My Mac won't start. Please help!

Hey guys, I'm having problems with my Mac. It charges but the computer won't start up. I left it on for a couple of hours and she. I came back the screen wouldn't come on and the light at the bottom of the computer was glowing dim and bright. This the second time this has happened. Please help.

What model and year is your Mac?

According to this article - if the light is on constant - it should be in shutdown
Mac computers: Sleep Indicator Light behavior

Shutdown
Once you choose the Shut Down command, OS X will first turn off the GPU. This will cause the display to turn off. When the display turns off the SIL will turn on. During the few seconds of shutdown, but before power is removed from the main logic board, the SIL will remain on and will not blink. When the computer is fully shut down the SIL will turn off.

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So - one thing to try is to hold the power button down until the light turns off - then try turning it back on with the power button.

Please help!

Hey guys, I really need help. My Mac won't start. I left it on for a couple of hours and when I came back the light indicator at the bottom was glowing dim and bright. The light on the charging adapter is on so I know it's charging but the whole computer won't start. I really need help. All of my school work is on there and I can't afford a new computer.

Threads merged...no need to double post. Threads also moved to more appropriate sub-forum (Notebooks).

Thanks,

- Nick

@nthony said:

Hey guys, I really need help. My Mac won't start. I left it on for a couple of hours and when I came back the light indicator at the bottom was glowing dim and bright. The light on the charging adapter is on so I know it's charging but the whole computer won't start. I really need help. All of my school work is on there and I can't afford a new computer.

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Turn the computer completely off (press & hold the power button until it shuts off).

Now start up the computer by pressing the power button...what does it do?:

- Does it make the normal startup sound?
- Does the display light up?
- Can you hear the hard drive start up (you must put your ear near the computer to hear it sometimes)?

If the computer does something/anything...then try doing an SMC reset:

Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

Good luck,

- Nick

p.s. Regarding your school work. It is not lost. Worst case scenario is you remove the hard drive from the computer...install it into an external HD case...and plug it into a 2nd computer.

Nothing works.

It does none of those things. It makes no sound whatsoever, no lights come in indicating a startup. I held the power button down until the light went off when this first happened but now when I hold it down to start it up, nothing happens. I can't perform any if the tests because the nothing would start up. Any suggestions?

@nthony said:

It does none of those things. It makes no sound whatsoever, no lights come in indicating a startup. I held the power button down until the light went off when this first happened but now when I hold it down to start it up, nothing happens. I can't perform any if the tests because the nothing would start up. Any suggestions?

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I think there may be some confusion on how to post a reply in a thread. When you are viewing a thread...you need to scroll down to the bottom of the thread...and click on the "Post Reply" button. You seem to be starting a brand new thread everytime you reply.

As far as the computer troubles. If the computer won't restart when the power button is pressed that's not a good sign. But...still give the SMC reset procedure that I suggested above a try.

- Nick

Any spills at all as it does not sound at all well?

I'm with harryb - anything else going on? The power button should pretty much do everything. If that isn't working then that is pretty much toast. How far are you from an Apple Store or Apple repair shop? I'd recommend going there first - if you can't get the power button to do anything.

Thanks for the help guys. But it still won't start. Took me a heck a of a long time to find that reply button. I didn't want to try the SMC test because I might damage the computer. I'm live in American Samoa and we don't even have a Walmart much less an Apple tech and repair shop. We have retailers who sell Mac computers but I don't think they can repair. I'm still going to go ask though. There's also something else, I has my computer on for more than 15 hours before this happened. Can that be a contributing factor? This has never happened before when I had it on for that long.

I have my MBP 17" sitting on my desk running Mac OSX server - it stays on 24/7 - and has been on for the last month. My Macbook Air has been on and sitting on my desk for 2 weeks. I don't think just having a Mac on for a long time would cause any problems.

Now - I have had my battery "ballon" because I had thought I shut off my Mac - and put it in my backpack. It didn't shut off - and heated up. The battery is now pushing up against the trackpad so I can't click on the left side of my trackpad. Again - that was a special case of heating - so unless something like that happened - then just having it on for 15 hours shouldn't have done anything.

Well, I'm stumped. But thanks for the advice anyways. I learned a lot in regards to possible solutions for these kinds of problems. I'm going to try the Apple retail store to see if they have a technician that can solve this problem.

If they are genuine Apple resellers they should have technicians.

@nthony said:

I didn't want to try the SMC test because I might damage the computer.

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Doing the SMC reset will not hurt anything...and considering that your computer isn't doing anything at the moment...what do you have to lose!

- Nick