MacBook Pro mid 2010 no chime no screen no dvd

tom

i have a mac book pro mid 2010 it just suddenly stopped working. when i turn it on there is no start up chime, i don't even hear the dvd drive spinning, the sleep light comes on and the fan is running and after ~8 seconds it reboots and like that it goes on. i tried removing the memory from one slot to the other but does not seam to work either. then i removed both memory stick and boot it but there was no beep. shouldn't there be a beep if there is no memory installed. is it possible that the firmware chip is bad?

John

Hi! Make sure to try powering on with one slot empty, and then the other slot empty, if you haven't tried that. Yes, it should technically beep with no memory installed, but depending on the problem it might not, so I wouldn't worry about that so much. I would disconnect the battery during testing, just so it doesn't complicate the issue. In fact, when a machine is unresponsive, disconnecting the battery and AC and letting it sit overnight with no power source is never a bad idea, and sometimes in the morning the machine will power on, depending on the damage it has.

Do you get a green light on the AC adapter? Does the light turn amber to indicate the battery is charging? You have a Pro, which requires an 85-watt AC, so I'd definitely verify you've got an 85W, and also rule out the AC by trying a different 85W adapter. Will the machine power on via battery, or just AC?

You might try resetting the PRAM (hold option-apple-p-r immediately after powering on, and wait for the chime sound), and the PMU/SMC (with power off, hold down the power button until you hear a loud tone and see the sleep light flash). Of course, the resets might not work, but it's always worth trying.

Also, with the bottom case off, take a look at the board with a flashlight and see if you can spot any corrosion. If you find some, clean it off with 90% rubbing alcohol and q-tips. Let it dry before powering on again.

Let me know how it goes!

John

tom

i have a green light on the ac adapter. when i connect it to the computer it switches to amber light (it looks more like an orange). the power adapter is 60w and it came with the macbook pro 13inch mid 2010 when i bought it. i tried resetting the PRAM and the PMU/SMC, it did not work. i will try to clean the board with rubbing alcohol. it could be possible that there might be some corrosien because i live by the sea and anyways i have nothing to lose .

John

I wouldn't clean the board unless you see corroded areas...there's no reason to clean a clean board, and doing so just runs the risk of causing unnecessary damage. That's odd that it came with a 60W...I wasn't aware any Pros came with 60W ACs. I would still try a known-good 85W. A machine that has an AC that is not powerful enough for it will not power on if the battery doesn't have a good charge, and machines in that situation often behave a lot like you are describing.

Anyway, good luck!

tom

the battery indicator on left side shows that the battery is fully charged. i opened up the computer and found some brownish discoloration on the logic board. i cleaned it with rubbing alcohol and a tooth brush, dryed it with a hear dryer (cold air) and put everything back together. it still does not work.

i do nat have a 85W power supply and i don't know anybody who has one.

what else can i try too revive this expensive computer?

John

You can disconnect the keyboard cable, and bridge the power-on pads on the logic board with a metal object. This is an alternate means of powering on the computer, and bypasses the power button (which is often non-functional due to liquid damage). If you can power on the computer via this method, you've confirmed you need a new topcase/keyboard/power button, but that the board is good, and that's way better than having a bad board.

I've gotta head out for a few hours, but I can give you details on doing this later today if you're interested. There are a lot of posts on my site on this topic, so you can also find the info in the other questions.

If the battery is charged, that most likely rules out the AC being the problem.

tom

i bridged the pads like in the picture http://htmlimg3.scribdassets.com/18s1i3r40wiq15/images/27-fc75f7455a.jpg. it turns on but it still keeps rebooting. i do not understand way i would need a new top case. the same thing happens when i turn on the computer with the power button.

John

When you say it turns on, does the screen light up? I've been assuming you have a black screen. If it behaves the same when you bridge the pads and you have the keyboard cable disconnected while you're doing it, you probably don't need a new topcase. The reason I said that is that liquid damage sometimes prevents the power button from working at all, and so when the board is still good a new topcase is then required, but it doesn't sound like that's the situation here.

However, again, make sure to disconnect the keyboard ribbon cable while you bridge the pads...sometimes the rebooting can be caused because the power button is stuck, and so having the ribbon cable (which connects to the power button to the board) disconnected is a good way to rule that out, whereas keeping it connected will continuously tell the system to shut off/power on.

tom

i disconected the keyboard ribbon cable and then bridged the pads. the screen stays blank. i don think it is the top case. what cause can there be that the dvd drive dos not power up, i checked the cable and it seams ok.

John

The optical could have liquid damage, or the optical cable could be bad, or the board could have power issues due to liquid damage, causing it to not power the optical. I would try disconnecting the optical cable, just to see if the optical is keeping the system from booting (unlikely, but worth trying). The same for the hard drive -- I'd disconnect it, just to see if that changes the behavior of the computer. It's always best to remove extraneous elements, because all they do is complicate the situation. If you find something that seems to make a difference, you can then work backwards from that point.

Beyond that, it's hard to tell. The light on the AC is solid and the battery charges, so I wouldn't suspect the DC-in. It could always be liquid damage on the board...that is known to cause any given variety of issues.

Is the machine still under warranty? You could always take it in. Even if it's not, it might not hurt to take it in and see what they suggest. You could ask Apple for a Depot repair, which will get you a board replacement for about $250. While there I'd also ask them to plug it into an 85W AC, just to be 100% sure.