Your Mac mini comes with 90 days of complimentary technical support and a one-year limited warranty. Purchase AppleCare+ for Mac to extend your coverage to three years from your AppleCare+ purchase date and add up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $99 for external enclosure damage, or $299 for other repairable damage, plus applicable tax. When I first hooked up my new 2018 Mac Mini to my Samsung TV via HDMI, some parts of the screen were cropped. This might be a problem with the TV itself, but.
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- Best Screen For Mac Mini 2019
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- Use Imac As Screen For Mac Mini
Summary: This tutorial shows you why Mac black screen happens and how to fix Mac black screen. Then, you can turn on your Mac mini, or iMac, MacBook Pro/Air without a black screen problem at startup.
Be it a Mac mini, iMac, MacBook Air, or a MacBook Pro, it could boot into a black or blank screen. It's known as the black screen of death. In some worse cases, the Mac won't turn on at all.
You might be pressed for time to finish a client's work on the MacBook Pro or Air. Or you just want to wake your iMac up to have fun. However, you open the Mac computer and press the power button, only to find that the Mac won't power up. It shows a black screen and is not responding. Probably, you can see a white cursor on the black screen while you slide on the touchpad.
In this situation, what can you do to fix the Mac black screen issue? Just relax. This tutorial will clearly show what causes the black screen on your MacBook and Mac desktops. And more importantly, you'll know how to fix it and turn your Mac computer on properly.
Since different Mac models need different fixes, you can go ahead to find a solution in the list and solve the Mac black screen problem easily.
- Table of contents
- 1. What causes the Mac black screen issue?
- 2. How to fix MacBook Pro/Air black screen?
- 3. How to fix iMac black screen?
- 4. How to fix Mac mini black screen?
What causes the Mac black screen issue?
The causes of black screen can be varied from one another. There are three major causes.
- Software or hardware incompatibility. It occurs after you have recently upgraded to a new macOS, or have update hardware or firmware. That happens maybe because the new updates could come with unsolved bugs, incompatibility issues, or very large disk space consumption.
- Power issues. Mac boots into a black screen if there is no enough or rated power.
- Poor contact. A computer is composed of lots of hardware and firmware. But once the contacts between them are loose, dusty, or damaged, the computer won't start up normally.
In addition, there are still some unknown reasons caused by motherboard failure that people cannot tell. And depending on the model and age of your Mac computer, except for the black screen of death, you might see a blank, gray, or blue screen.
Anyway, lots of troubleshooting ideas are available to fix the Mac black screen issue.
How to fix MacBook Pro/Air black screen?
MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are both welcomed for Retina display and keyboards. When such a Mac laptop doesn't power up but boots into a black screen, you can try these solutions.
1. Check the power of your MacBook
Sometimes, the Mac notebook plays no startup chime at startup but shows a black screen only. In this case, the first step is to check if your Mac is charged with enough power. You can plug in the charger and wait for minutes and press the power button. But in some cold environment, you need to warm up the back part of your computer first.
Also, you need to make sure the charger cable is OK when your Mac is charging. You should check your battery cycle to see if it needs to be replaced as well. Then, try a hard restart on your MacBook.
To force restart a MacBook with physical function (F1-F12) keys, you need to first find the power button at the upper right corner. If you are using an older Mac with an optical drive, this is also the Eject button. And for MacBook Pro with a Touch bar, the power button is the Touch ID on the right side of the Touch bar.
![Screen For Mac Mini Screen For Mac Mini](/uploads/1/1/9/8/119846801/685307416.jpg)
After you find the power button of your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, you can restart your Mac by:
- Press and hold the Command and Control keys along with the power button (or the Touch ID/Eject button, depending on the Mac model).
- Release the keys until you see the Apple logo.
Then, your MacBook should not boot into the black screen but power up as usual.
2. Perform a Power Cycling on your MacBook
If you can hear some spinning noise from the hard drive or fans at startup, it means that the black screen issue is not caused by the lack of power. You can try the magical power cycling.
- On a modern MacBook without removable battery like MacBook Pro 13' with Touch Bar and MacBook Pro 15' with Touch Bar, you can long hold the power button to shut it down, wait for 10 seconds around, and then reboot the MacBook.
- For some older MacBook like MacBook Air 13' and MacBook 13' whose battery is removable, you can forcibly shut it down, unplug it, remove the battery, and wait for seconds. Then you need to put the battery back and restart the Mac.
3. Wake up your Mac from sleep mode
Probably, your MacBook gets stuck on the login screen and then gets into sleep mode. For such MacBook Air black screen issue, you usually will see the cursor. To wake your Mac from such a dilemma, you can type the first letter of the user name and hit the Enter. Mac will recognize that you type in the wrong information and give you a response, and consequently, it will withdraw from the black screen situation.
4. Check your MacBook's display
Sometimes, a MacBook Pro black screen doesn't necessarily mean that the Mac is not turning on. Instead, you can check the display in two ways.
- Press F1 and F2 keys to adjust the display's brightness and check if the Mac screen becomes brighter. It's possible that your screen dimmed down because you accidentally pressed the brightness keys on the keyboard.
- If the built-in display is not working, try to use an external display via Thunderbolt 3 (USB C) to access the MacBook, and vice versa.
5. Resolve software incompatibility
If you have recently update or upgrade the Mac operating system or any other software, the black screen issue might be caused by a software incompatibility. To solve this problem, you can:
- Reset Mac NVRAM settings: NVRAM stores things like screen resolution, time zone information, and crucially, which hard drive to boot from. Thus, resetting NVRAM might help for boot failure.
- Boot your Mac in Safe Mode: Starting up your Mac in Safe Mode helps to check and prevent some login items from automatically loading or opening. If your MacBook boots into Safe Mode without the black screen issue, you need to uninstall the software that you download recently.
- Boot Mac into macOS Recovery mode: When Mac computers encounter any boot failure, including a black screen, you can try to boot it into macOS Recovery Mode by Command + Shift + Option + R to repair the hard drive in Disk Utility and reinstall macOS.
Is your Mac not working properly? You may want to reset the Mac to its factory defaults and fix some problem.
6. Reconnect all hardware connections
The Mac black screen issue may be caused by loose contacts between hardware, especially if you have dropped the computer or have opened your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro for any updates. You can ask a specialist to help you open the Mac and reconnect them again.
Hopefully, your Mac notebook will start up normally with a loading bar again.
How to fix the iMac black screen?
Even though iMac is packed with the latest processors, faster memory, Retina display, and phenomenal graphics, it can't avoid the iMac black screen issue still.
1. Restart the iMac
When your iMac boots into a black screen, you can first try to restart the iMac.
- Step 1: Find the circular power button on the back of the iMac. With the back of the computer facing you, the power button is in the lower-right corner.
- Step 2: Then press and hold the power button to turn off the iMac.
- Step 3: After a few seconds, press the power button to reboot your Mac.
2. Fix iMac black screen by power cycling
You can also perform power cycling for your iMac desktop to fix the black screen issue.
- Step 1: You need to unplug the power cord and leave it unplugged for fifteen seconds.
- Step 2: Later on, you can plug it back in, wait five more seconds.
- Step 3: Then press the Power button to turn the Mac back on.
Best Mac Mini Setup
3. Check the RAM of your iMac
What's more, you can try to check your RAM and see if it's loose or dusty. It's easy by following these steps (e.g. iMac Intel 27' Retina 5K Display) since iMac is a total package.
- Step 1: Unplug all the cables and power cord of your iMac, and then prepared for your iMac facing down.
- Step 2: Then press the button inside of the power cord to remove the RAM cover behind the computer.
- Step 3: Eject the RAM as it was instructed on the cover's surface, and give it a soft wipe.
- Step 4: After making sure there is no dust and no damage, you can plug in power and hold the power button to force restart the Mac.
- Step 5: Then you should long hold the power button to turn the iMac off again.
- Step 6: Put the RAM card back in the slot.
- Step 7: Turn on normally and see if the iMac can boot past the black screen.
Tips: Instead of putting the old RAM back in, you can also upgrade the RAM model per your requirement in step 6.
4. Other quick fixes for iMac black screen
Also, if you have recently updated your iMac to a new macOS and had the black screen problem since then, you can try to reinstall the macOS.
If your iMac is still not turning on properly, you can check the software incompatibility. You can also try these to fix the black screen issue.
- Reset iMac's NVRAM
- Boot the iMac into Safe Mode
- Boot the Mac into macOS Recovery mode
- Check the display's brightness or use an external display via Thunderbolt
How to fix Mac mini black screen?
Not only iMac, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro would boot into a black screen, Mac mini could also get stuck with the same problem. If your Mac mini desktop is facing this problem, try those solutions.
Best Screen For Mac Mini 2019
1. Restart the Mac mini
If your Mac mini doesn't power up but shows a black screen, you can first try a reboot.
- Step 1: Find the circular power button on the back of the Mac mini box. With the back of the computer facing you, the power button is on the far-left side.
- Step 2: Then press and hold the power button to turn off the Mac.
- Step 3: After a few seconds, press the power button to reboot your Mac mini.
2. Check all connections of the Mac mini
Mac mini works like a host engine of a computer. That's to say, all your mouse, keyboard, and display are externally connected to the mini case. And those devices could cause a slow or frozen Mac. So, when your computer goes to a black screen, you can check the connections.
- I. Check if your Mac mini box and the display is connected with power when the Mac screen won't turn on. It's easy because you will see the lights on if they are powered up. You should make sure your wall outlet, transformer board, and power cable is working.
- II. If the power connection is in good condition, you can disconnect unnecessary peripherals including USB hard drive, mouse, keyboard, and other Thunderbolt devices
After removing all peripherals except for the display, you can press the power key to reboot your Mac and see if it can boot up normally.
3. Check the hardware you update recently
![Screen Screen](/uploads/1/1/9/8/119846801/395499424.jpg)
Mac mini allows users to replace and update hardware easily. However, some incompatible updates could cause boot failure like a black screen. For instance, you are a Mac guru who is familiar with the Mac mini box structure. And you have recently upgraded the RAM by yourself. But now the Mac mini goes black screen.
When your Mac screen keeps going dark, you can:
- Uninstall the hardware updates you installed recently.
- Open the box again and see if you have put the hard drive, RAM, and other hardware back and connect them properly.
Conclusion
No matter what computer you use, boot failure like Windows black screen and Mac black screen is inevitable. But when your computer boots into the black screen of death, it's not the end of the world. You can find some solutions and solve this problem either by yourself or with the assistance of an Apple store specialist. Anyhow, when your Mac won't boot, please firstly check whether you have a file backup or have recovered files from the Mac hard drive before any repair.
See also:
For the question about how to screen mirroring your iPhone to Mac, we’re going to show you three best ways to learn and practice.
Screen Mirroring & AirPlay Tips
Screen Mirroring Tips & Apps
iPhone/Android Mirroring
Airplay Tips
Have you ever thought to view your iPhone on a bigger screen like on your Mac? Generally, iOS users may want to mirror iPhone screen to Mac for various purposes: doing a business presentation on a bigger screen can make works much more efficient; playing games is more fun; sharing personal photos with friends and families and transferring videos from iPhone to Mac creates a warmer atmosphere; and watching movies on a larger screen must be a cool experience.
Here, we’re going to show you three best ways to connect your iPhone to Mac, mirroring what you need on Mac. They can make you easily enjoy a bigger iPhone screen.
Method 1: How to Mirror Your iPhone Screen to Mac with QuickTime
QuickTime Player is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of capturing the screen of your iPhone, iPad or iPod. You can capture exactly what you’re seeing on your iPhone. Or you can make a video recording of your Mac screen, for example, video of working demo, game reviewing, photos slide show and so on.
This capability requires a USB cable. Mirroring Requirements for devices are:
- The Mac: macOS X Yosemite or later
- The iPhone: iOS 8 or later
Here are the STEPS:
Step 1: Connect your iPhone to your Mac with a USB cable.
Step 2: Open the QuickTime Player on your Mac.
Step 3: Click “File”, and choose “New Movie Recording”.
Step 4: Click the Options pop-up menu, then Choose Your Connected iPhone.
Choose “New Movie Recording” and “Your Connected iPhone”
Step 5: The iPhone screen will now instantly display on the Mac.
Successfully Mirroring Your iPhone Screen to Mac with QuickTime Player
- The default input device will be set to the built-in camera. To change it to your iPhone, click the Optionspop-up menu (down arrow next to the Record button). Then select your connected iPhone.
- When connecting iPhone to Mac, the Photos and iTunes are automatically launched. You can close those apps and continue the process.
Method 2: AirPlay iPhone to Mac with Reflector
AirPlay Mirroring sends exactly what is on the iPhone screen wirelessly. While Apple does support screen mirroring between iPhone and Apple TV, it doesn’t provide a built-in solution to directly display your iPhone screen on Mac. But luckily, an AirPlay Receiver-Reflector can enable AirPlay for iPhone.
This capability requires WiFi network. Mirroring Requirements for Devices are:
- An AirPlay receiver: Reflector
- The iPhone: iOS 7 or later
Here are the STEPS to airplay on Mac:
Step 1: Make sure your iPhone and Mac on the same wireless network.
Step 2: Download and launch Reflectoron your Mac.
Step 3: Open up Control Center on your iPhone:
- On iPhone X or later or iPad with iOS 12 or later: Swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen.
- On iPhone 8 or earlier or iOS 11 or earlier: Swipe up from the bottom edge of any screen.
Step 4: Tap the “AirPlay/Screen Mirroring”.
Step 5: Select your Mac from the list.
Step 6: If a code appears on your Mac, enter the onscreen code on your iPhone.
Step 7: The iPhone screen will now instantly appear on the Mac.
If you can’t enable AirPlay for iPhone, please:
- Make sure that your Mac is near the iPhone, try moving closer to it and try again.
- Make sure that your Mac and iPhone are updated to the latest software version.
Method 3: How to Mirror Your iPhone Screen to Mac with AnyTrans for iOS
AnyTrans for iOS is a comprehensive iPhone data management software, it provides you a Free Screen Mirror tool for iPhone screen mirroring. Here are some of its main features:
- It allows you to mirror iPhone screen to Mac (or PC) in a click.
- During the screen mirroring, you can also record or capture the screen.
- In addition, it can help transfer all your iPhone data to another iPhone/iPad, or Mac/PC computer, and vice versa.
- Also, it helps you backup your iPhone completely to protect you from unexpected data loss. And then you can restore them whenever required.
Mirroring your iPhone to Mac with AnyTrans for iOS requires WiFi network. Requirements for Devices are:
- The Mac: macOS Catalina beta, macOS Mojave, macOS High Sierra, macOS Sierra, OS X 10.11, 10.10, 10.9, 10.8
- The iPhone: iOS 5 or later
Here are the STEPS:
Step 1: Make sure your iPhone and Mac on the same wireless network.
Step 2: Download AnyTrans for iOS and launch it on your Mac.
Free Download * 100% Clean & Safe
Step 3: Click the “Screen Mirroring” option on the left navigation of the interface.
Click the “Screen Mirroring” Option After You Launch AnyTrans for iOS
Step 4: Open up Control Center on your iPhone:
- On iPhone X or later or iPad with iOS 12 or later: Swipe down from the upper-right corner of the screen.
- On iPhone 8 or earlier or iOS 11 or earlier: Swipe up from the bottom edge of any screen.
Step 5: Tap the “AirPlay/Screen Mirroring” button, and Choose the Name “AnyTrans_XXX” (your computer name).
Touch Screen For Mac Mini
Tap the “AirPlay/Screen Mirroring” Button and Choose the Name AnyTrans_XXX
Touch Screen Monitor For Mac Mini
Step 6: The iPhone screen will now instantly display on the Mac.
Successfully Mirroring Your iPhone Screen to Mac with AnyTrans for iOS
Having problems with turning on Wi-Fi on your computer and iOS device, learn how to connect your iPhone and Mac to the same Wi-Fi.
Brief Comparison among QuickTime, AirPlay and AnyTrans for iOS
QuickTime | AirPlay | AnyTrans for iOS | |
WiFi | Not supported | Supported | Supported |
Condition | One-click | Reflector needed | One-click |
Mirror/Record/Capture | √ | √ | √ |
Price | Free | Free Trial for Reflector | Free Trial for screen mirroring |
The Bottom Line
Use Imac As Screen For Mac Mini
Today, most people own more than one electronic products to entertain life. Screen mirroring iPhone to a bigger screen is one of digital entertainment lifestyle. Once you’re screening your iPhone to Mac, you can fast control your media on your iPhone. Remote handling the functions and enjoying the bigger screen must be an unique experience provided by screen mirroring.
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