Screen won't turn on. HOLY CRAP PLEASE HELP!

[permutated]

Came home, turned on my Titanium Macbook Pro.

The AHHH sound came on, as did my illuminated keyboard, and the little light (the idle light next to the drive). But the screen is BLANK. The sound toggles work, nothing else. The screen brightness buttons do nothing.

When I close the top the idle light gets brigther.

What's going on. Please tell me I don't need to replace the screen.

 

[martinmartin]

Came home, turned on my Titanium Macbook Pro.

The AHHH sound came on, as did my illuminated keyboard, and the little light (the idle light next to the drive). But the screen is BLANK. The sound toggles work, nothing else. The screen brightness buttons do nothing.

When I close the top the idle light gets brigther.

What's going on. Please tell me I don't need to replace the screen.

this happened to me a few weeks ago. they had to replace the logic board. may or may not have been related to the faulty nvidia card - there are actually quite a few threads going on about this same issue...

 

[ziggyonice]

If possible, you should try connecting your computer to an external display. If nothing shows up on the display, then you know the problem lies with the graphics card (which is on the logic board). If your machine happens to meet the correct criteria (bad nVidia graphics card), Apple may replace it free-of-charge, regardless if the machine is in or out of warranty.

If after connecting it to an external display, you CAN see the screen... then yes, your LCD might have a problem. If could be something as simple as cabling, or it may need to be replaced.

What is the status of your warranty?

 

[BlueRevolution]

If you look at the screen under bright light, can you see ghosts of what's on the screen, or is it completely blank? (I'm not sure if this works with glossy screens.)

There has never been a titanium MacBook Pro. All MacBooks Pro are made using aluminum. The only titanium laptop Apple ever made was the 15" PowerBook. Do you mean unibody?

 

[permutated]

Yes, it's the unibody.

So if they replace it (and I've done a bit of research on this NVidia issue since posting the OP), do they take the computer from me for repairs? Or do they just give me a new computer? Do I get to keep my harddrive when they take it for repairs? (It has valuable information on it).

Also, would flashing the RAM/Cache possibly fix it? Could anyone explain how i do that?

 

[ziggyonice]

Yes, it's the unibody.

So if they replace it (and I've done a bit of research on this NVidia issue since posting the OP), do they take the computer from me for repairs? Or do they just give me a new computer?

It'd depend on when you bought it really. If the computer is brand new (and I mean, less than two weeks since purchase) they may replace it. If it's older than that, it'd have to be taken in for repairs.

Do I get to keep my harddrive when they take it for repairs? (It has valuable information on it).

Nope. Generally, if it's Apple, you just give them the whole machine. In most cases they don't have to touch your hard drive, although it's usually a good idea to back up your info before sending it in (just in case).

Also, would flashing the RAM/Cache possibly fix it? Could anyone explain how i do that?

It probably won't fix it, but to do it, hold down Command, Option, P, R while starting up the computer. Keep it held down through the startup chime, until you hear the startup chime a second time. It'll be reset once you hear the second chime.

 

[permutated]

Thanks Ziggy, the flash didn't work but I've been meaning to do that for quite some time regardless.

I'll take it to the Apple store tomorrow, I work right next to one. Do you think they would let me keep the hard drive if I ask them nicely? It has personal information I'd not be comfortable with giving out.

If not,

1) is there a way to backup without a screen?

2) Is there a way to wipe the hard drive clean?

 

[ziggyonice]

I'll take it to the Apple store tomorrow, I work right next to one. Do you think they would let me keep the hard drive if I ask them nicely? It has personal information I'd not be comfortable with giving out.

They might. It's worth a shot. Many Apple Stores do repairs in-house, so they probably wouldn’t touch the hard drive anyway, unless it had to go off to an Apple repair depot.

If not,

1) is there a way to backup without a screen?
2) Is there a way to wipe the hard drive clean?

If you've got another Mac handy, it's pretty easy. Or even if you have an external hard drive enclosure. Basically, you just need some way to connect the hard drive to another computer. If you can do that, you can pull the info off the disk and back it up. So if you have another computer available, yes -- it's possible to do, as long as you have the cables to do it.

If you're wanting to wipe it, you'll need to do something similar, as you can't see the screen. You can wipe a drive using Disk Utility on a Mac, so if you've got another Mac nearby, that's your answer.

Finally, you can still try connecting to another monitor. If that works, you can see everything, just on the monitor instead of the LED screen. This would allow you to easily make a backup (as you'd be able to see what you're doing).

 

[permutated]

Ziggy you are the man! (or woman )

I don't mind wiping it. I have an external drive I use for time machine and my wife has a regular (white) Macbook.

Is there a way to connect the Drive to her computer and my computer to hers and use the white macbook as some sort of middleman? You don't need to explain if you know of a good tutorial somewhere I can spend however long it takes

Again, many thanks, you have eased my brain after a ridiculously hard day. I believe this is the last question I have for you as well

 

[ziggyonice]

Ziggy you are the man! (or woman )

Man

I don't mind wiping it. I have an external drive I use for time machine and my wife has a regular (white) Macbook.

Is there a way to connect the Drive to her computer and my computer to hers and use the white macbook as some sort of middleman?

Yes, you can do just that -- use the white MacBook as a middleman. You're going to need a FireWire 800 to 400 cable to do this, however. These cables are also called FireWire 9 to 6 pin, and you can find them at many electronics stores and online. Note, however, that they'll be expensive at places like Radio Shack or Best Buy. You can find them much cheaper online (granted, that may not be an option right now).

But... once you've got one of these cables, you can connect one end into your MacBook Pro and the other into your wife's MacBook. You have to then restart your MacBook Pro while holding down the letter "T", which boots into FireWire disk mode. Meanwhile, on your wife's MacBook, you'll see the hard drive image for your computer appear on her desktop (as if it were an external disk). You can then take the files off of it and copy onto her computer.

Now you mentioned that you've got an external drive as well. The external drive will have to be a USB connection (because the FireWire port on her machine will be in use by your MacBook Pro). But with both the external drive and your computer connected to the white MacBook, you can use it as a middleman and simply drag the files from your drive and drop them onto the USB external.

 

[permutated]

Damn Ziggy, thank you so much for all your help! I'll report back when it's done.

BTW, how do I reformat the Macbook Pro once I'm done grabbing all the files? Since it's in disk mode do I just reformat it like a regular external drive on the finder?

You rock

 

[ziggyonice]

Damn Ziggy, thank you so much for all your help! I'll report back when it's done.

Haha, I try.

BTW, how do I reformat the Macbook Pro once I'm done grabbing all the files? Since it's in disk mode do I just reformat it like a regular external drive on the finder?

Bingo. Because it's in disk mode, the MacBook will see it as though it were an external drive. If you want to completely format it, I'd recommend using Disk Utility (located in the Applications folder > Utilities folder). It will show you a list of all drives connected to the computer. With the drive for your MacBook Pro selected, there will be a tab simply titled, "Erase" on the right side of the window. Select it, change any preferences you'd prefer (format type, name of drive, etc.), and simply proceed with the erasure.

Hope this helps!

 

[BlueRevolution]

BTW, how do I reformat the Macbook Pro once I'm done grabbing all the files? Since it's in disk mode do I just reformat it like a regular external drive on the finder?

That's right. If you're concerned about the integrity of your data, I suggest zeroing your hard drive (under Security Options in Disk Utility) while formatting.

 

[permutated]

Hey guys, so I have the disks setup, partitioned and everything.

I only have one small problem, how do I go about creating that virtual image of my connected drive (on my original mac) to the external drive? I want to be able to boot up and restore from an image directly (when I reinstall OSX after the repairs are done), but when I go into the time machine preferences (on my wife's macbook) it just gives me the option of including that drive in the included backup folder list, not necessarily giving me the option of making it an image of my own computer, just an archive of all the files. If that makes sense?

Patiently awaiting assistance

 

[permutated]

quick Blue, while Ziggy's asleep

 

[BlueRevolution]

Hey guys, so I have the disks setup, partitioned and everything.

I only have one small problem, how do I go about creating that virtual image of my connected drive (on my original mac) to the external drive? I want to be able to boot up and restore from an image directly (when I reinstall OSX after the repairs are done), but when I go into the time machine preferences (on my wife's macbook) it just gives me the option of including that drive in the included backup folder list, not necessarily giving me the option of making it an image of my own computer, just an archive of all the files. If that makes sense?

Patiently awaiting assistance

You can use Carbon Copy Cloner to create a bootable clone of your hard drive, either onto another drive or partition, or to a .dmg file. Once you have your computer back, use the program again to get things back to normal.

quick Blue, while Ziggy's asleep

 

[chrono1081]

This has probably been posted but I didn't get to read everything. When the computer is turned on shine a flashlight on the screen. If you see your desktop your backlights went.