10.6.3 13" MacBook LCD backlight off after resume form sleep.

Please ignore the two instances of "pre" in my previous posts, I was trying to tag the coding with [ pre / but it was not correct, you can run a
man pmset
from the terminal to see the correct formatting.

Apple is aware of this problem and ignored it, but it was a problem with all the Macbook Pros before the unibody design, where the latch is shody.

I'm not saying this was not a problem with some of the earlier MPB's but it definitely did not affect all of them, including several owned by some of my associates. Plus, the obvious fix is to the mechanism, not to change the OS. I also know that it was pretty clear that not all the latch/sleep problems had the same cause: some were traced to drops that damaged the hinge mechanism, some to manufacturing defects in the lower case (which Apple sometimes replaced at no charge, even beyond the warranty period), & some to defective reed switch/magnet assemblies that actually sense when the lid is opened. A few were even traced to remnants of the clear plastic wrap that protects Macs until the user unwraps it that tore & were not removed with the rest of the wrapping. To my knowledge, all the defects were addressed at some point in the model cycle, even the plastic wrap one.

The only point I'm trying make here is it is not useful to over-generalize to make what you say seem more dramatic. We are users trying to help each other. That is hard to do if we don't make our best efforts to provide accurate each other info. Right?

Very same problem for me. Sometimes when waking up from hibernate, LCD backlight is OK during the loading of saved data from HDD to memory (progress bar), and backlight goes off when the screen is reinitialized to current desktop view. I can see that display is working if i light the screen with a lamp or at the sun, only backlight is off, and F1/F2 keys have no effect.

The only workaround i've found for the moment when the problem occurs is to close the screen to go to hibernate again and then wake up again. Most of the time it works, some times i have to do it 2 or 3 times. So i can stay with 10.6.3.

Having the same problem: sometimes when opening my MB lid it does not light up, though I can faintly see the login window and my mouse pointer moving around;
and using the same workaround too: closing the lid, and opening back up again lights up the display correctly.

The only point I'm trying make here is it is not useful to over-generalize to make what you say seem more dramatic. We are users trying to help each other. That is hard to do if we don't make our best efforts to provide accurate each other info. Right?

I will concede that I was overly dramatic and flinging unfounded accusations (or at least an accusation)--something I need to work on, no doubt.

I will also posit that it is difficult to maintain your composure when forced to spend hours on a computer problem only to find comments from helping-users that chiefly insinuate that it is my fault or that I am wrong to complain about any inconvenience beyond what would be required for a Time Machine backup before running software updates (not recommended from the software updater, incidentally). That's not exactly helpful either. Still no comments on my power management settings? Irrelevant?

It would be a pretty-big coincidence if all of the users encountering this problem were using early model MBPs after updating to 10.6.3. While it was never specific to the lid-wake issue, I sent my computer in to applecare on more than one occasion.

I am now just over a year out of extended applecare, so I would prefer to avoid an out-of-pocket repair to the lid latch/sensor. Technically, it is my problem that I did not have the defect addressed, but that is not the kind of treatment that I would expect as a customer of a premier computer company: not alerting customers to known defects or checking for them at service centers and then releasing an update that negatively effects the performance of those machines?

http://appledefects.com/wiki/index.php?title=MacBookPro#Super_Sensitive_LidSensor

I don't even want to think about what you are implying by "accurate info." Something about refraining from ad hominem, or ad Malo attacks, no doubt.

Regarding keeping your composure, I doubt that anyone reading Discussions doesn't understand the frustrations of trying to solve a problem with their computer. However, as the terms of use make clear, these forums are for constructive comments, not blowing off steam. If you need to do that, there are many web sites that welcome that. This just isn't one of them.

Also, I don't think anyone has implied the problems are all your fault, or the fault of other users with problems. But it really doesn't matter. The Discussions forums exist largely so users can try to help each other solve problems, whatever their cause. That's very hard to do when overly dramatic & misleading comments displace accurate, comprehensive technical info.

I'm a Mac user, just like you. I have no vested interest in defending Apple. I'm just interested in exchanging info with other users, which hopefully helps us all solve problems when we have them. If you have to complain a bit about how unhappy you are that you have problems, OK, but please remember that won't help solve anything & frankly, it gets tiresome to wade through a bunch of that looking for any useful info.

Bump - I'm having the same issue with my Unibody white Macbook & 10.6.3.

To this point, I still am running 10.6.3. It happens infrequently enough that closing and reopening the lid has been an adequate workaround.

My current theory is that it only occurs when I put the MBP to sleep and then close the lid (or close the lid after it has gone to sleep through power management).

Same problem after update.

Has anyone with this issue tried Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)?

Same here (MBP 15, Late 2008). Moreover, kext replacement to 10.6.2 version didn't help.

I just got an email from apple care with a request to install a 'capturedata8.4.1' file to help troubleshoot this issue. I'm happy to help, any way to confirm this is legit before I install it on my macbook?

Just got one too, the mail seems to originate from @apple.com...
should be fine, I guess?