Display freezes, fades to white, inverts, then bleeds to bluish

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Hi there,

I joined this forum with the hope of finding help for a specific problem. I found one result on Google of someone complaining of an identical issue with exactly the same kind of MacBook as me, but the answers weren't particularly helpful. Here is what they said:
I have a:

MacBook (13-inch, aluminum, late 2008)
Model number: A1278
2GHz IC2D
2GB RAM
160GB HD
running 10.5.8

The display will fade to white (almost a corduroy look) then fades more, so that it looks inverted (like a film negative), then fades more so that there is no display except a blueish screen with small vertical blue, purple and black lines - think norther lights. If I wiggle the display assembly just right I can get the display back and fully functional. Sometimes it will hold seemingly indefinitely and other times it will will be okay for a while then fade again.

The only thing I would like to add is that occasionally the flickering occurs so that cursor movements are jumpy, because the screen rapidly freezes and unfreezes.

I suspect this is a hardware problem. I have never dropped my MacBook, or spilled anything on it, etc.

Any ideas? Help would be greatly appreciated. If I'd be able to fix it myself then even better.

Thanks in advance.
 

chscag

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Possibly the LVDS cable is either loose or being pinched by the hinge assembly. That's the cable which carries the video from the Logic board to the LCD screen. The cable may have to be replaced. Go to iFixit: The free repair manual to get the take apart instructions to get at the cable. They may also have one in stock. If not there, you could try Mac Repair - Mac Parts and Service for Apple Macbook, iPhone, iPad. Note: The cable may be OK and just needs to be re-orientated. But you do need to take the machine apart first.
 
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Possibly the LVDS cable is either loose or being pinched by the hinge assembly. That's the cable which carries the video from the Logic board to the LCD screen. The cable may have to be replaced. Go to iFixit: The free repair manual to get the take apart instructions to get at the cable. They may also have one in stock. If not there, you could try Mac Repair - Mac Parts and Service for Apple Macbook, iPhone, iPad. Note: The cable may be OK and just needs to be re-orientated. But you do need to take the machine apart first.

Thanks for the reply, I'll give this a go as soon as I can. If the cable was just being pinched, would I need to take the monitor off completely?
 

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