Episodic White Screen on MacBook

[Angstromm]

Screen goes bright white when I move lid--no visible sign of desktop items. Then when I close lid, reopen and wake, the desktop appears as expected. Rinse, repeat (problem is easy to recreate). BTW, desktop doesn't always reappear on resume, but usually I can get it to show up.

Some sort of cable issue?

MacBook Core 2 Duo A1181

Thanks!

 

[chscag]

Some sort of cable issue?

That's what I would suspect. Go to www.ifixit.com and take a look at their take apart instructions which will give you a good idea of where all the cables and connectors are.

And Welcome to the Mac-Forums.

 

[callmedory]

Take it to the Apple Store and see if there’s a problem that’s covered under the soon-to-end repair program for laptops. My mid-2011 laptop wouldn’t boot. Turns out the logic board had a problem. My problems were not what other people were finding online who were also covered by the program (I had googled “Apple laptop graphics crash”). And the $310 repair was covered under the program--free repair by Apple is nice.

Program ends mid-February.

 

[pigoo3]

Take it to the Apple Store and see if there’s a problem that’s covered under the soon-to-end repair program for laptops. My mid-2011 laptop wouldn’t boot. Turns out the logic board had a problem. My problems were not what other people were finding online who were also covered by the program (I had googled “Apple laptop graphics crash”). And the $310 repair was covered under the program--free repair by Apple is nice.

Program ends mid-February.

Again. OP has a 2008 MacBook. This model is not covered under this program:

- computer is too old
- computer is a MacBook not a MacBook Pro
- computer has a 13" display.

ONLY 2011 15" and 17" MacBook Pro's and 15" retina MacBook Pro's from mid-2012 to Early 2013 are covered.

- Nick

 

[Angstromm]

That's what I would suspect. Go to www.ifixit.com and take a look at their take apart instructions which will give you a good idea of where all the cables and connectors are.

And Welcome to the Mac-Forums.

Hey, thanks chscag! I have checked out that site and seen their "MacBook Core 2 Duo Inverter Cable Replacement" guide. Looks easy, actually. I'm just not sure if this is the source of my problem, or not, and if so, is it the Inverter Cable I need to replace? Sigh...

 

[techiesteve]

When the inverter cable commonly fails, the backlight fails causing a black screen. Shining a torch on the LCD will show a very dim image, not the OP's issue. One possibility is the cable from the rear of the LCD that wraps around the hinge before exiting behind the optical drive and connecting to the logic board.

 

[Angstromm]

When the inverter cable commonly fails, the backlight fails causing a black screen. Shining a torch on the LCD will show a very dim image, not the OP's issue. One possibility is the cable from the rear of the LCD that wraps around the hinge before exiting behind the optical drive and connecting to the logic board.

Thanks for the reply!

Right, so it must be the Display Data Cable. Thing is, i can't find any new ones out there, only used on eBay. Sigh