I have an early 2009 model Macbook running Yosemite. Recently the backlight will flash for a second or two after opening the computer and then go dark. The screen works perfectly fine - only the backlight is on the fritz. I've tried zapping the PRAM (let it chime at least 7 times) and that worked until I closed and reopened my computer again. After that it no longer fixed the issue. I also tried resetting the SMC but still no luck. A friend of mine suggested it might be a hardware issue with the reed switch but I'd like to rule out everything else before taking my computer apart. Thanks for the help!
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Macbook backlight not working
- Thread starter hew2702
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I had a similar issue with my mid-2007 MB a few years back, it turned out that the inverter cable for the backlight was at fault. The Apple store charged me around $35 for that repair IIRC so it's actually a fairly cheap fix.
A PRAM reset will not fix a bad inverter cable, you have to get it replaced. Having it work again after the PRAM reset was a coincidence, the inverter cable usually gets worn out by repeated opening and closing of the screen.