Broken bezel/case macbook pro

Hi there:

So I have a 15" macbook pro from June 2008. The computer was working just fine until one day I noticed a small crack in the bezel near the screen, within days there was another crack on the other side and the screen had a gap of about 1/4 in between the screen and the top of the case. Also the hinge part that connects the screen to the keyboard had come apart and there were a few wires exposed. At that point, I couldn't see anything displayed on the screen. I could hear it power on etc. I went to the Apple store and of course they advised me to buy a new macbook pro which I did. They transferred all of my files/downloads to my new laptop and off I went. Now I'm wondering if the old macbook is repairable after all. The geniuses said the hard drive, logic board etc were in good working order. So if it was just a crack in the bezel and case why no display on the screen. Anybody have any idea what I need replaced to get this computer back up and running?

Welcome to the Mac Forums.

The reason the Apple store genius advised you to buy a new MBP is that the entire display case and maybe the display also would have to be changed out. That would be an expensive repair and not easily a DIY job.

You might give a thought to selling it "as is" for parts on eBay. You'd be surprised how much a non functioning MBP can bring. And by the way, if you had Apple care on that machine....... Hindsight.

Do you intend to get it up and running so you can sell it? If so I would suggest selling as is on ebay as your repairs may be costly. If not check out iFixit.com and gauge if you can do the repairs yourself.

Sounds like your LVDS cable may have been caught in your hinge and has a short. Happens often but usually there is some sort of physical damage to begin the process. The LVDS cable runs through the hinge, and can easily become damaged and stripped by repeatedly opening the screen while the cable it out of place. Eventually the insulation of the cable is compromised and no longer carries data to the LCD.

First off....boot the laptop with an external display. This rules out any GPU problems before you begin to spend money on this machine. Make sure everything is functional and stable.

After that my suggestion would be to take apart the laptop (use ifixit for a teardown guide). Visually inspect the damage around the hinge and the LVDS cable. Most likely you are going to see a bare spot in the wire and a cracked hinge(s). Replacing the hinge is pretty straightforward. The LCD must come out to allow for replacing the LVDS cable. Removing the bezel can be a little tricky...but if you are going to replace it anyway you can be a more deliberate with it. Be careful with the new one...they warp and crack easily.

Replace the hinge(s) and LVDS cable first and try the laptop before re-assembling. It doesn't happen often, but a faulty cable has been know to short the LCD panel itself. If yours work after replacing just the cable...great! If not, you are looking at a panel replacement as well.

Should be able to pull off the repairs for less than $75. If you need the panel, add another $125 to that.

Make sure you read the ifixit guide thoroughly before teardown and confirm that you have the correct sized tools for the job. The screws in the laptop strip easily when using the wrong sized screwdrivers.

Be patient and ask questions here if you get stuck. Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestions. I had apple care on it for the first year, but then let it expire. Lesson learned. I was thinking of fixing it to give to my 15 year old, but not sure if I have the skills or patience to mess with it. I don't have access to an external hard drive, but when the geniuses transferred my data, they said the hard drive, logic board etc was fine. I may end up selling it on ebay, but without knowing for sure whats's wrong with it wouldn't want to "screw" anyone over if it turned out to be something really costly to repair. But since the computer was perfect up until the crack I'm almost certain it's just at most that I've fried out the display since there are a ton of wires exposed. This top case is basically hanging on by a thread to the bottom case. Looks like I'll check out that website and if it looks too involved it's off to ebay. Does anyone know what a fair price for a 2008 macbook pro 15" intel core 2 duo dual core processor 2.5 Ghz, with a ram of 2 Gb, a hard drive of 200 Gb with this kind of issue? Thanks again for all your suggestions. I'm definitely a Mac guy, so I hope I don't have the same complication with my new macbook pro.

I meant to say external monitor.

I buy broken macbooks quite regularly and my cutoff for this specific machine would be around $350-375. But it is hard to tell exactly without actually seeing the damage.

Well, I see how little say I have in this house, my wife just told me she put it on ebay yesterday. She said she started the bid for $275 and put several pics up. I don't have the darned ebay password though so I can't see it, but I'll search through ebay and see what kind of pictures she took.Thanks guys.