First [BROKEN] Macbook

So my friend got a new macbook because her old one broke. I asked her if I could have that broken one and sure enough I got it! I wouldn't consider myself a mac user yet since I haven't even gotten it running yet but thats why I'm here.

I have no idea how to diagnose this problem because she doesn't even know what is wrong with it to begin with. I am able to plug in the charger and a green light shows up. I'm not too sure what that indicates but other than that, nothing else works. When pressing the power button to turn it on, nothing happens. Screen doesn't turn on, no beeps, no fan noise. She thinks its a dead harddrive. Would a dead harddrive = nothing boots up? How else can i diagnose this issue? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

which model is it specifically? .. chances are its a dead logic board

 

hmmm its about 4 years old?

 

can you post a picture or read the motherboard code, chances are it may be one of the infamous units destroyed by the Nvidia 86/8800 GPU, if so its the logic board and a rather expensive fix ( as are ALL MBP parts off warranty )

 

Where would I find the code on the motherboard?

 

tear the bottom off of the laptop and look for a part number ID silkscreened on it.

also look for any model number or revision number on the bottom of the laptop itself

 

I have the keyboard removed, don't see anything on that side. Would it be on the other side?

She also sent it to colorware for a custom paintjob so I don't see anything on the bottomside =/

 

Definitely sounds like a dead motherboard, not a dead hard drive. If the hard drive was bad the Macbook would still turn on and searching for the startup disk but not be able to boot up.

 

I guess its as good as trash? Unless theres some trick to bring it back to life

 

So I poked around some more and it seems to be an 08 model (?). Looked at the cdrom slot under the keyboard and it stated manufactured on 2008. Also, I noticed looking at the right side of the ram underneath the keyboard, theres a little slot there (the same kind of slot as the harddrive and keyboard but the length is longer while the width is much shorter. Think of a line on tetris) but it doesn't have a wire to plug in to. Is it suppose to be like that?

 

if its a unit with a removable battery... look around inside where the battery goes for a serial number, which you can enter in Apple support website that will tell you some info about it.

if it doesn't have a removable battery, the serial number should still be stenciled on somewhere... if it hasn't been rubbed off over the years.

Other than that you need to give a description of what it looks like... does it say Macbook.. Macbook Pro? or something on it... what color is the keys... is the case made out of metal or plastic... about how big is the screen size... etc etc...

Its really hard to just wildly guess off vague descriptions.

99.99% of the time a dead hard drive will NOT show the symptoms you are seeing... so its probably not that.

 

Early 2008 model it seems. Didn't know you could enter the serial in apple's site so yeah. Anything else?

 

Looks like I have some hope:

Have a MacBook Pro with a faulty GPU and no AppleCare? You may still be covered | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

 

Try doing this, it's a long shot, but it's how I found that my Logic Board for my MBP wasn't broken (like multiple people told me). It has to be timed to perfection:

Hold power button for 5 seconds WITH power plugged in, pull power plug out, whilst still holding the power button for 5 seconds again, and then plug in power, wait 3 seconds, let go of the power button, and then Hold C + press the power button, as quickly as you can.

I spilt strongbow all over my laptop whilst it was still running, and it stopped working for a while, but once I found this combination it got it working again, and it was because my battery was completely dead (must of been the water).

Good luck!

 

Hate to break it to ya, but if it's painted by Colorware, you're warranty is void. Unless there's a diff warranty from colorware

 

Just got the time to try that. Now it seems it boots as I hear the fan but less than 3 seconds later, it shuts down. Im gonna charge this battery for a little bit longer and see what happens. Anyone else have any tips or further advice?

 

run it with no battery installed... a bad battery can cause major issues.

 

Is this a MacBook (your title) or a MacBook Pro? If it's a MacBook, it wouldn't be covered under the Nivida GPU program. If it's a Pro, I'd definitely take it to an Apple Store and have them check and see if it's covered.

Logic boards for MacBooks are a few hundred bucks, I wouldn't bother fixing it if it's a logic board. You could probably net some money by parting it out or selling it on ebay, though. Good luck.

 

Yup. Warranty = toast. Apple will probably refuse even the out of warranty service considering the laptop was so heavily modified.

 

I second removing the battery seen it fix many issues in PC's.

 

tried that. no difference. fan starts but shuts down quickly afterwards.

and yes it is a pro

 

What I would recommend is go down to the apple store and talk to a "genius" ... even if it is out of warranty sometimes they will be nice and try to help you out.

Even if they don't want to do the repair they might be willing to tell you what is wrong with it, which will help you focus your efforts more clearly on repairing the laptop ....

Just a suggestion... but that is what I would do...

 

true, it can't hurt to ask... maybe it is one of this 8600M gnu's...

 

Try doing what I said in the earlier post, without the battery. And see if it works.

 

nope even without the battery didn't work.

question: if just the gpu was dead, would the macbook still turn on without anything on the display?

 

Sadly no. I tried that with my MBP (2007) when it's GPU failed. It would have made for an excellent OS X desktop rig.

 

I ask this because I went to the apple store to get a "genius" at the bar to diagnose it because I am not familiar with macbooks at all (great with windows though and I assume its quite similar). The guy stated to me that it is not a gpu problem because if it was just the graphics card, the macbook would've still turned on. I had a hard time believing it but held my tongue as I didn't want to create a scene. Maybe I'll go back another day or to another store and see what they can do about it.

 

the guy was stupid... failed electronics somewhere in the circuit can cause all kinds of problems, including making the whole thing fail... it just depends how its gone bad. Sure it could turn on and be accessed across the network or something if it was a failed GPU, but it can also prevent anything from working at all.

 

yah the apple 'genius' aren't always that smart... some are, but lots are not.

if there is a GPU issue, your basically screwed. throw it away.

I guess you could remove the entire logic board worst case and try the baking method... but that is nothing short of a last ditch attempt...