My Macbook A1286 only shows a black screen

Hello muneernijm,

Thank you for reaching out to Apple Support Communities, and we'll be happy to help in any way we can. We understand you're having issues with a black screen on your Mac. Try the steps listed here to see if they resolve the issue: If your Mac starts up to a blank screen - Apple Support

"If your Mac starts up to a blank screen

A blank screen (black, gray, or blue) should appear once or more during startup. If your Mac appears to be stuck on a blank screen, follow these steps.

Try to start up from macOS Recovery

If your Mac seems to be turned on but the screen remains blank, follow the appropriate steps depending on whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon. If you're not sure, you can try it both ways.

Apple silicon

1. Press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds, until you see the startup options window, which includes a gear icon labeled Options. Select Options, then click Continue.
2. If you never see the startup options window, release the power button, then repeat step 1.

Intel processor

1. Press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds.
2. Press and release the power button, then immediately press and hold Command (⌘)-R until you see an Apple logo or other image."

If you can start up from macOS Recovery

If you started up from macOS Recovery, you should see a utilities window that includes Disk Utility. Select Disk Utility, then click Continue and follow the steps in this article:

Use Disk Utility to repair your startup disk

If Disk Utility found no errors, reinstall macOS.

If Disk Utility found errors and repaired them, restart your Mac. If the issue returns after restarting, reinstall macOS.

If you can't start up from macOS Recovery

If you can't start up from macOS Recovery, your Mac might not be turning on at all:

If your Mac doesn't turn on

Contact us

If the issue continues, contact Apple Support."

We hope this helps.

Cheers!

..muneernijm..

Steps told of here, should help - if your integrated display can use default graphics low energy level.

• Find out which graphics processor is in use on your MacBook Pro - Apple Support

//support.apple.com/en-us/HT202053

This may not help troubleshoot an external display; as other issues may affect that hardware.

And the issue may require 'authorized service provider' for out of warranty repairs. To get a

further idea on what else may work, check into 'fix it sites' online; for more extensive detail.

that may be a MacBook Pro 15-in from about 2011.

That and similar models had Dual Graphics, and the Discrete graphics chips sometimes failed.

After trying K_Faith's step, try one specific to this situation:

completely disconnect your external displays if any.

do an SMC reset. (no penalty for doing it multiple times)

try to start up normally.

let readers know if anything changes

I don't think the LCD cable is replaceable separately, but I am not an expert at internals of this model.

If the built-in display stopped working, and your external display is still working, you have a working computer, just not portable.

When you connect an external display is these dual-graphics models, it runs ALL displays off the Discrete graphics processor.

This failure can't be the typical discrete graphics failure -- Discrete Graphics seems to be working fine.