Black Screen, No recovery mode

[spartacus_72]

This afternoon, while coding in VS Code, my Macbook pro screen went black. Initially , it appeared to still be active, however with no display. The display is black, with evident back-light.

I am in the beta program and did notice an system notification for a pending update. The black screen started BEFORE the macbook has restarted and installed the update.

The first time I restarted the progress bar took a while so I'm assuming it installed the update then (maybe). Initially the apple logo, and login page appeared. After logging in, the desktop showed for a few seconds before black.

The function keys (touch bar) worked for the first few reboots, but then stopped. Appearance of the apple logo (and sometimes the login screen) was random, and appeared with decreasing frequency on each restart.

The last few dozen restarts...I'm just getting a black back-lit screen.

This is an Intel based 16" Macbook Pro. I (think) I bought it in 2019.

The battery has been reporting "Service Needed". Would this sort of behaviour occur, due to battery failure? It appeared to make no difference if the laptop was on power or battery. I have left it turned off, and plugged in now until the morning to try.

I've tried many combinations of keys, cmd/ctrl/opt/shift and combinations with P and/or R. I plugged an external monitor using an HDmi to USB-C adapter (I've used it before). It appears to recognize the second display but it also is just a black back-lit screen.

Battery? Or EOL? Anyone?

 

[chabig]

Battery? Or EOL?

Before you give up on it, see if it will boot to recovery mode. Also, try running hardware diagnostics.

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

Apple Diagnostics, formerly known as Apple Hardware Test, can check your Mac for hardware issues.

support.apple.com

 

[spartacus_72]

Before you give up on it, see if it will boot to recovery mode. Also, try running hardware diagnostics.

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

Apple Diagnostics, formerly known as Apple Hardware Test, can check your Mac for hardware issues.

support.apple.com

Thanks. Recovery mode is what I was insinuating with multiple key combinations...assuming recovery is cmd+r which does nothing. I haven't tried D. I'll try it now.

 

[Fishrrman]

Looks like it may be time for a new battery...

 

[spartacus_72]

Looks like it may be time for a new battery...

Do you have actual similar experience?

Is this an expected symptom of battery failure? The battery did report prox 60% when the screen initially went black. But Lithium does tend to act erratically when the cells fail. It would be great if someone could confirm this would be an expected symptom. What I am thinking is, not necessarily a battery "capacity (ie.current)" issue, but a cell failing and a voltage drop issue.

After leaving plugged in and turned off for 12 hours, it booted up. I have installed the OS update (while plugged in). I am in the process of clearing out junk; I will then back up anything which is not already on the cloud, and perform a system reset and reinstall the os.

 

[Fishrrman]

What does Coconut Battery (free) tell you about the battery?
How much of the "original capacity" is left (in percentage)?

 

[spartacus_72]

What does Coconut Battery (free) tell you about the battery?
How much of the "original capacity" is left (in percentage)?

It seems to be running ok, now that I've done an OS reinstall. Maybe i got hold of a dodgy chrome extension. It will need a new battery soon. Plus im planning on getting an M3 soon and keeping this as a Windows machine.

 

[Fishrrman]

Design capacity reads 78% (in the pic above).
Below 80% is when you start getting the battery service/replacement warnings.

Apple will replace the battery with a factory-original, but the service is now $249, I believe.
Still not too bad, IF one plans on using the computer for 2 or more years...