Resurrect old MacBook - how to check if video cable is broken?

[Giuanniello]

My sis has an old MacBook white, I suppose one of the very first ones, it starts on but no video comes, I suspect something broke, probably the cable from the mainboard to the screen, before opening (which I know being hard) I'll love to check it out, the only thing I can actually perform is to wire it to another Mac via FireWire (thanks FireWire, why the hell did you Apple take it off of recent computers???) as to find out it actually starts up and work but how do I check if it is "just" a video connection issue? I thought to buy a MiniDvi to either VGA or DVI adaptor to connect it to an external screen to find out, any other solution you might suggest?

Thank you

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

I think the adapter approach is the best one, because then you can identify specifically if it is the screen, if something comes up.

Alternatively, if it can boot and you can access it using an ethernet cable and screen share, you can check what it tells about the screen in system info. This is likely the cheapest approach if screenshare is active, and the machine boots, as most people have an ethernet cable.

 

[Giuanniello]

Uhm, this sounds good, I never used the ethernet screen share option, I guess it had to be active on the MacBook before I can attempt, how does that work?

Grazie