# Macbook black screen



## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

I have a Macbook A1181, it boots up, shows Apple logo trying to boot up, can hear drive trying to boot, then the screen turns black. Only once for a brief second was able to see desktop before turning black. Battery works. 

Any idea what could be wrong ?


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

Update : Was able to get OS menu bar with rainbow circle for a couple of seconds than turned black


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

Is there any way to get diagnostics for A1181, 2007 Macbook ?


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

hook the Macbook up to an external monitor.


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

spunk.funk said:


> hook the Macbook up to an external monitor.


I hooked up to an external monitor and with vga and it works on the external monitor.

Does that mean the screen on the macbook needs to be replaced or just the inverter ?


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

Or is it just a question of replacing the Display Data Cable


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

Hold down power key till computer shuts off, disconnect power adapter and remove battery. Push power button for a few seconds to release all power. 
Attach battery and power adapter, press and hold *Shift* key and restart Macbook. This should start the computer in *Safe Mode*. Is screen visible? If so, restart in Normal mode.
If that doesn’t work for you, you could try these steps, 
Holding down Command, Option, P, and R to reset your PRAM and NVRAM
Resetting PowerBook and iBook Power Management Unit (PMU)
If this still fails,
It could be the display cable or the LCD screen. Shine a flash light through the Apple logo on the lid when the computer is on, if you can see a faint image on the screen it is the invertor.


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

spunk.funk said:


> Hold down power key till computer shuts off, disconnect power adapter and remove battery. Push power button for a few seconds to release all power.
> Attach battery and power adapter, press and hold *Shift* key and restart Macbook. This should start the computer in *Safe Mode*. Is screen visible? If so, restart in Normal mode.
> If that doesn’t work for you, you could try these steps,
> Holding down Command, Option, P, and R to reset your PRAM and NVRAM
> ...



Looks like the data cable but I'm having a hard time finding it


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

You should be able to find it on Ebay. macbook A1181 video cable | eBay
This is not an easy fix, if your uncomfortable with taking your laptop apart, find a local computer repair man, it doesn't have to be a _Genius_.


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

spunk.funk said:


> You should be able to find it on Ebay. macbook A1181 video cable | eBay
> This is not an easy fix, if your uncomfortable with taking your laptop apart, find a local computer repair man, it doesn't have to be a _Genius_.



Changed the video cable but didn't fix the problem, not sure what the problem is, can see Apple logo, screen works for a few seconds. Could it be some problem with the motherboard ? mouse pad right and left click don't work


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

Played around with display in system preferences and after 5 minutes the screen come on. the desktop with menu appears on the laptop and the external monitor only shows desktop background as an extended desktop. Mountain Lion OS X 10.8.4.


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

Not sure what's going on with this Macbook, I thought the problem was fixed and all of a sudden the screen turned black again and external monitor show desktop with menu. Never saw anytime like this with Windows. Don't know why people by Apple. Repairing this crap for someone else.


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

Is there a way to know which version of the graphic card is installed ? Did About Mac, more info, display graphics but there's no version number. Windows a lot better then Mac, never saw a problem like this in Windows, no idea how to fix this problem. One minute it works next stops working.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

> external monitor show desktop with menu


 Go to the Apple logo in the upper left, choose *System Preferences/Display*. Here you should be able to choose* Single Display, Mirrored display, *or* Extended desktop*. 
In About this Mac under *Graphic Display*, it should list the video display adapter number. If not, you can look up the specs by the Serial # in the small writing on the back of the Macbook: Lookup Mac Specs By Serial Number, Order, Model & EMC Number, Model ID @ EveryMac.com


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

spunk.funk said:


> Go to the Apple logo in the upper left, choose *System Preferences/Display*. Here you should be able to choose* Single Display, Mirrored display, *or* Extended desktop*.


*System Preferences/Display *The only thing it shows right now is the external monitor, mirror is off. Somehow, not sure how I managed to turn mirror on and the screen on the macbook turned on. This is like plug and pray.


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

If the internal LCD screen is not showing under display, then it is the video cable, inverter, or screen, but not the video chip. It might have turned on by luck, but it is not a setting you can change in the OS.


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

spunk.funk said:


> If the internal LCD screen is not showing under display, then it is the video cable, inverter, or screen, but not the video chip. It might have turned on by luck, but it is not a setting you can change in the OS.


Already changed the video cable. When the internal LCD screen turned on it stayed on for a few hours, I disconnected the external screen rebooted and still worked. Cannot be the inverter or screen

It's definitely software related but don't know how to get it back. Or it's just crappy OS


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

OK, what OS do you have installed? If you have OS X 10.6.8 and have 2GB or RAM, you can update to Lion OSX 10.7 OS X Lion (10.7) - Apple


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

spunk.funk said:


> OK, what OS do you have installed? If you have OS X 10.6.8 and have 2GB or RAM, you can update to Lion OSX 10.7 OS X Lion (10.7) - Apple


OS X 10.8.4, don't know if this is a OS problem but it tell me to replace battery but battery is 100% charged and works fine. There's a 10.8.5 update available but don't know if it will solve these problems


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

Could it be that this OS is not compatible with this Macbook ? I contacted Nvidia and they told me that there is no Nvidia driver for this model in OS X 10.8.4 only in OS X 10.6.8


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

The driver is included in the OS, you shouldn't need to download one. If you have *10.8.4 *you can update for free to* 10.11 El Capitan *
But it sounds like a hardware issue, cable or inverter.


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

The OS is not recognizing the internal lcd has to be a software issue


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## fd2000 (Feb 12, 2012)

spunk.funk said:


> If that doesn’t work for you, you could try these steps,
> Holding down Command, Option, P, and R to reset your PRAM and NVRAM
> Resetting PowerBook and iBook Power Management Unit (PMU)
> .


I did Command, Option, P, and R to reset your PRAM and NVRAM and got the Apple logo on the internal screen for 30 seconds then the screen turned black. The light in front of the Macbook fades on and off as if "sleep" mode. Looks like the internal screen goes in sleep mode


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## reckonankit (Nov 24, 2015)

you only need a coin to flip it out.

Try this from https://discussions.apple.com/message/24032726#24032726


> *Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)*
> 
> Resetting the SMC on Mac portables with a battery you can remove
> *Note*: Learn about removing the battery on MacBook and MacBook Pro.
> ...


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

Here are some more troubleshooting methods you can try: 10 common OS X troubleshooting solutions - TechRepublic


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