I have an issue with my new 13" i7 MacBook Air where sometimes when I wake it from going to sleep the screen stays black and flickers and I can not stop it unless I hard reboot. The flickering is definitely more noticeable at the bottom of the screen. Not sure if this is a MacBook Air issue or a Lion issue as it seems to do it the most when I am in app full screen mode.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Screen Wake Issue
- Thread starter jbolt
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Mate do you have any cloths, covers or whatever over you keyboard when you close the cover?
I mean like a micro fibre cloth you use or along those lines?
Just wondering, it could be pressing on the keyboard and "keying in"...
If you don't, I am sorry.. I wouldn't know.
I mean like a micro fibre cloth you use or along those lines?
Just wondering, it could be pressing on the keyboard and "keying in"...
If you don't, I am sorry.. I wouldn't know.
Mine just didn't wake from sleep, but I haven't had the flickering issue. I do have issues with it waking up.. but then it's a mac, they ALWAYS have issues waking from sleep. I'm convinced they always will.
I don't close the cover. I am talking about when you are away for a couple of minutes and you Mac screen turns off and goes into sleep mode. I does not wake when I press a key to wake it. I just recorded video proof of it happening, but the video does not show the flickering as well as I see it in person. May take it to the genius, but would hate to get it replaced as I just got finished setting the computer up for work and everything.
Apologies for misunderstanding. Not sure what to tell you. 🙁 Sorry can't be of much help, but even though you don't want to take it to the store.. that might be the option...Unfortunatelly, that is the only one I can think of..
It just happened again a few seconds ago. I guess they can replace it if it needs replacing. I am just trying to figure out if this is a Lion or MacBook Air issue. If I do get it replaced, maybe I can get them to migrate the content over to a new one instead of starting over from scratch.
Here is a video of the issue I am having. You can see the screen dims right before it goes to sleep, then the screen goes to sleep, and then when I try and wake it by pressing space bar the screen turns on but stays black. You can't see the flickering well because of the low res video. No matter what I do it will not fix itself unless I hard reboot the Mac. Don't know if it is a coincidence, but it happens when I am in full screen mode.
That's what happened to me, but shutting the lid and opening it worked it out, rather than a reboot... also I could see the mouse just on the left side. It actually seemed to be acting like there was another monitor connected and set as main...
Hmm, tries zapping the pram yet by chance?
Hmm, tries zapping the pram yet by chance?
happyslayer
macrumors 65816
Before you take it into the Genius Bar you should plug in an external USB HD and do a Time Machine backup. If and when they replace it, just bring it home and restore from the backup. Boot to the Lion recovery drive - hold option while booting - and choose to restore from backup. It will take a couple hours probably, but you do not have to re-setup anything then.
This is how I have handled my last two upgrades, although I use a Time Capsule instead of an external. I did do this for my uncle with an external USB2 drive and it went well.
Good luck.
This is how I have handled my last two upgrades, although I use a Time Capsule instead of an external. I did do this for my uncle with an external USB2 drive and it went well.
Good luck.
This was a persistent issue with the 2010 MacBook Airs before Apple released some firmware updates. So far, I hadn't heard of it affecting the 2011s (though it happened to me on the first day, but not since then). A bad logic board can also cause this. It isn't a Lion issue from what I'm aware (I'm guessing there would be lots of reports on the Lion board if it were).
I think the best solution is to take it back within the 14 days. They will give you a replacement Mac. Otherwise, past the 14 days they will ship it out for repair.
I think the best solution is to take it back within the 14 days. They will give you a replacement Mac. Otherwise, past the 14 days they will ship it out for repair.
akdj
macrumors 65816
My 2011 13" i5/256 did the SAME thing today. It went to sleep ...while the computer was open (went unused for an hour or so)...when I went to wake it, same as you (although, no flickering)...It would NOT come back to life.
I didn't try shutting the lid, I did a hard reboot as you did. First time it's happened to me, and I bought it the day after they released at Best Buy. Not in ANY hurry to give it up though...like you, it took me the better part of an entire day to get it all set up
My Mac Pro had this same issue when I bought it...and shortly thereafter, a patch released from Apple cured it...or, it just never decided to do it again😉 Dunno...I've got a 2010 11" 1.4/128 that's never done this. I'm not sure I've actually every shut that one down (It sits on our breakfast bar at home), with the exception of OS updates that require a reboot. Other than that, it's on 24/7, typically "Sleeping" at night. Never seen this happen. I'm going to keep my eye on my new 13" though.
Other than that...WOW, what a screaming little machine...I'm convinced this is the BEST laptop in the World!!! LOL...after 25 years of buying computers, I'm really...REALLY happy with this little guy.
j
I didn't try shutting the lid, I did a hard reboot as you did. First time it's happened to me, and I bought it the day after they released at Best Buy. Not in ANY hurry to give it up though...like you, it took me the better part of an entire day to get it all set up
My Mac Pro had this same issue when I bought it...and shortly thereafter, a patch released from Apple cured it...or, it just never decided to do it again😉 Dunno...I've got a 2010 11" 1.4/128 that's never done this. I'm not sure I've actually every shut that one down (It sits on our breakfast bar at home), with the exception of OS updates that require a reboot. Other than that, it's on 24/7, typically "Sleeping" at night. Never seen this happen. I'm going to keep my eye on my new 13" though.
Other than that...WOW, what a screaming little machine...I'm convinced this is the BEST laptop in the World!!! LOL...after 25 years of buying computers, I'm really...REALLY happy with this little guy.
j
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)
Took MacBook Air to Apple Genius and they switched it with a brand new unit with hardly any questions asked. During diagnostics she also found out that there was an error with the Mac connecting to network.
Took MacBook Air to Apple Genius and they switched it with a brand new unit with hardly any questions asked. During diagnostics she also found out that there was an error with the Mac connecting to network.
I had this problem once. Didn't wake from sleep. Just had to hold the power button down and reset the system. Guess not the biggest of deals since booting takes only a few seconds.
That's good to hear that it worked out. Did they let you move your content over using Migration Assistant, did you back everything up beforehand, or did you have to reinstall everything?
I am having a similar issue.. It is not always occurring. Mainly when I am running on battery the screen does not wake up... I can see it power on, but the screen does not come on.
Not sure what is going on...
Worst thing is it is occurring intermittently and I am not sure if I take it to Genius bar and it does not happen I'll look a like a moron.
I did record it on my phone..
Still not sure what to do.
🙁
Not sure what is going on...
Worst thing is it is occurring intermittently and I am not sure if I take it to Genius bar and it does not happen I'll look a like a moron.
I did record it on my phone..
Still not sure what to do.
🙁
I'd schedule an appointment and take it in. It happened to one of my 2010s and it got progressively worse. They wound up swapping it out. It could be a bad logic board. They can run some diagnostics in the store to see if it is something obvious.
Take it in and show them what you recorded on your phone. I did and it was enough proof for them to swap out the unit. I have not had the issue on my brand new MacBook Air they replaced it with.
I actually backed up all of my content before hand to my Time Capsule. I did a reformat back to factory settings and reset pram first to see if it would solve the problem, but it didn't. I got it replaced and the new MacBook Air has not had any issues yet.
I got a really stupid question.
I always back up but never actually had to use the back up file.
If they have to swap my machine morrow due to the screen issue, how do I load the back up from tonight onto the new machine?
On my storage drive I have all my back up folders per the name of the machine. Inside there are dated folders.
I am sorry.. but what do I need to do?
Is it a simple move (copy) or is there something else?
EDIT: Got it.
Last edited:
I'm pretty convinced that there are some issues remaining between the new Airs and Lion regarding wake from hibernation. I simply turned off hibernation (I found the terminal command on the board here) and that has solved my issue. I'll reenable it once they've addressed the problem.
Took the MBA to the store this morning and the wake up issue happened. They replaced the machine with a new one (an 11").
An interesting thing was that when the old machine started up at the store, all my data was gone from it.
I did not delete it, so it would appear that there were some other issues with it in addition to the screen wake up problem.
Anyway, got a new one...
Quite happy.
An interesting thing was that when the old machine started up at the store, all my data was gone from it.
I did not delete it, so it would appear that there were some other issues with it in addition to the screen wake up problem.
Anyway, got a new one...
Quite happy.
Last edited: