Sometimes a Mac shows only a black screen when it wakes up from sleep. You open the MacBook lid or press a key, and the screen stays black, even though the computer is clearly awake: the keyboard is lit, or you hear alert sounds. This can happen at random. I had it after updating my MacBook Pro to the latest version of macOS, so it is not very common, but it is not rare either.
Don’t panic! The steps below usually fix it. They go from the easiest and most obvious solutions to the more advanced ones, so follow them in order and stop when your Mac works again.
In this article
1. Check Screen Brightness and Power
Before anything else, check these:
- Turn the screen brightness all the way up.
- Make sure the Mac is really turned on.
- If you use an external display, make sure that display is turned on.
- Make sure the Mac is plugged in to power. Even on a laptop, the battery could be empty.
Often the brightness is just turned down very low, or the computer is actually off and not asleep. Turning up the brightness or turning the Mac on fixes these cases quickly.
2. Turn Your Mac Off and On Again
The next step is to turn the Mac off and then on again. This usually gives you access to the computer again, and it is often enough to fix the black screen on wake completely. To force a restart:
- Press and hold the power button until the Mac shuts down.
- Wait a few seconds, then press the power button again to start the Mac.
A simple restart is often all you need, especially if the black screen started after a macOS update.
3. Reset the SMC and NVRAM
If your Mac keeps getting stuck on a black screen when it wakes from sleep, reset the power management controller (SMC) and the NVRAM. On MacBook Pro models with a built-in battery and no T2 chip, do this:
- Shut down the Mac.
- On the built-in keyboard, press and hold Shift + Control + Option (on the left side) and the power button at the same time for about 10 seconds.
- Release all keys at the same time, then press the power button to turn the Mac on.
- To reset the NVRAM, shut down the Mac again. Turn it on and immediately press and hold Option + Command + P + R for about 20 seconds, then release the keys.
Note: Macs with the Apple T2 chip use different SMC steps, so check Apple’s SMC reset guide. Macs with Apple silicon (M1 and newer) have no SMC or NVRAM key combination: a full shut down and restart does the same job.
For other Mac models, read my guide on how to reset the SMC on Macs.
4. Black Screen on Wake Still There? Reseat the Battery and Drive Cables
If nothing above helps, there may be a hardware problem, such as a loose cable inside the Mac. In my video, my MacBook Pro made the startup sound but the screen stayed dark, after it fell on the floor. Safe boot, the NVRAM reset and the SMC reset did not help. This is what fixed it:
- Make sure the Mac is completely off. If the fan is still running, hold the power button until it shuts down.
- Remove the screws of the bottom case with the right screwdriver and lift the case off.
- Check for visible physical damage.
- Disconnect the battery cable from the logic board.
- Disconnect the hard drive (or SSD) cable.
- Connect both cables again, firmly.
- Put the bottom case back and screw it in.
- Turn on the Mac. Mine started normally again.
Warning: Only open your Mac if you are comfortable doing it and the Mac is out of warranty. Work on a clean desk and be gentle with the small connectors. If you are not sure, take it to a repair shop.
A reader with an early 2013 15-inch MacBook Pro that would no longer start fixed it with these same steps.
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Follow all the steps I show in this video tutorial:
My trusty my early 2013 15″ MacBook Pro laptop had become intermittent on startup. My battery showed it needed attention so I thought that was the problem and replaced it. Following that it was a bit more likely to start up but it remained intermittent and then finally became impossible to start. I tried every possible key combination but nothing worked. I was ready to throw the laptop in the garbage and then I came across this video tutorial. I thought it was a crazy but I decided to try it as I was out of ideas. I followed the step by step as described and then put it back together. I started it up and it worked. I not sure how but it did. It now starts up and runs like it used to. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing this, Warren! I know the fix looks crazy, but disconnecting and reconnecting the parts inside often clears a loose or oxidized contact, and that’s a common cause of these on and off startup problems. Great to hear your 2013 MacBook Pro is back to normal instead of in the garbage.