Chosen Solution
My son in law set a magnetic auto emergency light, like a construction worker uses, on top of his Macbook A1181. Now it appears to boot up but only the top left 2 square inches of screen looks normal. The rest looks like colored horizontal and vertical colored lines that change with mouse movement. Looks almost like plaid fabric. In the top left I can see the Apple, Finer File Edit View and GO pull down menus. The rest of the screen is plaid. Any ideas? Do I need to replace the screen? How can a magnet screw up the screen but not the harddrive. I have replaced a macbook 1181 in a different machine recently. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
You got lucky, it seems like he only managed to damage the LCD panel. Try verifying this by connecting it to an external display. If it works on an external display, you will need to replace the LCD panel. Here is a replacement part, and here are installation guides: Guide For Core Duo Model Guide For Core 2 Duo Model If the MacBook has a Core Duo processor, use the first guide, if it has a Core 2 Duo processor, use the second guide.
Sorry, Mayer, but degaussing works only on cathode ray tube displays, not on Liquid Crystal Displays. My guess is the weight of the emergency light unit, not the magnet, damaged the display.
I’d try taking it to an old CRT TV repairman. All the screen may need is a de-gausing.
