[SOLVED] Dead Macbook Pro A1278

[mlcomputers]

Hi

A customer has dropped in to me a Dead Macbook Pro A1278. The customer says that they plugged their printer into one of the USB ports and they heard a kind of crackling sound and then the unit died.

It will not power on and there is no light on the power supply when connected.

Their appears to be no physical damage to the USB ports.

Is there an internal Fuse that could have blown that can be changed? or am I looking at some kind of logic board failure and the machine is a gonna

Any advice before I open this up to have a look will be appreciated

Thanks Jason

 

[johnrobert]

99% certain its toast

 

[mikeroq]

That would be a logic board replacement, or a component level repair for someone like Louis Rossmann.

I don't do component level repair, I would price a board replacement.

 

[mlcomputers]

Hi, Due to the age of the computer. My customer has opted to purchase a new MacBook Pro. Thanks for your replies.

 

[timeshifter]

I'd personally be afraid to plug anything else into that printer until I was sure it was not it's fault.

 

[Altster]

Hi, Due to the age of the computer. My customer has opted to purchase a new MacBook Pro. Thanks for your replies.

You might send a PM to @coffee to see if he would be interested in it. He is doing mac board level service when he can and this might be good experience for him.

 

[coffee]

Is it even possible to ship it from France to the US? Wonder what the cost would be?

Thank you Altster for the mention

 

[Markverhyden]

Is it even possible to ship it from France to the US? Wonder what the cost would be?

Thank you Altster for the mention

You'll have to pass customs, even for old broken computer stuff.

 

[coffee]

You'll have to pass customs, even for old broken computer stuff.

Kinda thought that too. I bet it would get flagged and not sent. Thats too bad.

 

[Markverhyden]

Kinda thought that too. I bet it would get flagged and not sent. Thats too bad.

It may not be too bad. @NviGate Systems, in Canada, put out some stuff he was getting rid of, I shipped everything to me via UPS. They had all of the forms to fill out for the pro-forma BoL's, etc.

 

[coffee]

What exactly are the basics when you ship things from another country? Not new equipment but something like that laptop? Had a friend in England try and ship a laptop once that was basically trashed. It never made it. I never heard boo about it from shipping. Its like it went into the 'black hole' of shipping...

I see others repairing things like phones from all over the country. How do they do that?

 

[Markverhyden]

It's all about customs and making them happy. It also helps to use someone like UPS rather than the postal service. The main thing is to have the paperwork showing what is being shipped and the values.

 

[GTP]

Don't know about tech stuff, but I do know that you cannot send any liquid to the United States! That includes wine, beer, spirits, or even soft drinks like Coke!
Not sure about bottled water.....

I know because I tried

 

[mlcomputers]

You might send a PM to @coffee to see if he would be interested in it. He is doing mac board level service when he can and this might be good experience for him.

Hi I am waiting on the customer to come back from a trip away so will see what he wants me to do with the hardware.

 

[labtech]

Though expensive, I have been having a very good international shipping experience using DHL. The trick is to claim very small value so the customs do not try to collect fees and claim "for repair".

 

[mlcomputers]

Well you are not going to believe this but after sitting on my desk for a few weeks, I decided to have a quick look at this machine again out of curiosity. (The customer has purchased a new mac book pro anyway and allowed me to keep this one for parts). Again it would not turn on at all so I opened it up and took the battery out. Left if for a few hours and then put the battery back in and again it would not start. Pressed the power button for around 20 seconds and then hey presto the power lights came up on the charging unit (where there was nothing before) and the computer is now working!! It is charging ok and I have tested the USB ports and they are fine too. Any ideas as to what was going on before some sort of short circuit or something? Anyway I have let the customer know but his is still happy for me to keep the unit. so an early Christmas present

 

[Markverhyden]

For some time now Apple laptops have not had a CMOS battery and instead relied on the regular battery to keep some firmware settings like SMC and PRAM. In theory the SMC reset process they talk about is supposed to clear that setting without removing the battery. In reality this is not 100%. For power on issues I'll disconnect the battery for a while, press the power button with no AC adapter and no battery, then put it all back together. If you did that before and had no results, but now it works? As you said, an early Christmas present.

 

[fencepost]

Is there an internal Fuse that could have blown that can be changed?

If you watch some Louis Rossmann videos you'll learn one guaranteed thing about Macs: It will never be the fuse.

 

[mlcomputers]

For some time now Apple laptops have not had a CMOS battery and instead relied on the regular battery to keep some firmware settings like SMC and PRAM. In theory the SMC reset process they talk about is supposed to clear that setting without removing the battery. In reality this is not 100%. For power on issues I'll disconnect the battery for a while, press the power button with no AC adapter and no battery, then put it all back together. If you did that before and had no results, but now it works? As you said, an early Christmas present.

The interesting thing is this MacBook is in almost mint condition despite its age and I only upgraded it a few months ago with a crucial ssd. So looking forward to using this as a test unit. Happy days