Fixed: MacBook Pro Booting Black screen

A blank screen (black, blue, or gray) may appear one or more times during the startup process. If you encounter a MacBook Pro booting to a black screen, there might be an issue at play.

Experiencing no activity on your MacBook Pro's screen can be one of the most alarming problems you might face when starting up your device. You might immediately worry about the repair costs, but let's not jump to conclusions just yet. Take a moment to calm down, and try the following tips before you decide to pay for repairs or visit an Apple Authorized Service Provider or store.

In this guide, you'll find 12 solutions to address the MacBook Pro booting to a black screen issue.

This article is designed to help you resolve the MacBook Pro Booting Black screen problem. These solutions are also applicable to black screens on Mac mini, iMac, or MacBook Air.

Jump to:

• Why is my MacBook Pro booting to a black screen?
• Resolve a black screen on MacBook Pro
• How to Fix MacBook Pro Booting to a Black Screen
• Solution #1: Verify if the power is on
• Solution #2: Disconnect all peripherals
• Solution #3: Adjust your display's brightness
• Solution #4: Restart your MacBook Pro
• Solution #5: Force Reboot your MacBook Pro
• Solution #6: Start up from macOS Recovery
• Solution #7: Reset Mac's NVRAM settings
• Solution #8: Reset the System Management Controller
• Solution #9: Keypress (Keyboard) Sequence
• Solution #10: Reset the PRAM
• Solution #11: Boot into Safe Mode
• Solution #12: Enter Password, Hit Return
• Solution #13: Turn Off Automatic Graphics Switching
• Solution #14: Re-install the macOS
• Watch: MacBook Pro 14 & 16 (2023) - 20 Things You NEED to KNOW!
• Conclusion
• FAQ

Why is my MacBook Pro booting to a black screen?

Nothing can cause more panic during the system boot of a Mac than a screen turning completely black. If you encounter a MacBook black screen while rebooting your MacBook Pro, the following could be the causes:

• Software or hardware incompatibility: This can happen if you've recently upgraded to a new macOS or updated hardware or firmware. New updates might introduce incompatibility issues, unresolved bugs, or consume a large amount of disk space.
• Power issues: A MacBook might boot into a black screen if it's not receiving sufficient or properly rated power.
• Poor contact between hardware and firmware: If the connections between hardware and firmware are damaged, loose, or dusty, the computer may not start up normally.
• Cables not connected
• Third-party apps that expand the screen

However, these are not the only reasons. A motherboard failure can also lead to unknown issues. Depending on the age and model of your Mac (whether it's a Mac mini, iMac, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro), aside from the black screen of death, you might see a blank, gray, or blue screen.

In summary, there are numerous troubleshooting methods available to fix the MacBook Pro booting to a black screen issue.

Resolve a black screen on MacBook Pro

1. Verify if the power is on
2. Disconnect all peripherals
3. Adjust your display's brightness
4. Restart your MacBook Pro
5. Force Reboot your MacBook Pro
6. Start MacBook Pro in recovery mode (start-up from macOS recovery)
7. Reset Mac's NVRAM settings
8. Reset the System Management Controller
9. Keypress (Keyboard) Sequence
10. Reset PRAM
11. Boot MacBook in Safe Mode
12. Enter Password, Hit Return
13. Turn Off Automatic Graphics Switching
14. Re-install macOS

How to Fix MacBook Pro Booting to a Black Screen

To address the MacBook Pro booting to a black screen problem, you'll start with simple solutions and progress to more complex and technical ones.

Note: These solutions are also applicable to MacBook Air.

### Solution #1: Verify if the power is on

Is your power on? Is power being transferred from the socket to your Mac? Check if your charger cable is intact and if your Mac is charging. Is the green light on?

To rule out any power issues, listen closely for any noise from your Mac — from the hard drive or fans.

If your Mac was off due to power, try charging it for at least ten minutes before attempting to power it back on.

If you still see the black screen on your Mac, there might be another issue at play.

Solution #2: Disconnect all peripherals

The only accessories that should be connected to your Mac when you try to solve the black screen issue should be the charging cable and adapter.

Disconnect all the accessories and devices connected to the Mac. Remove all external devices such as printers, flash drives, phones, and other external drives.

These peripherals may initiate their own dialogues which could interfere with your Mac's display settings.

If this doesn't solve the problem, there might be another issue at play.

Solution #3: Adjust your display's brightness

It's possible you unknowingly pressed the brightness keys on the keyboard, causing your screen to dim. Or perhaps it was your cat.

Use the F1 and F2 buttons to adjust the brightness of your Mac's screen.

Solution #4: Restart your MacBook Pro

If you've confirmed that the laptop is receiving power and you've ruled out the possibility of interference from peripheral devices, the next step is a simple restart. Pressing Control Command (the symbol with four loops) Power/Eject/Touch ID button (depending on your model) should automatically restart your device. Alternatively, hold the power button for 5 seconds to shut down your MacBook Pro, wait 15 seconds, and then press the button again to reboot. Fingers crossed.

Solution #5: Force Reboot your MacBook Pro

You can force restart your Mac to solve the issue.

If you've established that the Mac booting to a black screen issue is related to the display, force restarting the device can be a solution. (If you're not sure, skip this process).

Force restarting the Mac can fix bugs and errors.

Here's how:

1. Press and hold the Power key for about 6 seconds.
2. Wait for the Mac to shut down
3. Press the Power key again to start it

Solution #6: Start up from macOS Recovery

Try a forced reset. Sometimes a good old-fashioned hard restart is all it takes to fix various MacBook issues.

On an Apple-chipped MacBook Pro (M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max), press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds. You should see the startup options window, which includes a gear icon labeled Options. Select Options and Continue. If the options window doesn't appear, release the power button and press and hold it again for another 10 seconds. If you started up from macOS Recovery, you should see a utility window that includes Disk Utility.

On an Intel-chipped MacBook Pro, press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds, then press and release the power button and immediately press and hold Command R until you see an Apple logo or other image. If you still see a blank screen after about 20 seconds, it's time to move on. If this does recover your screen, it's worth running Disk Utility to check for errors. If Disk Utility finds errors and repairs them, restart your MacBook again afterward.

Here's a Mac guide to use the disk utility service.

Solution #7: Reset Mac's NVRAM settings

NVRAM stands for non-volatile RAM.

This functionality stores in-memory settings for hard drives, speakers, screen displays, primary startup disks, etc.

Resetting NVRAM can effectively revert to factory (default) settings for everything connected with the boot process, including those remotely connected.

To reset Mac's NVRAM settings:

1. Turn off your MacBook Pro.
2. Press the Power key.
3. Wait for your Mac to start loading.
4. When you hear a startup sound, press and hold Cmd Option P R.
5. Keep pressing the keys until you hear a second startup sound.

Solution #8: Reset the System Management Controller

Resetting the SMC will reset settings for anything related to power management. It resolves issues such as heat, sleeping problems, fans, and of course, Mac black screen display issues.

To reset the SMC on MacBook Pro or MacBook Air (with nonremovable battery):

1. Shut down the Mac
2. Connect the Mac to power (if it is not connected). Ensure to use your MagSafe adapter.
3. While the Mac is off, press the Shift Control Option Power keys together at the same time and hold down for a few seconds
4. Release all keys at the same time
5. Boot the Mac as usual and observe what happens

When the Mac boots, hopefully, the Mac black screen will have disappeared, and you'll be back to normal.

Solution #9: Keypress (Keyboard) Sequence

If your Mac boots, the black screen may disappear, and the MacBook Pro or MacBook Air may return to normal. However, if it doesn't, try a keypress sequence to eliminate the black screen.

If your Mac is powering on but the screen remains black, try the keypress sequence:

1. Press the power button (OFF) once, bringing an invisible dialog box on the MacBook Pro black screen
2. Press the 'S' button - shortcut for sleep on Mac
3. Force a hard shutdown by holding the power button for 4 seconds
4. Wait for about 16 seconds
5. Press the power button (OFF) to turn the MacBook Pro on again

This process is not common but has worked for many.

Solution #10: Reset the PRAM

If the above two tricks failed (solution #6 and Solution #7), resetting the PRAM can often be the solution to the MacBook Pro booting to a black screen.

Mac's PRAM is a memory that holds some settings for your Mac.

The settings in the PRAM persist even if you shut down or restart your Mac. If they become corrupted, it can cause problems like the black screen on Mac.

This is why resetting the PRAM is a potential solution to the black screen on boot. PRAM reset is almost similar to SMC reset. To reset the PRAM:

1. Reboot the Mac
2. As soon as you hear the boot chime, hold down the Command Option P R keys together
3. When you hear the boot sound again, the PRAM has been reset
4. Let the Mac boot again as usual

Up to this point, your Mac should boot normally and no longer display the black screen.

Solution #11: Boot into Safe Mode

Sometimes the black screen on Mac results from corrupt information on the startup disk. A simple solution for this is to force your Mac to run diagnostics on the disk by booting it in safe mode.

To start up in safe mode:

1. Power up or restart your Mac
2. Hold the Shift key until the Apple logo appears on the screen.
3. Release the Shift key and let the system start up.

The boot may take longer than usual because it's running diagnostics during the boot sequence. Let it finish the safe-mode boot to completion.

After it finishes starting up, restart again to exit safe mode and start normally to see if the Mac black screen problem has been resolved.

Solution #12: Enter Password, Hit Return

This surprising alternative works when the Mac booting to a black screen problem persists.

All you need to do is enter your regular login password as usual and hit the Enter/Return key; the Mac boots up as usual, and then you're good to go. Try this out, it might work for you:

1. When the Mac boots into the black screen, enter your login password on Mac as usual
2. Hit the Enter/Return key

If this works, you'll know rather quickly because the black screen will give way to the regular macOS desktop.

Solution #13: Turn Off Automatic Graphics Switching

This solution works for black screens on dual-GPU MacBook Pro only.

Some MacBook Pro models have dual graphics cards that switch automatically. Sometimes, those models can boot directly to a black screen.

Often, to remedy this issue, you'd simply disable automatic graphics card (GPU) switching on MacBook Pro:

1. From the Apple menu, choose "System Preferences"
2. Go to "Energy Saver"
3. Toggle the switch next to 'Automatic Graphics Switching' to turn that off
4. Restart the Mac normally

Solution #14: Re-install the macOS

This is the last resort.

If all these solutions do not work, there could be a more significant problem than simple hardware and software solutions. Re-installing the macOS can solve the issue once and for all.

You can choose to either install the same macOS product or acquire a new macOS and install it on your Mac.

Watch: MacBook Pro 14 & 16 (2023) - 20 Things You NEED to KNOW!

Conclusion

Did any of these solutions help you fix the MacBook booting to a black screen issue?

We're glad you read this article up to here :) Thank you :)

If you run into this unusual issue with your Mac, use one or all of these solutions to sort out the problem. These solutions work for MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, and Mac Mini.

Do you need any Mac products? You can get all Mac products that you may need here, including Office for Mac and Windows for Mac!

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FAQ

Here are some commonly asked questions and their answers related to MacBook Pro starting on a black screen

How do I fix a black screen on startup Mac?

1. Verify if the power is on
2. Disconnect all peripherals
3. Adjust your display's brightness
4. Restart your MacBook Pro
5. Force Reboot your MacBook Pro
6. Try to start up from macOS Recovery
   1. Press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds, until you see the startup options window, which includes a gear icon labeled Options. Select Options, then click Continue.
   2. If you never see the startup options window, release the power button, then repeat step 1.
7. Reset Mac's NVRAM settings
8. Reset the System Management Controller
9. Keypress (Keyboard) Sequence
10. Reset PRAM
11. Boot MacBook in Safe Mode
12. Enter Password, Hit Return
13. Turn Off Automatic Graphics Switching
14. Re-install macOS

Can you fix black screen of death on a Mac?

Yes. In most cases, you can fix the MacBook black screen of death using the solutions we've highlighted in this article. For example, sometimes the black screen on Mac results from corrupt information on the startup disk. A simple solution for this is to force your Mac to run diagnostics on the disk by booting it in safe mode. Also, if your Mac is on yet the screen stays dark, try pressing the power button once, then press the S key. That is the easy route key to take care of the Mac. Then, hold down the power key until the Mac turns itself off. Wait 15 seconds and plug it back on.

Why does my MacBook Pro turn on, but the screen is black?

It could be due to various reasons:

• peripherals (incompatible)
• Software or hardware incompatibility
• Power issues: MacBook can boot into a black screen with insufficient or rated power.
• Poor contact between hardware and firmware
• Third-party apps that expand the screen

Why is my Mac stuck on a black screen with Apple logo?

Here's what usually happens: Your Mac shows an Apple logo when it finds your startup disk, which is usually the disk built into your Mac, then shows a progress bar as the macOS startup or installation process continues. As the startup continues, you should see a progress bar, with or without the Apple logo. This screen might alternate with a blank screen several times. If you're installing macOS, the Apple logo or progress bar might persist for much longer than usual. As installation continues, the progress bar might move slowly and pause for long periods. That's why Apple recommends beginning macOS installation in the evening—so that it can complete overnight if needed.

However, sometimes the Mac can get stuck on a black screen with the Apple logo. This could be due to incompatible peripherals, power issues, software incompatibility, poor contact between hardware and firmware, viruses (yes, virus), and more. Use the solutions we've provided above to fix this issue.

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