MacBook Pro5.1 2008 died?

bopsi

Registered
I got silever MacBook Pro5.1 year 2008. Screen has freezed while I was working....keyboard nor trackpad didn't respond anymore.
I was able to turn it off. If I turn it ON, HDD sounds OK, also sleep light....but it doesnt do anything more. Screen is dark, it doesnt come online. I cant put it to target mode. It doesnt respond at all. I have changed both RAM slots with older RAM moduls that I still keep just in case. I assume they both are OK. I was able to put DVD DiskWarrior in optical drive.....now I am unable to eject it.
Is it motherboard? Could it be graphic card "only"? I still didnt remove HDD and try it as ext HDD or what ever to test it. But I am pretty sure it is not HDD. Please help with idea what and how to test it.....or how to eject DVD at least.
thanks in advance
 
Did you try an SMC reset?
Disconnect the power adapter, and remove the main battery.
Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds, then release.
Install the main battery, and connect the power adapter.
Does the video turn on when you try power now?

Try a PRAM reset by holding the power button for 5 seconds, so if power IS on, it will shut off.
Press and release the power button - immediately press and hold alt(Option)-Command-P and R. You should hear the boot chime sound.
Continue to hold those same 4 keys until you hear the boot chime 2 more times.
If you don't hear the boot chime, then just hold the 4 keys for more than 1 minute, then release.
If the screen lights up, quickly press and hold the trackpad button. Try it from a USB mouse (left-click), if the trackpad doesn't seem to respond. Holding the left-click, or the trackpad button, should cause the DVD to eject if you give it about 30 seconds.
If you can't get response, then there's only one other method to remove the DVD - and that's to remove the drive from inside, take the drive cover off, and the DVD will be laying inside. There is NO manual or emergency eject, other than the normal eject, or holding the trackpad button at power up.
If you still have no response, try removing the hard drive, and boot with no hard drive, just to see if the video comes on, and you get the flashing folder (indicating "no boot system" or in your case, no hard drive)

You will need to remove the bottom case if you need to get to the DVD drive. When you do that, you can check to make sure that the fans can turn, and the cooling air inlets are mostly clear.
 
Non of the tips work. Screen stays black.....DVD can not be ejected anyhow. I thinks both fans are ON and as normal.
 
Plug in an external USB keyboard and mouse (to bypass the internal keyboard and trackpad), and try the resets, etc, again.

If you still can't get any response, then make sure that you try good RAM.
Also, try booting with NO RAM installed, it should respond enough to give you a "no RAM found" error, which should be the sleep/power led flashing once per second.

Can you say for certain that you have NOT spilled any liquid into the keyboard? Even a few drops in the wrong place can be the death of your MacBook Pro.
 
It is grapic card chip. Well known problem of this series of MBP. Fixing it is pretty unexpensive, lucky me.
 
That type of problem could be caused by a lot of things - almost all of them not good and serious (think logic board.) I would do the following:

1. Remove the battery from the unit and see if it will start from the AC only.
2. Install the battery and remove the external supply and see if it will boot.

If either of these allows the unit to start, you're supply has problems. Supplies, whether battery or from AC adapter regulate multiple voltage levels and if for some reason, one of these has blown, that's the problem. In case 1 it's the battery, in case 2 it's the logic board.

Short circuits in the system can cause that as well. To troubleshoot it properly will require disassembly. Basically you want to start removing everything attached to logic board one by one to see if the problem magically corrects itself. I've seen poorly seated Airport cards do the exact same thing on older PowerBook G4 12" units, but the unit you have shouldn't have that problem, but it doesn't mean it can't happen. EVERYTHING needs to be disconnected one by one, with the display cable being the last thing to try. If possible you might want to connect an external monitor to the system. All this assumes, of course, you're willing to do this work.

If you're not willing to do this work, and it can be quite tricky if you're not used to it, take to an Apple authorized repair center. With luck there will be something simple, like a bad/shorted cable in the unit, but don't be surprised if you need a new logic board.
 
Sorry about that. I thought that post was from someone throwing out an opinion. I would have thought that repair would have been expensive (here in the U.S. it would be)
 
Expensive is relative.
There used to be a service repair program to fix that graphics chip issue outside of warranty (for free), but Apple still has a repair program that you can pay for, to replace parts that would be replaced under warranty, if the Mac was still in warranty. It's a flat fee (about $350, I think) for those repairs. Even on a 5 year old MacBook Pro, might be good to check about that flat fee repair. It won't cover accidental damage (way too much for an Apple shop to repair)
 
Back
Top