Black Screen Issue When Waking Up New MBA 13 '

[lzbones]

Hey,

I met a black screen issue when I was trying to wake up my 13' MBA this afternoon. I opened the MBA and the screen was black but I could hear the sound when adjusting the volume. So I closed the MBA and opened again. And everything seems fine.

I know that there was a blinking-screen problem. But mine was just black. And it was already the second time that I met this issue.

Has anyone met the same problem?

 

[KPOM]

Yes, this could be the same wake-from-sleep problem that I had. In my case, Apple replaced my MacBook Air and it hasn't recurred. Basically, the backlight would go on, and programs would run, but the screen would be completely black. In my case this happened about 50-75% of the time. Sometimes opening and closing the lid would activate the screen. Other times, pressing a key or the trackpad would help. Other times, I had to power down and restart. One time, every time I tried to restart, only a black screen would come up.

 

[aleni]

i think i read news about 10.6.5 OSX update fixes this macbook air's glitch couple days ago. have u tried installing 10.6.5 update?

 

[KPOM]

i think i read news about 10.6.5 OSX update fixes this macbook air's glitch couple days ago. have u tried installing 10.6.5 update?

10.6.5 fixed some display glitches but not the black-screen-on-wake-from-sleep issue.

 

[MacModMachine]

10.6.5 fixed some display glitches but not the black-screen-on-wake-from-sleep issue.

im still trying to figure out what issues 10.6.5 fixed, sure was not any display issues.

 

[double329]

I just experienced the black screen on mine this morning for the very first time. I have been using this MBA 13 for over two weeks now. I was using the system for a while then I walked away for 10 min. The lid was not closed. I came back, touched the trackpad and nothing happened? I was like "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" No key worked!!! I held down the power button few times and it rebooted. I thought it was out of battery. But it was not. The battery was still at 80%. When it came back up it said: Your system was shutdown improperly or something like that... I haven't seen the issue since. Not sure what's going on?

 

[KPOM]

I just experienced the black screen on mine this morning for the very first time. I have been using this MBA 13 for over two weeks now. I was using the system for a while then I walked away for 10 min. The lid was not closed. I came back, touched the trackpad and nothing happened? I was like "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" No key worked!!! I held down the power button few times and it rebooted. I thought it was out of battery. But it was not. The battery was still at 80%. When it came back up it said: Your system was shutdown improperly or something like that... I haven't seen the issue since. Not sure what's going on?

If it's the same problem I had, the backlight will go on (i.e. the Apple logo will be illuminated), but the screen will be black. My original MacBook Air would do this almost all of the time when it went into Computer Sleep (such as when closing the lid, or when enough time elapsed).

 

[Marconelly]

The only 'fix' I know works for this issue, is to backup everything, reinstall OS from scratch, formatting the hdd, and then restore backup. I did all this on my new 13" using Time Machine to backup. It was time consuming, but it resolved the issue completely :\

I'm pretty sure to me this issue started after installing the 10.6.5, so no, that update does not resolve this.

 

[cherry su]

Hey,

I met a black screen issue when I was trying to wake up my 13' MBA this afternoon. I opened the MBA and the screen was black but I could hear the sound when adjusting the volume. So I closed the MBA and opened again. And everything seems fine.

I know that there was a blinking-screen problem. But mine was just black. And it was already the second time that I met this issue.

Has anyone met the same problem?

How long do you wait for the machine to wake from sleep? My MacBook Air takes about 5-10s to wake up from deep sleep.

 

[KPOM]

How long do you wait for the machine to wake from sleep? My MacBook Air takes about 5-10s to wake up from deep sleep.

This issue is different, and you can usually tell it instantly. Even from "deep sleep," the display should come on almost instantly. If the wake-from-sleep issue is present, even if it isn't in "deep sleep," the screen comes up black, and doesn't light up no matter how long it is on.

 

[lzbones]

I just experienced the black screen on mine this morning for the very first time. I have been using this MBA 13 for over two weeks now. I was using the system for a while then I walked away for 10 min. The lid was not closed. I came back, touched the trackpad and nothing happened? I was like "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" No key worked!!! I held down the power button few times and it rebooted. I thought it was out of battery. But it was not. The battery was still at 80%. When it came back up it said: Your system was shutdown improperly or something like that... I haven't seen the issue since. Not sure what's going on?

Next when you meet this problem you can try to close the lid and reopen it.

 

[lzbones]

Yes, this could be the same wake-from-sleep problem that I had. In my case, Apple replaced my MacBook Air and it hasn't recurred. Basically, the backlight would go on, and programs would run, but the screen would be completely black. In my case this happened about 50-75% of the time. Sometimes opening and closing the lid would activate the screen. Other times, pressing a key or the trackpad would help. Other times, I had to power down and restart. One time, every time I tried to restart, only a black screen would come up.

Fortunately in my case this didn't happen that often. I've been using the MBA for two weeks and only met this twice. Should I also ask Apple to replace mine?

 

[KPOM]

Fortunately in my case this didn't happen that often. I've been using the MBA for two weeks and only met this twice. Should I also ask Apple to replace mine?

It's up to you but I wouldn't hesitate to schedule a Genius Bar appointment if it starts happening often. I think it's probably a firmware or software issue, but the Genius Bar said it also could be a logic board issue. Again, mine was acting up all the time.

 

[Over Achiever]

Silly tip, but I had a full screen video on when I closed my lid. Not surprisingly, when I opened the computer, I was greeted with a black screen, seemingly unresponsive.

I hit the esc button to exit fullscreen. Did the trick.

 

[double329]

This is a classic response by user: "No, I didn't do anything". "Nothing changed, it just crashed and die". Well, my MBA 13 went into black screen again. This is a second time. I also noticed that the two times MBA went black screen. I was using USB-Ethernet dongle. This is the adapter I got from Monoprice. I am going to try to reproduce the problem later. Don't get me wrong, the adapter works great. I don't see the problem with built-in wifi. I am not 100% sure it is adaptor and its driver yet? But, I am sure it is related. This might explain why few people said problem went away after re-image the system. Because that wiped out everything that might cause problem and back to original image. Those who has the problem might want to think back when did the problem start to occur? and what did you install prior to that? Just my two cents.

 

[svenwillmann]

Well, have the same problem with mine, it happened more and more often so I took it in. Got the information today that the problem is known and apparently fixed with MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.0.
Will have to test it when I get the thing back.

"About MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.0
This update is recommended for MacBook Air (11-inch and 13-inch, late 2010) models.
This update resolves a rare issue where MacBook Air boots or wakes to a black screen or becomes unresponsive. This update is recommended for all 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air (late 2010) models."

This is a classic response by user: "No, I didn't do anything". "Nothing changed, it just crashed and die".
...
Those who has the problem might want to think back when did the problem start to occur? and what did you install prior to that? Just my two cents.

Well, although I somehow can see to a small extend what your point is, I don't think an issue like this should be blamed on the user.

 

[blow45]

I m having repeated issues with waking up from sleep, either I have to reboot, or it takes much much longer. I phoned apple up (btw, I had the mobo go dead on me apparently and they switched in repair a few weeks ago) and they suggested alt cmd backspace to reset system sleep management. I didn't work.

The funniest of all is that I try to download the efi 2.0 and install it, and when the pkg runs I get "This software is not supported in your system"...

I will have to have another chat with the support guys, I love my air to bits, but I can't keep having to reboot upon putting it to sleep, I 've never had to do that (well almost never) on any of my many macs...

 

[ddd1]

Not fixed by logic board replacement

I've got an ultimate MBA 13. I've had this problem intermittently since purchase in Nov (every week or two). I've dealt with apple care and a couple of appointments at my local apple store - excellent customer service both times, but unfortunately did not resolve the issue. Early on, I tried MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.0, and it seemed to actually get a little more frequent/worse. I also tried to reinstall the OS. I tried to disable some of my software, but was not so rigorous about this (and since the problem is so sporadic, had a hard time figuring out if this helped or not). Finally, I got the logic board replaced yesterday and thought that would be the answer.....unfortunately, it happend again today! Has anybody else gone through a logic board replacement and still has the issue?

 

[svenwillmann]

Fixed for me! (Black Screen Issue When Waking Up)

Just to report back on this issue I had in the beginning with my ultimate air and how it was fixed for me.

When I handed it over to apple in Jan to look into it I did a clean install and applied the MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.0.

The issue disappeared!

When I got it back I put back the image I pulled before handing it in (incl. the Firmware Update) and the issue was there again.

After that I did a clean install and put all the apps back from scratch except for a little utility called Caffeine.

Running it now since Jan and never had the “Black Screen Issue When Waking Up” ever again.

No hardware was changed.

Therefore I take it that it was a software problem (not entirely sure if it boils down to the utility Caffeine)

Hope this helps someone.