When I turned on my first generation Core Duo MacBook Pro I got in early 2006 this evening the backlight refuses to turn on using the function keys on the keyboard. All other keyboard functions are fine.
If I shine a torch at the screen I can just barely make out the windows and can adjust the brightness slider in the Display prefpanel, but nothing happens. Using an external monitor I can use the machine, but the internal display is still black.
Not sure whether this is a problem with Snow Leopard, I sure as heck hope so but it’s looking increasingly unlikely. I didn’t have the backlight Snow Leopard installation problem, but could this be related?
Things I’ve tried so far and have failed:
- Resetting the PRAM (three times)
- Resetting the PMU
This is really serious. I need to take this machine to classes. If it’s a hardware failure and I can only use an external display, I’m in big trouble.
Excuse the newbie non-techie question, but would an external laptop light help in any way?
*Steps back and waits nervously*
Well yes I guess one could if I wanted to get used to squinting for the rest of my uni days :(. I also doubt the practicality of carrying around a lamp to my lectures.
The first time I heard this problem about Snow Leopard which makes me believe that the problem is not connected to the new OS.
Most of the problem relates to apps compatibility.
Just a note to let you know I’ve had the same problem with my 2006 white macbook a few days after installing snow leopard. A reboot and then adjusting the brightness worked for me (adjusting brightness before reboot did nothing). It sounds like you’ve already tried that and more several times, so unfortunately yours may be hardware related. Best of luck.
It also happened with my MacBook Pro after upgrading to Snow Leopard, and still not solved :/
It turned out my problem was a coincidence, I had a damaged inverter board. If your MacBook Pro is a 2009 model I’d take it to Apple as soon as possible to find out what the problem is, it’s still under warranty.
Same issue here, since the installation of snow leopard it has happened 3 times on my 2006 macbook. Never before. A reboot is sufficient to restore the backlight but this is quite annoying.
Glad to hear you had success just rebooting Julien, I ended up having to replace my inverter.