Macbook external display issues

[DarkHeraldMage]

Hopefully I'm not hijacking this thread since my query is similar. The screen on my MBP appears to have gone out. Apple store told me to back it up then bring it in to be shipped off for either LCD replacement or graphic card replacement. When I came home to back it up via firewire to friend's mac, the screen came on. Hoping it would work, I came home to do a time machine backup, and no more screen. I have an external monitor to connect to it and have done so, but the laptop keeps booting and the connected monitor remains black. Can I force it entirely onto the other screen somehow? I'm desperate for a way to backup before handing over my computer at the risk they'll wipe it.

 

[Big-TDI-Guy]

Closing the laptop while it's on / connected to the external doesn't transfer to the external?

 

[DarkHeraldMage]

Closing the laptop while it's on / connected to the external doesn't transfer to the external?

Nope. The external monitor pretends it's not plugged into anything. I'm so mad at myself; I had the screen working, but my airport wasn't showing up and I stupidly restarted the laptop to see if it would reconnect, and as soon as the screen dimmed to restart, it hasn't come back since. *kicks self* Apple would do it for me for $50, but that will take hours of sitting up there, if not more. And it won't be Time Machine, it'll be an ugly copying of folders.

 

[portent]

Closing the laptop while it's on / connected to the external doesn't transfer to the external?

You also need an external keyboard and/or mouse, otherwise the computer will just sleep right through everything.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3131

 

[mkrishnan]

I made you your own thread... this has almost nothing to do with the thread you posted it in... please don't threadjack. Thanks!

In any event... have you tried other basics like resetting the Macbook's firmware? Usually, backlight or panel failure is failure. It could be something like a loose cable, but it's a little unusual for it to not work, suddenly work, and then not work again because of a hardware issue.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1367

 

[DarkHeraldMage]

I made you your own thread... this has almost nothing to do with the thread you posted it in... please don't threadjack. Thanks!

In any event... have you tried other basics like resetting the Macbook's firmware? Usually, backlight or panel failure is failure. It could be something like a loose cable, but it's a little unusual for it to not work, suddenly work, and then not work again because of a hardware issue.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1367

Thanks. Didn't mean to threadjack. Just got desperate. No excuse. That link you provided gave me some good pointers, so I'll try that tonight. Thanks.

 

[mkrishnan]

Is this a Macbook that has firewire? If so, you can probably still also use firewire target disk mode + another Mac + your backup drive, without even having to use the screen on the damaged Mac.

 

[DarkHeraldMage]

Is this a Macbook that has firewire? If so, you can probably still also use firewire target disk mode + another Mac + your backup drive, without even having to use the screen on the damaged Mac.

Yeah, my Macbook Pro has firewire, but I did just that last night and it ran for hours just preparing the data to transfer, never actually getting to the point where it was copying anything over. It was ridiculous. Tonight I'm going to try duplicating the drive to an external instead of just copying it over myself. I am hoping that will run faster. I'm ready to cry I'm so frustrated.