pm
Thanks so much for this post, the PRAM reset worked for me.
Reply
Fred says:
March 2, 2016 at 1:15 pm
I went straight to the 2nd option because I was worried I wouldn’t do the first one correctly
hehe and it worked!!!! Thank you so much I was about to cry because this happened to me
a few months ago and I panicked and went to the apple store and payed around 600$ to
get it fixed :(
Reply
Cori says:
March 4, 2016 at 3:56 am
Thanks a million this absolutely saved me! The third option took a 2 min but if your patient it
will come back.
Reply
Annina says:
March 4, 2016 at 1:09 pm
Last one worked!!!! Thanks so much. Such relief !
Reply
Sanyam says:
March 6, 2016 at 10:03 am
Third option worked for me

Thank you so much!
Reply
Julie says:
March 7, 2016 at 10:36 am
First time, nothing worked.
Back to PRAM, with patience it worked a treat!
Many Thanks for sharing.
Reply
Rico says:
March 7, 2016 at 8:39 pm
Thanks! the PRAM RESET really worked for me too! You are my savior!
Reply
Ad says:
March 9, 2016 at 2:21 am
APRAM reset worked for me! Thank you!!!
Reply
Abhipsha says:
March 10, 2016 at 10:51 am
The Power button-S button-hold the power button thingy worked for me!! Basically I had
gone full screen on YouTube and then it had these flashy blurred screen and then a
blackout….Cool…thanks…
Reply
DE says:
March 11, 2016 at 12:56 am
My MacBook Pro after a shut down came back up with a black screen… Turned back off I
would see a flicker of white and then shut down. I noticed that the panel did not have the
lights on the keys and it was getting very hot real fast while in the black screen mode. I tried
the first solution, hold down the shift, control, option and power for a few seconds then
release. I did that and my Mac is back to normal again. THANK YOU!!! I’m going to print out
these instructions for any future problems. Can’t thank you enough…saved me time, money
and lots of heartache!!! :-)
Reply
Andre says:
March 12, 2016 at 3:10 pm
Thank You very much Guys!!! It worked in the last try, the PRAM stuff! God bless you!! lol
Reply
mackbeezy says:
March 15, 2016 at 8:42 pm
thank gawwwwwwd! i was freaking out and thought i would have to sent my mac book pro
back to apple for a 2nd time. The PRAM resolved my issue.
Reply
Helen says:
March 19, 2016 at 12:22 pm
PRAM reset worked for me! Thanks so much!

I’ve had black screen issues before on my current and an older macbookpro and had to
have repairs done due to graphics card overworked. Interestingly 2 days before this
occurence happened I switched my desktop and screen saver to be from an album of
extremely hi-res photos. Wonder if this is possibly linked?
Reply
libi K says:
March 19, 2016 at 1:23 pm
PRAM reset worked for me AFTEr I adjusted the brightness.

I also changed the setting for the screensaver to run continuuously.
I think for my particular MAC it actually got too hot which began this prob.
I unplugged it from the power source, let it cool down for a day and then tried the various
solutions listed here.
The Power button plus the S key helped shut it all the way down. I waited at least 15
seconds for it to be totally off then hit the power source and waited for the start up chime. I
then hit the PRCommand/option and brightness buttons. I held these down through three
or for blackouts the computer whent through.
Then it finally rebooted correctly
so I released all the buttons and let it finish rebooting properly.
Reply
joelk says:
March 21, 2016 at 6:31 am
My wife’s mid-2014 rMBP had a similar problem. The display didn’t come on after waking,
and still didn’t come on after rebooting. I tried multiple times resetting the SMC, resetting
the NVRAM, booting in safe mode, single user mode. None of these seemed to help. When
I connected an external monitor to the hdmi port (with the MBP already booted up) nothing
changed. But when booted with the external monitor already on and connected, the
external display worked perfectly. But System preferences/Displays didn’t show the LCD
display at all. Also in System Information it seemed that the LCD wasn’t recognized at all.
We were resigned to an expensive trip to Apple Store but for some reason I tried booting
with the external monitor turned OFF but connected to the MBP by hdmi cable and
surprise, surprise the LCD display turned on. Maybe this was just a coincidence but I
thought I would mention it in case it might help someone else.
Reply
Dave says:
March 23, 2016 at 7:36 pm
PRAM Reset did the trick, thank you!
Reply
Michele says:
March 26, 2016 at 4:49 pm
The PRAM reset worked for my Macbook Pro!!
Reply
Dinx says:
March 27, 2016 at 4:47 am
Thank you thank you thank you!!! I reset the SMC – the first option and all is well again.
Much appreciated. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again.
Reply
hey says:
March 30, 2016 at 1:07 pm
PRAM worked
Reply
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A Solution For MacBook Pro Booting To A Black Screen

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A Solution for MacBook Pro Booting to a Black Screen 3/31/16, 7:04 PM

A Solution for MacBook Pro Booting to Subscribe to OSXDaily

First, Reset the System Management Controller to Fix the Black

if it doesn’t… reader Nathan D. wrote in with the next tip.

Second, Try a Keypress Sequence to Ditch the Black Screen

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

Like 71,922 people like this. Be the first of your friends.

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Mac Setups: White MacBook with Black Keys

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Mac Setups: Transitioning from MacBook Pro to MacBook Air

Posted by: Paul Horowitz in Mac OS X, Troubleshooting

Wharf Xanadu says:

And cats like macs by the way

Dennis Ammons says:

Command,Option,P,R worked for me. thanks!

The third (PRAM) option worked for my new MacBook Air.

The brightness thing worked! You saved me!!! Halleluya!

1) I MOVED MOUSE TO TOP OF SCREEN THE MENU SHOWED, I TURNED ON

2) MOVED TO LEFT SIDE AND PRESSED THE APPLE SYMBOL, WHERE IT

3) I OPENED “DISC” CLICKED ON MY MACBOOK DRIVE, SIGNED IN and

The PRAM test worked!

The third (PRAM) option worked for my MacBook Pro.

Steve Hamilton says:

Same here, but I have a Macbook Air 2014

Ryleigh Loving says:

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

Third PRAM Reset solved the issue.

Macbook Pro Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014, with OS X 10.9.5

about to give up!

Marten Otten says:

The black screen happend 2 me 2.

Keep courage, it is frightening indeed!

Happened to me before on Yosemite with my Mac mini. Apparently I too, as a way of

Cleyton Joseph says:

Try booting while holding Option+Command+P+R

Just want to say that Will’s solution (Option+Command+P+R) worked

1 Shut down mac. Connect to power outlet.

My first try using: Option+Command+P+R, didn’t resolve the black

Thanks for the help osxdaily

Mahdi Taghizadeh says:

Thank you Will! Holding Option+Command+P+R and then holding

OSX 10.10.3 Mac Aire 13″ Mid 2013

Thanks! Second method worked like a charm :)

Brett Clarke says:

Art Jacks says:

Floyd Tolar says:

Maje Lije says:

Maje Lije says:

Had this issue but called apple support to fix it in 2 steps.

Hope this helps :)

Jeszica, this worked for me!! Thank you so much!!

THanks! this worked for me finally!

Worked like charm! Thanks

Yeah! this one works! whew, saved me the holidays)

SMC Reset Method Seemed to work

Shift+Option+Control and power button for several seconds.

Feel Chic says:

Jezsica!! Yippeee OMG you saved my life!

Wow jeszica!!! You are my life savor

Thanks Jeszica, your advice worked for me!

Anna Bay Computers says:

Jeﬀ Walters says: