MBP 1,1-10,2 Black screen MBP

[Idoso]

Hi guys and girls,
This weekend I bought a MacBook Pro mid 2012 8GB 250GB SSD for €25. It seems it's hardly used. It is booting, though often I hear chime, see Apple logo, but before progression bar is completed, the laptop shuts down abruptly. Yesterday, I was able to boot Mojave normally, automatically update to Catalina and after about one hour the screen blacked out. I used F2 to adjust brightness. Nothing. Until last night when my MBP booted normally again. I switched off any power related options like putting screen, network, SSD to sleep. Ever since, when I tried to enter into my Proton mail account in Safari (only one tab open) the black screen is back. I can hear ventilation working, Caps Lock light is switchable on and off.

I think there's cache related data left from former owner

and not removed while updating, however I can't get into my MPB. I already deleted old user account and data, also I was able to remove most foreign non-Apple apps.

Now I can hear it booting into login screen, but screen remains black.

What's going on? How can I fix this?

Obviously, I tried ALL of the key combinations to boot. No devices are attached. MBP charging normally. Your assistance highly appreciated.

 

[Idoso]

Hi guys and girls,
This weekend I bought a MacBook Pro mid 2012 8GB 250GB SSD for €25. It seems it's hardly used. It is booting, though often I hear chime, see Apple logo, but before progression bar is completed, the laptop shuts down abruptly. Yesterday, I was able to boot Mojave normally, automatically update to Catalina and after about one hour the screen blacked out. I used F2 to adjust brightness. Nothing. Until last night when my MBP booted normally again. I switched off any power related options like putting screen, network, SSD to sleep. Ever since, when I tried to enter into my Proton mail account in Safari (only one tab open) the black screen is back. I can hear ventilation working, Caps Lock light is switchable on and off.

I think there's cache related data left from former owner

and not removed while updating, however I can't get into my MPB. I already deleted old user account and data, also I was able to remove most foreign non-Apple apps.

Now I can hear it booting into login screen, but screen remains black.

What's going on? How can I fix this?

Obviously, I tried ALL of the key combinations to boot. No devices are attached. MBP charging normally. Your assistance highly appreciated.

Update: went with my MBP to official Apple reseller yesterday who could only tell there's no support anymore and I'd better buy a new one...

 

[JPack]

Could be anything from cracked solder joints to liquid damage. It's nearly impossible to diagnose without hardware tools. For $25, it sounds like you got a weekend of fun though.

 

[Idoso]

Could be anything from cracked solder joints to liquid damage. It's nearly impossible to diagnose without hardware tools. For $25, it sounds like you got a weekend of fun though.

$27. How would you explain the hostility between Proton and Safari?

 

[bobesch]

Next step: I'd wipe the SSD and go for a clean install of macOS through internet recovery.

 

[Idoso]

Concluded. In the installing process, just before an account is made, the screen goes black again. Though as described above, the MBP remains responsive.

 

[exploradorgt]

What's going on? How can I fix this?

Difficult to tell without diagnostic attempts and tools as mentioned by JPack

Now I can hear it booting into login screen, but screen remains black.

Concluded. In the installing process, just before an account is made, the screen goes black again. Though as described above, the MBP remains responsive.

You mentioned above the machine went off, shutting down, this could be due to overheating, lack of ventilation and cooling, or just some failing hardware like blown capacitors.

As for what you mention later (those 2 quotes above), it sounds a lot like a failing graphical processing unit. It is quite common for Macs (both imacs and macbooks) to provide video signal during boot until the full drivers are loaded, or until video acceleration is needed... then, video goes off, shows artifacts on the screen, or just freezes. Sometimes video sort-of works but the backlight goes off (no brightness at all) and you can see the screen as long as you light it up with a powerful led lamp; or, video goes off entirely.

Macbooks have more potential solutions than iMacs, because these laptops usually come with 2 video processing units: one provided by Intel at CPU level, and the official one you use out of the box (usually Nvidia), so... check your model and tutorials on how to diagnose and bypass. You can turn off your Nvidia card and make your computer use the Intel graphics. Some models allow this via software and configurations, others require modifying the hardware, it depends on your model and desire to spend some time trying.

 

[Idoso]

Thank you for your elaborate message.

In the meantime I almost succeeded installing Ventura, but at the end of install process screen blacked again. I bought Pentalobe screwdriver P5 -1.2 (IFIXIT) to open MBP and clean the two fans.

I've read Apple exchanged the Nvidia card of all 15" MBP 2012-13 models, which have an ailing condensator, for a new one, until 2016. I've found this fix to easily switch to internal Intel graphics, and switch off Nvidia:

gfxCardStatus by cody krieger

Until then, I've downloaded High Sierra, with a much shorter install time than Ventura, and less chance screen blacks out during the install process.