Macbook Pro 2013 Black Screen but can hear the chime

Hi! This laptop had a hard drive error coming up and suggested wiping off the hard rive so we did. Then we put in an os installation cd which started to install but froze part way through. So then we replaced the hard drive and now the screen is completely black. You can hear the spinning and chimes but the apple is not lit up nor is the keyboard. Then we put the original hard drive back in bur same thing. After looking through forums seems as if the OS we tried installing may have not been the right version. What can we do now?
PS we tried the standard PRAM, control, command c, etc and nothing changes.

First up Welcome to M-F.

Secondly we need to know what Model Mac you have (because a 2013 MBP didn't come with a CD Installation or a SuperDrive (CD Sideloading drive)). As well as that, what OS does the DVD's have on them ?? I'm guessing Snow Leopard ??

Without knowing much more, all I can suggest, is double and triple check the HAD you have put back in it, is seated properly and all cables are attached correctly.
You should also try rebooting, while holding down the ⌥Option key, and release it when you see the Drives that are available pop up.
If you don't catch it the 1st go, try again, holding down ⌥ as soon as you press the power button.

Cheers

If this is a 2013 MacBook Pro…hopefully I'm correct with this…but no 2013 MacBook Pro has a CD/DVD drive. So this cannot be a 2013 MacBook Pro if you were trying to install an OS with a disk. Unless of course you have an external optical drive.

Second. If the OS install disk you have is a genuine Apple disk…no OS version on an original disk is compatible with a 2013 MacBook Pro.

So these are two VERY big reasons that something is not right…and/or not right with the info given.

- Nick

Sorry about that! It is a Macbook pro model A1278 2010
The operating system I tried was snow leopard OS X

THANKS!

also we have double checked the cables and don't see any issues.
we also tried rebooting holding the option key and nothing but black screen

lizaprin said:

Sorry about that! It is a Macbook pro model A1278 2010
The operating system I tried was snow leopard OS X

Click to expand...

A 2010 MacBook Pro should certainly be able to run Snow Leopard. SO the next questions are:

1. What exactly does this disk look like? What color is it?
2. Where did this disk come from?

- Nick

It is white with a leopard on it says version 10.6.3
we bought it online and installed it fine on another laptop

Thanks!

lizaprin said:

It is white with a leopard on it says version 10.6.3
we bought it online and installed it fine on another laptop.

Click to expand...

Ok…all this sounds fine.

If I understand correctly…you mentioned that the original HD was removed…a 2nd different HD was installed…and then the original HD was reinstalled. And now the display is black.

One thing to keep in mind is…a bad hard drive (or crashed hard drive) would not cause the screen to go black. But possibly…if something is messed up on the hard drive (from an OS or software perspective)…maybe this could cause the display to go black.

But. If the computer is booted from an OS install disk…this takes the hard drive "out of the loop". So if nothing else is wrong with this computer…it should be able to boot from the Snow Leopard disk (and the display should certainly light up).

Here are some things I can suggest:

1. Try an SMC Reset:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
2. Try an NVRAM/PRAM reset:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063
3. Try booting the computer from the Snow Leopard disk. Make sure you press & hold the "c" key when doing this.
4. If the display is still dark after all this. You may want to try attaching an external display to the computer (to see things).
5. Finally. I don't think you mentioned what OS was installed on this computer before. If it was OS 10.7 or newer…you can try booting the computer into the Recovery Partition. To do this…you reboot the computer…and quickly press the 2-key combo…command + r.

HTH,

- Nick

Thanks yes
I thought the problem was the hard drive so i put in another...screen was black
put the original back in...screen was black

I will try your suggestions!

Alrighty so nothing worked, didn't try hooking up to external monitor b/c i don't have the right cord

lizaprin said:

Alrighty so nothing worked, didn't try hooking up to external monitor b/c i don't have the right cord

Click to expand...

Yes…I thought that might be a problem.

Here's another thought. This computer originally shipped with OS 10.6.3…and the install disk you are using is OS 10.6.3.

I do seem to remember this sort of situation being discussed here on Mac-Forums before…and what was mentioned was…the 10.6.3 that shipped with the computer and the 10.6.3 on the disk may not be EXACTLY the same. That the 10.6.3 that shipped with the computer was slightly different. And this may be why the 10.6.3 disk is not working.

Before I make any further suggestions…can you tell us what OS version was installed on the original HD before any reinstalling was started?

- Nick

One common cause of a black screen on this era of MBP is loose memory. Since you were inside changing out hard drives, the memory may have ben jarred a bit. Try taking the memory stick out and reseating them.