Quick Check

Blank / No Video, No Backlight

• No video

• No backlight

• Dim backlight

1. Verify display being used with supported system.

2. Verify USB/display/power connectors are fully seated.

3. Use with known-good system. If used as second display, check display preferences to see
if display is recognized by system.

4. Check brightness setting.

Deep Dive

Check Result Action Code

1. Verify display’s USB hub and built-in camera are listed in the System Profiler’s USB device
tree.

Yes Power supply and USB communication OK.

Go to step 3.

No Go to step 2.

2. Unplug and replug the Mini DisplayPort connector into a known-good, supported,

powered-up portable system and monitor the portable’s display. Verify that the portable’s
display briefly turns off then back on.

Yes Display detected by system.

Go to step 3.

No Go to Dead Unit/No Power symptom code flow.

3. Darken room and connect to a known-good supported system. Verify backlight by looking
for faint glow from display.

Yes Video signal from host system OK. Backlight ON.

Go to step 5.

No Go to step 4.

4. Verify that the LCD function interface cable and LED driver cable connections are secure.
See Functional Overview.
Yes If connections are OK and secure and the display is still blank, go to step 5.

No If cable is damaged, replace all-in-one cable or replace function cable.

5. Shine bright (low heat) flashlight into the front of the LCD. Verify if an image is being
displayed.

Yes Image present but backlight is not ON. Go to step 6.

No Replace LCD panel.

6. Verify voltage on logic board between test point TP81 (24.5VDC) and chassis ground

(GND) is 23.3–25.7 VDC.

Yes LED backlight power present.

Replace LCD panel.

No Poor or no LED backlight power at logic board.

Replace logic board."

Step 6 is most probably the give away. If all this checks out, you will have to replace the LCD.
Hope this helps, good luck.
https://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/169538/What+components+need+replacing+on+the+Logic+board
Jason, this is not as easy as just recommending a certain part that has failed. You do want to check your logic
board over and see if you find any bulging or leaking capacitors. Just because the power /sound/etc. may be
there, you can also not rule out the power supply. It may not supply the power to the LED backlight. You will
need to check on that as well, take a good luck on the logic board. There should also be a fuse for the backlight,
which may have failed. Post a couple of hi-res images of your logic board with your question, so we may look at
it and see if we can come up with something more concrete. I would also suggest that you try the Apple Deep
Dive for Blank / No Video, No Backlight:
Check Result Action Code
1. Connect display to AC power source. Connect Mini DisplayPort, MagSafe and USB
connectors into a known good, supported, powered-up portable. Verify display’s USB
hub and built-in camera are listed in the System Profiler’s USB device tree.
Yes
Power is available to the display logic board, and USB communication working.
Go to step 2.
No
Go to Dead Unit/No Power.
2. Unplug and replug Mini DisplayPort connector into a known-good, supported, powered-up portable system
and monitor the portable’s display. Verify that the
portable’s display briefly turns off then back on.
Yes
LCD is powered and detected by system. Go to step 7.
No
Suspected no power to LCD panel or no DisplayPort connection with system. Go
to step 3.
3. Remove glass and LCD panel screws, slightly pivot LCD panel and verify that the internal DisplayPort cable
(part of all-inone cable) and function cable are fully connected to LCD panel and logic board.
Yes
Go to step 4.
No
Reseat DisplayPort connection to LCD panel and/or function cable connections between logic board and LCD
panel and retest.
If issue persists go to step 4.
For any damaged cable, replace affected cable before testing again:
- all-in-one cable.
- function cable.
4. Unplug and replug Mini DisplayPort connector into a known-good, supported,
powered-up portable system and monitor the portable’s display. Verify that the
portable’s display briefly turns off then back on.
Yes
LCD is powered and detected by system. Go to step 7.
No
Suspect no power to LCD. Replace function cable and retest. If issue persists go to
step 5.
5. Replace all-in-one cable and reinstall LCD. Unplug and replug the Mini DisplayPort
connector into a knowngood, supported, powered-up portable system and monitor
the portable’s display. Verify that the portable’s display briefly turns off then back on.
Yes
LCD panel powered and detected by system. Go to step 7.
No
LCD panel still not detected by system. Suspect no LCD power from logic board.
Go to step 6.
6. Replace logic board and reinstall LCD. Unplug and replug the Mini DisplayPort
connector into a knowngood, supported, powered-up portable system and monitor
the portable’s display. Verify that the portable’s display briefly turns off then back on.
Yes
LCD panel powered and detected by system. Go to step 7.
No
LCD panel still not detected by system with replaced function cable, all-in-one cable and logic board. Suspect
LCD panel video input damage.
Replace LCD panel.
7. If the Blank/No Video/No Backlight issue persists, darken room and connect to a knowngood supported
system. Verify backlight is present by looking for faint glow from display.
Yes
LCD panel powered, detected by system and backlight is ON but there is no video on LCD. Replace LCD panel.
No
LCD panel is detected by system but no backlight. Check whether video is present on LCD. Go to step 8.
8. Shine bright (low heat) flashlight into the front of the LCD. and verify if any image is
being displayed.
Yes
Video is present, so issue is only with missing backlight. Go to step 9.
No
No image displayed on LCD Replace LCD panel.
9. Remove glass and LCD panel screws, lift LCD panel to verify that the function cable, and LED backlight driver
cable connections are secure. See Functional Overview.
Yes
If connections are OK and secure and there is still no backlight, go to step 10.
No
If any cable is damaged, replace affected cable and retest:
- function cable
- LED backlight driver cable (part of LCD panel)
10. Remove LCD panel. Set digital multimeter to DC and correct range, and verify that a 23.3–25.7 V DC voltage
is present between logic board test point (24 V DC) and chassis ground (GND).
Yes
24 V DC power for backlight is present on logic board, but no backlight. Suspect no
V-sync signal coming to logic board. Go to step 11.
No
No 24 V DC present for LED backlight power. Replace power supply.
11. Replace function cable and retest. Verify that the no backlight issue is fixed.
Yes
Defective function cable prevented backlight from being enabled by logic board.
No
Go to step 12.
12. Verify if the LED backlight driver cable (part of the LCD panel) has any signs of pinched or shorted wires. Also
remove the logic board and verify if one or more of the three square inductors or adjacent components on top
of board show signs of overheating.
Yes
LED backlight driver cable on LCD panel found damaged. Replace LCD panel, (make
sure that you don’t pinch the LED driver cable from LCD panel) and retest. If the no backlight issue persists after
LCD panel replacement, replace logic board (LED backlight output from logic board had been damaged by
shorted cable.)
No
Suspect no LED backlight output from logic board: go to step 12.
13. Replace logic board and verify that the no backlight issue is fixed.
Yes
Defective logic board LED backlight driver output.
No
Replace LCD panel.
Before you go and replace anything let us know what you found. Hope this helps, good luck.
introduction
Before you choose this solution, keep in mind, there are many problems that cause no backlight. For example
the mosfet, coil and diode components may be broken. In this case the driver detects a failure (with the feedback
resistor) and turns off. In my case everything was right. The microcontroller doesn't provide the PWM signal. But
it took a long time to get this information. First I measured the signals on the board. Is the driver enabled? What
is the input value of the PWM (S1 and S2) pin. I also checked (with the help of the data sheet) the mosfets, coils
and diodes: Which pin of the driver is connected to the gate of what mosfet and what kind of function does it
have? In the end I found out, that the external components are ok, so I began to make some tests with the driver!

In the image

100% pwm signal

you can see the little wire that put the 3.3 voltage as input for the pwm signal. The backlight turns on and the
cinema display is alive again!

the long story

After four years of using the backlight of the LED Cinema Display 27" was turned off. First the backlight was very
low or was flickering while trying to dim the display via the system panel. I turned the display off and on and then
it was dark.

With the help of a torch light I saw a faint image of the desktop. USB and magsafe were working as well. So the
display is working without the backlight.

First of all I teardowned the display like it shown in Teardown Apple Display

The interesting parts are

 the led driver HV9982

 the mosfets and coils of the driver (producing 80 voltage for the led stripes)

 the microcontroller

The led driver (called HV9982) is responsible to drive the leds stripes with current. It cares about the right
current, because LEDs require more precise current management. The data sheet of the HV9982 you can find
some basic information about the driver and this function:

HV9982 is a three-channel, closed loop, peak-current mode PWM controller designed to drive a constant out-
put current. It can be used for driving either RGB LEDs or multiple channels of white LEDs.

identifying the components

In the next image you can see the led driver with its external components:
the led driver
 the mosfet, coils and feedback resistors (orange)

 the connector for the led stripes (green)

 the led driver chip (blue)

the pins of the led driver
The led driver is controlled by the microntroller in the next picture:

the microcontoller
The controller turns the led driver on if the computer is connected via thunderbolt cable. With a multimeter you
can measure a 3.3 volt signal on pin 10 (enabled). If the computer is unplugged then the signal is bound to
ground. But be aware the is only litte space between the pins! Keep an eye on it to avoid short circuits! (To be
honest, I did three short circuits, one hurts a bit and one does a nice spark.)

identifying the connections

With the multimeter you can track the connections from pin to pin. I found out that the microntroller is connected
to the pin 10 (enabled) and the pwm pins (17,18,19). The S1 and S2 pin are bound to ground and that means
that the led driver is driven in the PWM mode. With the help of an oscilloscope I found out that the
microcontroller does not send a PWM signal. He turns the led driver on but "forget" the create the PWM signal. In
this case the backlight stays dark without any light. And you think the display is broken. (see for PWM)

But we have some luck! We can bridge the signal to 100%. We just connect the PWM pins to logical one and
that is 3.3 volt. I found a pad that give me the 3.3 voltage and the pwm pins from the microcontoller are bridget
by three 0 ohm resistor (labeled with R1132, R1133 and R1135). You cannot just put 3.3 volt to the pwm pins
because they are connected with the microcontroller. This would cause a short circuit. In the following image you
can see how the microntroller is connected to the pwm pins of the led driver:

the connection the the pwm pins

The "R1" is a pull down resistor which is used the put a logical 0 to the pwm pins if the microncontroller does
nothing. Now we make the following connection:
the modified schema with constant 100% PWM

The led driver is a three channel pwm controller and the board contains all components for three channels and
the connector is prepared for three channel but channel three is not used! So don't put 3.3 ohn R1133! In this
case the led driver detects an error and switch off. The led cinema display has only two led stripes!
Therefore connect only R1135 and R1132 with 3.3 volt.

So what do you think now? The problem is not a hardware problem, it is a software problem. The software within
the microcontroller won't create the pwm signal. Unfortunately we don't have the source code, so we are not able
to patch the firmware. We just cut the connections from the microcontroller and send now a pwm signal about
100%. You aren't able to dim any more and you needn't buy a new one! Is this a software error or just a hint that
you should buy a new display?
the 3.3 volt pad and the 0 ohm resistors

Good luck! Please keep in mind:

 Avoid short circuit! The spaces between the components are very small!

 The led driver creates up to 80 voltage!! That hurt's!

 The board has 24 voltage!

 You need two solder irons to unsolder the resistors.

next steps
 Disassamble the firmware and find the interesting code

 Maybe we find a code that is used to disable pwm after reaching a curtain value?

 Maybe we find a code that simulates flickering and abnormal dimming to give the user some impression
that the cinema display is "going" to get out of order next time?

 Or it is just an error and the firmware thinks, that the display is in sleeping mode.

PS: It was the **third display** where the backlight turns out. Unfortunately I didn't check them and they are
trashed, because the local apple dealer said, that repairing is too expensive than buying a new one!
full backlight again