Bad inverter?

[deanmacrumors]

I have a macbook 13 with a dim screen. I can see the desktop, but its very dim.

Since I know that the inverter can sometimes cause this, I purchased a replacement inverter. The new inverter has two spots with what looks like melted black plastic streaks - just like the old inverter has. The melted spots are on two short posts near the connecter where the cable plugs in from the logic board.

My screen is still dim with the new inverter. I tested with an external monitor and could see the desktop, but I had to press the apple key and F7 to bring it up. I tested the macbook with a working spare lcd panel and screen was still dim. The cable from the logic board to the inverter looks in good condition, though i suppose it could be bad.

Are these black melted areas on the inverter by design, or does it indicate a bad board?

Thanks

[techound1]

Post a pic - where are the spots?

[OrangeSVTguy]

This might sound stupid but it could be overlooked. Have you tried hitting the F2 key to turn the backlight up? You may have to hold down the Function "fn" key in the bottom left and then hit the F2 key to turn up the brightness.

[deanmacrumors]

This is a picture of the inverted I purchased to replace the old one. I circled the area with the two melted spots.

[deanmacrumors]

This might sound stupid but it could be overlooked. Have you tried hitting the F2 key to turn the backlight up? You may have to hold down the Function "fn" key in the bottom left and then hit the F2 key to turn up the brightness.

I had tried that with the apple key, but I couldn't remember if I had also tried it with the fn key, so tried right now, but still dim.

[logana]

Just checked 2 MacBook inverters - one good and one bad - both have the black spots - so I doubt that is the problem.

Backlight problem ??

[DanielCalladine]

Hello,

More often than not I've found the backlight tube to be the cause rather than the inverter. I've found this company very good with pricing & delivery:

http://www.laptopsockets.co.uk/

You were right to try out the inverter first though as it is a lot easier than trying to change the tube!!