Chosen Solution
While replacing RAM for iMac, a small golden pin in the backlight connector(not sure if this is the proper terminology) became loose and then fell off into the abyss of my carpeting. RAM upgrade was a success but on start up screen was black. Attached an external monitor via USB-C/HDMI with success and the Mac works just fine, leading me to believe there’s a fault with the backlight. Is there any way that I can test to see if the backlight is the culprit and, if so, any suggestions on how to either replace the singular pin or the connector all together? Local computer repair shops including apple certified are not of any help, considering removing/soldering from an older board that has the same connector but wanted some advisement before going that route..
Ouch! The golden pin is not the worse of it! Sadly you pulled off the connector from the logic board Vs disconnecting the mating connection of the cable as you can see here in this picture
Here’s a better alignment of your image to compare agains
You’ll need to get someone with micro soldering skills and access to a new connector to try to fix your logic board. Update (07/14/2020) Here’s a better view:
And your new image:
Note the black shell is missing which covers the pins this is the part you have broken off. You need a new logic board connector.
