MacBook Pro :: Sudden Blank Screen - Damaged Inverter Board / Bulb
Dec 3, 2007
To begin with, I own a MBP Intel Core Duo 2.0/2 Gigs of ram. I've had this laptop for roughly 18 months and do not have Applecare. I take extreme good care of all my stuff and still baby it till this day. I have NEVER bumped the laptop against anything, accidently dropped it too hard on the desk or anything similar along the lines. Essentially, looking new. About 2 days ago, I was working with my laptop and I closed the lid which made the computer go to sleep. Everything all normal & no appearance of anything! Around mid-night, I opened the MBP's lid to check my email. (Computer awakes, I can hear the Superdrive awake) then boom, a blank screen. The monitor did not turn on then burn out, it was always off. Similar to if you dim your monitor all the way. I can still see the desktop however, there is no light. If I take my flashlight and point it to the desktop, I can see everything. I called a few places, and they described it is the Inverter board or could be the fluorescent bulb that is damaged. My reasoning for the inverter board is faulty is because when a fluorescent bulb goes out it, it tends to flicker at first. Researching this forum, I noticed most MBP users LCD's that go out, they flicker but, mine just went out and I can still see the desktop. Where can I order the inverter board? I tried [URL] but they're out of stock. I will change the inverter board myself because it will be quicker and I need to use my laptop. It is currently hooked up to an external monitor until I can get this fixed.
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May 1, 2008
Does Applecare cover the replacement of the backlight bulb and inverter board? Looking at a PowerBook that has Applecare - The screen in the listing picture is not too bright. The seller has stated that all is well with the screen, but you never know. I am prepared to go for it if the Applecare covers the screen lighting. Applecare cover on notebooks appears to be worldwide - If the screen lighting conks out overseas, I can get it fixed at the local Apple Store?
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Sep 26, 2009
I've been using a Windows partition with no problems at all. I started also using it via vmware and i would boot into win XP from both bootcamp and vmware without any problems. Suddently, one day, it was like the display drivers just stopped working... The mac would boot to the Bootscreen, and after i choose the windows partition the screen remains blank (not just black, theres no signal sent to the monitor). I can tell that windows are running fine on the background, i just can't see anything. 2 notes here: in the past, again all of a sudden, the windows logo just dissapeared, it was blank, but after that i was able to see my desktop and work on it. One more note, in the past, yes yet again without any reason, the keyboard stopped working while in the windows partition.... i discovered that i had some windows updates left and not installed, i installed them and it fixed the problem. Windows are so weird... Got bootcamp 2.1 drivers, the latest ati drivers for my graphics card (although i can't reinstall them from vmware because ati can't see my graphics card
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Sep 1, 2009
Found a macbook on the cheap. It boots and works via external monitor but the screen has no backlight. I've tried a couple inverters that I know to be good. When I first tried to change out the inverter it showed light for about a second then went blank. Now nothing at all. What should I look into yet?
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Aug 18, 2010
After using a PC laptop for six months or so (and it really messing with my eyesight) I thought I'd try to revive my old macbook. Basically 70/80% of the time it won't turn on. There are these patterns of faulty behaviour which I hope you guys could diagnose:
1. I'll press the power button, I hear the disk noise, and the screen is black (i.e. not a backlight problem). The chime won't sound, I can just hear the fan and the hard drive whirring. The only way to get out of this is to power it off via the power button.
2. Sometimes after it's started up successfully and I move the Macbook (say, from a desk to my lap) the same thing will happen - black screen, with the rest of the stuff whirring, and if I try to shake it around nothing happens, I have to power off.
3. Occasionally when I power on, I just get the disk noise, a white screen, but no question mark, no apple logo, nothing.
4. Another time I tried to boot up with an external hard drive fitted and just got the chime over and over and over. Removing the drive solved this.
5. One time the screen just greyed out and a message in about 5 languages came up saying I needed to shut down my computer NOW.
This is not a hard drive fault - I saw that apple had extended the warranty on the hard drive because the question mark usually pops up for half a second at startup, and the nice guys at regent st London just whacked a new hard drive in, with a clean install of leopard (which was cool, I was previously on tiger at the time). I read something about resetting the PRAM (which I haven't tried), but I'm guessing it's the logicboard/motherboard. If this is the case, any idea how much it costs to fix? (My macbook is out of warranty). Figures in GBP appreciated but I can convert USD estimates. Is there any way I can try to blag a free motherboard and install from apple by exaggerating some symptoms?
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Aug 1, 2007
All of the sudden my Mac Pro wont read blank CD-R's and blank DVD-R's. It will read burned disc and software just fine. I was burning with these same disc fine a few days ago.
I get this "This disc cannot be used because it is not recognized."
I tried rebooting with no luck! The only thing that I've done to my Mac lately is add a 1 TB External HD (Western Digital) to my mac through the 800 plug.
My boss is coming over soon to pick up some disc.
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Jun 14, 2007
I got a cheap 1.42ghz 512mb RAM, 14" screen G4 ibook because it had a broken hinge. I tore apart the laptop and replaced the hinge (screen frame) and put it back together. The screen wouldn't work. I opened it back up and found that the video connector was lose, so I connected it and put it back together. BAM!! Everything worked... everything except the sleep feature when the lid is closed. So I opened it back up, took the magnet from the old frame and put it on the new frame (which was missing its magnet).
When I turned it back on the screen was blank/dark. It showed all the signs of classic inverter board burnout (dark screen, can be seen with flashlight from behind, can be seen on external monitor), so I ordered an inverter board and when it arrived, I swapped it out. Still nothing. The next idea would be the backlight, but that doesn't make sense... I'm trying to figure out what might have happened to make the inverter/backlight go from working fine to not working when all I did was removed the screen back case, screw on the magnet and close it up. I have done a bunch of digging around under the hood and am wondering if anyone knows of a possible ground wire, other connection, easily broken wire, or other issue that might have happened. I'm thinking that it might be one of the power wires that goes into the inverter. It might have broken inside the shield, or maybe I was sold another bad inverter board.
So:
Assumption 1: one or both inverter boards are good.
Are there any connections other than the inverter data/power cable from the mobo and the cable from the inverter to the backlight?
Does anything else (backlight, etc) have to be grounded? Where are these groundings?
Would anything else give the same symptoms except the inverter?
How can I test the backlight? I heard that there are two lights in these machines, so if it was one of the florescent lights, only 1/2 the screen would be dark.
Assumption 2: Neither board is good and that is the problem.
How can I test the inverter board (short of an osilascope) to see if it's working?
Is this a good assumption?
I'm about stumped right now and haven't found any direct help on forums. I'm hoping someone in the Mac community has run into this or has an idea about what could be going on. I'm really hoping that I missed something like replacing a screw that is also a ground or something along those lines.
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Jun 4, 2012
I'm trying to figure out what happened, and what is wrong, with my computer screen. I know it's not a dead pixel, since it's still visable. It's like a burned image, like you would get on a TV. I didn't do any physical damage to it, I know that for sure. Here's a photo. It's the ghosty off-white area that's on the left hand side of the black rectangle. (I made it back so you can see it better on camera, it's not the problem).
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4), MacBook
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Jun 25, 2012
For some reason I don't have the screen at top of screen where I type www. whatever screen or the arrows to go back one screen. It use to be there all the time. I don't know what I did.
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iOS 4.3.2
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Aug 20, 2014
My Mac screen is weird. Yesterday my Mac was making beeping nosies <--fixed. But today when I turn on my Mac the screen is divided by two... And it also has like weird lines all over the screen. I put in my pass word and the screen all of sudden just the screen is divided by two
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Jun 17, 2009
I know this has been mentioned before, but I read previously that only the new unibody Macbooks have the energy saver icon as a flourescent bulb. i am on a 1/2008 black macbook and noticed in system prefs that the energy saver icon is now the eco-friendly flourescent bulb. anyone else notice this?
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Feb 3, 2010
I don't know if it depends by a latest update I did to Itunes but after an uncertain amount of time my MacBook Pro 2.2Ghz Santa Rosa start to flicker. I have posted a video in youtube [URL] so you can see what happend. For a small amount of time while flickering is started the mouse can move around then it stuck and lock me out of the system. I have to reset many time PVRAM and SMC then it will restart until it lock it down again. It worked flawlessly until yesterday after if I don't remember wrong one or more software update. I use Snow Leopard (official licence). I downloaded the Combo Update for Snow Leopard and ran it. I still have to test it again. Since I need to do some work in the next 48 hours I can't full test it. After the hard reset an image pop out and It won't let me start up the system again ever if I reset many times PVRAM and SMC Then I use bootcamp to "unlock" the MBP. I do run windows under BootCamp. It will run but I can't see anything since the video remain black (I hear the HDD until stop working) Then I push the power down button and I turn off the windows Then after a long time it will log into Snow Leopard! I'm getting crazy the last two days
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Aug 20, 2010
I have been experiencing a problem lately. Once a while my MBP '10 screen will have a sudden drop of brightness and then back to normal. Does anyone have similar problem?
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Mar 22, 2012
My Macbook Pro display all of a sudden went to the 'white screen of death' as I've heard others refer to it as. I've tried zapping PRAM, resetting SMC etc. to no avail. When I connect an external monitor, I am able to use the Macbook without problem, so I know it is video card/controller/display related issue. I'm going to send the Mac in for repairs. But before doing so, I'd like to erase my hard drive so I'm not sending them all of my data with the computer. I've done a time machine backup, so all is fine there as well.
My problem, is that in order to erase the hard drive, I need to boot from the OSX install disk. No matter what I try, I can't do this with my external display. If I insert the disk, and hold down the C, my Mac never recognizes the external display plugged in and so I cannot see to get to the disk utility tools on my OSX install disk. I've tried using Command-display dim button, to no avail.
I've tried simulating a clamshell mode boot where I close the lid as soon as the boot starts (with the OSX install disk in the drive) and I get a kernel panic every time. Even if I didn't, I don't see how I can close the lid at startup and hold down the C key at the same time.
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)
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Apr 11, 2012
All of a sudden screen stays gray and flashing folder with "?" on it
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MacBook
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Jul 16, 2009
I recently took apart my macbook to see if I could get my wifi antenna nudged to work better. It does seem to be fixed, but when I put the laptop back together the inverter cable shorted to the frame, smelled like burning electronics and stopped working. However, I put a new inverter in and it is not fixed. I was careful to note that the second inverter did not create any smell, but the screen did not even light up for a second. The LCD IS still working, as I can see everything on the screen if I shine a light on it. Except for no backlight, the computer works fine. What could possibly be wrong, and what are my options?
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Apr 2, 2012
how can i get my macbook pro to charge using a inverter sometimes it will charge and sometimes it wont works fine when plugged into a ac outlet in my home
Info:
MacBook
Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
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Apr 21, 2012
8 month old MBP 15" i7 4GB RAM 500GB HDD, took it in last week to get the logic board replaced (computer wouldn't boot up) and now it is running fine, although at random times the display will go haywire and I am forced to restart the comp (manually). Why is it doing this? Do I need to update something? Is it related to the new logic board at all?
Info:
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)
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Sep 14, 2010
Searched the forum, some useful information. Found the following : On amazon Hypershop's car charger I'd like some flexibility, so the Hypershop one is out of the question (being able to charge my android phone separately from laptop, my backup pc laptop, etc). So my question is, what inverter are you using? I found some on best buy (Cyberpower), but there's no wattage listed in their specs.
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Sep 19, 2010
If I wanted a portable charging solution for my 13" 2010 MBP. [URL:...] I'm not sure about the amount of power this product supplies, etc and whether or not those types of specs will be compatible with my MBP. if someone could advise as to what would be best.
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May 29, 2010
i just installed my new inverter and put evertyhing back into place. tried turning it on and no reaction. There is no sign of turning on, no sounds or light to show. I thought i may have damaged the keyboard ribbon but there is no physical harm that i could see.
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Apr 17, 2009
I'm somewhat new to the forums, and found a really good deal for a brand new macbook air (rev.1). I'd like to know if it is possible to replace the logic board in my macbook air with a newer, nvidia-gfx based logic board. As in, will it fit, does the same power supply run it, same peripherals (airport, keyboard, etc) work/interface with it, etc?
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Feb 5, 2012
what does a blank screen mean?
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May 5, 2010
I have a 2007 Macbook Pro with the Nvidia 8600M card, and my screen went out. I had my logic board replaced, but my computer just doesn't feel the same. Should I be worried of any other issues?
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May 23, 2010
I've got a MBP and will be charging two iPhones off of it most of the trip. How big of power inverter will I need? [URL:..] will this provide enough juice?
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Dec 21, 2010
Got this mac friday but haven't really played with it before yesterday. My problem is:
1) Yesterday I went for logging in to facebook, but suddenly the screen went green? Had to close the mac down and start it again.
2) After I had turned it on and was on the desktop the screen (with me doing nothing) went white, and I had to do the same again.
3) This morning when I wanted to turn the mac on, it wouldn't! But few hours later I tried again and there I could turn it on by pressing esc + start button.
Should I call for a replacement? (Already had two - 1 with dead pixel and 1 with creaking).
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Dec 21, 2010
1 month past warranty expiration and now my screen goes blank when I adjust the angle. Is this usually something major or just loose connection?
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Jan 1, 2011
I was using it in my bedroom, it was plugged in. I went to make some food, and upon my return I am greeted by a blank screen, probably just a hiccup right? So I held the power button down expecting it to spring back in to life. But it didn't. It wouldn't turn back on. At all. Luckily, I thought, I have my old 2006 Macbook that I keep as a back up just for times like this. As it hasn't been turned on for a while, the low battery warning comes on, so I plug it in. 10 seconds later, it hibernates. I switch it back on, but it keeps hibernating for no good reason. So I think restarting it will solve the problem. It didn't. It too, now wouldn't turn back on. At all.
In the space of a few minutes, they both completely died. I've tried resetting SMC, PRAM, everything I've found on Apple's support page and forums like this. Nothing has worked. The light on the power cable glows orange when plugged in, so it is still charging, and the battery indicator lights on the side of the MBP work fine. Aside from that, they are both completely lifeless...........
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Jul 2, 2009
when I turn on my computer there is a blank screen. You can still hear the normal noises coming from the computer like any normal boot-up. But if I let my computer sit for a while without turning it on, it will turn on with weird almost static noises. If I force shut down then try again, I get the normal boot-up noises. I tried the safe boot-up method,holding down the shift button while turning the computer on, but no dice. I actually tried this method on both the good and static noise boot-up.
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Jul 25, 2009
Yesterday I was working with my MBP in one of my client's office and the computer went blank. The screen turn to black and it was still ON. I had to press the ON/OFF button to shut the computer.
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