My buddy dropped my MacBook Pro A1211 yesterday. It's impossible to make sense out of anything on the screen now when booted up. I connected a secondary monitor and after pressing Command+F1 I can access the desktop via the secondary monitor and all else seems to be working fine (computer operation normal, apple logo lit up, and backlight working).

Depending on what I have open at the moment (with the screens mirrored) the internal screen changes. Sometimes it's completely white with nothing else, sometimes there are several vertical lines of varying colors, and sometimes I can even see movement.

I'm trying to figure out if I just need to replace the screen...or if I need to get a new screen and cables...or what!?!

Any help is HUGELY appreciated...I'm a musician and use this MacBook Pro daily for our live performance...leaving for a month long tour in 3 days!!

http://www.powerbookmedic.com/wordpress/2009/07/31/diagnose-your-lcd-problem

So...

After reading that whole link above I understand much more than before. I am not ready to purchase my parts because apparently the culprit is a dead video chip on the logic board. I just want to confirm that it sounds like the issue.

My 15" macbook pro fell out of my backpack onto the pavement from about 3 feet up. It landed square on the back. After that the screen stopped working. The external connection works fine and the computer seems to work just fine otherwise.

The screen is black with faint gray stripes that change. I see no visible cracks but the vertical lines sometimes change to horizontal lines. No backlight, no faint image of what is on the screen. Just some lines that seem to change with major changes in the screen.

So I am just looking for some specifics if it is an inverter or logic board or what...

Thanks Dini

hard to say. if it works on an external that helps rule out the logic board but doesn't completely. I would probably try an LCD first, check the cables, and then start looking at the logic board as the issue.