Help - Macbook doesn't turn on after reapplying thermal paste

how funny!!! well not really, but I had the same problem. But for me it is the keyboard ribbon. I've taken apart my computer many times and that gives me the most trouble every time. If it isn't plugged in, the power button won't do anything. so Try to reinsert the keyboard cable, hopefully that solves your issue, that did it for me.

and the thermal paste cooled my comp by like 10C while watching netflix!! amazing

 

Haha, well I'm glad you got it working. lol but that little plug is a pain, it takes me as long to plug in that cable (if not longer) as it does to do everything else when I take apart my computer.

 

Thanks for this thread, everybody! I just replaced the thermal paste in my late-2008 MacBook Pro, and couldn't get it to turn on. Without your tip about the keyboard cable, I don't know if I would have figured it out. But after really wiggling the cable a lot, I got it to slide in just a bit more, so that it wouldn't come out once the retaining clip was locked.

After that, it turned on and everything is hunky-dory. Initial results show that it's easily running 20+°F cooler at rest than it was before I replaced the paste.

Thanks again!