Macbook 2008 unibody won't charge or turn on.

My 2008 macbook will not power on or even charge. I remember shutting it down, at least I'm pretty sure I did, and I left it it on the table. I didn't move at all. I did unplug it from the wall socket but I didn't take the power adapter cable off of it. This morning I went to turn it on and it wouldn't start. Plugged the plug into the socket and pressed the on button. Nothing. Grabbed another power adapter that I have. Nothing.

I removed the battery and put it back in. Nothing.

Is the logic board gone or is it the power supply? Both are expensive to replace I know but if it is the power supply it'll be the cheaper of the two.

P.S. Yes I did a search.

You may have a dead or very low battery. Some of the older MacBooks and MacBook Pro machines will not start with the battery removed or if it's dead or near dead. Do you have a spare battery you can try? (I know you probably don't, but just in case....) It appears your MagSafe Adapter is OK since you tried two of them. I don't believe it's the logic board.

If the battery is near dead or very near dead it even won't charge, will it? It's been plugged in for hours and the charging indicator on the side won't light up. It won't light even when I press it.

I did try to start it with the battery removed and no it did not work like you said. Sadly, I do not have a spare replacement battery.

Still hoping it's not the logic board. iFixit trouble shooting keeps pointing to it.

This battery is the second since the first one was replaced. Apple replaced it for free. I'm suspecting it's the power supply or whatever it's called. Yesterday it got a bit hot to the touch around where the plug meets the body. I picked it up off the bamboo/tatami floor since that might be making it hot or something. After putting it on the table it ran fine. The fans didn't even come on.

The more and more I think about it I can't remember if I shut it down. I'm pretty sure I did. If I didn't shut it down is that enough to kill the battery in a really nearly completely dead way?

Ah, remembering those Tatami floors... been there done that years ago. It's possible the DC input board is defective but without doing a swap out, there's really no easy way to check it out. That's why changing out the battery may be the first thing to do. Can you purchase an inexpensive replacement battery there in Japan? There's always eBay.

Going to the apple store today to see what they can tell me. I know they'll tell me some expensive solution but hopefully they can identify the real problem.

Thank you for your advice.

Guy at the apple store said it is most likely the logic board and the flat rate repair was going to be about $350.

There was no battery of that kind there to truly test if the battery was completely dead or not. I guess I'll have to find a cheap one or pull the hard disk and put it in a case to keep it as a back up or something. If it is truly the logic board the drive could of died too. That's what happened when my G4 titanium died.

Sad to see this one go since my other Black macbook is having intermittence issues and shuts off. Heat might be killing it.

CameraMike said:

If it is truly the logic board the drive could of died too. That's what happened when my G4 titanium died.

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If it did…it would due very coincidental. I'm betting the HD is fine.

- Nick