Chosen Solution
Okay, here’s the rundown. A1502, purchased in March 2014, has suddenly created a pretty nasty problem. Went to boot one day and chime! but no screen. Apple logo on the back lit up, backlight was obviously working, but ZERO display workings. Okay, so I plug in an external monitor. Nothing. “HDMI signal not detected.” Okay, so I do the Googles, read the reddit, etc etc. Reset NVRAM/PRAM, reset SMC, no luck. Try booting Command+D Diag. mode, and output on external monitor! However, white progress boot bar hangs at 1/2way for 3.6 hours. So I Safe Boot (Power+Shift). Finally, I can use my external monitor! I can get into my mac and mirror displays, so that I can offload my data. Great. I know the int. screen isn’t working– that’s not the discussion. Here’s the question: When I boot normally in clamshell-closed mode, external monitor works perfectly. But the second I open the lid (i.e. use keyboard) EVERYTHING GOES BLACK AND TURNS OFF. Then, I must boot into safe mode to use the mac again! And the cycle repeats itself… What is the culprit here? Iris video card, Logic board, loose internal connector, or all of the above? Is the internal display issue and this issue related at all? P.S. Congrats for getting this far. I know the writing is dense. Thank ya much, Nick Flint
ATT! I tried all of the soft reboot solutions and nothing worked. I dug a little deeper and found information about the display cable and that it can become loose. I simply tapped on the bottom of my MacBook a few times in the position of the cable and suddenly, there was life!
This doesn’t sound like a video card issue, it sounds like a short circuit somewhere (maybe a blown cap or resistor? no way to tell without inspecting). Shutting down when you open the lid would indicate to me a safety mechanism when the unit detects a short or power spike trying to engage the primary display, and one of the involved chipsets terminates the power to avoid permanent damage. I don’t believe it’s a loose connector, because that isn’t normally so predictable a result.
Nick, First: try disabling any power save and sleep feature in the System Settings. Second: initiate a First Aid scan on the hard drive. Third: Download any available updates from Apple. Fourth: While you are in Safe Mode close the lid and open it again and see if the problem replicates. If the problem does not replicate in Safe Mode it might be good to perform a fresh install after you back up your data. This will tell you whether you have an issue with hardware or with the software. I would love to hear the results of the steps above. Thank you, Michael
I have a 2017 MacBook Pro 13 inch, I got it 2 years ago and last year I had to get the keyboard fixed. It was free because of the apple care. Apple care already expired and my backlight display, the flex gate, got ruined. I won’t pay 600USD + to get if fixed when they already admitted the 2016 MacBooks came with the same defect. Has anyone had the same problem and gotten it fixed for free?
Do you still have this problem? I found a video somewhere on youtube that shows how to at least turn your laptop on and backup all the data you need. Me myself have been living with this kind of solution from late 2017. So my HDMI port is not usable anymore, repair shop assuming it’s my graphic card that cause this problem. The keyboard backlight works fine, the capslock button works fine. All that happens is the laptop screen is not showing anything after the macbook chime sound heard. The step is turn your macbook and make sure the keyboard backlight is on. Put your laptop on couch or bed (any soft surface to cover all the hole on the backside of the laptop). I usually cover MacBook with blanket or jacket. Do this for about 30 second and then open your laptop, if the screen is not on yet repeat the step. Sometime it takes up to 10 times to open and cover your laptop again with jacket. If you think it’s not working after a lot of retries then turn off your mac by holding down the power button. You can turn it on again and retry the method above People said that this trigger your graphic card selection caused by the sensor that detect the heat of your mac (since we covered all the holes with blanket / jacket / put it on soft surface such as bed). How? After you put your macbook on, the fan will always start rotating. The moment when you block the air that are flowing it will cause the temperature to rise and the macbook choose the other graphic card that are working. Hope this helps.
Omg mine had the same problem and tried all the commands and then read this article and gave it a good old bashing in the left and omg it worked!!!!!!!!!
Hi guys, since I was so happy that i found this post as it also helped me to fix the “backlight-only-issue” on my Macbook pro (ate 2013, 13” Retina, A1502) I just wanted to share some notes how it work for me. So, I also faced the issue only backlight was working but no graphic/screen at all. Chime was there and ext. display also worked. I simply opened the back of my Macbook unscrewing the ten pentalobe screws (TS4 / 1.2mm). Next, I just wiggle/press+pinch that cable around the connector you’ll find on the top/right (s. att. picture) and my display starts working again. Took me 5 Minutes to fix and it’s still working since a few weeks now. Thanks for your support + best regards FuXX
