A1181 MAcbook - No Boot - No Screen

You should see a blinking folder with question mark in the center of the screen if just the backlight is bad. You can try shining the light at different angles to attempt to see the image. You can also try shining the light through the back of the display through the translucent Apple logo. It can be very difficult to see an image on some displays.

You can try connecting an external display to see if you get any video, but you will need to force the laptop into Clamshell Mode by connecting a USB keyboard & mouse and closing the built-in display. Sometimes you may need to make a few attempts at this since it can sometimes be hard to force video to the external display by closing the lid immediately after the startup chime.

If there is a video signal, but no backlight on the internal display, then it may mean the Inverter Board is bad or the LCD Panel is bad. These are typically the most common reasons for a bad backlight on this model.

There'd be no way to see if some previous owner had used Firmware password on the Mac

and didn't unlock that before removal of the hard drive. If not, the hardware may remain in

a Locked state. As an older MacBook worth under $200 on craigslist in working order, its

not hardly worth a gamble. (As donation to charities go, that also isn't worth headache.)

Should you have source of similar vintage early 2006-2010 MacBook 13-inch model as

parts, maybe OK bits, to reuse; from near exact match (build year model) to maybe.

To see where these may converge or be good to fix, or use as parts: consider website

Everymac.com [ Lookup Mac Specs ] - https://everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/

Another source of information is (free) downloadable database from Mactracker.

..As inexpensive as these are in good working condition, don't be fooled..