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Dead macbook pro :(

D

Deadman56

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 21, 2011
3
0
If this is in the wrong area I apologize, I also searched the forums and couldnt really come up with any other post

I have a refurb MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008) that I purchased and its been nothing but great since the day I got it. I upgraded the ram when I first got it (crucial 4 Gb) and a few months ago I installed an SSD drive with the lastest osx which has been running smoothly. I normally leave the laptop at home running and I log in remotely to it. Well one day I noticed I couldnt log in, and when I came home I was welcomed with a machine that was powered off. Strange

So I went to push the power button and I didnt get any response. No status light on the front, but I do get a green light on the power cable plug and full charge on the battery. I took it to Apple and the genius wanted to blame my SSD drive at first but I told him I replaced the old drive and it still wouldnt power on. So pretty much I dont know where to go from there, I get no fans, no hard drive spin up and the genius told me I could send it in and pay over $300 to get it replaced (quoting anything from a short on the power button to a motherboard replacement).

Anything else I should be looking at troubleshooting wise?

Other information about the Mac:
Graphics Card: - NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT and
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M.
Model ID: - MacBookPro 5,1
Order Nr.: - (MB470LL/A)
Webcam: - Built-in iSight

Any other information you need ill be more than happy to provide.
 
Hi, I am sorry to hear that :(

Well, usually refurbs from apple come with a one year limited guarantee. Have you surpassed that?

Have you dropped your mac lately? It may have damaged something... If no damages, do you know anything about computers? You could troubleshoot for yourself. Or take it into a third party store/service. You might have to pay less.


If nothing works, keep it as an eye candy or sell it as a busted, and buy a new one from the money that goes back in your pocket.


Good luck!

:apple:
 
I bought this like 4 years ago, I know a lot about computers. Ive already done the basic stuff like changing out the ram and whatnot. Oh well it was great during the time I owned it.
 
Deadman56 said:
I bought this like 4 years ago, I know a lot about computers. Ive already done the basic stuff like changing out the ram and whatnot. Oh well it was great during the time I owned it.
Click to expand...

Did you try zapping the PRAM, NVRAM, and the SMC? The SMC controls the MagSafe adapter, the power button, and control system, and many other things.

Links:

[URL="http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379"]Apple Support: Resetting PRAM and NVRAM[/URL]

[URL="http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964"]Apple Support: Resetting the SMC[/URL]
 
$300 is not bad for a full repair.

If the HD was broken, it should still start, and complain about not finding an OS to boot from. If the RAM was broken, I think there should be some beeps when you try to start it. For anything else, there is no easy fix, because it's all part of the logic board.
 
I had a similar thing happen to my 2008 MacBook Pro 17" a year and a half ago. I brought it to the Apple store, they didn't know what the problem was and ended up replacing the logic board at a hefty price. The bizarre thing is that when they first replaced it, it still wouldn't turn on and they were just going to give it back to me like that before I demanded a more thorough analysis of the issue. To this day I wonder if the original logic board was actually working and the problem was somewhere else. Of course I never got it back so I'll never know.
 
Thanks for the post, Ive been looking at the new Airs so I guess this is a reason to get one now :)
 
Steve.P.JobsFan said:
Did you try zapping the PRAM, NVRAM, and the SMC? The SMC controls the MagSafe adapter, the power button, and control system, and many other things.
Click to expand...
You don't reset PRAM and NVRAM. It's either/or, not both. It's PRAM in PowerPC Macs, NVRAM in Intel-based Macs. Also, NVRAM has nothing to do with battery/power/charging issues. Resetting it will not help. Only resetting the SMC addresses such issues.

This should answer most, if not all, of your battery questions:
 
Deadman56 said:
I bought this like 4 years ago, I know a lot about computers. Ive already done the basic stuff like changing out the ram and whatnot. Oh well it was great during the time I owned it.
Click to expand...

Kudos to you for keeping it for so long. Most would have sold after 2 years and upgraded. I am impressed there are others out there that grow attached to the computers and refuse to sell no matter what :)
 
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