Chosen Solution

I was just surfing the net, and my mbp straight up dies. When it was on, the battery was fully charged. The MagSafe was green. Now, the MagSafe does not light at all, and I can’t reset the smc. It seems unlikely that my power cable is all of a sudden faulty and this caused my Computer to die completely, so I’m guessing its an internal problem. Does anyone have a place they think I should start?

If you didn’t get your system wet or bang it: You’ll need to open the system up to inspect it for any disconnected or damaged cables or burn’t chips on the logic board. Beyond that you’ll have your work cut out for you. Are you up to taking your system apart and have access to a second like system so you can swap parts around to isolate it down by ruling out known good major assemblies (i.e. HD, RAM, etc…) by using a second like system to test them? If not you may want to bring this in to an Apple Store or Apple authorized independent service center.

Chris, when a computer is not functioning, the first step is to remove all extraneous parts that are cluttering the big picture and see if anything changes with those parts removed. First, I would make sure your AC adapter is functional with another computer…until you have seen it working, you don’t have a known-good AC adapter. Next, I’d take off the lower casing, remove the hard drive, disconnect the battery, and remove one of the memory modules (as well as test the RAM slots as Dan suggested above). Take note of any dust, and blow it out with a can of compressed air, since dust conducts electricity and can be responsible for your system getting “zapped”. See if you get a light on the AC at this point. If not, I would let the computer sit overnight with both AC and battery disconnected, because sometimes a laptop will take on a “bad charge”, and it will not work again until this charge is allowed to dissipate. Also, repeat the RAM slot test occasionally. If you do finally get a light on the AC adapter but the laptop won’t power on, the next step is to try to jump the logic board by bridging the power-on pads with a metal object. This is because the power button/keyboard assembly in unibodies is problematic and very susceptible to liquid damage, and therefore it’s necessary to try powering on the board without it. Often the board is good, and the laptop is simply not capable of powering itself on because the power button’s connection to the logic board has gotten fried.

Here is what to do;

  1. Unplug everything from your computer.
  2. Take off the bottom of your MacBook / Pro / Air. (There are usually 3 screws that are longer than the rest near the vent, remember where they go.)
  3. Carefully unplug the battery from the logic board.
  4. Wait 10 seconds.
  5. Plug the battery back into the logic board.
  6. Put the bottom cover back on.
  7. Reboot the computer holding the “Option” key. It often happens when you plug a cheap Chinese Lightning USB into your computer. I posted this originally here. https://discussions.apple.com/message/26…

I have the same issue with the same MBP as you. Mine usually can be restarted after a) the battery is re-seated (taken out and put back in) or b) the battery trickles down to zero; which means leaving the MBP alone for a few days. It seems to occur during random activity (twice while accessing the SD drive, once when removing the magsafe while running, one simply moving it from my kitchen to the then (closing the lid then opening). Last weekend it locked up after trying to use the SD – the battery reseat didnt work; I’m waiting for the battery to trickle down to zero. Geniuses are no help; they say it will likely need to be sent to the Apple “mother ship” for repairs. I may go with a local “Apple Authorized” repair shop…oh yeah, its out of warranty and I opted to not purchase Apple Care (big mistake, in hindsight).

Same thing happened to me on Sunday after my gf plugged in one of those chine usb with several charging outlets. At first i was able to turn on the mbp. Not knowing what caused the shut down plugged in the charger again. Second time it refused to turn on. It has been 80 hrs now. Ps: my mbp was at 85% battery life at the time. Any advice. Should I be worried?

I think the MagSafe Jack died, and then you eventually ran out of battery. Edit: I think this because you’re getting absolutely no light from the MagSafe connector http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Magsafe-DC-J… That should do the trick. Or, the whole things toast like they set up above