White screen/ no back light

Question

Hi people
heres the brief history of my problem.
1. i had a new HD installed 2 years ago. 60gb (dont know if this info is important)
2. i had "the back light" problem for 16 months now. usually when i could find the sweet spot it would work and i just didnt touch it.
3. i DID drop the laptop like 2 months ago and the hinge/Screen is broken and is like a raggedy anne doll. but once again if i can angle it, it works and the back light comes on. BUT I HAVE BEEN PRESSING THE LEFT WRIST AREA; OR TORQUING THE LAPTOP HEAVILY TO GET THE LIGHT TO COME ON: BENDING FROM OPPOSITE CORNERS.
4. last night the cursor froze. i restarted with the PMU thing. didnt work, screen was black. i let it sit for an hour and then it did start up. i was able to get the light etc. hours later cursor froze again and now its very hard to find the light and when i do get it lit, its just an all white screen. the volume buttons work etc. as if it did start up, just that i cant see anything and no cursor, but i suppose it didnt start up.
ive been perusing the board for some time now. i cant start up with the utility disk. shift doesnt work, etc. and of course its dark sometimes so i cant even see whats happening, but nonetheless im pretty sure its still all white.
questions: is the blackness still a problem with the backlight hinge problem, or is not being able to find the lighted sweet spot also not in connection with the whole problem of not starting? is this the logic board? i really dont know what that means. is taking out the extra RAM i added when i got it in 2005 really going to possibly help anything?
im headed back to USA in two weeks to buy a macbook so i also wonder if all the torquing i was doing to get the screen lit could hurt the HD. is it worth it to save the HD from it and use it as an Ex HD,(so my files are saved) or does the problem ive explained relate to it and its probably the problem. i guess i dont want to buy the case to make it an Ex HD only to find out its shot. How durable are they etc? compared to the logic board etc... can i still boot up from my other ex HD now with this problem?
living in foreign country, during xmas, alone and now with no connection to home, or movies ... very sad
thanks

Answer 1

Hey mike,
2. i had "the back light" problem for 16 months now. usually when i could find the sweet spot it would work and i just didnt touch it.
That sounds like an inverter cable problem. It runs up the right side and can break usually near the hinge point.
3. i DID drop the laptop like 2 months ago
Yes they don't like that.
and the hinge/Screen is broken and is like a raggedy anne doll. but once again if i can angle it, it works and the back light comes on.
Right that would exacerbate your inverter cable problem.
BUT I HAVE BEEN PRESSING THE LEFT WRIST AREA; OR TORQUING THE LAPTOP HEAVILY TO GET THE LIGHT TO COME ON: BENDING FROM OPPOSITE CORNERS.
Ohh don't do that. The actual area is under the option - Apple keys that's where the graphics chip is located and it's on the bottom of the logic board. Put pressure there from underneath.
What is underneath "THE LEFT WRIST AREA" is your hard drive. There was a case here a while back when a poster was putting excessive pressure there, heard a grinding noise and their hard drive was dead from that point on.
4. last night the cursor froze... its just an all white screen.
So possibly hard drive is dead. Try starting it up in target mode. If it will do that then there's still a connection. If it can be seen by another Mac via FireWire then it's still OK.
Oh and Merry Christmas Mike.
Richard
Message was edited by: spudnuty