My Problem

The display on my wife's old MacBook would darken to a black screen at the worst possible moment. The iFixit site helped me figure out it was the Display Inverter. I ordered the parts but didn't get to the task until three months later.

My Fix

At first I felt a bit intimidated by the nearly 50 steps for tear-down, but I dove in with confidence. An ice cube tray held the little screws I removed and kept them in order. After two hours, the MacBook was running once again. Now that I've used it for the past month, the symptoms are gone. But, two minor problems remain. (1) the back side of the hinge now has bulging corners (see images) - a reassembly error, and (2) when the angle of the display gets to about 80°, it goes to sleep - the internal switch that triggers display sleep is probably just a bit out of position. The repair was a success.

My Advice

I would have appreciated a "heads-up" with the addition of a comment in the directions when the hinge is removed regarding its reassembly. How do you avoid bulging corners?

My Problem

My 2006 macbook's screen was entering seizure mode. The screen would flicker on and off. The internet said it was most likely the inverter and/or the inverter cable.

My Fix

It was the first time I opened my mac to that degree. It lasted 2-3 hours to take it apart and put it back together. The guides were super helpful and it went super smoothly (besides a couple of shredded screws and what not). I replaced the inverter successfully but the problem persists. I believe it's the inverter cable as it looked pretty messed up.

My Advice

Replace the inverter and the inverter cable at the same time, you don't want to have to open it again if you replace the wrong thing!

My Problem

The screen on my friend's macbook would go dark after about 20 seconds of use. I placed it beneath a work-light and could see image on the screen, so I figured it was the inverter.

My Fix

So many screws and little plastic tabs! I got an 18-egg pack and labeled each hole with the steps that would be involving screws, so I had this nice little screw-separator to keep track of them all. I also had a word document open on my laptop in another window in which I took notes - VERY helpful, weirdly enough.

My Advice

The egg-carton maneuver is killer, I'm assuredly going to do that on all laptops I work on forever. FOREVER

My Problem

I thought it was the inverter but it wasn't and I can't fix it

My Fix

I can't repair it

My Advice

...

My Problem

Screen would go black from time to time, then more frequently until a Pram zap could not bring it back to life. I researched the problem online and the wisdom was that the pram battery was most likely the culprit. If moving the screen created the problem, then the inverter and/or cable was the problem.

My Fix

I began by consulting the local Mac repair shop who informed me (long story short) that there was not pram battery in this model and that I might as well buy myself a new computer. I had found your site, and went back to your excellent manuals and decided to order the inverter and cable. They arrived via Fedex (Tnank god it was not UPS, yiu got my vote one more time there..) and so began the repair. Once I got to the hinge, however, I found that there was indeed and Pram battery and I had to source one out. I decided to replace the parts anyway. I am still awaiting my Pram, so its not back together yet, but I am pleased with myself nonetheless.

My Advice

Advice. Firstly, there are a lot of screws and they are all sizes. I suggest printing off a copy of the tutorial pages an taping the removed screws on in their exact location, keeping the pages in order. this will help when re-assembling. Secondly, the drive needs a small dab of dielectric grease. Thirdly, the foil tape betwixt the superdrive and fan really should be renewed. Fourthly, loctite is a good idea on the screws on reassebly. And lastly a can of compressed air. these are items most of us who don't normally do a computer repair might not have kicking around. A static strap is not necessary but advised and absolutely mandatory if the repair in in a carpeted room. My space is tile and wood floor and I work in bare feet.

My Problem

I did accidentally drop my MacBook and after that all worked well except the backlight. Heard it may be the inverter, so I ordered one from iFixit to get the backlight going again.

My Fix

The process gone quite smoothly, but I had a couple minor difficulties. The lonely screw that's holding the Superdrive (step 20 on the guide) is covered with lot of cables, so it was really hard to get it back. Also on the guide you get the whole display assembly apart from the bottom piece, but my microphone cable was kinda-like-tangled to the subwoofer cable, so it the cable held the top and bottom part, so it was sometimes hard to turn the machine. But apart from them, everything went great!

My Advice

Then I learned it wasn't the inverted, that was broken, so the backlight was still broken. Ordered then the LCD and the Inverter cable to fix it for sure (changed them: now it works!). Good screwdriver is the key to success!

My Problem

The screen backlight on my 2007 black MacBook would go out whenever I opened it past a certain angle. I didn't want to spend hundreds on having the Apple Store work on a 5 year old machine, I don't have the funds for a current upgrade, and I wasn't going to stoop so low as to buy a Windows machine. So, I decided to try the fix myself. I searched the Web and discovered two possible culprits: the inverter cable, and the inverter. So I bought both.

My Fix

The repair went quite smoothly. It took about 3 hours to take apart and put back together, but that was because it was my first hardware repair in years, and my first laptop repair ever. The only step I would have called "difficult" was reinserting the screw securing the optical drive (Step 20), since the data cables kept getting in the way and knocking the screw out of place. Otherwise, it was a simple matter of following directions carefully and meticulously.

My Advice

Make sure you are keeping track of which screws go where as you disassemble. I accomplished this by printing the instructions, laying double-sided tape on the pictures, and sticking the screws, as they came out, head down onto the picture that represented the corresponding step.

Also, get a second pair of hands to help you hold the data cables out of place when you are trying to reinsert the optical drive screw.

And a magnetic head screwdriver is a gift from the Gods.

My Problem

My screen started going black after turning on my laptop but everything was still running and if you put the screen under a lamp, you could see a faint image!

My Fix

My two friends helped me take apart my laptop (which went pretty smoothly!) and replaced the inverter. We put everything back together, turned my laptop on and waited for the moment of truth.....it didn't work. The screen went black again =(

lol we were all very disappointed after all that tedious work!

My Advice

From my research on this site, there's one other part that could be causing this problem--the inverter cable. When I read about the "symptoms" of a bad inverter cable, I thought for sure that wasn't the problem, it definitely seemed like the inverter! I just purchased the inverter cable so I'll see what happens. If that doesn't work, I'm guessing it would be the whole LCD screen--I'm hoping not though, because that's more expensive to replace! =/

My Problem

A customer brought me an early 2009 MacBook whose display suddenly failed. It had no backlight, but an image was still evident on the display.

My Fix

Initially I replaced the inverter. It's a finicky machine to disassemble, but if you take your time, it's not terribly difficult (assuming you're handy). As it turned out, the inverter was fine, it was the LCD panel that failed. After replacing the panel itself, all was well.

My Advice

Get yourself an egg carton. As you remove the screws, label each egg slot with the screw size and drop them in. This is particularly important with this model as there are something like 15 distinct screw sizes and some are of similar lengths, but with different shank sizes.

My Problem

Saturday morning when I started the Macbook the screen blinked then remained black.When I put a flashlight behind the screen, I could see the fish of my start up screen. I closed the computer and started several time. Sometimes the computer started correctly and sometimes not. I could use the computer with an old external screen and a VGA cable. When I searched the french web for a solution, I found that someone had fixed it by changing the Inverter with the help of IFixit. However, I should have looked a bit further and I could have found that the cable of the inverter could also be the cause of the failure

My Fix

I followed the instructions online on my old IBook and appreciated the advised tools that I bought with the inverter. I must say that I enjoyed opening the computer and I took my time.It was bringing back the old the fun of the building blocks for children thought it was more easy to follow the steps on the laptop then reading a leaflet. My wife interrupted me to fix the christmas tree trunk on his support.I must say that it was a bit difficult to steady my movements and getting back to the screwdriver after handling the chain saw. I finished the job, thought, but the screen still did not lit

My Advice

After looking throught Ifixit web site I found that it could be the inverter cable.I made an other bet and ordered a cable to the display inverter and I am waiting for it