17" MacBook Pro won't power on at all

waygo44

This 17" MacBook Pro is not showing any signs of life. No lights, nothing. I know the charger is a good one. The machine looks great, hard to believe it's bad. Don't want to throw away this nice machine but I don't know what to do with it.

John

Hi!

17" MacBook Pros need 85W chargers in order to be powered on with a dead battery, so the first thing you need to do is verify that you have an 85W charger and not a 60W. If you happen to have a 60W charger and a bad battery, you're never going to get the laptop powered on. If you have a 60W charger and a good-but-uncharged battery, you can charge the battery, and once it has enough of a charge, it will power on (because it will power on via battery power -- not AC power).

You state that it shows no lights...do you mean you're getting no light on the charger? Hopefully you are, but if not, I'd try a different charger before giving up. Wiggle the connector around in the socket, and make sure there's nothing in the socket (staples, etc.) Also make sure you are plugged into a power source that is turned on -- you wouldn't believe how many people forget to turn on a surge protector, or a light switch that activates the wall socket they are using.

You also do not mention whether you have ever seen this laptop work, which is potentially valuable information. If it's not your laptop, was it working when the previous owner had it? If you can fill in some of the blanks, I can provide more assistance.

But the main lesson here for everyone is: 17" Pro must have an 85W charger. Most 15" Pros as well. I have purchased hundreds of "bad" 15/17" Pros that were left for dead simply because the previous owner had the wrong charger.

Thanks,

John