MacBook won't boot, black screen, solid power light

I'm working along, actually doing a 'carbon copy' backup of my main partition... and all of a sudden my Mac freezes. I hit the power button and try to restart... Black screen, no harddrive initiation, solid white power light... <strong>TOTAL PANIC TIME!</strong>

Nothing seem to work. Im a PC person just getting my feet wet on the mac, or guess u could say drowning now. Used mac I bought from someone.. so no warranty or anything like support. Figured from my Pc experience that since I wasnt hearing the drive initiate that my hard drive had died... (again im not a mac person so... black screen didnt really clue me into anything), running on the assumption that i only needed to replace the harddrive.

I ran out to best buy and bought a new one... kinda chatted with a mac techie there about my problem and he seemed to agree that that could be the problem and that I could possibly install my os again from my backup external harddrive ( he never lookd at the actual computer -- so his ignorance, that i became aware of at the next computer shop where I was going to buy a mac mini screwdriver to try out my plan,-- sry rambling - ignorance excused.

So I went on to the next computer store. Where the guy actually lookd (not internally opening up - but tried to keyboard some stuff and power on/off. Nothing worked. He said that more likely it was a logic board gone dead. <at this point im in full panic mode - Cant afford Apple repair, cant afford new Mac ---which is required for my work.>

Figuring all was lost I came home and began searching for a cheap mac to buy to replace what I got.. WHITE MACBOOK 13 ...

<strong>HERE'S THE INTERESTING PART...</strong>

I just reached over and hit the power button...(this is a good 19 hrs since this disaster started) ... and the **** thing booted...

Figured while it was up... DO BACKUPS ... which i did. Both partitions.. took about 20 min.
Was just coping one other directory over to my backup drive ... when it froze up on me again.

Now, back to the same problem I had 20 hrs ago...

<strong>IS IT POSSIBLE FOR A LOGIC BOARD TO DIE, THEN RESURRECT ITSELF AND THEN DIE AGAIN???</strong>

The info on the drive was fine... got my backups... kinda nice not to lose... but without a computer ... not real useful.

PRESSURE??? WHERE??? I'm so lost!
<strong>ANY ONE OUT THERE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE HELP ME</strong>

<strong>STILL IN FULL PANIC MODE!</strong>


searching the web for help - note this: Fixing a MacBook that Won't Boot: Solid Black Screen, Solid White Light | mattalltech.com

I totally understand your panic situation..

Unfortunately your MacBook could be suffering from an issue outlined in the post you
have already read..

or something similar. a Video Chip issue .. this plagues all laptops. if you had another
system around you could test to see if screen sharing works and if it does the MacBook
may actually be booting up you just cant see anything on the screen .. or something
entirely different .. very difficult to diagnose from forums

the other way to test is turn it on leave it sit for 5 min or so .. then use the buttons
for sound if you hear the sound go up and down .. the system may be working.

And yes it is possible for the system to work when all of its components are cold and not work
when it gets warmed up to operating temp.

Probably the best thing you could do is take it to an Apple store .. they will be the
best folks to help you out.. and you may be surprised (good / or bad) at what they
tell you.

*** with MacBook - somewhat solved... maybe sorta

Hey, Just an update...

As noted in the link i included in my original post, they got it working by adding pressure.
note this: Fixing a MacBook that Won't Boot: Solid Black Screen, Solid White Light | mattalltech.com

Well, I went to homeDepot and picked up a few Clip things... - I think they are called Clamps, but I'm not much of a tool person, so ya gotta give me alittle leeway on that.

If you check out the pics in that link -- they look like what he used but a bit smaller..

I put one on each side.. roughly where he had em --- and BOOTED up fine...

I'd really like to know how Apple responds to that. Obviously its not a failure caused by user error or bad drives or whatever... it is a MANUFACTURING DEFECT IN THE LOGIC BOARD/MAC ITSELF.

This should be something that Apple takes responsibility for and repairs, cause I'm sure it has caused Apple buyers to buy new computers due to this DEFECT. Like I almost did...

APPLE NEEDS TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE AND BE RESPONSIVE TO THEIR CUSTOMERS...