[Ultimate Mac User]

I have a Macbook (White 13-inch Late 2006 Model) I power this bad boy up and all I see are pastel vertical lines on the screen. I'm hoping this can be an easy to moderate fix. I pray that I don't have to purchase a new logic board because I purchased this laptop off of ebay and it cost me alot already. So I'd be in forever in anyone and everyone's debt who can help me to the best of their abilities.



Please Any Help Appreciated!!!!!!!!!

[PhilCat]

Probably the quickest true result is take it to Apple Store.
If that's too far out of reach, then any BestBuy.

So you fire it up the first time, and get that result?
Wow.
See if you can fire up a second screen display.
Just to verify video output.

[Ultimate Mac User]

Thanks Will Do and keep everyone updated!

[olePigeon]

It's either the inverter or the video card. Either way, it's broken.

[Ultimate Mac User]

So am i buying a new logic board basically? or inverter cable?

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by Ultimate Mac User 

So am i buying a new logic board basically? or inverter cable?

Well, if you connect your laptop to an external display and there are no lines, then your video card is OK and it's probably just a new cable (or new display.) However, I recommend taking it to an Apple Genius and have them look at it. Might as well, the diagnosis is free, and I don't want to give you bad advice and have you waste money.

[Ultimate Mac User]

I hooked the MB up to an external monitor and the video shows up just fine. So I am trying to figure out what next? So that I can fix the screen. What cable or cables do I need to buy or even if I need to purchase a new screen?

[AKcrab]

It's either the LCD panel or the LVDS cable that connects it to the logic board. It's a real PITA to replace the cable. To make matters worse, there were THREE brands of LCD panels that were used on that macbook and there are two different LVDS cables to match the three panels...

You could try and find out which LCD panel you have by removing it, order the matching cable, and then hope that was it... This would be the cheapest option, but might not fix the issue.

You could also order a LCD (same manufacturer) and hope that that's the only problem...

The final option is to find a LCD panel AND a LVDS cable that matches and replace both at the same time. This should fix the issue, but unfortunately there is still a small chance that the socket on the logic board is bad, and all that effort is for not.

If it was me I would spend the money to get a 100% firm diagnosis and then decide how to proceed. It's a shame that it seems you already have a chunk of $ into this.

[Ultimate Mac User]

i will keep you updated on how everything goes!!! Thanks for everyone's help and support.

[all2coolnick]

Just felt the need to clear up a few confusing comments on this post in case anyone who has a similar problem is reading it. Firstly, problems with the image on the display cannot be cause by the inverter or inverter cable. The inverter is the device that produces the high voltage required to fire the backlight tube within the LCD (not relevant on more recent LED backlit LCDs) and so oly affects the illumination of the display, not the image on it.
Secondly, the comment that a faultless image on the external display proves the graphics chip (i.e. logic board) is OK is also not true. The internal and external graphics are produced separately albeit from the same graphics chip, and it is in fact very common for graphics chip faults to manifest only on the internal display.
Lastly, as a general rule, geometric faults on LCDs such as vertical or horizontal lines or bars are usually caused by a fault within the LCD or the graphics chip (normally the former). The data is sent to the LCD encoded and so a fault in the data cable (LVDS cable) would generally result in all over distortion.
As was mentioned, Apple used different LCD vendors. Some of the displays are interchangeable and some are not. Because the LVDS cable carries the power supply for the LCD panel, connecting an incompatible LCD panel can cause permanent damage to the LCD, logic board or both.
Apple service spare part number often don't help as they will sometimes supply the LVDS cable with an LCD and so because they always match, they don't need to distinguish between the different vendors.
The safest approach is to replace like for like so if you decide to replace the LCD, remove the old one, get the manufacturer and model from the label on the back of the panel and then get a matching replacement from one of the specialist Apple service parts suppliers like <self-link removed>

Lastly, and I don't mean this maliciously, just from experience, take anything an Apple 'Genius' says about a hardware diagnosis with a generous pinch of salt.

[Waragainstsleep]

Originally Posted by all2coolnick 

the comment that a faultless image on the external display proves the graphics chip (i.e. logic board) is OK is also not true. The internal and external graphics are produced separately albeit from the same graphics chip, and it is in fact very common for graphics chip faults to manifest only on the internal display.

As long as you have video mirroring switched on, this is nonsense. Connecting an external display is a standard troubleshooting procedure when diagnosing any issues with the image on your LCD. I have performed such tests many hundreds of times and I have never found a GPU to be faulty on one display and not another.

With regard to MacBooks, yes there are two types of LVDS cable and three different panels, but one cable is massively more common than the other and there are several other LCDs which Apple didn't use which are also compatible. You won't often go wrong with a Samsung panel, but otherwise like for like is a good idea. You don't need a perfect match on the model, just google it and you'll see if people have had success using the model you find.