I have a 15" Mid 2009 MacBook Pro. The laptop suffered from a spillage and the result was the left shift key was always on. So I ordered a new keyboard/backlight and fitted it to the top case. Last night after putting it all back together it booted on and I swear the left shift key worked as did everything else.

This morning when I turned it on I noticed that the left shift, left control and left option keys are all unresponsive (checked with the onscreen keyboard).

I have tried the following:

- re-installing Lion from scratch.

- resetting the PRAM with right option, control, P + R. (rebooted 3 times to make sure)

- resetting the SMC - as I cannot do this with the keys, I removed the battery and held down the power button for 5 seconds. The clock reset so I assume this worked?

- re-seating the keyboard ribbon cable.

Does anyone have any ideas or solutions?

Does anyone know if one of the connectors on the ribbon cable signify these three buttons? (i.e. are the buttons grouped together on one pin which I could attempt to clean etc)

Any help, info or suggestions would be VERY much appreciated!!

⟐ Answered October 30, 2025 at 22:50 MST

I want to replace my keyboard, but I have an issue with two of the tiny screws of the old keyboard.

I tried with no success :

- using PH00 and PH000 screwdrivers with a rubber band

- using glue with a PH000 bit (i waited for 30 minutes fo the glue to dry)

- using various other bit to get a grip

I think i only have two options now :

- use a rotary tool to make a mark horizontal mark in the head of the screw, and hope to unscrew with another screwdriver

- use soldering iron to attach the screw with a metalic part or a screwdriver bit, and unscrew it this way.

I don't know what's best, or what could work... those screw are so tiny it make the work harder. Plus, the two solutions above may damage the old keyboard (but this is not the most important I guess, since I'm replacing it).

What do you think, any other ideas, or advice ?

Thanks !

⟐ Answered July 22, 2025 at 17:06 MST

⟐ Answered August 15, 2014 at 9:24 MST

A few days ago I spilled tea over my MBP, and quite a lot. It was all over the trackpad, bottom right part of the keyboard and right speaker. I immediately held my MacBook upside down, turned it off and gravity helped out a lot: almost everything still works.

Afterwards I opened the back cover to remove any moisture inside the case. There was some but not too much. All crucial parts in that area (harddisk, battery, optical drive) luckily still work, I've removed the keys that got wet and removed the moisture under them, so I'm pretty sure most of it is dry now :-)

I do have one big problem now: the button functionality of the trackpad is gone. The first day after turning it on again, it still worked, but if I clicked the 'click' sound you normally hear was really soft. Probably due to water under the glass trackpad. Now, the sound is exactly as it should be, but I cannot 'click' the pad anymore (no left or right mouse click). (multi-touch) taps and swipes still work.

Does anybody have any ideas? I've seen this thread:

How do I repair my track pad

But it's related to an older model trackpad, the one without the button integrated in the glass, so the part number mentioned there is not for me.

Would it help to open up the case again and remove the battery? Would I be able to clean the trackpad from inside then, or is there another layer in between?

Thanks a lot for any help!

Kind regards,

Pieter

⟐ Commented February 03, 2026 at 6:53 MST

I cloned the factory drive to the SSD using Super Duper. After cloning the HDD to the SSD I installed it and turned it on, it booted up fine but not quite as quickly as I would expect for an SSD.

Verified and reparied disk permissions.

Restert. Boot up time about 1 minute 20 seconds.

Shut down.

Reset PRAM

Boot up about 1 minute.

Restart. Boot up time about 43 minutes.

I have no idea what happened in the middle there but something is obviously not working right. Now when I click on applications they go gray then take several minutes before launching. I'm not sure what to do. Please help!

⟐ Commented May 21, 2024 at 19:03 MST

My 15" Macbook Pro (mid 2009 2.53 Ghz) is not booting up properly (it displays the apple logo and the progress wheel). Even safe boot is not always possible. In verbose mode I got the message "disk02: no such media present."

I downloaded a program called S.M.A.R.T. Reporter to do a health check on my HD. Everything seems fine. I was told that the problem is then probably the system bus. Does this mean that I have to replace the logic board altogether?

⟐ Answer accepted February 18, 2014 at 8:38 MST

I know ifixit recommends 1.5mm flat, will scour my small town for one tomorrow. Found an official correct tool but it's on order, won't arrive soon enough. Available at http://www.pbparts.com/shop.php/9229101

⟐ Answer edited January 29, 2014 at 10:33 MST

⟐ Answer deleted November 10, 2013 at 19:44 MST

*See special compatibility notes, second to last paragraph.

⟐ Answer accepted November 13, 2013 at 20:30 MST

⟐ Answer accepted November 23, 2019 at 18:36 MST

i've got a MacBook Pro 15" mid09 2.53 GHz with a broken screen. Now i could have a Display from a MBP 15" late08 for low money.

Now i would ask, if anybody knows if this display will fit to my MacBook Pro? Optical they look the same..

Now i mounted a display from a late08. I just had to replace the cables to the mainboard with the old ones. Now everything's working (the display, camera, brightness sensor, wireless). The only thing that's not working is: When i close the lid, the notebook doesn't go into the standby mode.. I already have done a SMC reset.

@ABCellars

A PRAM reset don't helped. I completely mounted the late08 screen, except the two cables, that are connected to the mainboard, these are from the original screen. It's a glossy screen.

@remacberlin

I tested it now, thanks for the hint :). on my old screen respectively on my MacBook its on the left side, and on my actual screen its on the right side. When i hold a magnet directly under the left speaker, the MacBook goes sleeping.. I'm thinking about buying a little magnetstripe and glow it on the left side on the screen.

So, i took a fridge magnet, pulled the sticker from the pizza delivery service off, afterwards i glew double-sided adhesive tape on, and cut it on a small size. It works great, and it's inconspicuous.

Here's a picture:

http://www.imagebanana.com/view/pr15cco9...

⟐ Commented December 02, 2011 at 12:27 MST

My current set up is

MacBook Pro

Processor : 2.53 GHz intel Core 2 Duo

Memory: 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

⟐ Commented May 25, 2017 at 19:54 MST

So, i've had my Macbook Pro 15" for nearly a year now, and i would like to upgrade my RAM modules from 4 GB to 8 GB.

Macbook Pro specs:

Model Number: A1286

Processor: 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

HDD: 250 GB

RAM: 4 GB

Bought: January 2010.

The information that i found on Apples website about their RAM modules are the following:

1066 MHz

DDR 3

PC3 - 8500

SO - DIMMs

After searching Google, i found a pair of Corsair RAM modules, which would provide me with 2x4 GB RAM modules.

The specs are the exact same as the specs on the pair from Apples website, but the price i WAY different!

Link to corsair RAM modules:

http://www.corsair.com/cm3x8gsdkit1066.h...

Link to Apple RAM modules:

http://store.apple.com/us/memorymodel/ME...

I can save ALOT of money buying the Corsair RAM instead of the ones shown on Apple's website.

My question is simple:

Will they work with my Macbook Pro?

⟐ Answer accepted November 14, 2013 at 4:40 MST

The installation of the Leopard OS took about 5 hours. Do you know why is doing that ?

⟐ Answer accepted November 13, 2013 at 20:32 MST

⟐ Edited November 05, 2010 at 8:35 MST

⟐ Answer edited August 19, 2016 at 6:30 MST

Is it possible to upgrade my internal hard drive with out voiding the Apple Care warranty? Or can they notice that I have opened the MacBook pro meaning is there any shield? I would like to upgrade it and when I get problem I would put the original HD back and take it to Apple store. Please suggest.

Thanks,

DJ

⟐ Answer deleted November 18, 2014 at 14:58 MST

I realized something was wrong because my fan is now constantly on and running at max speed ~6,000 RPM and is SUPER loud. Before this mod, my fan ran nice and smooth. Should note that my camera and wifi still work fine! The loud, fast, always on fan is the only problem at the moment.

[ TROUBLESHOOTING ATTEMPTS ]

Before suspecting I broke the camera cable, I tried various fan speed control apps - they all report the "left fan" speed correctly (there is only one fan in this model MBP btw, running close to 6,000 RPM) but none are able to actually control the fan and slow it down! (Fan Control and smcFanControl)

I reset the SMC more than once too. Screen is brighter! But fan still running at max.

[ HERE'S THE KICKER ]

When I unplug the camera cable end by the drive bay, the fan runs at normal speed, nice and quiet (I lose wifi obviously). When I unplug the camera cable from the far corner of the motherboard, the fan speed stays the same (fast and loud and always on).

With a flashlight, it looks like I might have damaged the actual camera cable socket. That would make me sad :( But it's possible it could also be (or only be) the camera cable itself.

[ IN CONCLUSION ]

The problem is definitely tied to the camera cable, or the socket. The question is if I should bother to buy a replacement camera cable and see if that fixes it, or if by my description, if someone can tell that it's the socket, in which case I'll probably just buy a new computer presuming it's a total logic board replacement.

[ SIDE NOTE ]

If there's a way to simply slow the fan down that I haven't tried (tried Fan Control, smcFanControl, resetting the SMC) I'd be more than happy with that solution - everything else seems to work fine. Just that darned fan!!!

Thanks!!!!

⟐ Answered August 26, 2013 at 14:08 MST

• Tried swapping both RAMs into each slot respectively.
• Tried booting from a USB flash drive with HD removed.
• Tried booting the computer from a charger with the battery unplugged.
• I tried the NVRAM zap and SMC reset.

The only thing that fixed it temporarily was leaving the computer unplugged completely with the battery unplugged overnight. Then it worked fine, until the battery ran itself down and I tried booting it this morning with a charger plugged in.

Any ideas?

⟐ Commented December 28, 2020 at 9:17 MST

⟐ Answer edited April 22, 2014 at 0:29 MST