New MacBook shows no more than a blank screen

[HiramNL]

My MacBook arrived today, and I pressed the power button for the first time. Heard the chime, saw the screen backlight turn on. And then nothing. No Apple logo, nothing.

The system is loading just fine, and after a little while I hear a female voice saying 'English' -- that must be the language selection screen, which I can't see, because the screen is still a bright white rectangle, nothing else.

I called AppleCare and following their instructions reset the PRAM, and the PMU. Tried loading the Install DVD. Result is invariably: a blank, white screen.

After a while, the bright white screen dims. That's the screensaver. O irony!

AppleCare gave up and told me I needed to order a new one. Or get my money back. This means waiting another two weeks, as white MacBooks are not in stock in the Netherlands, yet, and have to be shipped here from China.

Is there anything I could try to remedy this, before sending it back?

 

[Makosuke]

Nope. The backlight is obviously working just fine, the screen just isn't getting a signal from the graphics chip. Hardware problem that you're just not going to be able to fix--nothing to do but wait for a replacement. Bad luck, but it does happen, and better now than after you spent the time to get everything set up and files transferred over.

(Ok, to be entirely truthful, there's a microscopic chance that there's a loose cable somewhere internally, in which case you could take it apart and try to fix it yourself. Unless you're very good, this would of course void your warranty, a rather stupid thing to do with a computer that was DOA.)