Screen goes black constantly, okay with Windows

My mid-2010 21.5" iMac has been having issues for a while now.  The screen goes black randomly.  This happens anywhere from once a week to once every two seconds for days on end.  I've done plenty of research and seen similar problems but no real solutions.
Symptoms:
Screen goes to sleep.  Shine a flashlight on it, can still see stuff, so it's just the backlight out.
It'll either happen at startup, before the Apple logo, or after using for a while.
Using a hot corner or keyboard shortcut will temporarily wake it up.
If watching video, sound still plays even though screen is black.
Had it in a 60 degree room with A/C blasting on it, no change.
Tried resetting PRAM, SMU.
Hardware test was fine, but I can't do this when it's not actually working.
External monitor works fine.
Really weird-  this does not happen with Windows XP.  It runs fine.  So maybe a software problem?  BUT, the problem occurs when booting from Install DVD.  So maybe not a software problem.  I was going to wipe and re-install but can't even do that due to it blacking out.
I've had it in and they replaced the LCD, didn't help.
I wish it would just permanently stop working so it'd be easier to figure out, as it is, the intermittent nature is driving me nuts.  Can anyone please help?

I meant SMC, not "SMU".  Oops.
billkline, thanks for the input, the fact that Windows works has really got me scratching my head.  That's when I went to reinstall OS X but couldn't when it blacked out on the Snow Leopard Install DVD.  Thoroughly confused now.
Also, starting tonight it now hangs on the gray startup screen for thirty seconds before booting up.  This usually is a one or two seconds before getting the Apple logo. 

Similar Messages

  • Ff comes on, I go to site w/ pics the screen goes black & then w/ with a bubble from the bottom saying recovery from igfx display failure..Chr & Op = OK

    Firefox comes on, I go to a site rich w/ visual content & then the screen goes black & then white w/ with a bubble from the bottom bar saying recovery from igfx display failure..this used to happen on my Chrome browser (the Chr browser recovered spontaneously But I removed & reset it... still the problem went on & I quit using Chr for2-3 mos. There never was a problem on Opera. Hey! OPERA rule. As foe IE 8. That instrument is completely useless. Even all areon IE appears to be dead...Thanx!

    Try disabling hardware acceleration in Firefox.
    https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/upgrade-graphics-drivers-use-hardware-acceleration#w_turning-off-hardware-acceleration

  • When i try to boot itunes, screen goes black and a message pops up and says not compatible with the visual elements. how do i fix this? itunes wont even open at this point. please help. thanks :)

    When i try to boot itunes, screen goes black and a message pops up and says not compatible with the visual elements. how do i fix this? itunes wont even open at this point. please help. thanks

    Let's first try the following document, only be sure that none of the boxes in the compatibility mode tab are checked (not just the compatibility mode box itself):
    iTunes for Windows: How to turn off Compatibility Mode

  • Screen goes black when coming out of screen saver. HP Pavilion,p7-1414 desktop, windows 8

     the monitor shows the windows 8 screen with the apps, then the screen saver will come on. Then when I try to bring it out of the screen saver mode the screen goes black and nothing I do will get it to go back to the windows 8 screen. Then the mouse pointer will disappear. So I end up having to shut down the computer using the power button. If I have the screen set up for the old style windows 7 and it goes into the screen saver and I bring it back there's no problem.
    fleamarketlady

    Hello fleamarketlady,
    Your computer goes black when it comes out of sleep mode some times.
    Make sure that you are only using one cable to connect the monitor to the computer.
    Open up command prompt and run the following command SFC /scannow.
    This will scan the system files and correct any errors that it can.
    Here is a link to command prompt.
    When you go to open command prompt, right click and run as administrator.
    If you are still having the problem you can perform a system refresh.
    This will uninstall windows 8 and reinstall it without affecting your personal information.
    Here is a link that will walk you through the steps for a refresh.
    Let me know how everything goes.
    Have a good day.

  • Every time i click an action the screen goes black until i unclick. making it impossible to see my work.  photoshop cc/ windows 8, every time i click an action the screen goes black until i unclick. making it impossible to see my work.  photoshop cc/ wind

    every time i click an action the screen goes black until i unclick. making it impossible to see my work.  photoshop cc/ windows 8, every time i click an action the screen goes black until i unclick. making it impossible to see my work.  photoshop cc/ windows 8

    I've had the same problem, and sorted it using this:
    Run the Boot Camp Assistant in OS X as normal and create a partition when asked, then insert your Windows 7 disc to reboot and begin the process proper.
    Windows 7 requires the NTFS file system, so once in the installer just select your new partition (labelled BOOTCAMP), click on Drive options (Advanced) and choose to format it. Then select the newly formatted partition and continue.
    Windows 7 will begin installing, and once it gets almost to the bottom of its checklist, it’ll try to reboot. Now, if you leave it here, you’ll get so far and see the black screen. Any further attempts to reboot will bring you to the same dead end.
    Instead, restart and press a key to boot from the Windows 7 disc when prompted.
    Rather than running the installation again, choose the little option at the bottom to Repair your computer. Decline any suggestions that pop up until you see a list of options with Command Prompt at the bottom. Choose that option.
    At the Command Prompt, type DEL C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS\ATIKMDAG.SYS to delete the default ATI driver, then close the window and reboot.
    This time, Windows should successfully initialise a more appropriate display driver, allowing you into the desktop. From here insert your OS X disc to install the relevant hardware drivers as you normally would, then run Windows update to clear up any leftovers.
    Read more: How to install Windows 7 on the new 27in iMac | PC Pro blog http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2009/10/26/how-to-install-windows-7-onto-the-new-27 in-imac/#ixzz0tinWW9tn

  • Problem with sleep & log in screen - log in disappears & screen goes black

    System: Mid 2009 MBPro 15". 4GB memory. 59.98 GB of 500 GB free. 10.7.2. External devices: Time Capsule, but not all the time.
    My MacBook Pro has been developing this issue over the last several weeks. It is happening more and more frequently and I am afraid I may lose everything.
    Another poster had a similar problem, which I have excerpted to save time (and he described it very well):
    Scenario: Plugged into a power adapter, I close the lid of the machine to put it to sleep. When I open the lid to log back in, the screen comes up for approximately 4-5 seconds, then goes black. I cannot type fast enough to get logged in before it goes black. In fact, it seems to go black faster when I try to type.
    If I close the lid while on battery power, everything works normally - although a couple of times today, it happened exactly as described above.
    In addition, with the machine plugged in, I can close the lid, open it, wait for the screen to go black, UNPLUG it, and the screen comes back like nothing is weird. - again, this pretty much stopped working this afternoon.
    I also noticed that when plugged in and the screen goes black, the white standby light never starts "breathing." When on battery power, however, it starts "breathing" normally.
    Please help. My entire life (and career!) is on this machine.

    It is not easy to say why this happen. In your last posting you wrote about some windows updates. Who knows what is wrong there.
    If nothing helps, not even system restore and you want to use stand-by mode I recommend you to back-up all your data and install OS again using recovery mode.
    With factory settings everything will be OK again but then be careful with updates.

  • When I boot into Win7 I see the windows boot up logo, the. I see my mouse and the screen goes black! It goes black in the login screen, I type my password and I hear the login sound but when I press F2 the brightness won't change! Please help!!!

    When I boot into Win7 I see the windows boot up logo, the. I see my mouse and the screen goes black! It goes black in the login screen, I type my password and I hear the login sound but when I press F2 the brightness won't change! Please help!!!

    Hi Emma,
    Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. 
    I understand that your Thunderbolt display is just showing a black screen when you boot your computer. The following article should be of help in troubleshooting your display. 
    Apple computers: Troubleshooting issues with video on internal or external displays - Apple Support
    Cheers, 
    Jeff D. 

  • Screen turns black and returns with an orange tinted window with poor resolution

    Im running on a Presario S6700NX. Windows-xp It has been running proper until about two weeks ago. Nothing has been added or taken from the system. However, lately I've been getting a black screen that last several seconds and when my window reappears however, It's with an orange tint and with very poor resolution. Several seconds later my window reappears with the proper resolution. This happens whether I'm running an application or not and it's continuous. I've searched microsoft knowledge base and I've gotten no response it's as if it's never happened to anyone else. So now I'm trying HP Forum in the hopes that someone out there may have encountered a similar problem or has heard of a simular situation. This is a cry for HELP. Please if anyone out there can help me it would be deeply appreciated. I want to give my thank you beforehand and hope for a response.

    xi-berger wrote:
    @jck & @awaller well not literally every other time, it occurs randomly. sometimes I can work for like an hour or as long as I want and nothing happens, sometimes after 5 minutes *boom* the screen goes black, except of one column with random pixels, i tried to switch to a different console with ctrl+alt+(F1-F6) but it did not work...
    do you know where I have to look for errors? I also tried to reinstall the drivers, but it did not help..
    I see something like this on my T420 Thinkpad sometimes. It turns out the backlight is just going out. I'm reluctant to say it's a kernel issue and not hardware - I have vague memories of it happening on Windows 7 as well, but that was years ago ...
    It happens on Arch and Debian definitely, and the following fix works on both for me:
    Opening a terminal (which I have bound to a key) and running "xset dpms force off", then moving the mouse or something to wake the display again brings it back to light.
    Try that the next time it happens and see if it helps. Will at least confirm whether it's the same issue as me or not.

  • Windows 7 boot camp screen goes black after windows startup screen!!!!!!

    A few days ago when I tried to start my MacBook Pro in windows 7 (enterprise) I encountered a completly black screen after the startup screen.
    1) Choose start in Windows 7 from boot camp menu (holding option after starting up computer)
    2) Windows start up screen would appear and finish
    3) For a very brief second my cursor pointer would appear and login screen would flash onto the screen, then the screen would go black
    BUT
    I CAN boot windows 7 in safe mode
    The computer is still on when screen goes black (fan still running and i can use keyboard commands to shut down the computer)
    I've been searching the Internet for DAYS to no avail
    PLEASE someone help me....... ive already tried the sfc /scannow and dskchk commands in the command prompt window

    Win 7 Enterprise is not supported by Boot Camp, you may or may not get it to work reliably, (I would not bother to try)
    Read this document then pick a supported version of Windows for your Mac.

  • Screen goes black on 2nd reboot(installing windows 7)

    So I'm trying to install windows 7 via bootcamp on my 21in iMac(Intel Core i3). Everything seems to be going fine on the install, it restarts, then when it goes to restart once more the screen goes black and just stays there indefinitely. I believe this is a common problem for a lot of people but I have not yet found a solution for this problem.

    I suspect your iso is not bootable. Did you burn it yourself? Did you burn it at the slowest speed (2x) possible? Search this forum for similar posts and solutions.

  • While browsing the internet with my iPhone 4S the screen goes black and it looks like it's turning off, but it pops up to the unlock keypad screen.

    While browsing the internet with my iPhone 4S the screen goes black and it looks like it's turning off, but it pops up to the unlock keypad screen. It has plenty battery and I was wondering if it is an issue of using too much of the iPhones RAM or not. I have no other apps open besides Messages. I am getting kind of worried as it started around two weeks ago and it has gotten increasingly frequent.

    Basic troubleshooting from the User's Guide is reset, restart, restore (first from backup then as new).  Try each of these steps in order until the issue is resolved.

  • Issue with Macbook Pro (early 2011) screen going black.

    I installed an SSD with Mt Lion.  Periodically the screen goes black like it's going to sleep.  It hasn't done this in the past just noticed it the last few weeks. 
    The SSD is a Crucial with 8GB of Crucial memory.  I've got all the software fixes up to date.  Has anyone else seen this.  I've read a few postings, one mentioned issues with Mt. Lion and another with a logic board in the laptop. 

    Well, seem like there's already ton of thread related to this issue ...
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?tstart=0
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/21110132#21110132
    http://www.mbp2011.com/#

  • Imac 27" Intel Core 7 CPU. Screen goes black and will not respond except with a push of power button. Second monitor connected via displayport continues to display fine. Apply Store did full hardware scan and all is fine. Did clean wipe from Mavrick back

    Imac 27" Intel Core7  CPU 16 Gig RAM. Screen goes black and will not respond except with a push of power button. Second monitor connected via displayport continues to display fine. Apply Store did full hardware diagnostic and all is fine. Did clean wipe from Mavrick back to Mountain Lion but problem remains. Apple Store can do no more.

    I did some more digging, it appears to be a backlight problem only. I can see the screen very dimly if I use a bright flashlight in a very dark room. It also seems to run ok if the brightness is turned down a LOT.
    So I'm thinking this is a LED driver board issue or the display itself. I'll open it up and check the connection between the two and see if I can get any more clues. At least I can use it somewhat now by dimming the display significantly...

  • Trouble with mobile site. Displays for a second then screen goes black.

    Trouble with mobile site. Displays for a second then screen goes black. Using safari, 4s on Verizon. Example: m.mlb.com/lad/

    I hadn't checked the site since January or so, when it worked. It might be related to the Opening Weekend skin they have on the site, but for me, it shows the top part of the page for 3 seconds while it's loading (scrolling down is impossible) and then all of a sudden it turns black, showing nothing. It's that way for every MLB mobile site.
    At first:
    Two seconds later:
    I noticed this on 4/7/12. Does anyone NOT have this problem?
    Matt

  • My computer will not start up. It powers up I get the gray screen with the apple and get the loading progress bar it loads to 25% and the screen goes black

    My computer will not start up. It powers up, I get the gray screen with the apple, then the loading progress bar starts loading to about 25% the the screen goes black. what can I try to get my computer up and running?

    Carolyn Samit wrote:
    iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.1)
    Use Command + R for Lion Recovery
    Try restarting, when you hear the startup tone hold down the Option key. Then choose the Recovery Partition.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Can anyone tell me why this project is sticking in the timeline?

    Hi guys. I have been using FCP for a while now with great success. Generally I record on my handycam which is a mini DVD format. then I process the clips though mpg streamclip to DV pal and they become ".mov" files. (I do this to demux the clips audi

  • Converting report output to a word document

    Hi, Can anyone pls help me by providing the program for converting displaying/inserting the internal table values along with the table frame aound the internal table(in the sense displaying the rows and columns lines) to the word document not in the

  • Can't remove Contains() handler from SqlFunctionCallHandler - why?

    I'm trying to amend some Entity Framework functionality at runtime by using reflection. The following code snippets I've been using to get some feeling for the Entity Framework's internal functionality. Please don't ask what I'm using this for - at t

  • Can't preview or save pdf files with Firefox 5

    Ever since I updated to Firefox 5, I've been unable to preview/save pdf documents in websites. One example is the Citibank website. Is there any plug-in you would recommend? I would prefer if it's a freeware. Thanks.

  • Adobe Forms + Workflow

    Hi all I have a question on using Adobe Forms with Workflows. It is possible to have an Off-line Adobe form and when retrieving the information from the form, fire off a workflow in ECC6, without putting that data into any table? Example: 1. Form for