Hi everyone. I am writing this on my iPhone so I am very sorry for any typos. I have a dilemma and I am hoping you can help. Suddenly, my MacBook won't turn on. It's an 07 white mb and I upgraded the ram from 2gb to 3gb over a year ago.
Here are the symptoms:
- blinks on for less than a second.
- the cd drive makes its usual .25 second mechanical sound (does this on normal startup too)
- sometimes the chime goes off, sometimes it does not.
- screen may blink on for a split second.
- computer turns off. Can hear the mechanical shutdown noise.
Actions taken:
- reset SMC. No change.
- reset pram. No change.
Additional circumstances. I am in Tajikistan right now. I can't exactly take my computer to the genius bar here. Is there anything else I can do manually to fix this thing? Is it worth it to check my RAM is plugged in right? This would involve somehow acquiring a tiny screwdriver in this country, so if there's no way it's dislodged ram, please let me know.
Two more questions on repairs and data integrity:
- from my google searching it sounds like the most common problem is a fried logic board. there is actually an authorized apple reseller in this country and within walking distance from where I am staying. It may not be as "authorized" as we're use to in the states. I may ask them to try and repair it. My big concern is my hard drive data. I backed up my computer before i left a few months ago but now i have thousands of irreplacable pictures of Tajikistan on this HD. Is there anything the repair guys can do to my computer while repairing the logic board that could ruin my HD? I'm not talking about spilling a Fanta on the thing (although maybe I should be concerned about that too) but anything during the normal course of a logic board repair?
These are short term thoughts because I have another month in the country. I am a student and I was hoping to conduct a US job search and write a paper while I am here....got a lot of work to do. I also have a lot more pictures to take of beautiful Tajikistan!
Longer term thoughts:
- what about my data right now? Does this sound like a hard drive problem at all? Once I am back in the states, is it tough to get the data off of an old Mac hard drive? Can I do it myself, and how much might that cost?
As a longer term option:
Ironically, back home I have an old intel iMac with a fried HD just sitting there. The hard drives are actually the same size. Can I just put my macbook hd in my old iMac? Would it start up just like that?
Thank you so much for any help you can provide.
Here are the symptoms:
- blinks on for less than a second.
- the cd drive makes its usual .25 second mechanical sound (does this on normal startup too)
- sometimes the chime goes off, sometimes it does not.
- screen may blink on for a split second.
- computer turns off. Can hear the mechanical shutdown noise.
Actions taken:
- reset SMC. No change.
- reset pram. No change.
Additional circumstances. I am in Tajikistan right now. I can't exactly take my computer to the genius bar here. Is there anything else I can do manually to fix this thing? Is it worth it to check my RAM is plugged in right? This would involve somehow acquiring a tiny screwdriver in this country, so if there's no way it's dislodged ram, please let me know.
Two more questions on repairs and data integrity:
- from my google searching it sounds like the most common problem is a fried logic board. there is actually an authorized apple reseller in this country and within walking distance from where I am staying. It may not be as "authorized" as we're use to in the states. I may ask them to try and repair it. My big concern is my hard drive data. I backed up my computer before i left a few months ago but now i have thousands of irreplacable pictures of Tajikistan on this HD. Is there anything the repair guys can do to my computer while repairing the logic board that could ruin my HD? I'm not talking about spilling a Fanta on the thing (although maybe I should be concerned about that too) but anything during the normal course of a logic board repair?
These are short term thoughts because I have another month in the country. I am a student and I was hoping to conduct a US job search and write a paper while I am here....got a lot of work to do. I also have a lot more pictures to take of beautiful Tajikistan!
Longer term thoughts:
- what about my data right now? Does this sound like a hard drive problem at all? Once I am back in the states, is it tough to get the data off of an old Mac hard drive? Can I do it myself, and how much might that cost?
As a longer term option:
Ironically, back home I have an old intel iMac with a fried HD just sitting there. The hard drives are actually the same size. Can I just put my macbook hd in my old iMac? Would it start up just like that?
Thank you so much for any help you can provide.