How to diagnose a dead 2011 MacBook Pro?

[alexjholland]

I planned to hit a decade on my trusty 2011 MacBook Pro.

However, she had other plans - and dropped dead at Christmas.

Now I'm on an M1 MacBook Pro and things are great.

However, I'd like to salvage data, fix up the 2011, and hand her on to a new owner.

She's got 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD + 1TB spinner.

Honestly, she was fine for 20-30 Chrome tabs before she gave way.

One day I tried to turn her on and nothing.

Battery light still glows, but there is total silence when I press the power button.

I've got the full screwdriver toolkit and have previously replaced a few parts myself (eg. trackpad and a hard drive in the optical bay).

I switched-in a third party battery about six months ago (with good Amazon reviews.

Where should I start?

Thanks

 

[glenthompson]

13" or 15"? If the 15", there's the possibility of the infamous GPU failure but that usually doesn't manifest itself as total failure. Other things to try - remove memory and clean contacts and replace. Unplug battery for a few minutes and plug back in. When you say the battery light glows, are you referring to the row of lights and button on side to show battery state of charge?

To recover the data best bet is to remove the drive and place in an external USB enclosure. Copy off what you need. Verify that the drive is good while you're at it.

 

[alexjholland]

13" or 15"? If the 15", there's the possibility of the infamous GPU failure but that usually doesn't manifest itself as total failure. Other things to try - remove memory and clean contacts and replace. Unplug battery for a few minutes and plug back in. When you say the battery light glows, are you referring to the row of lights and button on side to show battery state of charge?

To recover the data best bet is to remove the drive and place in an external USB enclosure. Copy off what you need. Verify that the drive is good while you're at it.

It's the 13" model with an integrate Intel HD 3000.

I'm referring to the glowing battery cutout on the unibody that pulses when there's a charge.

 

[chscag]

Could be a bad DC input board which is easy to replace and not costly. On the other hand, it could also be a power supply failure which would mean a new logic board. You can always look on eBay for parts.

 

[alexjholland]

Could be a bad DC input board which is easy to replace and not costly. On the other hand, it could also be a power supply failure which would mean a new logic board. You can always look on eBay for parts.

How do I find out which it is?

 

[chscag]

How do I find out which it is?

Only by substitution. In other words, you're going to have to replace the DC input board to find out if that's the problem. If that doesn't work, then in my opinion, unless you really love that 2011 MBP, it might be better to think about replacing it.

You can see the procedure for swapping out that board at www.ifixit.com. I believe they even sell the board.

 

[alexjholland]

Only by substitution. In other words, you're going to have to replace the DC input board to find out if that's the problem. If that doesn't work, then in my opinion, unless you really love that 2011 MBP, it might be better to think about replacing it.

You can see the procedure for swapping out that board at www.ifixit.com. I believe they even sell the board.

Nice. That's this part?

I've already bought a new M1.

But if I can spend £30-50 to get it working and give it to someone else to enjoy for a year or two, that's great.

 

[Fishrrman]

To salvage data on the drive:

TAKE THE DRIVE OUT of the MBP, and then use
- an external enclosure
or
- a USB3/SATA docking station
or
- a USB3/SATA dongle adapter

... to connect it to your new m1 MacBook.

If you want to try to get it live again, I'd forget about keeping a drive in the DVD bay.
Just try a drive in the normal drive location.
Fewer obstacles to overcome that way.

Will it start if you take the battery OUT, and then try to use it using only the charger?

 

[alexjholland]

To salvage data on the drive:

TAKE THE DRIVE OUT of the MBP, and then use
- an external enclosure
or
- a USB3/SATA docking station
or
- a USB3/SATA dongle adapter

... to connect it to your new m1 MacBook.

If you want to try to get it live again, I'd forget about keeping a drive in the DVD bay.
Just try a drive in the normal drive location.
Fewer obstacles to overcome that way.

Will it start if you take the battery OUT, and then try to use it using only the charger?

I just removed the battery and tried to turn it on.

Nothing... except (if I listen very closely) what sounds like something starting, but failing.

It's like a click noise and whirring, then it stopped. Again and again.

And my boot drive is an SSD in the main bay... the optical drive with a spinner is a secondary storage drive.

 

[cnicolaou]

Need help with firmware pin as i disable it 6 months ago remotely