M2 MacBook Air screen black, intermittently

[DominikHoffmann]

I have a 3+ years old M2 MacBook Air running the latest version of Tahoe. The screen fails to light up but later, possibly related to having had the screen closed for a while, when I open the screen it’s as though nothing happened. I had it checked at the local Apple Store, where they found nothing allowing a diagnosis. At some point I was looking at the screen with the laptop resting on the table. I was not doing anything with it, just looking at it, and the screen went black.

This leads me to believe that it may be the video driver. I have downgraded it to macOS Sequoia, but the behavior is the same. The next time I get the screen to light up again, I am going to downgrade it to Monterey, which is the earliest version of macOS it can run.

(elapsed time)

I believe, I have evidence that it is not a hardware problem. I managed to install macOS Monterey, the earliest version of macOS that can be installed on an M2 MacBook Air. So far, the display has turned on every single time I hit a key on the keyboard.

I had also installed macOS Sequoia before that. The problem did show up there. Long intervals of a dead display, surviving reboots, with an occasionally functioning display. I had to wait for the display to work, before I could install Monterey.

I don’t know for sure, but does a macOS downgrade downgrade the firmware, as well?

 

[Bigwaff]

Possible known issue. If same issue, only fix is full display and angle sensor replacement.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m2-air-display-sometimes-stays-black-after-waking.2389035/

My M2 MBA suffered the same symptoms and was fixed under AppleCare. Read the thread above and be more assertive with Apple regarding fixing the issue.

 

[JPack]

Hardware for sure, otherwise you'd see plenty of posts from M2 owners. And Apple sold tons of M2 MBAs.

 

[DominikHoffmann]

Possible known issue. If same issue, only fix is full display and angle sensor replacement.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m2-air-display-sometimes-stays-black-after-waking.2389035/

My M2 MBA suffered the same symptoms and was fixed under AppleCare. Read the thread above and be more assertive with Apple regarding fixing the issue.

My issue with both Sequoia and Tahoe survives a hard reboot. It’s different to what users describe the thread you quoted.

Hardware for sure, otherwise you'd see plenty of posts from M2 owners. And Apple sold tons of M2 MBAs.

I don’t believe so. If it were, I would not fail to see it in Monterey. I will keep monitoring the situation.

In the meantime, i have ordered a like M5 MacBook Air.