My friend's 2021 Macbook Air M1's screen goes blank after a few seconds, every time it is 'triggered'. Help?

[s_k]

An extremely weird issue with this Macbook Air M1. Not one I can find anything about online.

Anyone has any idea?

[Fasauceome]

If you boot into disk utility does this still happen?

[s_k]

31 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

If you boot into disk utility does this still happen?

Yup. There's no way to get the screen to stay on. It weirdly seems like a software error, but completely outside of any of the MacOS software it also exists. The thing doesn't have a bios so I am really lost WHAT tells the screen to turn off.
Any of the recovery options just leads to my external screen going blank as well. So it boots into them, but doesn't display it. PRAm doesn't seem to work. I haven't tried it on my own M1 Air yet but isn't it supposed to reboot a second time when you reset it? This one above doesn't. 
I should probably add; It happened once, then she closed and opened it and it worked for another 10 minutes, and then this started happening and it never fixed itself.

[DrMacintosh]

So since this is an Apple Silicon Mac, the traditional "PRAM" does not exist, and so those key combos do nothing to an Apple Silicon Mac. 

 

Since you mentioned that without an external display, you just get an Apple logo followed by nothing, try following this guide for what to do when a Mac boots to a blank screen:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210905

 

Since you may not be able to get into recovery mode after following that guide, this guide on how to restore firmware on an Apple Silicon Mac may also be needed:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213662

[s_k]

13 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

So since this is an Apple Silicon Mac, the traditional "PRAM" does not exist, and so those key combos do nothing to an Apple Silicon Mac. 

  I thought only NVram didn't exist, but Pram doesn't exist either. Well then that was a pointless excercise

13 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

Since you mentioned that without an external display, you just get an Apple logo followed by nothing, try following this guide for what to do when a Mac boots to a blank screen:

  Can't do this as the screen won't work, no matter what you do it'll only work for a few seconds. The only way to make it come back is to close and open the screen (it briefly works for 2-3 seconds) or to wait long enough for it to go into 'screen off' mode, when you then move the mouse it turns on again, briefly. There is no other way to get the screen going. Also it talks about fixing the 'startup disk', which is clearly not this issue. Did you watch the video?

13 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

Since you may not be able to get into recovery mode after following that guide, this guide on how to restore firmware on an Apple Silicon Mac may also be needed:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213662

That too is talking about macs that don't boot. This one boots fine and works fine on an external screen, and it even works on the internal screen for a few seconds when you close and open the lid (it's not the flat cable either, it's super consistent and always stays on for the same time, no matter how little or far you open the lid). 

I appreciate the help but these solutions are not linked to this problem I'm afraid

[DrMacintosh]

3 hours ago, s_k said:

That too is talking about macs that don't boot.

The articles do mention booting to a blank screen. You do get into the machine, but then your image goes away, so that technically applies. 
 

If you make a Time Machine backup, there’s no harm in doing a complete restore of the machine. This isn’t likely an issue that can be solved by typing a command in terminal or flipping the right setting. 
 

Look at it this way. If the firmware restore doesn’t help, then it’s a hardware issue. Time Machine makes losing user data and apps almost impossible, so it’s an easy diagnostic step to restore the firmware. 

[s_k]

2 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

The articles do mention booting to a blank screen. You do get into the machine, but then your image goes away, so that technically applies. 
 

If you make a Time Machine backup, there’s no harm in doing a complete restore of the machine. This isn’t likely an issue that can be solved by typing a command in terminal or flipping the right setting. 
 

Look at it this way. If the firmware restore doesn’t help, then it’s a hardware issue. Time Machine makes losing user data and apps almost impossible, so it’s an easy diagnostic step to restore the firmware. 

Yes but it doesn't boot 'to a blank screen'. It boots fine, and the screen turns off after 3 seconds even before it's booted, it turns off no matter what. If you close the lid and reopen it, it works for 3 seconds, but the computer is still booted (because the external screen keeps it on). If the system turns the screen off, because it's idle for long enough, and you move the cursor, it will come back on, and turn off again. 
Also a complete restore can't be done, as there's no video going to the external screen until I'm on the login screen (I also mention that in the video). There's currently no way of reinstalling it without the screen working, which I think is a pretty nasty oversight on Apple's side :D. 

[JRW45]

I have the same problem. Has anyone found a solution?