Why does my mac screen randomly turn black

Randomly when I use my imac my screen just turns black! it scares me and its reallllyyy ANOYING!!!!!!!!!!! I JUST UPDATED TO MOUNTAIN LION

What model is your iMac > How to identify iMac models
When was the last time you seriously vacuumed out the air intakes (the bottom grill work and small vent under the stand) to ensure that it is cooling properly?
You also might want the > iStat Pro, a Dashboard Widget by iSlayer, so that you can monitor the internal temps.

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MacBook Pro screen randomly turns black on me for no reason while I'm using it? What's wrong with my MacBook?

I have a MacBook Pro from 2009 and the screen randomly turns black on me for no reason while I'm using it? It takes anywhere from 5 seconds to 1 minute to turn back on and no matter what I do it just has to fix itself so idk if it is going in to sleep mode or what. Anyone know the issue? Thanks.

Run through them and stop after #16 or if the problem stops, or if something tells you something severe (like hardware test giving a error)
If you can backup your personal data off the machine, you should do that first.
Hardware issues we cant' fix, only a few things may fix it.
Software issues we can fix, but right now we don't know what is causing your issue as we can't see it obviously.
So your going through a process of elimination to try to give us a clue what's the problem and then we can advise a course of action.
If you feel this is way over your head, then just make a appointement with Apple and/or your local PC/Mac specialist.
We are only other uesrs here, helping other users.

Why does my Mac screen suddenly go dark? Sometimes it stays dark for an indefinite period after waking up from sleep.

Why does my Mac screen suddenly go dark? Sometimes it stays dark for an indefinite period after waking up from sleep. I have to open and shut the monitor screen to get it to light up again.

Might try posting in the MacBook Pro laptop forum. This is the Mac Pro desktop forum.
Also see:
OS X: When your Mac doesn't sleep or wake

Why does my Mac Pro randomly flash a blue screen to both monitors?

For a while now my Mac Pro (Early 2009) has this occasional issue. The system uses a pair of ViewSonic 22" monitors. At random times, both monitors just turn to a solid light blue color. After a brief time (1 to 5 seconds maybe) normal operation returns. The system is still working. Text typed on the keyboard during the 'blue' screen still shows in whatever application I'm in. Just the screen seems to be affected.
I leave the system running 24/7 with only occasional reboots (weeks or months apart). The screens I turn off at night. Most of the time this happens right after the system 'wakes' in the morning (temperature does not seem to be a factor). Although the system is doing this as I'm typing this. The blue screens show up than go away on their own. This repeats from one to ten times before it goes away. Once it is 'done' everything is normal until it happens again.
This 'issue' has been occurring since the original Snow Leopard. But, it also happened with Lion and now still happens with Mountain Lion (just upgraded to 10.8.2).
I am thinking this has something to do with the graphics controller (NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 512MB). But, I've never found any online references to this sort of behavior.
Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated.

The cable connections have (so far) solved this problem for my situation. Even though the monitor's DVI cable was firmly connected to the mini Display port connector, when I touched it the attached monitor would go 'blue' or lose its connection entirely. After disconnecting and reconnecting this junction the monitors would still take a hit on touching the connection. I also checked the connection of the mini Display port connection to the graphics board and could not push it in any further. However, after a second go-round I unplugged this connection to the board and reconnected it. I am certain it was fully inserted the first time. But, connection contacts can oxidize over time and sometimes it may just need to be disconnected and reconnected to 're-wipe' the connections. This effectively cleans them at the point of contact. So in my case I'm thinking it was the connection age that was an issue more than a 'loose' connection. Either way, I haven't had this issue for the past two weeks.

I have a late 2013 15inch retina. The screen randomly turns black. There is no error message. It will not turn on until I close it and reopen it. It returns to the page I was on as if nothing had happened.

monitor randomly turns off to black screen

I would reset the SMC. If that does not help, take it in for testing.
Barry

Why does my iMovie 11 sometimes turn black while replaying videos and then crash?

After editing parts of my video i go to replay it and the video turns black. The mouse then changes to a multi-coloured spinning CD and Imovie exits. Please help me as this is stopping me from completing my video!
Danielle

Yes. And, Apple needs to work on this.
It is terrible because it is random and there is NO WAY to just select and get back the button or the choice.
Come on Apple.
Cheers,
b

Why does my mac screen suddenly get big?

Why does my screen suddenly zoom in? I can't figure out what triggers it and how to get back to normal display size

Thanks Yellowbox. I wasn't using a track pad, but the solution was the same for my mouse. Somewhere along the road I missed the fact that a double click on the mouse zooms and unzooms.

Why does the whole fricin thing turn BLACK 10 & 11 ???????

Whole thing turns BLACK!!!!

Duplicate at [https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/923352 https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/923352]

Why does my macbook keep randomly turning off ?

Hello everyone I am new to the forums. I have a mid-2010 macbook pro that I purchased brand new in January 2011. Last September I noticed that my battery kept dying extremely quick and that it had the condition to replace now. Me trying to take the cheap way out I decided to purchase the battery myself and install it since I am not under the applecare warranty and apple quoted me for about $300 - $500 I believe to do it. The first week or so after I changed the battery my laptop was back to normal. Since then it randomly turns off, still says the battery needs to be replaced now, and also sometimes my battery percentage shows 0% and charging. I really want to know what's wrong with it..Thanks in advance for the help!

Have you reset the SMC?

Why does my mac boot into a black screen followed by a bad sound?

If I start my iMac my Display doesn't work and after some time there is a bad sound.
When I press cmd+alt+P+R and boot my Mac everything is alright.
My brother tried to install Ubuntu on the iMac.("without rEFIt")!
What can I do?

What does the sound sound like? Is it three beeps? Does it sound like a small "bip" noise only when you immediately press the power?

Why does my iPad screen suddenly go black?

While using my iPad (original, wifi only) the screen will suddenly go black and my only recourse is to push the home button and start back there. If I am in the midst of writing an email it is lost.
Is there a cure for this malady?
This occurs mostly in either email or the browser bcause these are the apps that I use 95% of the time.

Might try posting in the MacBook Pro laptop forum. This is the Mac Pro desktop forum.
Also see:
OS X: When your Mac doesn't sleep or wake

My Mac computer screen randomly went black I hit a button. Now i been trying to turn it back on and it won't cut back. However the computer is still able to charge

My Mac computer screen randomly went black I hit a button. Now i been trying to turn it back on and it won't cut back. However the computer is still able to charge. What can I do?

Reset SMC.     http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
    Choose the method for:
    "Resetting SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own".
Sleep function OS X Mavericks:
   http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5869

Why does my mac sometimes start with a black and white fizzy screen at times? Should i be concerned?

Why does my mac sometimes start with a black and white fizzy screen at times? Should i be concerned?

Nope, not ever. Take it in for service.

Why does my Mac stay on the white screen when I turn it on?

Why does my Mac stay on white screen when I turn it on?

Take each of these steps that you haven't already tried. Stop when the problem is resolved.
Step 1
The first step in dealing with a boot failure is to secure your data. If you want to preserve the contents of the startup drive, and you don't already have at least one current backup, you must try to back up now, before you do anything else. It may or may not be possible. If you don't care about the data that has changed since your last backup, you can skip this step.
There are several ways to back up a Mac that is unable to boot. You need an external hard drive to hold the backup data.
a. Boot into the Recovery partition, or from a local Time Machine backup volume (option key at startup.) When the OS X Utilities screen appears, launch Disk Utility and follow the instructions in this support article, under “Instructions for backing up to an external hard disk via Disk Utility.”
b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
c. If the internal drive of the non-working Mac is user-replaceable, remove it and mount it in an external enclosure or drive dock. Use another Mac to copy the data.
Step 2
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 3
If there's a built-in optical drive, a disc may be stuck in it. Follow these instructions to eject it.
Step 4
Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
If you've booted from an external storage device, make sure that your internal boot volume is selected in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
Step 5
Boot in safe mode. Note: If FileVault is enabled on some models, or if a firmware password is set, or if the boot volume is a software RAID, you can’t do this. Post for further instructions.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including wireless networking on certain Macs.
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
When you boot in safe mode, it's normal to see a dark gray progress bar on a light gray background. If the progress bar gets stuck for more than a few minutes, or if the system shuts down automatically while the progress bar is displayed, your boot volume is corrupt and the drive is probably malfunctioning. In that case, go to Step 6.
If you can boot and log in now, empty the Trash, and then open the Finder Info window on your boot volume ("Macintosh HD," unless you gave it a different name.) Check that you have at least 9 GB of available space, as shown in the window. If you don't, copy as many files as necessary to another volume (not another folder on the same volume) and delete the originals. Deletion isn't complete until you empty the Trash again. Do this until the available space is more than 9 GB. Then reboot as usual (i.e., not in safe mode.)
If the boot process hangs again, the problem is likely caused by a third-party system modification that you installed. Post for further instructions.
Step 6
Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
This is one of the rare situations in which you should also run Repair Permissions, ignoring the false warnings it may produce. Look for the line "Permissions repair complete" at the end of the output. Then reboot as usual.
Step 7
Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
Step 8
Repeat Step 6, but this time erase the boot volume in Disk Utility before installing. The system should automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant. Follow the prompts to transfer your data from a Time Machine or other backup.
Step 9
This step applies only to older Macs (not current models) that have a logic-board ("PRAM") battery. Both desktop and portable Macs used to have such a battery. The logic-board battery, if there is one, is separate from the main battery of a portable. A dead logic-board battery can cause a boot failure. Typically the failure will be preceded by loss of the settings for the startup disk and system clock. See the user manual for replacement instructions. You may have to take the machine to a service provider to have the battery replaced.
Step 10
If you get this far, you're probably dealing with a hardware fault. Make a "Genius" appointment at an Apple Store, or go to another authorized service provider.

Mac pro mid 2010 - screen suddenly turns black

hi everybody,
since today my Mac pro (snow leopard) does the following:
Sometimes the screen suddenly turns black. Only the Cursor can be seen (sometimes not even that).
When I reboot the system everything seems fine, but after a few minutes the same problem occurs.
Unfortunately I'm not able to copy the specifications of my system because the black screen is faster than I am after a reboot.
I would be glad if anybody knew what I can do about it.
Thanks guys! Chris

Safe Mode does the equivalent of a Disk Utility (Repair Disk) while it puts up that progress bar. It never get more than about 1/3 of the way across, even when everything is great. But if your drive is un-mountable after the repair cycle, your Mac cannot start up, and it will shut down.
NOT shutting down is a good sign.
Safe Mode should continue and load a minimal set of Apple-only Drivers. It does NOT load the graphics card Driver, which is why it can be useful to learn more about your graphics card.
If you are using your Boot SSD for everything, and are not using TRIM, your SSD may be clogging up with deleted data. There are several ways to eliminate or reduce the deleted data.
One way is to run any system, 10.6.8 or later, with TRIM Enabler installed, and run one pass of Disk Utility (Repair Disk) with TRIM active. This presents one additional line of output:
"Trimming unused blocks"
and pauses for up to a minute while the unused blocks are TRIMmed.
TRIM Enabler has become much more difficult to install on 10.9.5 and later, because it conflicts with the new Kernel-extension signing feature.
Edit> If you are really running 10.6.8, you can install TRIM Enabler in your active System. It is free, but be sure to get the correct version for your system. There is an advanced-features version also available for a modest charge.

Why does my mac screen randomly turn black

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