Older Macbook Pro screen gone blank

First off, this is not my Macbook Pro, it's my brother's woman's. I'm just trying to help her save a few bucks because I'm a tad tech savvy. Not sure which model it is, so I took pics.

Problem

The screen went blank. It just looks off. No picture at all. She said it happened once a year ago and it just fixed itself. She says she didn't drop it... And there doesn't seem to be any marks that shows it's been dropped. I plugged it into my TV via the VGA adapter and the machine is still booting and working.

Questions

1. I'm guessing it's a ribbon cable somewhere coming loose. How in the world do I get to it? I can't figure it out for the life of me.

2. Is there any other reason's this might happen?

Here's the pics of the Macbook so those of you who really know the hardware could probably spot what generation it is:











Thanks!

We need to determine if it has to do with the display or the GPU. You said you plugged it into a TV via VGA and it worked. Does that mean you were able to get a picture on the TV? If so, the graphics adapter is OK.

Also - turn off the lights in the room and look closely at the screen of the MBP; can you see anything at all or is completely black? If you can see something on the screen, however faint, that would indicate the backlight or the inverter which powers the backlight has failed.

Completely black could indicate a bad display or as you stated about the cable.

To get at the inside of the unit, go to iFixit: The free repair manual and look up the take apart instructions or the step by step for changing out a display. You'll need the model number of the MBP and also the SN if possible.

Regards.