Mac Book 15" no start

widgeon13 · 11-08-2011, 05:30 PM

My MacBook Pro is misbehaving and perhaps the hard drive is failing. It was fine this afternoon and then I shut the top (screen) and when I opened it later just a black screen. It would not wake up and no hard drive action. I have shut down, reset pram and removed the battery and power cord and held power button down for five seconds as suggested by tutorial. Still the same situation. Black screen, push power button and I get the normal start up sound (chimes) but that's it, screen stays black and no other activity.

Doing this on my old 12" Power book G4. Is this what I might expect when the hard drive fails? Thanks for any suggestions. I suppose I will also get the usual buy a Dell recommendations. At this point I don't really want any crap but expect to get it anyway.

Thanks, at least I have one apple that's working.

stomachmonkey · 11-08-2011, 05:52 PM

Sounds like the LCD inverter.

Hook up an external monitor and see what happens.

Sometime the inverter will work if the screen is at a certain angle.

widgeon13 · 11-08-2011, 06:12 PM

Thanks very much for the reply. I don't have an external monitor but will try to reposition the screen a few times.

The computer is off the power cord now and gives me no indication that it is powering up at all right now (from the battery). If I hook up to the power cord I get the small light on the front of the case but that's about it.

Appreciate the reply.

Gogar · 11-08-2011, 06:15 PM

I know this sounds stupid, but make sure you have the screen brightness up. Start it up and get the startup chimes and wait a bit and push and hold F2 for about 5 seconds.

cgarr · cgarr's Garage

If the LCD inverter is out you can still see the screen with a flash light, (not easy to see but you can see the icons etc) you may have just lost your back light.

stomachmonkey · 11-08-2011, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gogar

I know this sounds stupid, but make sure you have the screen brightness up. Start it up and get the startup chimes and wait a bit and push and hold F2 for about 5 seconds.

Doo! LOL, give that a shot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cgarr

If the LCD inverter is out you can still see the screen with a flash light, (not easy to see but you can see the icons etc) you may have just lost your back light.

I've had a couple of Inverters go and icons are not always possible to see. I have seen them do a kind of ghosted defrost thing when first booting up.

But agree backlight is a strong possibility.

My first thought is inverter as I've seen that more often with Macs.

widgeon13 · 11-08-2011, 06:58 PM

Not stupid at all. I will check the backlight but believe I have already done that however will check it again. If that's the problem I'll ban myself for a week maybe longer. Would be nice if it was that simple.

Checked it and that's not the issue. I also went back to the old Apple battery that I had replaced with a new non Apple battery. When the computer was off the power cord with the new battery it would not power up but with the old one it does, even at low charge. That is a little strange.

I will leave it plugged in overnight and see if that makes any difference.

Thanks again for the guidance.

stomachmonkey · 11-08-2011, 07:12 PM

If the box is not under warranty Apple have a little known pay one price fix everything service plan.

Had one of my work machines bounce around the inside of my car and all sorts of stuff got effed up.

~$300.00 and got a new logic board, case and LCD. (I think the cost is based on a percentage of the original purchase price)

The only gotcha is if your problem was a stuck key you paid a lot to remove some dirt so you should have a reasonable idea of what the problem is before using that option.

widgeon13 · 11-08-2011, 07:23 PM

Thanks, I'll check things out further and keep you posted. Still have the old G4, iPad and iPhone so I'm operational. May just pop for a new 13" macPro if the old 15" has gone west.

Gogar · 11-08-2011, 08:15 PM

Start it up in Target Disk mode (Start while holding "T"), and see if you get the little FireWire icon dancing around the screen. It's a very fast startup and not OS-dependent, so if you have a software problem you should still be able to see the FW icon.

widgeon13 · 11-09-2011, 02:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gogar

Start it up in Target Disk mode (Start while holding "T"), and see if you get the little FireWire icon dancing around the screen. It's a very fast startup and not OS-dependent, so if you have a software problem you should still be able to see the FW icon.

I'm getting nothing, no change. Just the start noise, chimes and a black screen. I'm going to give it a rest for a while. Don't really know what to do now.

Thanks very much guys, appreciate the assistance.

stomachmonkey · 11-09-2011, 05:14 AM

Even a new TV with VGA or DVI in will work.

I have a 17 in that has a flaky display, works intermittently so I just stuck it into my entertainment center and it drives my 65" screen in the family room.

cgarr · cgarr's Garage

Will a Mac connect to an external monitor by just plugging it in? I had to choose a different monitor in the video setup to make mine work but it's not a Mac.

Sent from my iPhone

widgeon13 · 11-09-2011, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

Even a new TV with VGA or DVI in will work.

I have a 17 in that has a flaky display, works intermittently so I just stuck it into my entertainment center and it drives my 65" screen in the family room.

What cable do I need to make the connection?

stomachmonkey · 11-09-2011, 06:18 AM

The Mac has DVI out. Many TV's support DVI in. If the TV only supports VGA in then there is an adaptor. The MacBooks used to ship with the DVI to VGA adaptor.

Gogar · 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by widgeon13

What cable do I need to make the connection?

If the computer is relatively new it's "Mini Display Port to (xxx) adapter." If it's more than a few years old it could be "Mini DVI to (xxx) adapter." They have both at Best Buy for about $20-25, maybe take it in there with you to make sure you get the right one. You can pick HDMI, DVI, or VGA as the other end to match up to your tv or whatever.

stomachmonkey · 11-09-2011, 06:34 AM

Yeah, it would help to know exactly which model it is.

I'm just assuming it's 3 years or so old.

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

Yup, now they ship with the mini display port, and each adapter is $29....

widgeon13 · 11-09-2011, 03:37 PM

It's mid 2008 and the problem was a failed video chip, invidia and it is covered. Should have it back I'm a week or so. No cost. I can live with that.

widgeon13 · 11-10-2011, 04:20 PM

Got a message this morning, the repair was completed. Back in service.