I have to use "Use password to wake…" at my job. I think you will find after time that you may have even more frequent episodes of the "black screen" with this work around enabled. I know I do. Apple really needs to get this clitch fixed!!!!

I've had a two PowerBooks (a Ti and currently a 17" aluminum) over the past five or so years, and I've never has that problem. Granted, for most of the lifetime of the aluminum, the "Use password to wake" option was checked anyway (I use it at the office - it's much better than having to use the company supplied XP boxes ). The problem is also described as "reintroduced" in 10.4.9, when was it originally introduced?

I still get this issue sometimes on my MacBook Pro and I've always used the password option. I wasn't sure if it was a software issue or hardware. I hope it's a software issue.

If I close the lid on my macbookpro and THEN remove the mouse, I often get a black screen if I reopen it without putting the mouse back. If I remove the mouse, then close the lid, it wakes up without the black screen.

I have always used the password on wake option to keep people out of my Mac. I never had the black screen problem with my 12" PpowerBook and so far have not had ot with my Black MacBook. I hope it is a software issue and Apple fixes it soon. It would be very embarassing to have it happen whilst showing off how Macs wake from sleep so much easier than Windows laptops!

You might check the Apple support forums for other suggestions, including resetting the PRAM (if that doesn't work, try resetting the PRAM, then go to System Preferences->displays and change the resolution to something else, then back to the native resolution. You might also need to re-choose the startup disk if you have more than one (e.g., a Boot Camp partition with Windows installed).

One suggestion might be to hold the Mac Book at an angle to incident light, to see if you can see anything on the screen. (I.e., is the computer awake but the backlight is not on?) If so, try the keys that change brightness.

It also could be a logic board problem that needs to be fixed. Futher in that discussion, it mentions an incomplete OS install, fixed by reinstalling the OS.

The Guest's note about the mouse is important. With a PowerBook--and, perhaps, the Mac Book and Mac Book Pros, it's best to disconnect all peripherals before putting the computer to sleep or shutting it down. It can also be helpful to disconnect from any network before going to sleep, especially if you move the laptop away from the wirelesss network it was connected to.

Have you tried putting it back to sleep, and then waking it up again?

That's worked for me before.

I have the same problem on my G5 1.8 Dual Desktop. I have found the problem to be related to Missing Sync for Windows Mobile 3.0.2. To check the problem, I uninstalled Missing Sync and reset the PRAM. The system was fine. When I reinstalled the Missing Sync, the black screen problems came back. I did not have a problem with Missing Sync for Windows Mobile 3.0.1 with 10.4.9.

JF

The powerbook is designed to run with the lid closed but peripherals connected. If you sleep the PB by closing the lid, then connect a mouse/keyboard/screen, it wakes with the onboard screen turned off. This is to prevent the PB heating up too much and save battery. If you then sleep the PB in software and remove the peripherals, sometimes the screen doesn't know where it is.

This "feature" has caused me headaches before. I once had an external screen connected as a second (not mirrored) screen and set as the master. I then disconnected without setting the onboard screen as the master, and the PB screen just would not turn on. By luck I tried plugging in a spare monitor during boot and discovered my OS was happily displayed there.

If you are running your powerbook in a completely pristine, stand alone state, with never a USB or monitor connected/disconnected, then I'd suspect a bug. Otherwise, peripherals may be making the "feature" go to work.

Quote

Guest wrote:
If I close the lid on my macbookpro and THEN remove the mouse, I often get a black screen if I reopen it without putting the mouse back. If I remove the mouse, then close the lid, it wakes up without the black screen.

Yep. This exactly is my experience too.

Occasionally, I also get the problem if I put the powerbook to sleep by closing the lid rather than by choosing 'sleep' then closing the lid.

My new MacBook always wakes up with a black screen. I can get the display to show up just by closing the lid and opening it again. No mouse or other peripherals. It's annoying and I hope there's a fix eventually.

Quote

Guest wrote:
The problem is also described as “reintroduced” in 10.4.9, when was it originally introduced?

This problem goes as far back as Mac OS 9, possibly 8.

Ironically, i have not experienced it post Jaguar on my Wallstreet PB, and Jaguar is the last officially supported OS on that machine. It’s now running 10.4.9 and still haven’t see it reoccur.

Ever since 10.4.9 my G5 fails to come out of sleep properly and I am left with a black screen. I don't think this is just a powerbook thing.

Screen Saver doesn't always cut it for me.

is this work around working for anyone else? it's not for me.

This "won't wake from sleep" happens to me almost every time now that I upgraded to 10.4.9. When I close the lid, the "heartbeat" light pulses. When I open it, it stops, but nothing on the screen.

Occasionally (~30%) I can close the lid, wait for the heartbeat to return, and open it again, and it will work. Other times, I'll close the display, and the light turns on bright, but it never seems to recover.

It's become so bad that before I close the lid now, I quit all applications, unplug everything (including power), and then close the display. If I close the lid and wait for sleep (about 15 seconds most times), and then remove the power, the dang thing "wakes up". I learned this the hard way by putting in my backpack. When I got back to the hotel, it was almost to hot to pull out of the pack.

I did NOT have these problems in 10.4.8, and haven't added any software (except Apple updates) to my machine since the 10.4.9 (includes iTunes 7.1.1, Aperture 1.5.3, Security 2007-004, Battery 1.2, Quicktime 7.1.6, and Airport Extreme 2007-003).

Sure wish this would go away. I now "shut down" every time I want to move the computer to prevent this....

I have been having the black screen problem on my iBook (10.4.9) about 5-10% of the time. I may have discovered a workaround (other than closing the lid, waiting for the computer to go to sleep, then opening it again, as someone mentioned above): when I got the black screen today, I pushed the power button and the login box appeared (I have require password to wake checked). After logging in, there was a dialog asking if I wanted to shut down the computer, and I clicked on "Cancel" (or "No" or whatever). I will have to wait for another chance to test it, but this seems to have worked for me today.

Phew, I thought My hard drive was having problems! Bad as it sounds...I'm glad other people are having the same problem. But what a pain in the arse!! The amount of work I have lost because I have had to take a phone call or something and in the meantime my mac has gone to sleep (forever).

If you ask me, it should be top of apple's list of things to fix. The whole point of having a mac is reliability and user friendlyness, neither of which are demonstrated by this glitch.

I hope your trick with the password works. Seems there are mixed feelings. Here goes...

Come on Apple!!! Do we really have to search forums for a fix to such a simple, yet fundamental error??

My iMac 17" has had this problem since new (10.1?) and it persists to date (10.4.9).

I just wish there was a reset switch like my PC.

I had fixed this problem in 10.4.9 by executing some terminal commands that made the Mac wake when I press a key, not when I open the lid.

10.4.10 reset the previous behavior, and now I'm looking for those terminal commands (which is how I stumbled across this thread, actually)...

Code

sudo pmset lidwake 0

I have been having this problem on my macbook running 10.4.10
It is really worrying, I am a postgraduate student and all my work, including an experiment I am doing, lives on this laptop.
If I sent it for repair I would lose too much time, and judging by other forums etc that wouldn't help anyway.
I just wish I knew what was wrong. I am terrified it is really some nasty hardware problem and that at some inconvenient moment my laptop will turn into a useless lump of plastic.
Hurry up and fix it apple!
And I'm sick of all the forum posts that go on about unplugging peripherals and/or messing with the system. Does not apply.
And all of the basic 'fixes' people suggest actually only work at random- I already know!!!! The complex xommand-line ones are beyond me.
GRRRRRRRR!!!!

I have a five year old imac which I recently upgraded by installing OSX 10.4. Since then I have had problems with my screen going in to sleep mode and me not being able to 'wake it up' by moving the mouse, or pressing any key on the keyboard. I am left with a black screen. The only way to solve this problem is to restart my Mac. Big problem if I was in the middle of doing any work and it isn't saved beforehand. This problem didn't exist in OSX 10.3.

I thought it might be a problem with the screensaver starting up. However, when I go into the screensaver on my system preferences the window that allows me to set the time and choose the slides freezes up and I just get the rainbow wheel going round and round. The only way out of this is to force quit the system preferences.

Any suggestions?

I have the similar problem with password activated, it's sometimes giving me the black screen and rainbow cursor after I typing password, but didn't found any solution after digging tons on forums over the net. My solution is to close the lid, and reopen it and to hit space bar untill it wakens again (It's better to wait until the light started to beat, but I am too impatient). Another tip that always work is to hit change user button and to login there as the same account (it showed that you already logged in).

Thanks for the thread. My wife just had the black screen after a sleep on her MacBook Pro. She had the password set on wake and could enter it, then the screen went black. One other thing of note --- she had a USB wireless mouse. Your thread got us to the solution for her.

Firstly, with the lid open, remove the USB mouse dongle.
Secondly, close the lid and wait 'till the fan stops.
Thirdly, open the lid, enter the password, and enjoy the MacBook (because the screen will work, as it should).

Notice that removing the USB dongle AFTER closing the lid DOES NOT FIX THE PROBLEM.

Apparently, with her machine, the problem occurs between the USB mouse and the sleep state.

my daughters always get this when she's playing her Didi & Ditto game (she's 6). It's frustrating. I don't think the Mac is going to sleep since she's active on it.

I have a MacBookPro
It his only deficiency of Mac I experience.

i am facing the freeze problems too. but today i tried to wake my mac from sleep. At first it was just black. then it came to my password screen, and it hung. when i tried pressing the buttons on the keyboard the black screen came, but this time like flowing slowly in from the sides 'swallowing' my screen in darkness again. it took me quite a few tries before i could log back on. Whats happening? help!! =(