MacBook A1278 extremely dim screen could be graphical issue?

Whenever I try to turn my Macbook on the screen is almost completely dark, I can see the outline of the booting Apple logo and the progress bar at the bottom however that vanishes after around 5 minutes of the progress bar slowly going up. I have tried plugging it into an external monitor however I get nothing but it does not seem to be booting into the OS either

Is this a Graphical issue or a LCD issue? I am very willing to buy a new LCD if that is the issue.

The Macbook chargers perfectly, holds battery fine, boot sounds come on when I turn it on, I have had it open, it seems to all be in working order.

If you plug in an external monitor does it eventually become usable or do you not get any output at all? If the screen is dark, can you play with the brightness buttons to see what happens? If that doesn't work, perhaps the backlight on the LCD is busted.

I left it plugged into an external monitor and it finally connected and turned on however all I get is a blurred OS X Sierra background with a mouse and if I do not move the mouse after 2 minutes it will go into Stand By mode until I press a key again.

How old is this machine? When did this start happening? You are running Sierra? Have you tried booting into Safe Mode to see if it might boot up?

I think it is a mid 2010 I am not too sure how to tell without being in the OS, I will try to boot into safe mode now and will update you on the progression.

I have found through serial number look up that it is an early 2011 i5 model. I tried to boot into safe mode however I did not seem to achieve anything.

Your MacBook Pro uses integrated Intel graphics so it's unlikely to be a problem with the GPU. And since you were able to get video on an external monitor we can eliminate graphics as the problem. The screen darkness could be related to a failing backlight. Your model MacBook Pro uses LED backlighting which is controlled from an interface on the logic board. Of course it could also be a bad LCD display. Suggest taking your MacBook Pro to an Apple Store and have them run diagnostics on it. An Apple Store does not charge for diagnostics but will charge you for any repairs they perform. If you use an authorized Apple service repair facility to do the diagnostics, they will charge a fee. Best to go to an Apple Store but make an appointment with them first.

I presumed that as its rather old they wont bother looking at it. I have a friend with the same year model with a working screen that will let me take it apart and test it. it is very clear the inside needs cleaning and there seems to be some corrosion on a screw on the top right of the motherboard.

I presumed that as its rather old they wont bother looking at it.

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You'll need to ask Apple. I don't know if your model MacBook Pro is considered obsolete or not. If it is obsolete according to Apple, then you are correct in that they will not look at it.

I have a screen on the way to test the system however I have found if I shine my phones torch into the screen I can see the system booting into the OS, the screen looks slightly damaged so if the problem is not the screen it should be the backlight?

It does sound like the backlight if you can shine your flashlight on the display and see video. Your 2011 model uses LED backlighting so it could be the interface.

Check out this Apple Discussions forum thread which deals with the same problem as you're having. And the MacBook Pro is likewise an early 2011.

LINK

If the SMC reset doesn't work, follow what the thread recommends by going to www.ifixit.com for take apart insructions and the location of the possible affected parts.

That torch trick tells us it is the backlight.

The reset did not work so I went to take a look at the back light connector and it seems to be completely broken and corroded. I will try with the new screen to see if it the connector is the issue and not the port.

Those pictures sure look like a liquid spill on the Mac at some point. All that corrosion on all those components sure looks like liquid damage to me.

Yeah it looks like it has had some liquid damage at some point however the computer seems to be fully functional expect from the backlight.

I agree, that's corrosion from liquid damage. You're going to need to replace that logic board, not the display. Since it's a 2011 model, you might want to consider selling it for parts and buy something that's a later model - perhaps a 2013 or 2014. Personally, I would not waste any more time trying to repair that one, not with all that corrosion present. However, that's up to you.

And at the time of the liquid spill, who knows what stray voltage got shorted into any given component on the board? The connector looks "fried" in the middle, could have taken a shot of electricity that started it on the trail to failure. I am with chscag on this one, and in the words of Bones McCoy, "She's dead, Jim."