Troubleshoot Macbook please

[charlieroberts]

Hey!

So, Im trying to fix my friends MB. Its a white 2.16 Core 2 Duo.

Keyboard, power button and trackpad stopped working. After powering it on by shorting some solder points on the Motherboard, USB externals worked perfectly.
So I got a new top case cable from ifixit. This got the power button working again but alas the KB and Trackpad remained dead.

Funny thing, power button turns the macbook ON, but once its on, the MB ignores all further pushes, even holding it down to try and force shutdown doesn't work.

I went to system Profile and on the USB tab, there is no mention of the keyboard nor mouse (internal hub) External mouse and KB did show up.


Does anyone have a clue what I should do next???

Thanks in advance!

 

[MultiFinder17]

Sounds like either the little connector on the logic board or the USB controller behind it are toast. Unfortunately, there's no real way to fix those other than just getting a new logic board. And for a machine of that age, a new logic board is going to cost more than the machine is worth.

If you have some time and a spare HDD, install OS X on the spare HDD on the MacBook and boot off it to see if the problem persists. If it does, I'm gonna say that it's a hardware issue. If it doesn't, then you may have a simple software issue that just requires some detective work or a reinstall of OS X. Good luck!

 

[charlieroberts]

Sounds like either the little connector on the logic board or the USB controller behind it are toast. Unfortunately, there's no real way to fix those other than just getting a new logic board. And for a machine of that age, a new logic board is going to cost more than the machine is worth.

If you have some time and a spare HDD, install OS X on the spare HDD on the MacBook and boot off it to see if the problem persists. If it does, I'm gonna say that it's a hardware issue. If it doesn't, then you may have a simple software issue that just requires some detective work or a reinstall of OS X. Good luck!

As I read further on the ifixit forums a couple of people with similar problems reported that swapping the top case fixed their issues.
im a bit wary about buying the thing only to have it not work. Do you think that could be something worthy to try?

Ill definitively try the new install and see if that works.

Thanks a lot for your time and help.

 

[Ccrew]

This a spill damaged machine? Sounds like it...

 

[charlieroberts]

This a spill damaged machine? Sounds like it...

My friend swears nothing was spilled on the machine, and the MB doesn't have any indications of a spill

 

[minifridge1138]

Is the Top Case chipped?

If so, Apple is still doing free replacements.

 

[charlieroberts]

Is the Top Case chipped?

If so, Apple is still doing free replacements.

Wow really? Do you have a link to something I could shove in their faces? They are pretty smug in my local store.

have been searching like crazy to no avail.

Ok so I went to the apple store and they told me the program was only for three years after the date of purchase... This sounds like a stupid limitation but I can't find anything online other than posts saying that they got it replaced... I wish apple weren't so secretive about warranty extensions as they are with product launches.