What have a screwed up NOW? - Screen not functioning

[Skowey]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum so hopefully I'm not asking something that has been previously answered.

The top case of my macbook (keyboard, track pad etc.) began to crack along the bottom where the cover makes contact with it. I have heard about this happening to several people and decided to take it to an Apple Store for repair, alas its not covered by warrenty and is about $300 to replace. So I went to ebay and bought a top case for $40 and replaced it myself.

There was nothing too complicated to it, nothing I haven't done before, and I made sure to be very careful. Now when I power it up to see if it works the screen brightness is on the lowest setting. The setting where you can tell its on when the light hits it JUST right.

I can hit the brightness controls and see the bar moving up and down from max to min yet it doesn't change the actual brightness.

Any suggestions as to what I've done?

Thanks

 

[christm]

does the brightness refuse to change in system prefs and on the keyboard or just one of them. ?

 

[Skowey]

Thanks for that, I hadn't even thought of checking the system prefs.

Unfortunately it doesn't make a difference there either, I can put the slider anywhere I want and the screen remains dark.

 

[dtravis7]

It sounds like the backlight is not coming on. When you put it back together did you plug in firmly the cables from the display to the motherboard?

 

[Skowey]

I don't seem to remember unplugging anything coming from the screen. I was sure (at the time) that the only thing unplugged was the top case.

Guess I'll have to open it up again and check, I was just hoping that it could be a software issue that I could resolve without going through taking out the 200 screws again.

 

[Glenners]

Yeah if you can still see the screen from the right angle then I would say it's the backlight.

 

[bigal]

First post here, but though that I'd register to give you some advice.

I work for an AASP in the UK, and we've been instructed by Apple that the splintering is a known issue, and to replace the top case on any MB's that this happens on. If the Apple Store says NO, then go back to them and reference Apple Document number 305390. I can't give you a copy of it, as Apple class it's contents as confidential, and we're not allowed to disclose its contents - how can you replace a "damaged" macbook under waranty without telling the customer that it's a known issue and Apple's aware of it?

Secondly, the cable connection from the screen to the motherboard does cause the symptoms that you've got; we had a customer bring in a dropped MacBook, expecting to pay a few hundred £££'s to get a new screen, when it only cost him £60 for us just to plug the cable back in.

I think that the cable in question, is under the ribon cable to the right of where the keyboard plugs in (if that makes sense)

 

[dtravis7]

I don't seem to remember unplugging anything coming from the screen. I was sure (at the time) that the only thing unplugged was the top case.

Guess I'll have to open it up again and check, I was just hoping that it could be a software issue that I could resolve without going through taking out the 200 screws again.

Never heard back from you. Did you check your connections from the display to the Macbook? Did you find the problem?

 

[dadsgravy]

said somethings that shouldn't have been said.

)

This probably isn't the place but that's not cool. You are devolving private information and it violets apple's confidentiality.

 

[Skowey]

Never heard back from you. Did you check your connections from the display to the Macbook? Did you find the problem?

Yeah, thanks. I opened it up again after much hesitation and there was a loose connection. I plugged it back in and everything fired up great again.

I think I misaligned the keyboard slightly because the dvd in my drive won't eject anymore. It seems I can't fix one problem without creating another.

I apologize for the delay in my response, it was Victoria day here in Canada, so I took off camping for a little while.

 

[knightlie]

This probably isn't the place but that's not cool. You are devolving private information and it violets apple's confidentiality.

He didn't devolve (sic) anything, did he? And it's "violates", not "violets"...

 

[thehumble1]

When putting the case back together, there are three screws that sit inside the fuzzy slot cover of the DVD drive. To screw these in, you pass a thin driver down a slot from above (top side, in the middle of the right edge of computer facing you). Check to make sure you haven't used the wrong screws or haven't set the screws far enough down. These are different screws than most; they have smaller heads and sit recessed. If any of the screw is above the countersink hold, the DVD will hit it as it is ejected. ifixit.com has this in the walkthrough.