Resolved M1 Macbook Air no display

[beyonson]

I purchased a used M1 Macbook Air (2337) with no screen off of eBay. The seller said it was working but under management lock. I figured I'd scoop it up because I was able to get it fairly cheap and management lock is removable.

However, I can't even get a display. The laptop chimes when I power cycle it and I am pressing Command+F1, but nothing is showing up on my monitor.

If it's chiming does this mean it's at least posting? This is my first Macbook (Thinkpad guy) that I've purchased and I'm not sure what troubleshooting to try.

P.S. I also messaged the seller but I figured I'd try here in the meantime

 

[Bigwaff]

Try Command+FN+F1

 

[throAU]

If it’s under management lock it’s basically a brick even if you get the display working.

Unlike in PC land the lock is in the firmware not just at the operating system level.

 

[beyonson]

If it’s under management lock it’s basically a brick even if you get the display working.

Unlike in PC land the lock is in the firmware not just at the operating system level.

I was able to get into it again with DFU mode. Turns out the keycode differs b/w M1 Air models. But I was under the impression that IC lock is firmware whereas management lock is software, is this not the case?

 

[beyonson]

For future users, my machine must have been shorted during shipping (the sender left the battery connected and the back lid open -_-) and it caused the machine to brownout and stay in some weird recovery mode loop. To fix this I had to put the device into DFU mode.

The Apple instructions for M1 Macbook Air DFU mode are as follows:
* turn device off
* turn it on and immediately press r-shift, l-ctrl, l-optn while still holding power - hold this for 10 secs
* then release everything except power for 10 secs

However, if the above method isn't working for you, try this:
* turn device on
* once it's fully booted, i.e. you heard the chime and waited a bit, hold r-shift, l-ctrl, l-optn, and power
* do this for 10 seconds and then release everything except power and hold that for 10 secs or until in DFU mode

The key difference b/w the above methods is that one is started while it's booting while the other is started after it has booted. Not sure if this is model dependent or maybe b/c my machine was in a weird state, I'd be curious to see if anyone knows why this is.