During Install, stuck on Black Screen

[pompor]

Most people having the issue report that they had an SD card in a card reader.
I first thought this was not the case for me, but then I noticed my Transcend Jetdrive was in a USB hub I attached to one of the USB ports :-(, so I can count myself in.
So if one wants to install Big Sure on a MBP 13 late 2013/mid 2014 (or to be sure any other model) I recommend to remove all SD cards.D

I had an external SSD drive attached via USB to the right IO board during updating. (Jetdrive could have been in there but not today 🙂 ). So if anything is connected to th board during the update it will fry the board?
Macbook is back on running after unplugging the right IO board but i will try to reach apple support tomorrow morning again. i don't want to do the exchange myself even if that is not a big surgery.

 

[na1577]

I didn’t connect anything to my MBP other than the charger while it was first trying to install Big Sur. I did connect two different external hard drives to the right USB port just before attempting the install because I had to offload some files... the first one wasn’t formatted to work with macOS, so it didn’t recognize the drive. I wasn’t able to eject it. The second drive was formatted properly and I ejected it before attempting the install.

 

[tigger147]

Most people having the issue report that they had an SD card in a card reader.
I first thought this was not the case for me, but then I noticed my Transcend Jetdrive was in a USB hub I attached to one of the USB ports :-(, so I can count myself in.
So if one wants to install Big Sure on a MBP 13 late 2013/mid 2014 (or to be sure any other model) I recommend to remove all SD cards.

Mine was in
Maybe the reason

 

[mknell]

Yes, I go back to Catalina just in case, and the spare was a 2015 one, fits but its seems to be a little different (metal cover in the HDMI connector)

Incredibile. You wrote nothing wrong on their forum :/ It was just a summary :/

I did not post anything wrong, but it had links to reddit and I was obviously explaing a hw damaged caused by an OS Update, included a link to this thread and suggesting that the i/o board has been fryed and replacing it could potentially help.
That was of course not convinient for Apple. But as I can see even with my post removed, the number of people posting on the Apple support forum thread is rising and the number of fryed Macbooks is rising too.
Some users got proposals of 500 USD for Logic board replacement from Apple repair shops.
A lot of people are even annoyed to the point to cancel their recent Apple M1 orders.

I personally think cancelling orders is a little bit exaggerated.

But an open communication what happenend, what people can do to fix it and an apology from Apple would be more helpful,
than deleting summary posts.

P.S. My MBP with unplugged i/o board had Catalina re-installed and now Big Sur successfully installed. Still my i/o board seems to be fryed/ disfunctional so I will wait for the replacement board to arrive and I will exchange it to see if I am lucky on this path where it costs me a lot of time plus approx. 25 EUR for i/o board, thermal paste and appropriate tools to fix my personal damage.

 

[arslandar]

Hi.

I am having a similar issue. Macbook pro 13" with retina display late 2013 - upgraded from El Capitan to Big Sur on the day it was released...had download interruptions > restarted > black screen for hours at 12 min remaining mark > turned off and turned on > installation continued > and eventually got completed and I was able to login. However I was presented with a black screen at boot right after first restart. (I had windows 10 installed via boot camp too). Tried smc reset, recovery mode, PRAM reset several times, nothing worked. Called up apple support with whome SMC reset seemed to work. But the behavior remained erratic and unpredictable. Mac would boot to black screen 7 out of 10 times - and will boot successfully randomly. I tried reinstall - same issue - did clean install after erasing disk volumes and containers (clean slate including reformatting OS X Extended format to the new APS format) - same issue - tried recovery mode reinstall - same behavior - tried internet recovery model reinstall - same behavior.

I finally decided to go back to the original OS that came with my mac using the specific recovery mode startup key combination and it did reinstall MAC OS Mevericks but went through similar cycle (black screen during install forcing me to turn off and on), was eventually able to complete installation. But unfortunately, the behavior remains the same... if I restart the machine 10 times, it will successfully boot perhaps 5 out of 10 times - and rest of the times will go to black screen. Similar behavior when using SHUT DOWN option.

The diagnostic option (pressing and holding D while starting) shows no error. Have run disk utility multiple times with no issues reported in start up disk.

Given I have tried clean install multiple times, with and without wipe cleaning disk and have now even gone back to Mavericks, I think something during the update of Big Sur has caused a permanent damage to macbook hardware causing this unpredictable behavior. I have scheduled an appointment with apple authorized repair shop - lets see what they tell me but I am unwilling to pay for the repair as it has been caused purely by the big-sur update.

For all folks having the black screen at boot issue, especially the ones with late 2013 model, I suggest keep retrying the key combinations at the startup even if it does not work, because if what I have faced is a wide spread issue, one particular try would probably bring the mac back to life, but unfortunately, only temporarily. So a permanent fix (after a proper diagnosis) will still be required.

 

[DanGahan]

I did indeed had a SD card in the reader :O I have a small 128 high-speed SD drive, designed to fit perfectly with the macbook border, that I use as an archive. It's always there :/

Can confirm I had a Transcend Jetdrive in the SD Card reader slot when installing

 

[DanGahan]

@mknell can I just summarise what you've tried

- Disconnected IO card, that allowed the Big Sur install to complete
- Then downgraded to Catalina
- Installed Big Sur
- Reconnected the IO card and the laptop again failed to boot

That correct? Did you try the IO card when Catalina was installed?

I'm waiting for a set of small torx screw drivers to arrive today to disconnect my IO card. If I find I'm in the same boat as you and the IO card is fried is link below for the correct replacement part?

Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13" A1502 2013 2014 USB HDMI SD Right I/O Board | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13" A1502 2013 2014 USB HDMI SD Right I/O Board at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

Thanks

 

[pompor]

Just talked to the german apple support and they managed to book me an appointment tomorrow with an authorized service partner tomorrow (even during full lockdown)! The lady said they only know about a problem with an external display attached for those macbooks during upgrade... we will see if they want to see any money, if so i will do the repair myself

 

[DanGahan]

Just talked to the german apple support and they managed to book me an appointment tomorrow with an authorized service partner tomorrow (even during full lockdown)! The lady said they only know about a problem with an external display attached for those macbooks during upgrade... we will see if they want to see any money, if so i will do the repair myself

That's interesting, I had an external display attached as well

 

[SamSi]

I brick my late 2013 MacBook Pro when upgrading to Big Sur. I remember had a SD card plugged in and maybe a external hard drive plugged in on the right side USB. The Genius Bar staff in Beijing tried everything but could not start up. They said they can’t do further testing because Logic Board is no longer available for order. They tested my hard drive and it’s still intact. I learned from another Chinese bricked 2013 MacBook Pro owner he had HDMI cable plugged in during upgrade. I will try Genius Bar again tomorrow asking them to disconnect I/O board and restart. If it works I might buy a new I/O board to replace it.

 

[rmi]

Having the same issue. Unable to boot with Macintosh HD.

My IMAC is stuck on black screen. Details:

Model Identifier: iMac19,1
Processor Name: 6-Core Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 6
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 9 MB
Memory: 40 GB

 

[Dk82]

Got my replacement I/O Board. It's slightly different from the one it was shipped with the MacBook (maybe it's a 2013 edition, I have a mid 2014 MacBook Pro), but it fits and it works just fine. I'm still on Big Sur, I don't know yet if I will go back to Catalina, but I've disabled automatic upgrades just in case. It's seem that the board dies during installation, if Big Sur is already installed you should *but be careful* not have any problems. I've tried several reboot cycles, everything works. HDMI works, WiFi works (using my previous AirPort card), USB works. The process is quite easy if you follow iFixit.

 

[mknell]

Got my replacement I/O Board. It's slightly different from the one it was shipped with the MacBook (maybe it's a 2013 edition, I have a mid 2014 MacBook Pro), but it fits and it works just fine. I'm still on Big Sur, I don't know yet if I will go back to Catalina, but I've disabled automatic upgrades just in case. It's seem that the board dies during installation, if Big Sur is already installed you should *but be careful* not have any problems. I've tried several reboot cycles, everything works. HDMI works, WiFi works (using my previous AirPort card), USB works. The process is quite easy if you follow iFixit.

Thanks, that keeps me hoping.
You are now the fourth that I counted replacing the board did the trick.

Felipe Chelaut on the Apple Forum was not Lucky with replacing the I/o board.

 

[mknell]

@mknell can I just summarise what you've tried

- Disconnected IO card, that allowed the Big Sur install to complete
- Then downgraded to Catalina
- Installed Big Sur
- Reconnected the IO card and the laptop again failed to boot

That correct? Did you try the IO card when Catalina was installed?

I'm waiting for a set of small torx screw drivers to arrive today to disconnect my IO card. If I find I'm in the same boat as you and the IO card is fried is link below for the correct replacement part?

Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13" A1502 2013 2014 USB HDMI SD Right I/O Board | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13" A1502 2013 2014 USB HDMI SD Right I/O Board at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

Thanks

Hi
I/o card did not work on fully operational Catalina.

I am now fully upgraded to Big Sur
Waiting for the I/o card to arrive to replace it.

 

[mknell]

@mknell can I just summarise what you've tried

- Disconnected IO card, that allowed the Big Sur install to complete
- Then downgraded to Catalina
- Installed Big Sur
- Reconnected the IO card and the laptop again failed to boot

That correct? Did you try the IO card when Catalina was installed?

I'm waiting for a set of small torx screw drivers to arrive today to disconnect my IO card. If I find I'm in the same boat as you and the IO card is fried is link below for the correct replacement part?

Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13" A1502 2013 2014 USB HDMI SD Right I/O Board | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Apple MacBook Pro Retina 13" A1502 2013 2014 USB HDMI SD Right I/O Board at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

Thanks

Sorry and yes that seems to be the correct replacement. I ordered the same in Germany via ebay, but I also locked at this one from the UK.

 

[Dk82]

Thanks, that keeps me hoping.
You are now the fourth that I counted replacing the board did the trick.

Felipe Chelaut on the Apple Forum was not Lucky with replacing the I/o board.

I was quite confident because, as soon as I disconnected the I/O board, my MacBook finished the installation. So the main board was not affected in my case. Hope it lasts...

 

[gonzalovalenzuela]

I was quite confident because, as soon as I disconnected the I/O board, my MacBook finished the installation. So the main board was not affected in my cause. Hope it lasts...

Same on my case, I put back another SSD with Catalina on it and no boot, even tried to power up without battery, press the power button for a 10 second while powered off, then try to power on only with the charger, and no results, the only positive results where with the i/o board disconnected, so i ssume that is fried

 

[kreesurgeon]

Can I ask if anyone had the black screen of death during install with nothing but power plugged in? or at least nothing plugged in to the I/O!

 

[na1577]

Can I ask if anyone had the black screen of death during install with nothing but power plugged in? or at least nothing plugged in to the I/O!

Yep, I had nothing plugged in but the charger during installation and it still happened to me.

 

[Dk82]

Can I ask if anyone had the black screen of death during install with nothing but power plugged in? or at least nothing plugged in to the I/O!

Power plugged in and a SD card in the slot, which i forgot it was there. No external monitor or USB devices.

 

[Bmju]

From my own experience, and a couple of other posts, I believe the black screen problem can be fixed by completely removing power to the circuit board for a short while.

The most sure-fire way to do this is to power down, then partially disassemble the machine and disconnect the battery (which is not necessarily straightforward, depending on your level of experience with this kind of thing), then hold the power button for 5 seconds, to discharge any remaining power, then reconnect the battery, reassemble and restart.

I am aware some other people have symptoms which don't match this solution - so maybe there is more than one problem out there - but completely removing power to the circuit board (either by disconnecting the battery or by very laboriously draining it completely) seems to have fixed the black screen problem for at least three people, including me!

Refs:

macOS Big Sur Update Bricking Some Older MacBook Pro Models

I believe I have a genuine fix for this (apologies if I have missed the same instructions somewhere above, from a quick search for "battery" in the thread I couldn't see anything). TL/DR: Make sure the machine is powered down (see below for how to tell); then disassemble the machine enough to...

forums.macrumors.com

macOS Big Sur Update Bricking Some Older MacBook Pro Models

It bricked on my MacBook Pro. For me it got to approx 95% and then just stuck there. Couldn’t turn off the computer or put it into safe mode. Through trial and error i ended up running the battery down to nearly nil (left on for 24 hours) and then kept running the “plug in power prompt” to put...

forums.macrumors.com

During Install, stuck on Black Screen

I had the same issue with my macbook pro 2013. Black screen, no way to continue, combination of any keeys would not do anything. Drained my mackbook battery to zero, still mothing, but after few hours option - r did work, run disk check and finaly after two days of black screen got my mackbook...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[pompor]

From my own experience, and a couple of other posts, I believe the black screen problem can be fixed by completely removing power to the circuit board for a short while.

The most certain way to do this is to power down, then partially disassemble the machine and disconnect the battery (which is not trivial), then hold the power button for 5 seconds, to discharge any remaining power, then reconnect the battery, reassemble and restart.

For me that was not working, but since its an easy task i would recommend everybody to try that 🙂

 

[Bmju]

For me that was not working, but since its an easy task i would recommend everybody to try that 🙂

I don't think every single normal user is going to be happy disassembling their own Mac, or even have the right tools to do so! But if you're the kind of person who finds that kind of thing easy, then definitely try it!

@pompor You had the black screen problem, and completely removed power, and held down the power button for a bit to discharge any remaining power in capacitors, and it still didn't fix it? Which Mac or Macbook? Did you find a fix in the end?

 

[tommiy]

Seems a continuation of the Catalina bios upgrade into BigSur. Apple looks like they fixed nothing from that experience. Probably because they charge to repair what they broke. Another reason i stopped updating. Simply can not trust your going to come out the other side. Its alright if your just doing this to a toy but if your employment depends upon it thats another thing.

Link to thread with Rossmann video explaining what he suspects.

 

[DanGahan]

Just to keep people up to date with my woes

- I disconnected the IO board and that allowed the MBP to boot and the Big Sur update to complete
- I then powered down, reconnected the IO board and surprisingly the MBP booted again. SD card was working, bluetooth was working but WiFi was not, I could toggle it on and off but no networks were ever found
- I powered down again, disconnected the IO board and reconnected, powered on and black screen. No matter how many times I tried to reseat the IO card would it boot so everything points towards it being fried, no idea why it booted first time round
- Disconnected the IO card and again the MBP boots

I've a genius bar appointment Saturday afternoon, will see what they say about fixing and cost. Worst case will swap out the card myself.