Wife's Macbook white (Santa Rosa/Penryn) not working right

Mi Problema

For some time, the backlight would not illuminate at certain opening-angles of the screen. Of course, these would be the most convenient ones. Over time, this seemed to get worse. A local repairshop gave me an estimate to fix in excess of €250 which I found too high, given the original price and age of the laptop. It was working OK otherwise.

Mi Solución

I checked the forums for others with my problem and it became clear that the most likely thing to have failed was the Inverter cable, something I wasn't certain about.

The repair wasn't difficult, as long as you have the right precision screwdriver (I used a PH-00 throughout). The spudger came in handy as well.

The repair instructions were very clear and easy to follow. There were only a few steps that had me checking the instructions a few times, mainly because the default instructions are for the older version. The information for the Penryn is there.

The thing I found most problematic was removing the screen bezel as the little clamps remained stuck and I broke a few when removing them. Believe the instructions, they are extremely fragile.

Mi Consejo

Read the instructions to the end before you start, that will give you better confidence you're following the right path.

Be aware that it is a long process. It took me 2 hours to complete the replacement, including a short break. Putting the laptop back together goes much faster than taking it apart.