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boo! new 2011 MBP won't boot after thermal paste

S

snouter

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 26, 2009
767
0
Well. Boo. I did the thermal paste clean-up and it really did not seem too hard. I had a lot of paste in there. Put the computer back together.

Press power. Start-up chime... small progress bar. Shuts off to black screen.

Less than ideal.

Zap the PRAM, tried to reset the SMC, to no effect.

Took everything apart, retraced my steps. Seems ok. I'm pretty certain everything is assembled correctly and all the little cables are plugged back in.

Reassemble, no boot.

Any ideas on what to check?

I don't have a Y screwdriver to remove the battery. Any other way to reset this laptop?

What is weird is, it kinda booted before, getting to the progress bar. Now it's just not responsive at all. Sigh.
 
why you did that yourself and not take it to the Genius Bar? Seems like something got damaged...did you use ESD arm band and mat?

ifixit.com
For the tools, and disassembly/assembly instructions.
 
That's the risk you take . . .

Only thing you can do is take it to Apple and beg for mercy.
 
McGiord said:
why you did that yourself and not take it to the Genius Bar? Seems like something got damaged...did you use ESD arm band and mat?

ifixit.com
For the tools, and disassembly/assembly instructions.
Click to expand...

The Apple Store personnel will be able to safely clean up the excess thermal grease? Cool!

(Installing Logic Studio, my 2011 17" has a 45C CPU temp while the heatsink temp is 32C -- mind you, starting SMCFanControl and ramping the RPMs of each to 3000 got the heatsink down to 27 and CPU to 33, so it's probably okay... in all fairness, my Sony's idle temp was mid-40s and under full load (more than an app install) was 76C...)
 
thermodynamic said:
The Apple Store personnel will be able to safely clean up the excess thermal grease? Cool!

(Installing Logic Studio, my 2011 17" has a 45C CPU temp while the heatsink temp is 32C -- mind you, starting SMCFanControl and ramping the RPMs of each to 3000 got the heatsink down to 27 and CPU to 33, so it's probably okay... in all fairness, my Sony's idle temp was mid-40s and under full load (more than an app install) was 76C...)
Click to expand...

The genius bar will not reapply thermal paste for you.
 
scarboni21 said:
The genius bar will not reapply thermal paste for you.
Click to expand...

Not only will they not clean up the paste, the OP just screwed his warranty. What a D’oh moment!

BTW, OP, you’re not supposed to goop it up with thermal paste. A very fine film of it is all you’re supposed to put on and only in a certain area. Did you read any tutorials on this?

I suspect you fried your CPU. It overheated and turned immediately off. Whether it can be fixed, IDK.
 
OP, you should be fine. Insert your restore cd when you power on the laptop and then hold down the c key.

Instal a fresh copy of the OS.

Continue to enjoy your lappy.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

And this is why this practice should never be encouraged.
Or that god damn thread stickied.
 
Well. Bummer.

I rechecked everything 3 times. Even to the point of disassembling everything and redoing it.

Bricked. Or needs some sort of reset.

What is weird is, the job was really not that hard. The ribbon cables are kinda fussy, but otherwise it was pretty straightforward.

I rekon I'll drag it in to the Apple store and see what's up. Sure hope a logic board is not $2499, or $2399. lol.

When it almost booted the first time, I briefly saw a message about the clock being messed up. Then it went black. Then I reset the PRAM a couple of times and I guess that was most of the end of it being responsive. I still have some hope that is some sort of reset thing, but there are no batteries to remove or reset switches and it's pretty dead acting now.

Damn, so close too... lol.

I don't think I shorted anything out. Don't remember nicking anything or tearing anything. Doubt it overheated, I did not use too little paste and certainly not too much paste. Kind of surprising, but oh well.
 
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snouter said:
Well. Bummer.

I rechecked everything 3 times. Even to the point of disassembling everything and redoing it.

Bricked. Or needs some sort of reset.

What is weird is, the job was really not that hard. The ribbon cables are kinda fussy, but otherwise it was pretty straightforward.

I rekon I'll drag it in to the Apple store and see what's up. Sure hope a logic board is not $2499, or $2399. lol.

When it almost booted the first time, I briefly saw a message about the clock being messed up. Then it went black. Then I reset the PRAM a couple of times and I guess that was most of the end of it being responsive. I still have some hope that is some sort of reset thing, but there are no batteries to remove or reset switches and it's pretty dead acting now.

Damn, so close too... lol.

I don't think I shorted anything out. Don't remember nicking anything or tearing anything. Doubt it overheated, I did not use too little paste and certainly not too much paste. Kind of surprising, but oh well.
Click to expand...

Sure sounds like something was fried on the initial boot.
 
WOW!!! It looks like you are not worried at all!

Just for ask, did you plug the ac adaptor? Maybe thats a reason??

In another hand, you should try (carefully) with someone else RAM, maybe you fried a memory chip with statics or something.
 
mrs1986 said:
WOW!!! It looks like you are not worried at all!

Just for ask, did you plug the ac adaptor? Maybe thats a reason??

In another hand, you should try (carefully) with someone else RAM, maybe you fried a memory chip with statics or something.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Oh, I would not say I'm not worried, but you pay to play. I'm about to drag it into the Apple Store and see what the pain is. $2399 may not be a joke, lol.

I messed with the AC, tried the Cinema display adapter and a MBP adapter. I put the original ram back in.

I am curious though.
 
I have to ask: Why on earth were you redoing the thermal paste? Don't you understand you void the warranty by trying it?
 
Naimfan said:
I have to ask: Why on earth were you redoing the thermal paste? Don't you understand you void the warranty by trying it?
Click to expand...

Must be an ex PC user :)
water_cooling.jpg
 
Naimfan said:
I have to ask: Why on earth were you redoing the thermal paste? Don't you understand you void the warranty by trying it?
Click to expand...

Only voids it if you screw up.

As for the OP are you sure you reconnected EVERYTHING. Also when you were dissolving the thermal paste did the liquid spill onto the logic board? Maybe you should take a hair dryer to your logic board and let stuff dry out. Also make sure your RAM/HDD are seated properly.
 
snouter said:
Thanks. Oh, I would not say I'm not worried, but you pay to play. I'm about to drag it into the Apple Store and see what the pain is. $2399 may not be a joke, lol.

I messed with the AC, tried the Cinema display adapter and a MBP adapter. I put the original ram back in.

I am curious though.
Click to expand...

I dont think that you have any problems with taking it to apple, unless you had broken any seal that used to say "Warranty void if broken" :D

BTW put the original ram and hard disk just in case...:apple: says that was your fault xD
 
mrs1986 said:
just in case...:apple: says that was your fault xD
Click to expand...

So even though it IS his (her?) fault that the computer doesn't work, you think they should go in and try to defraud Apple of warranty repair work?

Really?
 
Naimfan said:
So even though it IS his (her?) fault that the computer doesn't work, you think they should go in and try to defraud Apple of warranty repair work?

Really?
Click to expand...

it´s not fraud at all, he didnt hit the mac with a hammer or trow it through the hall and then is asking for a new one, he is just doing something wrong and maybe at apple will tell what is it.

Maybe i were not right, but maybe he is going to get the computer fixed for apple for free, and maybe his intention is just to know what happened. Dont get me that wrong, it was not what i meant.
 
I considered doing the paste "upgrade" but decided against it. You prove that I made the right choice. I have AppleCare so if I fry it from using it then so be it. Good luck and post back with whatever happens.
 
snouter said:
Well. Boo. I did the thermal paste clean-up and it really did not seem too hard. I had a lot of paste in there. Put the computer back together.

Press power. Start-up chime... small progress bar. Shuts off to black screen.

Less than ideal.

Zap the PRAM, tried to reset the SMC, to no effect.

Took everything apart, retraced my steps. Seems ok. I'm pretty certain everything is assembled correctly and all the little cables are plugged back in.

Reassemble, no boot.

Any ideas on what to check?

I don't have a Y screwdriver to remove the battery. Any other way to reset this laptop?

What is weird is, it kinda booted before, getting to the progress bar. Now it's just not responsive at all. Sigh.
Click to expand...

Why on earth would you mess with your brand new laptop? If you're having heat issues, you have Apple warranty and a 14-day return policy :D
 
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