12-23-2011, 10:00 PM

Hello.

Well I have a pre unibody mbp, vintage as dubbed by a genius.

So I cant get it to power on.

I am going to take the hard drive out but I was wondering if the hard drive is the culprit wouldnt I be able to boot off the dvd drive? I put in my OS dvd in the drive and tried to boot from it but it didnt work.

Im thinking its the logic board but I think it could be the hard drive.

Either way I want to get the hard drive out of it.

12-23-2011, 10:18 PM

just to clarify when i try to power on the screen is black. it sounds like it is about to boot and then it just sputters out.

12-23-2011, 11:05 PM

Originally Posted by tokyomac

I am going to take the hard drive out but I was wondering if the hard drive is the culprit wouldnt I be able to boot off the dvd drive? I put in my OS dvd in the drive and tried to boot from it but it didnt work.

Yes...if the HD is bad...the computer should be able to boot from the CD/DVD drive. It would be good to know what sort of OS DVD you're using:

- what OS version?
- is this the gray disk(s) that came with the computer originally?
- etc.

- Nick

12-23-2011, 11:08 PM

Originally Posted by tokyomac

just to clarify when i try to power on the screen is black. it sounds like it is about to boot and then it just sputters out.

By the way...regardless of how the computer is booted (HD or DVD)...the screen/display should light up. If the display is not lighting up...a component in the display "system" may be bad.

One way to narrow things down...try booting the computer...while shining a flashlight on the display. If the LCD backlight is bad...then you should still be able to see the desktop, the drop down menus, and any open windows. If you cannot see anything with a flashlight...then something else may be bad with the display.

- Nick

12-23-2011, 11:45 PM

Im trying to boot off a Snow Leopard Retail DVD

I am getting zero display on it. When I try to boot it just makes a couple faint noises the last being the dvd drive. It sounds like its about to start up but never makes it. No chimes, no display. Black screen. Nothing, zero, nada.


Its a MBP 15" last model before unibody.

Im thinking its something pretty serious.

12-24-2011, 01:28 AM

Just went to the "genius bar"

They seem to think its the logicboard or power supply

Told me it would cost ¥40.000 to repair or roughly $500 US.

Is it worth repairing? I just bought a new battery for it and upgraded the hard drive.

Not sure I want to risk investing anymore money on it.

12-24-2011, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by tokyomac

Just went to the "genius bar"

They seem to think its the logicboard or power supply

Told me it would cost ¥40.000 to repair or roughly $500 US.

Is it worth repairing? I just bought a new battery for it and upgraded the hard drive.

Not sure I want to risk investing anymore money on it.

Normally my "knee-jerk" reaction is to say no...it's not worth it. Whenever a logic board replacement is involved (especially on an older MacBook/MacBook Pro)...it's usually not worth the cost to repair compared to the laptops current value.

Are you in Japan? I'm guessing you are given your username "tokyomac" and prices in Yen (¥40.000). I'm not sure what your MacBook Pro is worth in Japan...maybe the $500 repair is a lot...or not too bad depending on it's value in Japan. If you're not sure of it's value...you could check e-Bay Japan...or Mac2Sell.net:

Mac2Sell

Good luck,

- Nick

12-24-2011, 04:29 PM

Sell it as is on ebay. Add the $500 to the ebay profits that you would have spent on repairing it. You'll probably have close to enough to buy an refurb 13" MPB from the Apple Site.