Macbook Pro Broken LCD

I'm hoping that someone out there has a good idea for my problem. My Fiancee has a macbook pro I'm not sure of the specifications but I know it's intel running tiger. I would be glad to give you more detail's but the problem is the LCD has stopped working.

For about the past 6 month the screen had been experiencing some problems, at first it was just a single green line that ran from top to bottom 1px wide.

Over time other symptoms emerged the first was, certain times the screen would fade out. The brightness of the screen would remain constant, but the picture would freeze and then the colors would invert and eventually fade to grey. Usually pulling the screen towards you then letting it go a couple of times would remedy it.

The third problem that emerged was a picture distortion, sometimes the menu bar at the top would take up 3/4's of the screen and the rest would be indistinguishable. Also remedied by wiggling the screen.

Then she packed the computer up to take it to the library and when she turned it on the LCD did not light up. She brought it home and I took a flashlight to it and there was nothing on the LCD. We checked into the warranty and it's over.

I'm a Network Admin, and work on computers all the time, but I can count on one hand the number of times i've used a mac. So I began to disassemble the unit to check the video ribbon, which appears to be in better shape then most laptop video ribbons, I went to a friends and scrounged an identical cable, that did not work either. So i replaced the first cable and reassembled the unit. Now I am trying to keep the unit from becoming a 2500$ paperweight by using an external monitor. I'm using the mac video cable that goes from the external port on the laptop to VGA.

Theres no video, the macbook starts and I can hear the startup chime, and the keyboard lights up, also hitting the volume keys works as well. When I hit F7 I still get nothing.

My fiancee tells me that there's never been an external monitor hooked up before.

I have scoured Google, this forum for similar issues, found some with broken screens, I've tried everything listed in those posts, but to no avail. I'm hoping one of you all will have some advice.

Thank you in advance
Harry.

If you can not get video from the display port output to an external monitor, that almost narrows the problem down to the GPU which is located on the logic board of the MBP. The problem with the GPU is that although it's a discrete unit (has its own separate memory) it's integrated within the logic board. Surface mounted I believe.

That means the entire logic board would have to be replaced. I'm not sure of cost (you can check on line at various Mac service centers) but it's not an inexpensive repair. Probably in the neighborhood of $700 or more.

The LCD is probably OK although it might be a good idea to have it checked out at the same time. I doubt if it's the backlight or inverter unit because they would have no impact on using an external monitor.

You might advise your fiancee that a new 13" MacBook Pro sells for around $1199.00 less tax.

Regards.