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Macbook Pro dead from Static Electricity?

M

miggyb

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 6, 2006
16
0
I bought a 250 Gig hard drive from Tiger Direct and I was going to install it on my macbook pro. It came as a surprise to me that hard drives are only user-replaceable on regular macbooks. Anyway, I swapped out the drives using a guide on youtube, and to my horrible stomach-cramping dismay, the macbook pro did not want to start up when put back together.

One thing that gives me a bit of hope is that the magsafe power adapter turns green when plugged in. is there anything that could be wrong with the laptop that could be less painful an more easily fixed than ESD?

And if it is for sure broken, what can I do to fix it, in order from cheapest to most expensive?
 
Yes, but the power switch is also attached to the keyboard controller; check that you didn't accidentally disconnect that; also make sure you didn't disconnect the power adapter cable from the power supply to the motherboard.

In other words, take the whole thing apart again to when you installed the HDD and reinstall it.
 
Did you touch a metal surface beforehand? Did you do it on a tile floor?

If so, the chances that you fried it are much lower.
 
I just think the odds of static damage is very low when you open up the computer and touch the chassis, that's the discharge step. I'd say it's very difficult to not touch the computer when opening it up.
 
Format?

HD's are sensitive to static e- but that is highly unlikely unless you were wearing wool socks or footy pajamas.

Did you format your HD b4 you put it in your MBP? If all else follow TigerDirect's RMA procedures.
 
Yeah, I got a bad HDD from Newegg a while back. I installed it with 2 other hard drives that were already there and spent 2 weeks figuring out that the drive was bad. But if it won't turn on, it's something else.
 
The system should still power on with a faulty or unformatted drive. I don't think it's the drive at fault.

I agree that you should disassemble and reassemble the system, double-checking each connection.
 
Thanks for the comments everyone. At this point, I am 90% sure that it is dead. There's still 10% of me that has some hope.

When I originally took it apart, I was not wearing an anti-static wrist strap. I looked all over my apartment and couldn't find it, so I did the safest thing possible, I touched the chassis of a sleeping mac desktop to keep me grounded. I grounded all the tools before using them by touching them to the chassis also. After I touched the desktop chassis, I went back to unscrew everything, touching the outside of the macbook pro.

I have taken it apart, carefully and replaced the original hard drive. Again, nothing happens when the power button is pressed.

The one thing I have noticed that gives me some hope, along with some confusion is that there is a empty plug on the logic board that says PWR. It is located next to the RAM and directly above the superdrive, looking at it from the top. The thing that confuses me is I see no ribbon cables that could possibly connect to it. Is it supposed to be empty? Is it for Apple diagnostic usage only? If so, would it be worth taking it to the Genius Bar?

I wish my battery wasn't full, so I could see if it would turn the power plug amber or not. Maybe if I kept the "check battery" button on it pressed overnight it would drain a bit by morning.

Again, thanks for everyone's input.
 
Frankly, the threat of ESD damage seems to be lower than many would think, but of course for liability reasons everyone puts out the big scary warnings. Unless you do something really silly like rub a cat, drag your feet on wool carpets or whatever I'd be rather surprised if you fried your computer..

Anyways, good luck! If you put everything back together the way it looked like before, you could bring it to an Apple store to check out.

/Works on a fair amount of computer hardware
//Likes to live dangerously. ;)
 
miggyb said:
The one thing I have noticed that gives me some hope, along with some confusion is that there is a empty plug on the logic board that says PWR. It is located next to the RAM and directly above the superdrive, looking at it from the top. The thing that confuses me is I see no ribbon cables that could possibly connect to it. Is it supposed to be empty? Is it for Apple diagnostic usage only? If so, would it be worth taking it to the Genius Bar?
Click to expand...

Check the power switch cable trace it... if it's connect, I'd think you should put it back into the original configuration and then give Apple a call.

I wish my battery wasn't full, so I could see if it would turn the power plug amber or not. Maybe if I kept the "check battery" button on it pressed overnight it would drain a bit by morning.
Click to expand...

I believe if you just take out the battery it will turn amber?
 
alphaod said:
Check the power switch cable trace it.
Click to expand...

I already did. It's connected to the ribbon securely.

alphaod said:
I believe if you just take out the battery it will turn amber?
Click to expand...

This doesn't seem to be the case. My friend turned off her Blackbook, removed the battery, and plugged it in. The light turned green. Actually, now that I remember, you don't even need the battery plugged in to use the computer. Before I bought my cooling pad, I used to take the battery out to play games so it would help keep it cool.

The reason I brought it up is because I thought there was some kind of communication between the MagSafe™ adapter and the laptop to see if it needed to give power, and how much power to give. If there is some communication, then that means that the Macbook Pro is very much "alive."

Radio Monk33, thanks for your optimism. I was expecting a lot of "You idiot! Opening the Macbook Pro without a body suit is nothing short of suicidal!" type of comments. I am still confused over why it's not working, But I guess just going to the Apple store would be a good idea.

Again, thanks everyone.
 
miggyb said:
Radio Monk33, thanks for your optimism. I was expecting a lot of "You idiot! Opening the Macbook Pro without a body suit is nothing short of suicidal!" type of comments. I am still confused over why it's not working, But I guess just going to the Apple store would be a good idea.

Again, thanks everyone.
Click to expand...


I am sure they will at least give you some advice.

And I have opened up machines without "body suits" haha and even grounding myself deliberately with no problems.

And I have opened up a LOT (at least 40-50 units, mostly macs and asus notebooks), with no problems or such symptoms.
 
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