I have a 2007 santa rose mbp and recently I have been having display issues. Out of nowhere is seems that my display just goes black. You can tell that the screen is still on because of the backlighting; its just the picture that seems to disappear. However, the computer still seems to be working fine. I can remote screen share and use the computer normally as if nothing happened. I have no idea if this is some kind of a hardware or software problem... Can this be an indication of the 8600M GT dying? Has this happened to anyone else? Any insight would be helpful. Thank youuu
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
No Display?
- Thread starter damesJ
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
What's the model number on the bottom? Does it come back if you move the display assembly back and forth or tap it?
Model number is A1226.. and nothing happens when I move the display assembly. Just stays black.
Something similar happened to mine, but it always stayed black and never turned on. Because of a small crack on the bezel (which seems to me like it would happen from normal opening and closing of the screen over the years) apple didn't want to fix it under warranty. I have they same computer, and ended up getting it (and said crack) fixed for free by talking to Apple's Executive Relations. If your warranty is up, hope its the graphics card which is covered longer.
Yes, your 8600M GT is dead 
. Go to Apple (they extended the warranty on these Macbook Pro models) and they will replace it with the same motherboard that will fail in future. At least it will last another 3 years.
. Go to Apple (they extended the warranty on these Macbook Pro models) and they will replace it with the same motherboard that will fail in future. At least it will last another 3 years.
I doubt it's the graphics card. When there's a GPU issue, there will typically be messed up video, or no video. Here, we have flawless video, with no backlight.
The three culprits, in order of most likely to least likely.
a) Bad inverter board. Costs a few dollars in quantity, tops $20 buying one at a time. Easy fix.
b) Bad I/O board which powers the inverter board. Can cost under $100 if you find the right source for the part. Install might be troublesome. It is possible to repair this board, but it is just not worth it since it is too often found under $50, which is worth it opposed to spending 2-5 hours on something that may or may not bear fruit.
c) Backlight issue on the screen. You need a new screen.
The three culprits, in order of most likely to least likely.
a) Bad inverter board. Costs a few dollars in quantity, tops $20 buying one at a time. Easy fix.
b) Bad I/O board which powers the inverter board. Can cost under $100 if you find the right source for the part. Install might be troublesome. It is possible to repair this board, but it is just not worth it since it is too often found under $50, which is worth it opposed to spending 2-5 hours on something that may or may not bear fruit.
c) Backlight issue on the screen. You need a new screen.
Hmm... this is strange now. When I booted into windows via bootcamp the screen begins to work just fine. Once I'm in windows I boot back into snow leopard. The screen continues to work for awhile. Then the display will just turn black out of nowhere. So I booted into windows again and the screen started again too.