My aluminum PowerBook G4 backlight is broken. Where should I go?

Hi! I have a vintage PowerBook G4. It is an aluminum model, model number A1106. It seems to work fine, except for the backlight, which doesn't seem to work at all (I tried the flashlight trick, sure enough, the display lit with the flashlight). It is such an old computer I don't really know where to go to fix it! Can anyone direct me?

Posted on Oct 20, 2026 7:26 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 20, 2026 8:38 AM

Welcome!!


Where should I go?


Your location has a bearing on that and these are International English-language forums with members from all over. As your fellow end users, we have no way to "see" your location from your enrollment here.


If you give us a general idea of where you are, we can better answer "where..." inquiries. It does you little good if we recommend a service provider or parts source that is 3000 miles away or does not ship to your region.


That said, in the US, I would try PowerBook Medic for parts.


https://www.powerbookmedic.com/


Note on their home page they offer a 'send-in" service. I've used them before for older PowerBook parts. However, I've noticed that, after COVID, their inventory of parts for 20+ year-old Macs has diminished somewhat.


If you are up to tackling this repair yourself, search "powerbook G4 takeapart." That will usually get you good instructions and possibly a video tutorial or two.


Remember that there are at least 17 variants of the PowerBook G4 in three different display sizes. To that end, the PowerBook Medic site has a lookup function the twill return your exact SUB-MODEL to make sure you know what parts to order. Sub-model is super-important.




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1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 20, 2026 8:38 AM in response to thumbtack4321

Welcome!!


Where should I go?


Your location has a bearing on that and these are International English-language forums with members from all over. As your fellow end users, we have no way to "see" your location from your enrollment here.


If you give us a general idea of where you are, we can better answer "where..." inquiries. It does you little good if we recommend a service provider or parts source that is 3000 miles away or does not ship to your region.


That said, in the US, I would try PowerBook Medic for parts.


https://www.powerbookmedic.com/


Note on their home page they offer a 'send-in" service. I've used them before for older PowerBook parts. However, I've noticed that, after COVID, their inventory of parts for 20+ year-old Macs has diminished somewhat.


If you are up to tackling this repair yourself, search "powerbook G4 takeapart." That will usually get you good instructions and possibly a video tutorial or two.


Remember that there are at least 17 variants of the PowerBook G4 in three different display sizes. To that end, the PowerBook Medic site has a lookup function the twill return your exact SUB-MODEL to make sure you know what parts to order. Sub-model is super-important.




.

My aluminum PowerBook G4 backlight is broken. Where should I go?

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