# Display replacement questions for the pros



## kelman (Sep 25, 2010)

I have a couple of macbooks that i have collected over time to frankenstein together and I have a few questions.
I have two with good displays and I have two that only work with external monitors,the built in display is not working. I dont know the history of the macbooks other than what I am telling you.
One question is, is there a chance that one might damage the other?
What i mean is, if I join the good display top case to the good bottom logic board (at least it seems so because it works with external) is there a chance the logic board might be flawed and damage the display? Could the video on the board do damage to the LCD?
The other question is, some of the connections are different from year to year, can I use the inverter board from one model display for use with the replacement so it plugs into the logic board or just exchanging the jumper cable will do?
I appreciate any help you can give me, I want to put these together, I have a few friends waiting on me to buy them.
Thanks guys!


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## kelman (Sep 25, 2010)

23 views and no comments?


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## kelman (Sep 25, 2010)

should this be in the mac and ipod help and troubleshooting area?


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Apparently Mac Masters don't repair MacBooks. 

Maybe you should part them out.


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## kelman (Sep 25, 2010)

guess so, thanks for the suggestion....


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## Nick (Aug 24, 2002)

Personally I can't answer your specific questions, but I would still try to fix them.


You may want to check the ribbon cables that go to the display. They simply could of worn out/broken. It's entirely possible both the logic board and screen is fine.

Generally speaking a faulty display won't hurt a logic board, and a faulty logic board could hurt the display, but not likely.

Good luck.


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## GlassOnion (Mar 22, 2004)

Nick said:


> Personally I can't answer your specific questions, but I would still try to fix them.
> 
> 
> You may want to check the ribbon cables that go to the display. They simply could of worn out/broken. It's entirely possible both the logic board and screen is fine.
> ...


Well a LCD panel itself can't hurt a logic board but an inverter cable that cut in the hinge and produce an electric short yes. I saw many units with logic board components blown by a hinge electric short.


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## teknokracy (Apr 8, 2003)

That's a tough one to troubleshoot. A screen won't damage a logic board unless there's some kind of electrical fault, but there is also the possibility that the screen itself no longer works due to other damage such as the backlight, ribbon cable, or even the video chip being damaged on the laptop itself. Maybe you could clarify how many MacBooks you have, what models they are, and what problems each one has. You said "a couple" but it also sounds like you have four.


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## kelman (Sep 25, 2010)

Well to bring you all up to date, I had a 2.2 and a 2.4 macbook with black (broken) displays and I had two dead macbooks with good displays. I had another macbook with no issues and used it to confirm the working displays. I then stripped out the displays from the broken macbooks and using the good displays and known working cables, tested the pairing of the two parts. Well neither macbook worked with good displays. Toasted video chips I guess. Also the displays on both broken macbooks still worked. Ended up selling both and now just have the two good displays. Plan on holding onto them for future repairs if needed. Turns out I have one of each, a black and a white. Thanks all for the input.


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