1) On any modern MacBook Pro or MacBook Air with a built-in battery, which is just a bout all of them nowadays, this is how you do that:
Shut down the Mac and connect it to your MagSafe adapter and a wall outlet as usual
Hold down the Shift+Control+Option+Power button at the same time for a few seconds
Release all keys at the same time, then boot the Mac as usual
Older Macs can find directions here for the same process on their machines, it’s slightly different if you can take out the battery.
When the Mac boots, hopefully the black screen has gone away and you’re back to normal
2) Try a Keypress Sequence to Ditch the Black Screen
Regular readers may recall that we covered some OS X keyboard shortcuts for the Shutdown, Sleep, and Restart controls of just about every Mac, and this little key press sequence takes advantage of those. Oddly enough, it seems to work to resolve some of the mystery Mac booting into black screen issues. Here’s the precise sequence to follow:
Press the Power / OFF button once – this will bring up the dialog box which you can’t see
Press the “S” button – this is the shortcut to sleep the Mac
Hold down the Power button until a hard shut down is forced
Wait about 15 seconds, then hit the Power button again to turn it back on
3) Try a PRAM Reset to Resolve the Black Boot Display
If the above two tricks failed, a PRAM reset can often do the trick, as many of the commenters on this article can attest to. As a potential solution to the black screen on boot, this is done upon restarting the Mac similar to an SMC reset:
Reboot the Mac and as soon as you hear the boot chime, hold down the Command+Option+P+R keys together
When you hear the boot sound again, the PRAM has been reset so let the Mac boot again as usual
4)
