whats the best way to try and start it when it doesn't have a harddrive in it?

Ok so my friend spilled wine on her macbook 13" pro duo 2gz. Her parents are loaded and they just bought her a new one. She said she got a new one because the one she spilled wine on wouldn't start. When she got her new laptop, they took out the old harddrive to transfer the data. So she gave me her old one and i've taken it apart, cleaned it up. And now i'm wondering whats the best way to try and start it. It doesn't have a harddrive in it. I heard something about booting the mac from an external harddrive. Also what would happen if i tried to boot it without a hard drive?

anyways i'm asking for help cause i basically have a free macbook and want to get it working.

Thanks

Probably the easiest thing would be to try starting it from an OS X DVD.

But wait, when Apple transferred the data, they just threw out the old hard drive? That doesn't make sense... the old hard drive has to be somewhere. Obviously it wasn't broken if they were able to get the data off it.

Did she give you the OSX DVD that came with the machine?

she said that they took the hard drive out. I dunno what they/she did with it. She got a new mac not too long ago. So maybe she does have the DVD that came with it. So if i got the disk then what? I also heard you can use another make to make a clone of the hard drive and put it onto an external. The thing is, is that I don't want to drop $100+ on a new mac hard drive in case that isn't the only problem with it.

So what would happen if i just tried to power it on without a harddrive in it?

chopsuix said:

I don't want to drop $100+ on a new mac hard drive in case that isn't the only problem with it.

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Well, you can count on more than just the harddrive being the problem.

chopsuix said:

Ok so my friend spilled wine on her macbook ... said she got a new one because the one she spilled wine on wouldn't start.

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The one that had wine dumped all over it is basically useless at this point.
Liquid spills can cause irreparable damage to the logic board, battery... basically any circuit or part inside the machine, including the harddrive... especially if the liquid is acidic like wine.

I hate to break it to you, but your dream of a "free" computer will end up costing you a pretty penny if you attempt to have it repaired or restored to a reliable and usable condition since you will have to shell out some big bucks for parts and labor.

Devil*

well I agree with what your saying but at the same time there is no harm in trying right?

So at this point, i really have nothing to lose. Anyways, so, if i get the OS dvd how can I start the macbook if there is no hard drive in it? Do i just put the cd in and turn it on?

Also, what would happen if i just tried turning the laptop on without a hard drive in it? Any harm in doing that?

chopsuix said:

So at this point, i really have nothing to lose. Anyways, so, if i get the OS dvd how can I start the macbook if there is no hard drive in it? Do i just put the cd in and turn it on?

Also, what would happen if i just tried turning the laptop on without a hard drive in it? Any harm in doing that?

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no harm in trying to boot it up with no hard drive if i remember right youll see a blue screen with a little hard drive symbol and a question mark. If you get that the macbook will probably be okay if not then well your screwed.

If you have the install media. Insert the media and boot the system and hold down the C key. Until is starts reading the DVD. If the system boots off of the install media. The you may have a change, using the system. Once you install a new hard drive

Like D3v1L8OY suggested, your logic board maybe shot. If you have the external drive as you suggested, you may be able to try this with out spending any money.