Dead MBP (early 2008) HELP!

[themoose615]

So the other day my MBP was left on my bed...one of my fans had been messing up so it would get pretty hot. Was on the internet in the morning and ended up leaving to a friends house. Got back like at 2 in the morning and found my laptop on my bed redhot. quickly i unplugged it and let it cool off.

Now, when I turn it on, it makes the hardrive startup sounds (the weird sound right before the apple logo flashes on the screen) and then thats it. just stays black, almost like the battery is dead, which its not. i can push the power button all i want, but it never turns on....just makes the same hard drive noise.

What could be the issue? What needs to be replaced? Do yall think that my hard drive is long gone?

 

[thundersteele]

Sounds like my logic board (GPU) failure. If you're lucky, you get a free repair: http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2377

 

[themoose615]

that says that the computer is actually on, but the screen is dead. With my computer, it makes the hard drive start up sound, then it does nothing....no fans going, no harddrive, no apple start up sound. then after i press power again, it does the exact same thing. does this still fit the criteria for the bad logicboard?

 

[thundersteele]

I had exactly your symptoms (dead except for 1-2 seconds of attempted startup). It turned out to be due to the faulty GPU, so I didn't have to pay when I got it back.

On the other hand, if it's just the hard drive, you are also lucky... those are cheap. But usually if the hard drive is broken, you can boot from an external drive/cd.

 

[themoose615]

so if i popped in my old snow leopard disks, it should start up? (if its the hard drive that is out)

gosh man, I hope that it is the GPU. Did you call applecare before you too it to a store?

 

[sevoneone]

This just happened to a friends early 08 MBP (happened to be my old machine I had sold to her a year ago). I assmed it was the GPU issue too. We took it to the genius bar, they said that the serial number didn't qualify, machines made after a certain date were made with known good GPUs. They said it was a 'power flow' issue and that the logic board needed to be replaced. Ended up being about $350.

 

[thundersteele]

so if i popped in my old snow leopard disks, it should start up? (if its the hard drive that is out)

gosh man, I hope that it is the GPU. Did you call applecare before you too it to a store?

No. I just took it in. The diagnosis software wouldn't run, since the MBP was essentially dead. I agreed to a $330 flat rate repair, with the promise that they would fix it no matter what the problem was. This was all way out of applecare.

When I came to pick it up, the receipt said something about a warranty care and I didn't have to pay for the repair.