⟐ Answered September 17, 2024 at 10:21 MST

Is this likely to be something that removing the keyboard and cleaning might fix or would I need to replace the entire top cover, trackpad and keyboard?

Thanks,

⟐ Commented April 28, 2023 at 16:15 MST

⟐ Answered March 28, 2023 at 14:19 MST

⟐ Answer edited December 18, 2022 at 5:48 MST

When I plug the Magsafe connector to the original MacBook, it goes green. The screen has a quick flash like it just received power, and the white LED in the front is on solid. The MacBook turns on any time I connect power to it without pressing the power button.

The hard drive is spinning, but there is no boot sound or error beeps. I have tried swapping RAM (2 1GB sticks), leaving one or the other out, and even tried leaving both out which should give me error beeping and a flashing LED on the front. It just stays solid.

I've even removed the hard drive and still nothing. Both MacBooks have a non working battery. With the battery installed or not, the working MacBook gives me five flashes before the boot chime to indicate a battery issue. Again, the non working MacBook just has a solid white LED at all times.

If I hold the power button down for 10 seconds, it will turn the non working MacBook off and the front LED will go out, the power LED still stays green. Pressing the power button again will turn the front LED on solid, but no sign of booting, just the spinning hard drive. Even trying to reset PRAM doesn't appear to restart the MacBook.

It's not a loss for me if I can't get this going, but I do enjoy working on older machines and keeping tech out of the landfill if possible. Could the power connector inside the MacBook be the cause? What has me stuck is not having any beeping/flashing error "codes" to lookup, so no starting point.

⟐ Commented November 04, 2022 at 18:03 MST

⟐ Answer edited April 24, 2022 at 5:36 MST

I’m usually a MacBook Pro guy, this is my first time saving e-waste from the landfill, and fixing one up for a needy kid for school.

White Macbook, in good shape. It chimes, turns on, fans on. I’m trying to get it to boot to a usb drive (probably my first mistake). At first I got the “Please insert a bootable device and press any key” error. It has a 320gig Apple Hard Drive in it, and 2 gig of ram. I tried holding the option key and got the boot menu. I selected boot to the El Capitan System USB as my choice. It likes that choice, but just goes to white screen and stays.

Do I need Lion? Do I need to create a DVD? It won’t boot into recovery mode, that’s before it’s time I believe. It won’t boot into single user mode. So, I’m stuck at this point whether I need the original disk, or a formatted EUFI in a different disk format? Totally lost on these. I read a lot articles, but it seems most of them are for booting into Windows 10 2004. That’s not my intention here.

I’d like to end up with an SSD in it, and running a mod version of High Sierra so it can run the newer office for the kid in school. I pretty much tried everything logical, here, and have got the top off and the inside is very clean. Just not sure what my next step should be on this older model. Thanks, in advance.

⟐ Answer edited September 24, 2021 at 14:04 MST

There’s a beep every 5 seconds or so which translates to “no memory/bad memory” or “memory can’t be found” . That’s important because I need to know what constitutes “memory found” ? I’ve tried three memory sticks in the left or right port. Nothing but the beep every 5 seconds.

Shouldn’t it not beep like that but change if the memory is bad ?

Boy, this went sideways… before I go into machines again rather than swap parts, I need to upgrade my technique. The molex connectors and wiring were extremely fragile. I also need a way to document where each screw goes back to…

And all this for nothing. Check out the photos. Far as I can tell ,,, no battery. Since it won’t boot, I can’t use “about this Mac”, the serial number is worn away . So I checked others in the series. They don’t match either.

Any Thoughts ? Anyone ?

Update (04/11/2021)

I’s getting more complicated than I have energy for. The screen is dark but I’ve not disturbed the display in any way.

I would have said “No, Nope, No Way there’s a battery. Then I thought batteries can be much different, lie inside of something, or really small. Check out this photo

Inside the yellows circle, as big as the screw hole next to it. I didn’t even try to remove it it’s so small.

Goodwill ReConnect program

I get my computer equipment through them One local store is sponsored to Reconnect by Dell. The donated systems have the drives and memory removed before they put it on the shelf. Every piece of computer equipment is available if they’ve had a donation.

As you can imagine theres a great demand, and Goodwill cannot announce in any way when they are putting stuff our for sale, what it is and the computers are taped so the insides aren’t available to potential buyers. There’s usually a big line and the Mac stuff has the most interest as there’s only a few.

Well, my last visit there was too strange. On the way in, someone literally stepped on my leg going in…

⟐ Edited by author April 12, 2021 at 7:12 MST

⟐ Commented March 25, 2021 at 10:37 MST

This problem developed slowly over time.

I have had the problem diagnosed professionally and tried replacement of battery, magsafe etc etc but these are not the problem.

After carrying out tests, the technician determined that the problem was with a chip on the logic board that controls what the computer does with power; i.e. directing it to the battery etc.

He said that the only way to fix this was to replace the logic board, but that the macbook would continue to work fine connected to mains, which has proved to be true for a number of months.

I am reluctant to spend so much money on repairing a macbook that is now quite old and may need replacement soon anyway. At the same time the macbook is absolutely fine for my uses and I do not need an upgrade yet and as such am reluctant to spend the money until I really need an upgrade.

So, is there a cheaper way to fix this? And if I do replace the logic board can i at least replace it with a later model and get more value for money / a few more years out of my macbook before upgrading?

Thanks!

Colm

If I

2.0GHz (Intel core duo)

⟐ Answered December 30, 2020 at 7:44 MST

I am selling parts of my old Late 2007 MB062LL/B Macbook (its display, keyboard, tracking pad and dvd/cd reader/recorder are broken but the macbook is working with external monitor, keyboard and mouse).

One guy that have a Mid 2006 MA472LL/A Macbook 2006 with broken logic board wants to buy my Macbook to seize its logic board, but he needs help to know how to do the replacement.

This almost answear my question: MacBook Mid 2007 logic board in a MacBook Late 2007?

But we want to make sure the replacement will work, what more we need (energy star cable? any epecific tool?), etc.

Thanks in advance!

⟐ Answered November 12, 2020 at 19:07 MST

Please advise.

⟐ Commented October 22, 2020 at 8:33 MST

BTW, the battery, which I move back and forth between the two MacBooks because it’s the only good one I have, is charged and it starts up the old MacBook without any power cord. The light on the cord turns green when plugged into either MacBook. It was orange for a while when plugged into the “dead” Mac while the green lights on the bottom of the battery were on. They don’t light up at all now.

I’ve tried to start it using various suggested key combinations I’ve found online, to no avail.

⟐ Edited by author September 24, 2020 at 3:52 MST

⟐ Answer accepted March 02, 2020 at 5:45 MST

At this point, I assume the logic board is dead. I'm not sure I'm willing to pay $200 for a new board for such an old computer. However. I'm wondering if the problem could just be the PRAM battery. Could a dead PRAM battery keep the computer from starting?

Is there another possibility that I've overlooked?

⟐ Commented February 10, 2020 at 15:35 MST

I brought it home and started to mess around with it. The mag safe light was green and allowed me to operate the computer. If it gets unplugged the computer immediately shuts off. The battery indicator icon in the upper right has the charge symbol and it shows 0% for the battery.

I don't have it on at the moment, but I remember that it only had 131 charge cycles. To me it sounded like the previous owner had left the computer in sleep mode on battery power for too long and that it completely discharged itself.

I had also removed the battery and put it back in while the computer was plugged in. A few times I saw the orange light come on at the mag safe connector but it quickly went back to green.

Relevant to this question, I also was recently given a used XBOX 360 controller with a rechargeable battery. When I plugged the charging cable into the controller, it would light red to indicate it was charging, then after 3 seconds or so it would go to green to indicate that charging was complete. The battery would only work for a second before shutting off. So I found this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXaIlyjvv...

it gives instructions on a way to short out the battery and reset the onboard chip. I tried it and it actually worked. The battery fully charged overnight and I was using it this morning.

So back to my question. I'm not going to just randomly start shorting out connectors for my MacBook. However, I think that it should still have life left in it at only 131 charge cycles. Does anyone know of a similar trick that can be done to reset this battery? I'll take all responsibility and will do this in a safe environment with all precautions. I've worked with electronics before and I just wanted to see if this were possible. I can't find any pinouts for the battery itself for me to guess either.

⟐ Commented January 28, 2020 at 20:32 MST

⟐ Commented December 12, 2019 at 10:34 MST

My further question about these two guides is that they require a dismantling of the computer body. I read elsewhere on the net that this replace/repair can be done by just opening the screen display itself.

Any thoughts would be helpful. Thank you.

⟐ Answer deleted November 14, 2019 at 0:34 MST

⟐ Answer deleted November 12, 2019 at 23:47 MST

⟐ Commented August 17, 2019 at 3:51 MST