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MacBook Air Display Won't Wake Up

K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 23, 2010
18,311
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Has anyone else experienced this? The display and computer will go to sleep as normal, but then when I attempt to wake it up (with a keystroke or a swipe on the mousepad), nothing shows up on the display. If I turn the brightness up, the backlight goes on, so something displays, just not the contents of the screen. Sometimes after a little while it will perk up. Sometimes putting the lid down and back up helps. Other times I need to power down and restart. The odd thing is that it doesn't happen all the time.

I removed Smartsleep (which carried over from my Rev B through Migration Assistant), and it appeared to help, but then it just did it again. There really appears to be no rhyme or reason. Sometimes the screen just won't turn back on (although it appears that applications are still running). Of course, since it's intermittent, so I'm hesitant to take it to the Genius Bar until I can make it happen all the time.

It's a 2.13GHz 13" Rev D model.

Any ideas? :confused:
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 23, 2010
18,311
8,325
Bluemeanie1976 said:
Heven't experienced this on my mba, but I have on the unibody macbook.
Click to expand...

Any solution or do you just deal with it when it happens? I never had the issue on either of my previous MacBook Airs, so this would be an issue for me. I might make an appointment to see a "Genius" tomorrow.
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 23, 2010
18,311
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Well, I just got back from the Genius Bar and their suggestion is just to replace it. I agreed with some trepidation since I'll only have a 50% chance of scoring the 9CDF monitor again, but better to risk the "inferior" screen than have a machine that doesn't wake up back from sleep half the time. Fortunately, it acted up at the store (though it instantly came back to life when I opened it up just now).

Anyway, I'm backing it up now so, hopefully, I can just re-run Migration Assistant from my Time Machine, and Winclone from my portable drive and be back to where I am now by this time tomorrow.
 
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K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 23, 2010
18,311
8,325
Well, I'm guessing I have a dud since I can't even turn it on after a power down. Fortunately, I finished making a brand new Time Machine backup of the Mac partition.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get a WinClone of the Boot Camp partition, so unless I can get this one restarted I'll need to go through the whole routine of restoring my Win 7 32-bit WinClone, installing Windows 7 64-bit on top of it (because I have an "upgrade" disc and not a full version), and re-installing all my applications. On top of that, I had just gotten all the Windows updates installed, and Parallels working. Naturally, Microsoft's activation routine makes it that much more difficult. I already tripped up the online activation server today with Parallels and had to use the phone system. On top of that, I'll be on my third activation of Office 2011 since October 26 (and I have the 2-pack Home and Business version). It's too bad they can't come up with a copy protection system that is more tolerant of upgrades.

Needless to say, it's frustrating, but I can tell from my limited usage it will be worth it. Windows booted up fine in Boot Camp and Parallels, and was very usable in Coherence and Modality modes.
 
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K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 23, 2010
18,311
8,325
Yes, it sounds like the same issue. I wonder how common it is, given that you and I both had it on two different models (11" and 13")? Given how well these are selling, Apple might have a real PR issue here if a bunch of bad units went out.

One silver lining is that patient buyers might have a nice selection of refurbished MacBook Airs on Apple's website in a few weeks.
 
Dammit Cubs

Dammit Cubs

macrumors 68020
Jul 31, 2007
2,122
718
KPOM said:
Yes, it sounds like the same issue. I wonder how common it is, given that you and I both had it on two different models (11" and 13")? Given how well these are selling, Apple might have a real PR issue here if a bunch of bad units went out.

One silver lining is that patient buyers might have a nice selection of refurbished MacBook Airs on Apple's website in a few weeks.
Click to expand...

if anything, the most this problem persists...its better for apple to know. and if anything its better for the press to know. The more coverage we get, the faster apple will fix it. it clearly sounds like a software bug.
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 23, 2010
18,311
8,325
OK, the good news is I finally got it restarted and I have de-authorized it in iTunes and have WinClone making a backup of my Windows 7 partition.

Some advice if this happens to you is that it appears to be a Computer Sleep issue, not a Display Sleep issue. Therefore, to squeeze out enough time to get backups done, etc. open up Energy Saver in System Preferences and set Computer Sleep to "Never."
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 23, 2010
18,311
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So sure enough, I unboxed my replacement MacBook Air and it has the 9CF0 screen. That said, it doesn't look that different to my eyes from the 9CDF (obviously I don't have them side by side), and it still looks better than what I had on the Rev B.

I'm in the middle of the Migration Assistant right now. It was taking a long time over Wi-Fi so I stopped it and am using the Ethernet connection, which is going along quite a bit more quickly.
 
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S

sookainian

macrumors regular
Feb 16, 2008
202
18
Singapore
KPOM said:
So sure enough, I unboxed my replacement MacBook Air and it has the 9CF0 screen. That said, it doesn't look that different to my eyes than the 9CDF (obviously I don't have them side by side), and it still looks better than what I had on the Rev B.

I'm in the middle of the Migration Assistant right now. It was taking a long time over Wi-Fi so I stopped it and am using the Ethernet connection, which is going along quite a bit more quickly.
Click to expand...

How to check if it's a 9CF0 or 9CDF.

Go where to check ??
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 23, 2010
18,311
8,325
sookainian said:
How to check if it's a 9CF0 or 9CDF.

Go where to check ??
Click to expand...

Under System Preferences, click on Displays. Click on "Color" and then a dialog box shows up. Scroll all the way to the bottom, click on the last item in the box, and then the display type shows up. (I'm going from memory here so if you can't find it let me know and I'll look tonight).
 
PBG4 Dude

PBG4 Dude

macrumors 601
Jul 6, 2007
4,363
4,645
I have a 9CF0 and I'm quite happy with the screen. I snagged a color profile from the color profile thread in this forum and am quite happy with the results so far. :)
 
P

pasiv

macrumors newbie
Nov 15, 2010
1
0
MBA not waking or booting up

Just got a MBA about a week ago. Yesterday the wife left it on and drained the batter. It would not boot up after period. No way, no how. Thought would have to take it in.
Tried all kinds of key strokes to reset PRAM. Finally hit fn-Start buttons, and voila, it started and no problems after that.
pasiv
 
S

sookainian

macrumors regular
Feb 16, 2008
202
18
Singapore
KPOM said:
Under System Preferences, click on Displays. Click on "Color" and then a dialog box shows up. Scroll all the way to the bottom, click on the last item in the box, and then the display type shows up. (I'm going from memory here so if you can't find it let me know and I'll look tonight).
Click to expand...

I still cant find it
 

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Daptin

Daptin

macrumors newbie
Jan 16, 2011
15
1
Panama
Awakening a MacBook Air

Just my two cents... After experiencing a similar situation, I tried a lot of solutions offered here and none would work. I decided to disconnect the power supply. Then I hit the start button and voilà!:)
 
B

blow45

macrumors 68000
Jan 18, 2011
1,576
0
happens all the time to me too, exactly as mentioned by the op, called apple up, they had me do some power and pram reset strokes at start up.

It didn't work. I've already had my mba 11s mobo replaced after a month of use...

...and with this happening very, very often, I am pretty pissed off...:mad:

As soon as I get a chance to use my imac instead (I am traveling now) I 'll be having a word with service again, and they better sent me a new one this time...
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Original poster
Oct 23, 2010
18,311
8,325
blow45 said:
happens all the time to me too, exactly as mentioned by the op, called apple up, they had me do some power and pram reset strokes at start up.

It didn't work. I've already had my mba 11s mobo replaced after a month of use...

...and with this happening very, very often, I am pretty pissed off...:mad:

As soon as I get a chance to use my imac instead (I am traveling now) I 'll be having a word with service again, and they better sent me a new one this time...
Click to expand...


X2. The 2.0 software update should have fixed it, so it sounds like you have a dud and had the misfortune of getting a second dud. Hopefully the third time will be the charm.
 
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