I messed up, Need Some Help with 15" 2008 Early MBP

Hey everyone!! For my first post im going to admit I made a mistake while replacing a CD drive with an HD adapter off of Amazon. Im a Tech so im not exactly a noob when it comes to tearing down laptops and upgrading them but i definitely made a noob mistake. Here goes. While multi-tasking i was replacing the top portion of the laptop which contains Keyboard, touchpad, power button , etc and i didn't notice i was putting it on backwards. So as soon as i plugged it in, the ribbon cable got warm so i knew i made a mistake. Now the laptop will not boot of course.

My question is , has anyone had any experience with this and if so is there a resistor i can replace on the board some where? Also, i cant get an exact model number because i can not find the serial number anywhere (It seems it may have been peeled). Any help is greatly appreciated.

Model is 15" Early Macbook Pro 2008

It's only one of three models, but they are the same apart from the processor speed

Apple MacBook Pro Specs (All MacBook Pro Technical Specs) @ EveryMac.com

But I doubt if it an easy task to figure out which component may have gone wring

To add to what louishen stated, if you fried something on the motherboard (logic board) it will mean replacing the entire board. Finding which component may have been fried on a multi-layer board is like finding a needle in a haystack. And replacing it is even more difficult.

Thanks for the reply fellas. I figured this would not be an easy fix. Luckily the owner was looking to replace the laptop before i told him an SSD would breathe some new life into it. Feeling pretty dumb for the mistake i have made but i guess we all make them at some point. The cheapest logic board i could find on ebay is around $380 so if he wants this fixed that looks like my only viable option. Is there a way to power on the MAC without the top portion just to make sure it is in fact the logic board?

I believe there is but it will require a jumper. Check out the ifixit step by step for replacing the logic board. Go to iFixit: The free repair manual and look up the model number of the 2008 MBP. Great diagrams and repair procedures.

chscag said:

I believe there is but it will require a jumper. Check out the ifixit step by step for replacing the logic board. Go to iFixit: The free repair manual and look up the model number of the 2008 MBP. Great diagrams and repair procedures.

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I will give it a shot tonight and report back. Thanks again.