Screen keeps going black, running slow

[Sambo110]

My sisters Macbook has been running slow for a while, and now the screen stays on for no longer than 10 seconds, and to get it back on you have to close the screen for a few seconds, open it and press enter. And it seems to be running slow. Apple hardware test says that there is nothing wrong with it, and I have no ideas what could be wrong or how to fix it, so any help would be much appreciated . Thanks.

 

[DoFoT9]

could be any number of things. but could be either the hardware or software at this stage. can you boot from the OSX disk and attempt to repair disk permissions?

if the black issues dont happen, then its likely software - if they continue to happen then its likely hardware (hard drive or CPU/GPU).

 

[Sambo110]

I did repair disk before, but now I can't even get the screen to turn on :\. It turns on when I restart the computer, but it goes black once it gets past the Apple loading grey screen.

 

[DoFoT9]

I did repair disk before, but now I can't even get the screen to turn on :\. It turns on when I restart the computer, but it goes black once it gets past the Apple loading grey screen.

once it gets past of the loading apple grey screen, this is when attempting to boot from a disc, or from the hard drive?

if its from the disc then it is definetely a hardware issue that will most probably be costly

 

[Sambo110]

Well, I got the screen back on. I found out that it doesn't turn off, just goes really dark, like how if you turn the brightness to the lowest on a Macbook it is too dark to see, that's how it goes. I did all 4 of the repair/verify things, and no success. So the screen doesn't turn completely off, just really dark :\

 

[DoFoT9]

Well, I got the screen back on. I found out that it doesn't turn off, just goes really dark, like how if you turn the brightness to the lowest on a Macbook it is too dark to see, that's how it goes. I did all 4 of the repair/verify things, and no success. So the screen doesn't turn completely off, just really dark :\

ok that definitely narrows it down to a backlight issue - hardware. maybe its worth pulling apart to see if the backlight cable has become lose?

 

[Sambo110]

That might make sense. Every time it is opened then closed while logged in it stays on for about 10-30 seconds before going really dark. How would I go about opening up the screen? It is a white Macbook.

EDIT: I turned the brightness down to about half way, and it hasn't turned off for a couple of minutes. I'll see how it goes.

 

[DoFoT9]

That might make sense. Every time it is opened then closed while logged in it stays on for about 10-30 seconds before going really dark. How would I go about opening up the screen? It is a white Macbook.

yea it seems to point to that. here is a guide to ripping everything apart (click logic board). that should show you how to do it

interesting about the half brightness thing.. how very odd. let us know!

 

[Sambo110]

Now every time she turns the brightness up full, it goes off. Weird, but I guess she'll just have to use it at a lower brightness.

 

[DoFoT9]

Now every time she turns the brightness up full, it goes off. Weird, but I guess she'll just have to use it at a lower brightness.

that could be an indicator of something else then, such as the power brick dying - or the motherboard dying (and cannot give the screen enough power at full brightness). or it could even be the screen itself. youd have to take it to apple for them to fully know.. but i would assume that the problem will only worsen

 

[playitlouder]

I'm having the exact same problem with my black 2008 macbook. I don't think it's running any slower, but I have the same screen problem. It started a couple months ago, and at this point (and for the past several weeks) the screen only works on the lowest brightness setting. It works absolutely fine with an external monitor, but at this point I'm really wanting to get it fixed. There isn't a mac store anywhere near me.. I could take it to my school's computer store, which specializes in mac products, but that's a bit of a drive at the moment too. Another forum I checked said it sounds like my display data cable is dying, and offered an online guide to repairing it myself (my brother and dad are both good with PC repairs, so I'm thinking they could probably handle taking it apart and replacing the cable with directions) but I'm wary of purchasing the hardware for it and then finding out that it was something other than the cable that's broken.
What other possible hardware problems could it be?

 

[julianps]

We have a similar issue

That is to say the backlight goes out periodically.

It's there at startup and wake from sleep; how long it's there for depends upon a number of factors none of which I can determine with accuracy.

I did a PMU/PRAM reset and it worked fine for about 2 hours then after being asleep for a while reverted back to no backlight (I can see that the screen's fine and I can use mirroring and access the laptop via screen-sharing.

So far as I can tell the components are a screen including all cables, an inverter and an inverter-cable. So far as I can tell the LCD backlights are not separate from the screen itself.

Does anyone know a) what the inverter does; and, b) what the Applecare diagnostic path is for testing screen component failure?

With thanks,

Jules