Chosen Solution
This is an old A1226 or A1260. Not sure which. The display was black on initial boot, but could see faint light at bottom edge so it appears that the backlight was working. Connected external monitor which worked fine. After leaving the system booted for a while, the laptop display came on and functions normally. Rebooted and it still functions. Seems to be a cold/fully discharged boot issue but not sure where to go from here.
See if moving the screen back and forth does anything. If not, replace the inverter AKA LED driver board. Here’s how: MacBook Pro 15" Core 2 Duo Models A1226 and A1260 LED Driver Board Replacement Here’s the part: MacBook Pro 15" (Models A1226/A1260) LED Driver Board
