Urgent!! Black screen on PB..please help!

[rapps]

Hi,
I just received my new 12" pb a week ago and everything seemed to be fine...until now. It won't boot up correctly! I'm leaving tomorrow for a week and need to bring my laptop with me b/c I'm studying for the CPA exam and all my study guides are on it.

I installed memory a few days ago....and it seemed to be working fine also. When I boot it up now, i get a black screen. Sometimes I can faintly see the outlines of the welcome screen....

Please advise!!

Thanks

 

[emw]

Please don't be insulted by this question - have you tried adjusting the brightness?

Do you have access to an external monitor of some type that you could connect it to just to make sure it's booting up - confirming that it's a display issue?

Are you getting the startup "chime" which would seem to indicate all is well, but just can see the screen, or does it seem like nothing is happening at all?

 

[rapps]

Alright. I got it back!

I held down control, shift, and option and pressed the power off button....then restarted.

Now...the monitor is working.


WHY DID THIS HAPPEN??!! I hope my PB isn't defective...and if it is...I need to send it back ASAP, before I have too many important things on it.

Any ideas?

 

[emw]

First things first - glad it's up and running.

Now as to why it happened, not sure. I know on my 15" PB sometimes if you quickly open and close the display when it's asleep, it won't quite wake up and you have to force a restart to get it to come back.

Yours sounds a little more complicated (you tried to restart several times). I doubt it has anything to do with the memory, as that shouldn't manifest as a screen problem. Others may have seen something like this before and be able to comment, but you may just have to chalk it up to an anomaly and move on.

Doing the reset, as you did, probably cleared up any residual settings issues with display brightness or other things as well.

 

[jsw]

If you can afford to be without it, I'd call Apple and have it looked at. This isn't normal behavior, and it's only a week old. Maybe call when you get back after your upcoming week-long trip. As emw said, it's probably just an anomaly, but it's a bit scary when it happens so soon. Might indicate other issues. Of course, it might never surface again.

 

[rapps]

Thank you for your insight! Hopefully others will help with some suggestions...I just don't want this to be a chronic issue I have to worry about, considering the PB is only a week old.