Hey guys. I posted this to the apple support forum a couple days ago but they get like 100 posts an hour and there aren't any replies yet... I'd appreciate any help.

I have an Early 2011 13 inch MacBook Pro Model #A1278 running Mavericks. There's a bit of background information that I've got for my problem.

A couple of months ago I suspected that some water might have gotten into my machine and fried the logic board as the display was not working. When I connected the computer to an external display, it would show the grey apple loading screen, and SOMETIMES it would show my desktop background (but only the "extended" part so I didn't have access to my tray or any menus). I took it into an Apple store and they said that the logic board needed replacing because there was corrosion from the water that I suspected. I thought this was a little off because if the video card were compeltely fried then there wouldn't be any images at all showing up on my external device.

My brother-in-law took a look at it and played aroudn with some firmware and it worked fine.

I'm not sure if all that has anything to do with my current problem, but I wanted to provide you with as much information as I could.

A couple nights ago I had my laptop conneted to the TV and the screen slightly opened when my cat jumped on it and slammed it shut. Everything seemed fine and the movie continued to play on my TV. When I unplugged the TV and went to use the laptop, I couldn't see anything. I can confirm that the display does work. When I shine a flashlight through the apple logo, I can see everything. It also works fine on an external device, which I used to confirm that the brightness control is indeed set to maximum. I also tried a few fixes that I found online including those resets where you hold down certain keys during boot up to reset certain systems. Nothing works.

There is one peculiarity that I haven't seen before and I'm uncertain if it's relevant - when I boot up my computer connected to the external display, I see the grey screen with the apple logo, and then it goes to this screen that's mostly white and at the bottom has narrow green rectangles that look almost like a bar graph along the bottom. Looks like something that migth show up when there's a problem with the video rendering process. It lasts for a couple of seconds, and then everything else works fine... my background shows up and I can use the computer normally.

Before I go out and buy a replacement display, I'm going to disconnect and reconnect the wire from the display. I guess it's possible that when my cat slammed it down some connections were severed... but I'm not sure if it's possible for the backlight to be disconnceted but the display still working fine, given it's just one wire connected to the logic board.

I'm wondering if you guys have any other suggestions at what this might be? If it's a software or driver issue that I can fix withotu going through the hassle of replacing the display I'd like to give those a shot first.

Thanks so muchf or all your help!
Justin

Just tried to reconnect the display cable to the logic board, didn't fix anything.

charge your cat the expense of breaking your apple overpriced screen

Haha. I can get a replacement for $77 all in... all I would need is to buy a suction cup to remove the glass (though I'll probably just return it right after) and a heat gun... unless a hair dryer would work.

Your first mistake is owning a cat instead of a dog.

LoL APPLE

Haha. We have two cats. We're going to get a dog when we get our own place :)

Okay, if you have nothing helpful to say just shut up. This whole apple vs. PC debate is as useless as a Toyota vs. Honda debate. It's all personal preference and they both do their jobs. PC laptops malfunction just as Apple laptops do. Go away.

I'm not sure how you can diagnose "a lack of backlight" as a possible software or driver issue, especially since the change occurred after your cat jumped on it.

Corrosion is definitely a possible reason. Perhaps part of the circuitry connecting to your laptop display is corroded (resulting in the eventual lack of backlight and other minor issues), but not the portions that connect to an external TV or screen.

Xinhuan - I was thinking that since you can adjust the brightness of the backlight or shut it off completely using buttons on the keyboard there may be something telling the backlight to be off rather than a hardware malfunction...

def not a driver issue/software b/c you can use external display.

your cat broke your screen when its 10lb body landed on it, one way or the other.

Those buttons are merely electronic signals that tell the circuitry to send less (more) voltage to darken (brighten) the backlight. Sure, the button presses are obviously intercepted by the OS first, so there is a possibility of a driver or OS issue, but considering it is likely no one else in the world has this issue (google search), that possibility is next to zero. There aren't many versions of MacBooks (hardware wise) and Mavericks easily supports all the ones made during/after 2008, and Macs have extremely standardized hardware (and thus standardized software and drivers).

Okay. Just wanted to rule out the possibility before going ahead and ordering a replacement. Thanks!

I just got a new MBP to replace the one I bought in 2006 (yes, it lasted for over 7 years and was still working great). I love these machines.

The only problem I have noticed over the years with various MacBooks is the batteries should really be replaced every couple of years. Apple uses a different battery type and it has a tendency to expand over time. This can put pressure on other internal components if left unaddressed for a long period of time. I replaced the battery on my old MBP twice in 7 years and it was fine. We just replaced the battery on my wife's 2008 MB for the first time and it solved an issue for her that was related to the internal pressure.

Anyway, I doubt this has anything to do with your problem. Good luck!

PC MASTER RACE