Macbook Screen Problems

[Ziggy45]

Whenever I tilt my screen in a certain position, the whole screen will go black. The computer is still on and I can still hear sound, I just can't see anything on the screen. A friend suggested clearing the p ram but that didn't help. My macbook is going on 4 years old, but I'm hoping that it getting old isn't the problem. If anyone has any ideas please let me know, thanks.

 

[Pax]

It is probably the cable which powers the backlight. The backlight is behind the LCD panel itself. The LCD makes the image, but the backlight provides the light so that you can see it. The cable runs from the logic board through the hinge to the display. It's a known weak point (not just on Macs)

You can check:- put your screen in the position where it's "black". Then take a torch or another bright light and shine it on the screen. If you can still see the image in the torchlight, it's your backlight cable. You may have to look carefully, eg in a dimly lit room.

The cable itself is quite cheap, but replacement is quite an expensive job, you basically have to take the whole computer apart to get at the hinge. It may be cheaper to just not use the screen in that position 🙂

 

[Ziggy45]

Yep that looks to be the problem. As long as it doesn't get worse I should be fine. Thanks for the help!