[l008com]

So there's a MacBook with a dead backlight. I did the obvious first step, and replaced the inverter board. Sadly, that had no effect.

So the next logical step is to replace the LCD itself.
I'm just fishing for second opinions, as this client doesn't have a lot of money, and lets be honest, she's attractive so I'm going the extra mile.

When you boot up the computer, you get a flash of backlight, and then nothing. It does this at the same point in bootup, every time you bootup. If you are resetting the PRAM, every time the computer reboots, you get a flash of backlight. This makes me think that it is actually the backlight in the LCD, and not something crazy like the logic board. Besides that, the service manual agrees that first you replace the inverter board, then you replace the LCD (then the logic board).

Let me know if you have any thoughts. And FYI I have done this a million times before but, still it can't hurt to have a consensus. At this point, I'd say the "no backlight" problem is the inverter board 66% of the time, and the LCD itself 33% of the time. I feel so bad when spending $$$ on the inverter doesn't fix the client's computer, but I am very clear with the clients, that it might not work, that it is a gamble, and that you start with the cheap part, and replace more expensive parts as you go. Also this is a Late 2008 MacBook.

[Rumor]

By some odd chance could it be a pinched cable somewhere?

[l008com]

I booted with no top case and fiddled with all of the cables while it was running, and didn't get even a slight flash of backlight, so I tend to think its not the cables. One cable did look like it could have been damaged, but the very regular behavior of the flash on boot makes me think it's not a cable issue.

[MacNNUK]

My iMac display recently started to flicker.

I got a quote for repair, driver board £100, LCD £500+ (more than I paid for 4 year old refurb iMac !)

Looked into buying a new iMac.

Rang Apple UK, they put me through to Service, who talked to me, for free, and held my hand as I did the following, over 15 minutes.

They suggested PRAM reset, which cured the problem totally.

(Shutdown, power cable remove, remove all cables except keyboard, power cable in, power up with 4 fingered keypress, wait for beeps x 2, cables back in...OK)

Thanks Apple, saved me a lot of £££'s

[l008com]

I did reset this computer's PRAM, it didn't fix it's problem.

[Waragainstsleep]

Sounds like the panel to me. These panels are cheap and you don't actually have to take the lid off to swap them if you are careful.

[l008com]

Ive swapped a ton of panels but i've never tried doing one without removing the display module.

[Waragainstsleep]

The only tricky part is connecting the backlight to the inverter.

[euphras]

Some days ago i was able to fix a broken inverter board by myself. See my technical blog entry aubout this:

euphras´s thoughts on (technical) things: Reviving a ten years old Powerbook Titanium (inverter board fixing)

I´m posting from said machine.