5 Flashing Lights, No Beeps -- 15" A1286

[Praitel]

Just replaced the screen, had been stepped on on and broken.

Got it all back together, now when I press the power button, the following happens.

The Power LED Blinks 5 Times.
Startup Chime.
Power LED goes off.

Tried doing the PRAM Reset, it responded to it as it should, with the chime sounding a second time, but then it did the same thing, five blinks, and powers off.

No beeps.

Any suggestions?

 

[mns579]

Reset the SMC, too: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295.

 

[Praitel]

After doing an SMC reset, it does the same thing.

Magsafe light didn't change from Green.

 

[mns579]

Does the battery have any power? When you push the battery test button, how many LED indicators come on?

Sidenote: There were several 15" MBP models that Apple designated A1286. These range from a late 2008 MBP (MacBookPro5,1) to the mid 2012 (MacBookPro9,1). At best, A1286 is imprecise. Do you know precisely which model you have? If not, you can check with your serial number here:
http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html

 

[Praitel]

Standard 2009 15" Macbook Pro
W80074CH7XJ
Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz (P8700)

When I press the power status button I have no lights.

However the battery was fine when I purchased it, just sat for about two months until i got a new LCD for it at a reasonable price.

 

[matreya]

Standard 2009 15" Macbook Pro
W80074CH7XJ
Core 2 Duo 2.53GHz (P8700)

When I press the power status button I have no lights.

However the battery was fine when I purchased it, just sat for about two months until i got a new LCD for it at a reasonable price.

If the battery was fully discharged before you let it sit for two months, that could have resulted in the battery dying.

From https://www.apple.com/au/batteries/maximizing-performance/

"Do not fully charge or fully discharge your device’s battery — charge it to around 50 per cent. If you store a device when its battery is fully discharged, the battery could fall into a deep discharge state, which renders it incapable of holding a charge. Conversely, if you store it fully charged for an extended period of time, the battery may lose some capacity, leading to shorter battery life."

 

[Praitel]

If the battery was fully discharged before you let it sit for two months, that could have resulted in the battery dying.

From https://www.apple.com/au/batteries/maximizing-performance/

"Do not fully charge or fully discharge your device’s battery — charge it to around 50 per cent. If you store a device when its battery is fully discharged, the battery could fall into a deep discharge state, which renders it incapable of holding a charge. Conversely, if you store it fully charged for an extended period of time, the battery may lose some capacity, leading to shorter battery life."

So because I let it sit for so long a dead battery could keep it from turning on at all?

 

[mns579]

So because I let it sit for so long a dead battery could keep it from turning on at all?

Perhaps. I don't know whether that model will work with no battery installed, but you could try to disconnect the battery from the logic board, then connect the MagSafe and push the Power button. Might work. Sometimes when components fail those failures have a ripple effect that cascades through the system and effectively blocks everything from functioning properly.

In the shop, they'd simply swap in a new battery at this point and see what happens. As you don't have another battery to hand, try the procedure above.

 

[Praitel]

Perhaps. I don't know whether that model will work with no battery installed, but you could try to disconnect the battery from the logic board, then connect the MagSafe and push the Power button. Might work. Sometimes when components fail those failures have a ripple effect that cascades through the system and effectively blocks everything from functioning properly.

In the shop, they'd simply swap in a new battery at this point and see what happens. As you don't have another battery to hand, try the procedure above.

I actually run a shop, as with the two month sitting duration I finally got around to messing with this particular unit, but I have a battery on order from Apple, about to take this one out and see what it does. Will update accordingly.

It's been my experience that a bad battery will still allow a machine to boot, however will throttle the performance with the CPU and GPU to a nauseatingly slow pace.