Help! MBP Screen Not Working

[thebassoonist]

Hello all,

My MBP's (October 2007) screen just stopped working. I don't know what's up. It's not the backlight, because I've turned my backlight off before and you can still see the screen faintly, but I can't see anything. I ran to Target to buy an external monitor - but they were out, so I bought a TV (Sylvania lc195slx) in hopes of that working. Well, it didn't work. I am currently using a newer MBP (September 2009) borrowed for a few minutes from a friend to write this and test the TV. Her MBP was able to hook up to the TV just fine. So now I'm wondering if there is a video driver error or something.

This is really bad timing, as I have to do a presentation on Tuesday for a final and I'm still working on finding the information. I am freaking out... anyway, if you can offer any advice to get the screen and/or tv working, that would be great! And I'm using my DVI to VGA adapter to plug my computer into the tv.

AGH.

 

[BlueRevolution]

You're getting no signal when you connect it to the TV? That sounds like a logic board problem to me. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that you'll have it back from the shop in time for your presentation, and the repair may cost more than your computer is worth.

 

[cmaier]

Probably the well-known nVidia bug. Same thing happened to my similar-vintage MBP. Took it to the genius bar and three days later my mainboard swap was complete. No charge since it's a known defect.

 

[thebassoonist]

Thank you guys. What a case of Murphy's Law. But maybe the extra long warranty will be worth it.

So tomorrow when I go to a Genius bar appointment and they tell me that it's going to be out of commission for 3 days, there's not computer-loan type thing... right? When this happens, do people typically buy a new computer? Or...?

 

[pcman2000]

-post Deleted-

 

[cmaier]

Thank you guys. What a case of Murphy's Law. But maybe the extra long warranty will be worth it.

So tomorrow when I go to a Genius bar appointment and they tell me that it's going to be out of commission for 3 days, there's not computer-loan type thing... right? When this happens, do people typically buy a new computer? Or...?

You hand them your computer, they test it for the nVidia bug, they order a new mainboard and replace it. Takes a couple days. No loan.

 

[JediMeister]

The article documenting the nVidia card issue is this.