Chosen Solution
I have an early 2008 17 inch MacBook Pro with the 1920x1200 Matte Screen. The display is black but the system works fine with an external monitor. Could I just replace the screen or does the screen assembly need to be replaced? I had the spotlights problem for several years on this system which I assume was the fluorescent backlight.
@movdqa check the inverter first. There could be reasons other than a bad LCD display. This video as well as this should work for you
