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General A1278 Issues

P

Praitel

macrumors member
Original poster
May 20, 2014
46
0
Owensboro, KY
Hey everyone, done a bit of research here and there and couldn't really find a very decisive answer in regards to what is going on with a Macbook Pro, recently purchased second hand from a company that went under.
(No Documentation, As-Is Fun)

So here goes.

When the battery status button is pressed, it blinks 5 times.
According to the Apple Help articles, with prior experience this indicates that is needs a new battery. Have a new one on the way.

It takes a long while of having the grey screen before the Apple Logo shows up.
(If this Mavericks install works on an HDD, will replace with an SDD to test speeds. Have SSD in Mac Mini/Server Boot time is no where near the same.)

Minus some discoloration on the top of the screen where someone attempted to replace the LCD and torched the corner of it and melted the seal.

I know of no other standing issues.

As the current configuration stands.

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011)

-Not sure if it is the i5 or i7 model yet.
(Installing 10.9 right now.)
-2GB 1Rx8 PC3-10600S
(Tried a 2Rx8 PC3-1600S and it wouldn't boot)
-320GB 7200 RPM Samsung Apple HDD


Open to suggestion to maybe decrease boot time or reset it to boot load baseline.

Thank you.
 
Typically that battery status icon blinking means the battery has no charge left. What's the LED on the charger doing? (amber, green)

___________

On a side note...why only 2GB of RAM? Is one of the modules missing?
 
GhettoMrBob said:
Typically that battery status icon blinking means the battery has no charge left. What's the LED on the charger doing? (amber, green)

___________

On a side note...why only 2GB of RAM? Is one of the modules missing?
Click to expand...

The LED on the Magsafe connection is Green. When i pull the charger from it, the Mackbook Pro dies.

Then with the 2GB, the lot of computers I bought from the company.. the rogue IT Guy with through and gutted a number of the computers, stripping a few thousand dollars worth of SSD and RAM, this is just what I had on hand going through and testing all of the machines.

Before it hits resell I will have it back up to par.
 
Praitel said:
The LED on the Magsafe connection is Green. When i pull the charger from it, the Mackbook Pro dies.
Click to expand...

That means the battery is dead and should be replaced. Only reason I say "should" is because the CPU will underclock itself when it detects the battery is dead/missing.

As for boot times, I'd check the health on HD. A normal HD should boot relatively quickly on a fresh install if the drive itself is in good health.
 
GhettoMrBob said:
That means the battery is dead and should be replaced. Only reason I say "should" is because the CPU will underclock itself when it detects the battery is dead/missing.

As for boot times, I'd check the health on HD. A normal HD should boot relatively quickly on a fresh install if the drive itself is in good health.
Click to expand...

Behavior is the same with the battery is unplugged completely.

The install pretty much slowed to a crawl, displaying "About 11 Minutes" for half an hour. Booted back into Disk Utility and the Verify & Repair Disk ran without issue and didn't report any problems.

Have a feeling that with the battery causing the CPU to throttle/Irregular Voltage Across the machine that is why the 10.9 Install is acting the way that it is?

Might be completely mistaken, but just a thought.

Oh and I almost forgot, I had to set the date on this machine before it would install, because the time wasn't current it said my USB Drive was 'Corrupted or had been tampered with'. Not sure if thats any semblance at all. :apple:
 
The underclock is pretty drastic and could cause the install to come to a crawl but, then again, so could a HD that isn't healthy.

Out of curiosity, what happens if you just let the install run for a while?

Also, does the install get past the preparing to install stage? Only reason behind asking is the preparing to install stage can sit there for ages before rebooting and actually installing.
 
GhettoMrBob said:
The underclock is pretty drastic and could cause the install to come to a crawl but, then again, so could a HD that isn't healthy.

Out of curiosity, what happens if you just let the install run for a while?

Also, does the install get past the preparing to install stage? Only reason behind asking is the preparing to install stage can sit there for ages before rebooting and actually installing.
Click to expand...

This is true, I have to run out of town in just a moment and set it up to install.

(New HDD)
It's on the actual installing part right now, I'll let it run the duration I am gone and provide an update in roughly an hour.
 
GhettoMrBob said:
You should be fine with this. My reason for asking is that I've experienced many, many issues regarding Western Digital drives with these machines.
Click to expand...

I understand. Good to cover all of the bases.
Went and picked up another 2GB stick while I was out.
The Install finished. However... the video lag shows just how much it is being throttled by the lack of a decent battery.

Is there any place I could go to do a "Hardware Diagnostic" per say?
 
Praitel said:
I understand. Good to cover all of the bases.
Went and picked up another 2GB stick while I was out.
The Install finished. However... the video lag shows just how much it is being throttled by the lack of a decent battery.

Is there any place I could go to do a "Hardware Diagnostic" per say?
Click to expand...

You can try holding Alt/option+D at boot and see if that'll run. That model may have been just before the recovery hardware test cutoff but give it a shot anyways. If successful it'll run the apple hardware tests.
 
GhettoMrBob said:
You can try holding Alt/option+D at boot and see if that'll run. That model may have been just before the recovery hardware test cutoff but give it a shot anyways. If successful it'll run the apple hardware tests.
Click to expand...

It's "Starting Internet Recovery. This may take a while."

Hardware test running. Well after the probe. Says it should take three minutes.
 
GhettoMrBob said:
Sounds about right. There should be an extended test option if you're feeling so inclined.
Click to expand...

The standard test ran for about 45 seconds and popped the battery causing a fault. Hitting the Extended Testing now. Hoping it doesn't turn back anything too serious.

Thank you for all your help.
Truly.

On an slightly related note, if there is some sort of 'stain' on the casing that even Denatured Alcohol will not remove with a Microfiber cloth, would you have any recommendations for such minus using a low speed buffer?
 
If that battery keeps kicking the test, and this is from memory so stick with me, you should be able to select which tests to run. You could uncheck the battery and it'll skip it.

As for the stain, have any Mr. Clean magic erasers handy? I know that sounds like a horrible idea but they work wonders on the aluminum for getting deep set grime or stains out.
 
GhettoMrBob said:
If that battery keeps kicking the test, and this is from memory so stick with me, you should be able to select which tests to run. You could uncheck the battery and it'll skip it.

As for the stain, have any Mr. Clean magic erasers handy? I know that sounds like a horrible idea but they work wonders on the aluminum for getting deep set grime or stains out.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a plan, i'll let it run and update as I can for future reference for anyone else having an issue like this.

Excellent. I believe I have some at home. Will give it a shot. Someone replaced the glass in this unit and torched the LCD in the top left corner and somehow managed to get some discoloration on the rest of the case here and there.

Was posting in another thread and this something you might be able to help with. Looking for a certain part that I'm not even sure is the issue, but here is the thread if you have the time to look at it I would greatly appreciate it.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1736434/
 
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