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Oh dear... MBP seems to have died

R

Ravich

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 20, 2009
773
0
Portland, OR
My early 2008 MBP has served me for the past 3 years and the Apple Care warranty expired at the end of May this year.

This morning I opened my MBP and it made the DVD drive noise it usually does, but the screen didnt come on. I wasnt too worried because this has happened occasionally before, so I closed it for a few minutes, and then opened it again. The thing is that when I closed it and left it closed, it wouldnt go into sleep mode because I could still hear noise from fans spinning, etc.

Eventually I decided to force it to shutdown, and then when I pressed the power button to turn it on.... I got the brief DVD drive noise, and then it powered down immediately. Tried a second time, same thing happened. Now when I press the power button, nothing happens at all.

I'm HOPING that the battery gave out, since it's been on the fritz for the past 6 months or so. How do I test this? Can I just remove the battery and run it directly from the power source?
 
Resetting SMC allowed the DVD drive noise to happen again but it still cuts power shortly after and fails to start up.

Tried removing the battery and booting directly from power source. Same exact problem.


So that means it's not just a battery problem -.-
 
What makes you say that? I want to know what is wrong with it, regardless of whether or not I can fix it.

And I did happen to do a time machine backup yesterday or the day before, but why wouldnt I just be able to take the HDD out?
 
It's probably worth taking in to Apple to find out what's wrong. If you're lucky, they'll fix it under the nVidia 8600 graphics card program. If not, they should be able to give you a better idea of what failed.
 
Hmmm... I wonder if the nearby macstore could do it. The nearest Apple Store is about 50 minutes away.

I read a bit on the nVidia issue and it seems that the symptoms are simply a black screen. If my MBP wont even start does that discount the possibility?
 
If you're screen is black and won't turn on, it's usually the video card has failed.
That's what happened to my 2007 Toshiba when my ATI card died.
 
Ravich said:
My early 2008 MBP has served me for the past 3 years and the Apple Care warranty expired at the end of May this year.

This morning I opened my MBP and it made the DVD drive noise it usually does, but the screen didnt come on. I wasnt too worried because this has happened occasionally before, so I closed it for a few minutes, and then opened it again. The thing is that when I closed it and left it closed, it wouldnt go into sleep mode because I could still hear noise from fans spinning, etc.

Eventually I decided to force it to shutdown, and then when I pressed the power button to turn it on.... I got the brief DVD drive noise, and then it powered down immediately. Tried a second time, same thing happened. Now when I press the power button, nothing happens at all.

I'm HOPING that the battery gave out, since it's been on the fritz for the past 6 months or so. How do I test this? Can I just remove the battery and run it directly from the power source?
Click to expand...

EXACT PROBLEM I HAD with my early '08 mbp

the issue is ur 8600 nvidia. take it to apple. doesn't matter that ur applecare is over (same for me)

they will replace ur logic board under the nvidia gpu extended warranty.

mention the 8600 GPU issue to Apple genius. they will connect something like an external HD or an ipod that will load up software on the mbp and run diagnostics on the MBP.

easy
 
Ravich said:
Hmmm... I wonder if the nearby macstore could do it. The nearest Apple Store is about 50 minutes away.

I read a bit on the nVidia issue and it seems that the symptoms are simply a black screen. If my MBP wont even start does that discount the possibility?
Click to expand...

don't go to the macstore... they prob won't have the '08 mobo.

also... if u go to the apple store they will order the logic board or sent it to apple repair center... most apple stores don't carry the '08 logic board anymore... it's old... sadly :(
 
Is there an alternative? I just fought my way through the out of warranty phone rep that had trouble understanding the nature of the issue to an actual tech support guy who said that all I can do is make an appointment with a genius at an apple store. They could send me a box but there's no guarantee that I wouldnt be charged.

He also said that they have no control over mac store policy, and the mac store guy told me that I'd get charged $50 for them to look at it but I'd get refunded if it turned out to be the graphics card issue.


Guess I'll be making my way out to an apple store one of these days -.-
 
Ravich said:
Is there an alternative? I just fought my way through the out of warranty phone rep that had trouble understanding the nature of the issue to an actual tech support guy who said that all I can do is make an appointment with a genius at an apple store. They could send me a box but there's no guarantee that I wouldnt be charged.

He also said that they have no control over mac store policy, and the mac store guy told me that I'd get charged $50 for them to look at it but I'd get refunded if it turned out to be the graphics card issue.


Guess I'll be making my way out to an apple store one of these days -.-
Click to expand...


if i were u i'd bite the bullet. it's $50... the mbp is at least worth over $700 on ebay

honestly though. i'm pretty sure ur mbp is fried bc of the 8600m. i had the exact same symptoms.

they will replace ur mobo for free... once it's confirmed it's the GPU
 
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