Macbook Pro (A1260) screen fault

bingo_bango

Anyone have any experience of testing the screen on a Macbook pro for faults? An uncle has given me his to 'look at' as I am the family tech geek.

I have been able to connect the book to an external monitor and it's working fine, so I'm ruling out the logic board for now.

That leaves the lcd screen itself, and the inverter board. Anyone know how to test which of these it actually is? Not much point paying out for the screen when the inverter board will do.

TIA

patflanel

Could it be this
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377

bingo_bango

Definitely a hardware fault (checked in Apple store) but as the 'genii' do not replace / repair individual components, only the whole LCD assembly, they couldn't test to see which component it was. They could of course do the full replacement for £380. :eek:

patflanel

Take it back to the Apple "genius" and show him that support document.
They should replace it for free.

Notmyrealname

bingo_bango wrote: »

That leaves the lcd screen itself, and the inverter board. Anyone know how to test which of these it actually is? Not much point paying out for the screen when the inverter board will do.

TIA

There is no inverter. They're LED backlit. It could be the logic board not supplying the voltage to the screen for the backlight.

bingo_bango

Apologies NMRN, I actually meant the WLED board on the back of the screen itself.

I wish I could take it back to them Pat, but it is over 4 years old :undecided

fishybusiness

To be honest, I would back up the data from the drive, sell the computer and buy another, maybe a non Pro.

If the nVidia chip is faulty there are companies that will repair/replace them but they only give a 3 month warranty - can you believe that?

Last time I looked cost was about £170.

I used to repair laptops as part of my job and Apples were just a no no due to high parts costs and difficulty diagnosing faults.

Dan_Thunder

Have you tried doing a PRAM reset? The screen on mine went funny once and that sorted it out.

CoolHotCold

If it has a battery take that out and remove power sources and hold the power for 10 to 15 seconds, then plug back in and try again. Try resetting PRAM as someones mentioned

It's unlikely to be a Nvidea issue causing this particular issue as the external monitor wouldn't work either or show distortion.

Aside from opening up the mac and checking for loose cables or any damaged ones the only other way is to really swap test components.

Good news is if you buy online you can return a item under the DSR (buy from UK companies please and if over 100 on a credit card) so you can swap test a component and if it still doesn't work send it back (you may be liable for postage back to the company check their T&C). For more information checkout the Consumer board on MSE.

bingo_bango

Have already tried a PRAM reset and it didn't work, but cheers for the suggestion.

I have already dismantled the screen and checked the cables etc, so I'm now down to a specific hardware fault with it being either the actual screen or the WLED board.

It's how do I tell which without having to buy the components and have the hassle of returning them.

As for the consumer rights, that's what I do for a living but still useful to point it out!

Notmyrealname

nVidia issue if its a G34 or G36 (8000 series) is covered under SOGA as it is a manufacturing defect and every single one of those GPUs is defective and will fail as a result of it. If it has that GPU I'd just return it under that. nVidia compensated Apple, Dell, HP etc already.