dead macbook

[kalel61]

im pretty computer savy and i may have my own answer but i want a second opinion...
yesterday my macbook died on me, literally died, went black screamed, and then died. now it wont turn on or do much... BUT when i hit the power button fans run, the cd drive vrooms, and the harddrive sounds like its kicking in, but i get nothing but a black screen. Occasionally the screen will flicker gray but thats about it. i assume its the logic board, but i would really like to hear second opinions

 

[Satcomer]

If you still have the original install disks look at them and one of them has (in small letters) "Hardware Tests" on it. Use that and run the tests and they might tell you if the logic board went or the hard drive went south. IMHO it could be an either.

Hopefully it just a hard drive crash but if it is a logic board I sure hope you still have AppleCare because the current price for a replacement (at MacService.com) is expensive.

Good Luck.

 

[Giaguara]

Do you get any errors with Apple Hardware Test? (boot holding D down, run extended test in loop) Any error there?
Can you mount the drive in target disk mode?
Did you reset PRAM and SMU yet?
Can you boot to single user mode?

 

[kalel61]

i cant technically do anything because all i have is dead black screen, not lit up or anything. I dont have apple care anymore but im not afraid to open it up. I figure its a hardware issue at this point. I already tried swapping the hard drive and nothing better came out of it.

 

[Doctor X]

Is your screen dead? In other words is it working but you simply have a dead screen?

--J.D.

 

[Giaguara]

If the screen is black, that still would not prevent it from showing in target mode in another Mac.
And if you plug in an external screen, do you see anything on that screen?

 

[nixgeek]

How new is this MacBook? I've heard some issues with the 9400M graphics chipset on the unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros where the screen would just go black.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...ing_graphics_issues_on_new_macbook_lines.html

Might have to take a trip to the Apple Store if it's this issue. What say you, Giaguara?

 

[Giaguara]

Depending on the generation may be worth having a look in the store... which exact model do you have?
MacBook Pros can have that issue more officially.

 

[kalel61]

ive tried hooking up an external screen, its a first gen 2.0ghz macbook, and its out of apple care, the opitcal and hard drive both "vroom", but no picture or sound

 

[Giaguara]

So no image even on the external screen. And same when booted to install DVD?
Did you have an option to hook this Mac to another Mac and try target disk mode to see if its contents would be seen at least?
If the video is still missing after the PRAM + SMC reset, ouch. Probably MLB...