Table of Contents
This tip is about the how to Fix ‘Mac Booting With Black Screen’ Issue. So read this free guide, How to Fix ‘Mac Booting With Black Screen’ Issue step by step. If you have query related to same article you may contact us.
How to Fix ‘Mac Booting With Black Screen’ Issue – Guide
Trying to wake up your Mac from sleep but failed? A black screen on your MacBook Pro is all you see, no matter what keys you’re pressing. Below you will find some explanations (mainly based on user cases) to bring your Mac back to light.
Reasons why your Mac screen goes black:
Fix black MacBook Pro startup screen
To fix your MacBook Pro startup black screen problem, you’ll start with simple solutions to complex technical solutions
Note: These solutions also apply to MacBook Air.
Solution #1: Make sure the power is turned on
Is your power on? Is power being transferred from the socket to your Mac? Make sure the charger cable is intact and your Mac is charging. Is the green light on?
To rule out any power issues, listen carefully if your Mac makes any noise—from the hard drive or the fans.
If your Mac was turned off due to power, try charging it for at least ten minutes before trying to turn it on again.
If you still see the black screen on your Mac, something else could be the problem.
Solution 2: Disconnect all peripherals
The only accessories that should be connected to your Mac when you try to solve your Mac’s black screen issue are the charging cable and adapter.
Disconnect all accessories and devices connected to the Mac. Remove all external devices such as printers, flash drives, phones, and other external drives.
These peripherals can launch their own dialogs, which can interfere with your Mac’s display settings.
If that doesn’t solve the problem, something else could be the problem.
Solution #3: Adjust the screen brightness
It is possible that you have inadvertently pressed the keyboard brightness keys to make the screen go dark. Or it could have been your cat.
Use F1 and F2 buttons to light up your Mac’s black screen.
Solution #4: Force your MacBook Pro to restart
You can force the Mac to restart to resolve the issue.
If you’ve established that the Mac startup black screen issue is on the screen, hard reset of the device may be a solution. (if you are unsure, skip this process).
Forcing a Mac to restart can fix bugs and errors.
See how:
- Press and hold the Power key for about 6 seconds.
- wait for the mac to shut down
- Press Power key again to start it
Solution #5: Reset your Mac’s NVRAM settings
NVRAM stands for non-volatile RAM.
This is a feature that stores settings in memory for hard drives, speakers, screen display, main boot disk, etc.
Resetting NVRAM can effectively restore to factory settings (default) everything connected with the boot process, including those connected remotely.
To reset Mac NVRAM settings:
- Turn off your MacBook Pro.
- Press the Power key.
- Wait for your Mac to start charging.
- When you hear a startup sound, press and hold Cmd + Option + P + R.
- Keep pressing the keys until you hear a second startup sound.
Solution #6: Reboot the system management controller
Resetting the SMC will discard and reset the settings for anything related to power management. It solves amongst other issues with things like heat, sleep issues, fans and of course black screen display issues on Mac.
To reset SMC on MacBook Pro or MacBook Air (with non-removable battery):
- turn off the mac
- Connect your Mac to power (if not connected). Be sure to use your MagSafe adapter.
- With the Mac turned off, press Shift + Control + Option + Power at the same time and hold them down for a few seconds
- Release all keys at the same time
- Boot your Mac normally and watch what happens
Hopefully, when the Mac starts up, the Mac’s black screen will be gone and you’ll be back to normal.
Solution # 7: key sequence (keyboard)
If your Mac starts up, the black screen may disappear and your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air may return to normal; however, if it doesn’t boot, try a keystroke sequence to eliminate the black screen.
If your Mac is turning on but the screen is still black, try the key sequence:
- press the power button (OFF) once, bringing up an invisible dialog box on the MacBook Pro’s black screen
- Press the ‘S’ button – shortcut to sleep on Mac
- Force a Forced Shutdown by Maintaining Power button for 4 seconds
- wait about 16 seconds
- press the power button (OFF) to turn the MacBook Pro back on
This process is unusual, but it has worked for many.
Solution #8: Reset PRAM
If the above two tricks failed (solution #6 and solution #7), a PRAM reset can often be the solution to the MacBook Pro’s reset screen.
Mac PRAM is memory that contains some settings for your Mac.
The settings in PRAM continue even if you shut down or restart your Mac. If they get corrupted in any way, it can cause problems like black screen on Mac.
This is why resetting PRAM is a potential solution to the black screen at startup. Resetting the PRAM is almost similar to resetting the SMC. To reset the PRAM:
- restart the mac
- As soon as you hear the startup bell, hold down Command + Option + P + R together
- When you hear the startup sound again, the PRAM has been reset
- Let the Mac boot again as usual
- Up up to this point, the Mac should boot up again normally and should no longer have a black screen.
Solution #9: Boot into Safe Mode
Sometimes the black screen on Mac is the result of corrupt information on the startup disk. A simple solution to this is to force your Mac to run diagnostics on the disk by booting it into safe mode.
To start-up in safe mode:
- Power up or restart your mac
- Hold the Shift key until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
- Release the Shift key and let the system start-up.
- Booting is likely to take longer than usual because it is running diagnostics during the boot sequence. Let it finish the safe-mod initialization.
after you finish starting up, restart again to get out of safe mode and start normally to see if the Mac black screen issue is fixed.
Solution #10: Enter the password and press Return
This is an amazing alternative that works when the Mac black screen startup issue persists.
All you have to do is enter your normal login password as usual and press the Enter / Return key, the Mac boots up as usual and you’re good to go. Try it, it might work for you:
- When the Mac boots to the black screen, enter the password your Mac login password as usual
- Press Enter / Return key
- If it works, you’ll quickly know why the black screen will give way to the normal Mac OS desktop.
Solution #11: Turn off automatic graphics switching
This solution only works for black screens on MacBook Pro with two GPUs.
Some MacBook Pro models have dual graphics cards that switch automatically. Sometimes these models can boot directly to a black screen.
Often, to solve this problem, you simply disable automatic graphics card (GPU) switching on your MacBook Pro:
- From the Apple menu, choose “System Preferences”
- Go to “Energy Savings”
- Toggle the switch next to ‘Auto Graphics Switching’ to turn it off
- restart your mac normally
Solution #12: Reinstall macOS
This is the last resort.
If all these solutions don’t work, there could be a bigger problem than simple hardware and software solutions. Reinstalling macOS can solve the problem once and for all.
You can decide to install the same MacOS product or purchase a new MacOS and install it on your Mac.
Final note
I hope you like the guide How to Fix ‘Mac Booting With Black Screen’ Issue. In case if you have any query regards this article you may ask us. Also, please share your love by sharing this article with your friends.