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MacBook won't restart

S

SolarCanoe

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 30, 2008
146
6
Hi there, I dropped my macbook and couldn't get it working again. I diagnosed the problem was with the hard drive. So i bought a new hard drive and I was installing the OS. It came to the part to restart the MacBook and so I clicked restart and the screen shut off and the white light is flashing. It is still running because you can hear it running. What did I do to it? thanks

Nigel
 
No I haven't how do you do that?

I was able to press the power button to shut it off and then I pressed it again and it turned on. Now it wants the second disk but my disk drive is dead, it allowed me to eject the first disk but it wont do anything when i put the second disk in. Any ideas? thanks

Nigel
 
JediMeister said:
Steps for resetting the SMC: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1411
Steps for resetting PRAM: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

Quick question, when you were going through the re-installation did you have the computer connected with the AC adapter? From your description it went into sleep mode when you clicked on the restart button, which definitely shouldn't have happened...
Click to expand...

Yes I did have the ac adapter plugged in. I managed to finish the installation but it still won't restart by any form of restart, even force restart. I tried reseting the PRAM but since it has to restart to complete the process, it doesn't work. It just goes to sleep, just like everytime I try to restart it. But it's actually not sleeping, the light is on, the screen is off but you can hear the computer running. It does power up and down fine though. Any ideas? Thank you so much this problem is stressing me out
 
If the light remains solid, i.e. its not pulsing, it could indicate an issue with the backlight or the video card if it suddenly stops working about 2 minutes or less into the boot process.
 
JediMeister said:
If the light remains solid, i.e. its not pulsing, it could indicate an issue with the backlight or the video card if it suddenly stops working about 2 minutes or less into the boot process.
Click to expand...

What do I do for it then?
 
Only thing to do at that point, since its not software related at this point, is to bring it into an Apple Authorized Service Provider or a retail store to have it evaluated.
 
nigelly said:
Hi there, I dropped my macbook and couldn't get it working again. I diagnosed the problem was with the hard drive.

Nigel
Click to expand...

Sounds like there is more than the hard drive damaged....The logic board is likely damaged or possibly some connections have come adrift.

Is the other hard drive faulty ??

Does it still boot from an install dvd ?
 
So here is an update to the situation

I replaced the hard drive. I have Leopard reinstalled, It will boot from a disk, thus how I installed Leopard. However, once in Leopard it will not recognize a disk being put into the slot. Its like its not even connected, just dead. I am also still having a problem getting it to restart. It still shuts off and boots up, just won't restart.

Everything else is fine, I've been running programs all day for the last 2 days and just putting all my old user files on it and what not. I don't understand what could be wrong with the hardware since everything is working (other then the optical drive) any ideas? Thanks a lot for all of your help so far.
 
I ran a hardware test with the install disc. I did the quick one and then the extended one and both times it came up saying there were no problems found with the hardware. What could possibly be the problem?

Is there any harm in disconnecting the optical drive? I know I would have to take the white casing off but if done correctly would there be any harm in disconnecting the optical drive and booting up the computer? thanks
 
Your MacBook will boot with the optical drive cable disconnected. Take the topcase off and disconnect the orange optical drive cable. Instructions are on ifixit.com.

With the optical drive disconnected you can try a restart....
 
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