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MacBook (Mid 2007) Unusual Backlight Issue

Sawtooth811

Sawtooth811

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 18, 2007
317
1
Hello, I have just one moderate issue with a (presumably dead) MacBook I purchased from eBay for my mom (to upgrade from a 12-inch iBook G4 since she's the last person in the house with a PowerPC Mac :apple:), which is the backlight.

When I turn the brightness on after it was completely off, the backlight (which looks very nice and bright) powers on for exactly two seconds and then turns back off, despite the brightness being turned on. When turned off completely again and turned on again, the same thing happens. Plus, the brightness does not dim or brighten whenever I variate the brightness setting within the two seconds it is on.

I highly believe that it is the inverter board's fault and nothing else, since the computer is fully functional in every other way. I even installed the Snow Leopard GPU update and all other recent updates two days ago; still no luck, but I highly doubt it's the GPU; The color and picture looks very good, so I've purchased am Inverter board on eBay and I don't really want to mess with the MacBook until it arrives (like I did with another MacBook last year, and I screwed the motherboard up. :mad:) This MacBook is in pristine condition, and I don't want to give it up for parts.

Does anyone have any suggestions before I make any more moves or wait for the inverter to arrive? I'll post a video of it on YouTube and share a link. Thanks!
 
the SAME exact thing is happening to mine as well. Same model and everything. I think mine is a software issue. When my backlight turns off, i turn the brightness back down and up again and it flickers. It happened last night. I have no idea what to do.
 
The inverter, which drives the backlight in displays, is known to be faulty in many Macbooks of that era. It will get worse eventually and will need to be repaired. Apple will charge a fortune to do it, but the used parts are easily available. The problem is that there doesn't seem to be a batch of these which are known to be better, so it may need another repair some time in the future.
 
If you brought this to my workshop, I would be inclined to assume the inverter was on its way out and repair it as such.

So yes, its the most obvious solution in my eyes.
 
chrfr said:
Apple will charge a fortune to do it, but the used parts are easily available.
Click to expand...

Geez, it's a shame how Apple robs people of so much money to fix something that costs me only $7.14 (FREE shipping) on eBay; no more, no less. I definitely know that this MacBook will go with my Mom to Michigan on Thursday! :D
 
Try reinstalling snow leopard, that fixed it for me. I think apple released an update that messes with the inverter.
 
DNAnthonyy said:
Try reinstalling snow leopard, that fixed it for me. I think apple released an update that messes with the inverter.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I'll give it a shot. One question though; Did you still experience the issue during or starting up for the reinstallation?
 
chrfr said:
It's almost certain you need an inverter. Snow Leopard will not help.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I realized that this morning, but I needed to reinstall it anyways; there was a desktop icon glitch, but it's gone now. Oh well, I'll just wait for the inverter board to come, and it should work fine. :)
 
OK, the new inverter arrived in the mail; SAME D**M THING HAPPENS!!!! :mad::mad::mad:

It's no different. Hopefully, it's not the motherboard. Could it be a sleep magnet in the display enclosure or something? I have the MacBook completely apart now.
 
Come to find out, the wiring for the backlight was loose and it broke off after discovering it. Since I didn't have the time to replace the screen this week, I sold the MacBook for a total of $310; That's a huge profit! :D

I'll attempt to build or fix my mom a better MacBook, subsequently. :apple:
 
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