Chosen Solution
Hi all, Fellow Pro user here. Would appreciate some from those knowledgable with hardware repair! I have a late 2013 Macbook Pro 15 inch Retina. It’s primary display is no longer recognized, and according to Apple Diagnostics it is suffering from error codes: VFD004, VFD005, and VFD001. The internal display is currently not recognized, but it works perfectly on an external display. I’ve replaced the LVDS cable, and for 24 hours afterwards, the internal display functioned perfectly. However, it has now died again.
The display connector looked in suspiciously poor condition. A new logic board costs 300+ and is a pain to fix. The cable is brand new, and clearly fine. But at the moment it’s hard to ignore the connector itself as being the likely culprit. Are there any other components I should consider, eg. display fuse? Many thanks for any opinions. These machines are yet to be superseded in use value in my opinion, so I’d like to keep this one going without having to spend a fortune. Prior to the display not functioning, artifacts and flickering appeared occasionally on the display.The macbook would get unexpectedly hot.It has suffered no liquid damage, and there has not been any degradation of the display whatsoever.
Sadly, the display has indeed gotten liquid damage. In this case I’m sure you did your self in when you tried cleaning the screen. Like many you used a window cleaner spray directly onto the screen. What happens is it drips down to the bottom and thats the area which you have in your picture. To prevent this spray a cloth to then wipe the display. The white and green junk is the dried cleaner and corrosion. With the battery disconnected you can try to clean the connector area using a soft tooth brush and distilled water to clean off the junk. After cleaning you’ll want to wash the area down with 85% or better Isopropyl alcohol to rinse way any of the water and letting the part dry. See if that works. If the display is still dark take a flashlight and shine it through the apple logo in the lid are you able to see the faint images of your desktop? If you do then you’ll need to check your backlight logic to see if thats fixable.
@dowly based on your image you have some work to do. Number 1 is to clean it as outlined on the first answer you received. Number two is to replace your display connector. Once you remove the old one, double check your solder pads. Looks like you have a few that are no longer present. You can most likely repair those by applying jumpers. It will be more evident once the board is cleaned etc. Post some images after that. Now, it may also be possible that you need to replace the display once more. It is conceivable that it has gotten shorted out on the connector end. Here is the main issue, you will have to have the tools to work on this as well as the skills to do so. If you need to send it out for repair, the cost will be most likely be higher than a replacement board.
