A work-around intended for Hackintosh machines with a screen that stays black after boot (only if the screen can be activated by, e. g. changing settings through “System Preferences” ▸ “Displays”). Or if you have a setup with multiple screens but they are distorted.
If the above is not the case for you, and your screen does not appear under “Arrangement“ in “System Preferences” ▸ “Displays” (which you can access if at least one screen is working – try VGA or Display Port if DVI and HDMI result in a black screen), I explicitly recommend the General Framebuffer Patching Guide (HDMI Black Screen Problem). It is very clear and thorough and, once I had found it after a long journey, helped me fix my black screen problem (before it was visible in System Preferences). Also, CaseySJ offers a very good support there.
Furthermore – except if you use OpenCore as boot loader (which automagically takes care of the EDID) – it is recommended to first patch the EDID before using “Screen Wakener”. There is this script (only connect one screen at a time) and this manual guide. I also came across a script that works with multiple screens somewhere, but I didn’t take note of the URL, unfortunately.
Download “ScreenWakener.dmg” at https://github.com/mabam/ScreenWakener/releases and copy the app within it to your system’s Applications folder. Instructions are provided as you run the app.
Please note that, in case you have a multi screen setup where your displays suffer from distortion, you might need to play with which screen to select in Screen Wakener.
Use at own risk.
Currently only works with an iGPU and for one “Black Screen” at a time. If yours is connected to an eGPU and/or you have more than one „Black Screen”, the shell script and settings in the “Screen Wakener” bundle have to be edited manually.
“ScreenWakener.dmg” under the “releases” tab contains an app bundle that has been generated by Script Editor when saving the AppleScript as a programme. The source files located at Contents/Resources/ of this repository are what I have copied into the same location of that app bundle.
After configuration is done, “Screen Wakener” will activate your “Black Screen” before login or after (if you have enabled “auto-login” in System Preferences).
Written on macOS High Sierra. Also tested on Catalina and Ventura.
- CaseySJ, as his guide and kind support in fixing my framebuffer was the motivation for me to write Screen Wakener (which is merely three scripts: AppleScript, bash script and a Launch Agent),
- Jake Hilborn, as all my scripting efforts would be in vain without his indispensable command line utility displayplacer which he kindly updated to v1.2.0 for Screen Wakener which it ships with.