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My MacBook won't boot, no start chime, just the DVD spinning sound.

I had to take my computer to work to be inventoried. I didn't turn it on. I brought it back home, and now it will not start. When the power button is pressed, I can hear the DVD spin, but there's no startup chime. The status light in the front is on solid, but dim. I inserted a boot disc, but it won't boot from that either—and now I can't get the disc out. Any ideas? Thanks.

Update

For what it's worth, I was just able to fix mine with the help of this list.

For me, the key was trying to start the computer with no RAM installed. After that succeeded, I went ahead and put a single RAM chip back in, and it started up.

What started the problem was the main battery getting too depleted, which seems to have an impact on other parts of the system.

Thanks, everyone!

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If one of these answers solved your problem please hit the accept button so that it may be removed from the unanswered list. Thanks

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

OK - I had the same problem and tried ALL of the fixes; without success. I didn't even get the boot error sound with the RAM removed. At that point, I was sure that I was looking at a dead logic board.

Since the optical drive was spinning, I put in a system CD and tried booting holding down the 'C' key. Nothing happened. After a few more attempts, and thinking i was done for, I booted it, holding down the CD eject key; wanted my system CD back. Lo and behold, it booted! i have looked at many forums, but have never seen this solution. I have serviced many mac, over the years, including changing out drives, CD cards, screens and even a logic board in my first PowerBook G4 - so it's not like I am a dummie. For the life of me, I cannot figure out how this fix worked.

I have rebooted it three time, and all appears well. We shall see......

Thanks to all who have contributed

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Hello-a1260, will not boot, as above. (1) No startup sound

(2) Solid power light (not flashing)

(3) PRAM and SMC/PMU reset don't work

Bought another mb pro-same model a1260, replaced parts from working unit one at a time, hdd, pram battery, ram (all configurations), temp sensors, input power card,etc. Would not start until I changed the logic board. I am not savvy enough to diagnose circuit board component failures- but the board change fixed the MB Pro. Love having it back!!!!

John the Baptist

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Tomas Jones' simple solution worked for me! My MacBook wouldn't boot, after I returned from vacation & found it unplugged. No display, only the sleep light would come on. I held down the eject button while turning on power & it is now back up - hooray!

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Wow holding eject while starting up worked for my 2012 macbook pro! Thanks so much!

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Hi! I'd first try to reset the PRAM. While connected to AC and with the power off, hold down the power button for about 10 seconds until you hear a tone and see the sleep light flicker.

Next, try reseating the RAM, and test the slots one at a time by booting with one empty, and then the other.

Is the screen black or white, and if it's white, are there any icons on it? If it's white, try booting while holding down the option key and let me know if you see the option menu.

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Hello, I tried this but I never go the tone. The sleep light did came on. I will try the ram test tonight when I get back from work.

The screen is black, nothing on it at all. I tried the option key while booting, I got nothing...

THANKS!

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You were correct. I had a change to remove the memory, booting, re-seated the memory, and booted again. It is working. I really appreciate your help!!! THANK YOU!

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I guess I spoke to soon. After posting this above message I closed the laptop. When I came back, it would no longer run. I was getting the same thing described above. I tried to reset the memory again and it would not work.

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for getting it right +

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rdklinc said

> Next, try reseating the RAM, and test the slots one at a time by booting with one empty, and then the other.

My symptoms with one bad RAM module were:

- display very briefly flashed on but then stayed black

- No chime

- Optical drive kept doing this brief mechanical cycling over and over, as if something stuck in it

- hard drive spun up but didn't sound active.

- sleep light stayed on solid

Bravo!! Thank you.

Rich

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I don't know if this will work but try setting the SMC. Ralph

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

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Just a thought, but something i like to try in cases like this: Remove all RAM and try to start it. If the computer starts error beeps you know that the firmware chip is alive. Start troubleshooting from there. It's all too easy to just say you'll need a new logicboard.

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Many thanks for this comment :) After several days of searching forums, this comment has given me hope that maybe there is still life in my macbook pro. I tried this and indeed the computer started to sound error beeps, so the firmware chip is alive. Does this mean that my logic-board is not dead afterall? When you say "start troubleshooting from there" I'm not sure what the next steps are for me to determine what is wrong with my mac. I've tested the ram, the hard-drive, the battery, all good, but it still won't start. I've also checked HD connections and DVD connections etc. etc. No luck as yet...

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The same issue happened to my MackBook Pro 2011

Fixed:

Power up, No startup sound, Solid power light, Black screen, Fan spinning, dvd drive and hard disk running,

Perform Option Command P R to reset Parameter RAM then shut down by hold on to Power Button. Then Power Up and immediately SHIFT CONTROL OPTION COMMAND Power button to reset SMC . Power down again. The put any CD into the CD drive and power up with holding the eject power. The CD make so noise and the the start up screen and boot up sound heard, The MBP17 2011 finally power up.

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this worked for me! I tried every step listed above...this reset listed above woke a macbook pro 2011 that i was 5 minutes away from writing off and selling for spare parts

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Oh my goodness! I thought I read everything in the past several days. My 17" MacBook Pro is now alive. Thank you so much Burney. Fixed! Ginny

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Glad It help : )

Burney

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What kind of witchcraft is this? This is what ended up fixing my problem for me. Thank you so much!

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Hello, I've experienced this same issue. Now, I have the

A1151 model (first generation of Macbook Pro) which does not have the NIVIDA video chip. While there are a lot of things that could cause this problem I take it that you have not opened up the top cover case. If you did then try these steps: remove only the two "allen type screws" completely (located behind the memory cover plate) also remove the four (4) screws located at the rear bottom side. Then start the machine and if it boots normally then just let it set idle for at least an hour. If all is well shut it down and wait for 30 minutes then reboot it again, let it just idle without logging in. If it stay up without shutting down then you know it is something pressing against the logic board underneath causing an automatic shutdown issue. If you have success, reinstall the 2 allen screws first then reinstall the back 4 screws only 2 at a time (the two closest ones on the same side). Then start the machine and repeat the idling process. Remember, this procedure is mainly for those who have gone inside of the machine to remove and reinstall the logic or I/O board for ANY reason. It will not hurt to still follow this procedure. If this clears up your issue, celebrate; you have saved yourself a boat load of money.

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Had the same problem .... fans running, dvd spinning, sleep light glowing, no chime/no start.

tried all the fixes here and whadayaknow Tomas Jones, Feb 16 2012 fix made it boot!

That was holding down the cd eject key while (trying) to start up. The DVD ejected and it started on the HD. Then I turned up the muted volume and restarted and it chimes!

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It's now 2018, almost 3 years after the last comment here, and I just stumbled upon this thread while trying to rescue my 2010 MacBook Pro. I rebooted in recovery mode, wiped the drive, tried to reinstall the OS, and nothing would get me past the "black screen with no chime" phenomenon. Incredibly, when I booted while holding down eject, the display came alive again and the chime sounded and I'm now happily reinstalling High Sierra on this old machine. I haven't seen the "hold eject" solution anywhere before this, and it just saved me about $2k buying a new Mac. Thanks a ton, and for those wondering, this fix still works!

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The same issue happened to me and I found that by re-seating the interneal connectors for the DVD and the HD solved this issue! I spent several hours reading up about this issue and it was never mentioned anywhere. Based on what I had read I thought had to be my logic board but it WASN'T!

I read in several places that if the following conditions occur then it 'had' to be the logic board

(1) No startup sound

(2) Solid power light (not flashing)

(3) PRAM and SMC/PMU reset don't work

(4) RAM is compatable and correctly seated

If you can't get your system to work with the above you should check any internal connections to see if they are causing your issue, it was for me.

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Problem I had:

Macbook Pro 17" from 2008. After a Lion update I would push the power button and get a solid white light (from the sleep light), black screen and there would be no chime. I had a disc in so I would hear it spinning.

I thought it was because of the Lion update.

Fix:

The Macbook must have overheated when I was doing the Lion update. I tired SMC resets, taking the RAM out, PRAM zap, etc. I heard that this could be due to the Left Logic Board.

What I did was set the Macbook up like a teepee under the covers on the bed. I put lots of pillows around and covered it good. After it got really hot to the touch, I set it in another room upside down overnight. The next day it worked! I had the HDD out, so I powered it down and put it back in.

Problem was, I decided to do updates. About a year+ worth since that's how long it was down. So there was a 2GB combined Lion update. I did the update, restarted and the issue was back: solid white light, black screen, no chime.

I set it up like a teepee again under the covers and overheat it. That did not work. So a day later I powered it on, but this time I put it upside down on the bed with the lid closed, so the batter was facing up. With it powered on, I covered it really good. After about an hour give or take, I put it in the other room to let it cool. Once it was cool to the touch I powered it on and it worked.

I thought there was a correlation with Lion, but I think it is just a heat issue. While doing updates, the computer heats up.

So far it is still working. I downloaded smcfancontrol and set the fan speed to max. I am going to order a big cooling tray for it.

But it seems it was overheating and affecting some connectors on the logic board.

So in summary, the fix (at least for me) for the black screen, no chime, solid white light: is to overheat the laptop upside down under the bed covers and then let it set until it is cool. Then give it a shot. While I overheated mine, I took out the battery and HDD. Then download smcfancontrol.

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This crazy approach worked for me. I had no hopes and out of desperation i tried it with the same recipe: heat up for 40 mins under blankets, shutdown, cool off ipside down overnight and to my disbelief, chime and boot the next day. It is called reflowing a laptop/board and considered temporary fix as you likely have a weak reastablished connection.

Thanks alot to the OP for the great recipe!!

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Try this simple trick first - it worked for me! Hold down the eject button while you push power to restart. Thanks, Tomas Jones!

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Holding down the eject button works. This fix saved me after numerous attempts ( ctrl + shft + R etc)

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I am having the exact same problem as well. After running all the troubleshooting guides, I broke down and called Apple Support. After having me re-run all the things I had already done in the troubleshooting, he said he had no idea what was wrong and that I would have to take it to Apple or an authorized repair place. Mark or Chad, what happened with yours?

Thanks, Holly

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Follow-up:

So, I took my Mac to the Apple store. They ran a few diagnostics and what-nots. They said the absence of the chime at start up means that the logic board is bad. They quoted me a "flat rate depot repair of $310 + tax" to fix it. I brought it home to check here first. The guy at the store told me a new logic board was $800 (same price here) so I'm not sure why the repair rate is only $310. Refurb? Maybe. I intend to find out before I take it back. I love my Mac, but in the 2 1/2 years I've had it, I've already had to replace the fan and now this too. I have a 10 year old Fujitsu that stills runs...why can't my Mac be like that? Anyway, the guy at Apple checked my serial number because there is some sort of recall on some models for logic board issues...but not mine. Figures. Might be worth checking into for rest of you with no start up chime! Best of luck!

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Sometimes machines will chime again if you reset the PMU/SMC and PRAM. This is because the audio can be set to the lowest possible level (mute), but doing the resets restores it to a default that is audible. Or that's my theory, anyway. As for the price difference, Apple has two means of repair -- doing it themselves, or sending it to Depot. Depot is a partner of Apple, and they are cheap, as you've noticed. Apple itself is prohibitively expensive. Whether they offer you Depot or Apple is often a matter of discretion. If they like you, they offer Depot, and if they don't like you or the repair is not worth it, they give the Apple price to scare you off. I always ask for a Depot repair, at which point it's pretty hard for them to deny me. A Depot repair comes with a comprehensive 60 day warranty (or is it 90?), and they do a diagnostic on the machine as well, so there's a good chance you won't have more problems. After all, you're replacing the board, which is essentially the whole computer.

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Holly, I went and bought this computer:

http://usa.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=8j...

I donated the broken MacBook Pro to a friend who might be able to fix it. It costs TOO MUCH to support and use. The repair center was going to charge me $500.00 + labor. And that wasn't a guaranteed fix.

It's just too much and not worth it, when you can buy a cheaper more powerful PC computer.

COmputers are getting to the point where they cost more to fix than what they are worth, like VCRs did. It's cheaper to buy a new one than to fix it.

-Chad

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But Chad, keep in mind, no reputable repair person who knows what he is doing is going to charge you $500 plus labor and not give you any kind of guarantee. That is not an accurate reflection of the cost of fixing an Apple product; rather, that is a reflection of the likeliness that the repair person you took it to was an incompetent moron, and he was probably insecure about his ability to fix the machine, and therefore passed the burden of his incompetence on to you in the form of a ridiculous price and no guarantee. You may have been able to fix the machine with a new DC-in/sound board for $60 and a couple hours of your time -- that is what iFixit is all about. And sure you can get a cheap throwaway netbook for a couple hundred dollars, but you get a $200 experience as well, and nothing at all comparable to a MacBook.

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I completely agree with rdklinc!

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I've just experienced the same issue, solid power light, nothing else.

It happened after an update, the computer was working perfectly fine before.

The first time I held the power button for 10 seconds ( quick power light flashes ) then rebooted ok.

Started software update again, same story wouldn't reboot.

This time holding the power button for 10 sec when powering on, didn't fix it.

I tried holding the eject button and the power button, even if nothing was inserted and it worked!

Heard the chimes and it started flashing some internal device ( one of the updates ) and then it restarted ok.

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I had this same issue (DVD noise on boot - no chime - solid dim indicator light - black screen) - removing the RAM and starting gives a flashing indicator light. then I turned it off and put 1 RAM module in and it started right up. I found that one of the chips was bad so if you have 2 RAM chips then you may have to remove all RAM start it - get the flashing light - then shut it off and add the other module if it doesn't work with your first RAM module.

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That just totally worked for me as I had a dead mbp A1150 that came back to life doing this - Thanks!!!

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This hack really works! I was losing hope and tried it all. I had to keep the eject and start button down for about 5-6 seconds before the chimes sounded.

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It could be one of several things:

- bad RAM

- bad motherboard

- bad hard drive

The easiest way to troubleshoot the problem is to start by simplifying the things you need to evaluate. If you have two RAM modules, remove one of the two and reseat the other to make sure it is properly seated. Disconnect the power feed to the hard drive. Normally a software problem on the hard drive won't cause this issue, but a 'stuck' hard drive may draw so much power on startup that it looks like a short circuit and the safety circuitry may abort the startup sequence. Then try starting the machine again.

If the machine gives you the startup chime with one RAM module and the hard drive disconnected, then you have one or both of a) a bad hard drive--most likely, they do wear out), or b) a bad RAM module--less likely since there are no moving parts, but it can happen.

If the hard drive is bad, then I suggest carefully removing it and cloning it to a SSD of the same size or slightly larger. SSDs are faster than the old physical drives, use less power, generate less heat, and are generally more reliable if you pick a manufacturer with good support for Apple. I purchased a Samsung for my Mac a while ago and have been very happy with the change.

Please be aware that if the hard drive is catching on startup, then it may only work a few more times. Be prepared to copy the contents the next time you get the drive spinning since it may not happen twice.

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I've tried everything in this thread, NOTHING. I have a late 2010 1297 17" MPB. I just replaced they keyboard, because the power button did not work. It works now, but all I get is the fans come on, checks the cd (which has a cd in it now because I tried that method), then I get half of a chime and it immediately shuts down. I've tried every %#*@ thing possible on every site. HELP ME! I'm pulling what's left of my hair out. Any other tricks up your sleeves? Acts like it wants to start, gets the the chime, then just flat out shuts down after it plays half the chime. I'm dying to hear an entire chime again!! Thanks guys.

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Possibly a bad motherboard. This happened to my 2008 MacBook in 2015. Most likely caused by a faulty battery that expanded and pressed against the hardware for several years before I realized I should remove it. I had to get a new computer when that MB refused to boot up, but the hard drive was still fine, so I was able to get all of my files transferred over and didn’t lose anything.

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I tried all the above for my early 2011 MBP, 15” which encountered the same issue- power on, black screen, and no chime. Ultimately, the thing that did the magic was powered on holding down shift+fn+option +control/alt+command. Thanks to Raza computers for suggesting this solution in the forum, you saved my MBP!

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I have a similar issue with a late 2006 macbook. Battery works. When I turn it on, the screen blinks and stays black. Fans operate normally. The HDD can be heard like normal. No success reseting the pram or smc. Sleep light is on. Please help me!

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Disconnect the power cable and all peripherals. Turn on the computer and let it drain off the battery. Once the sleep light is gone, connect the power cable and this might help boot with chime and the rest of the process. It’s worth a try. Good luck!

Chidu Hullur

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I discharged the battery as much as I could. Then I plugged the charger into the macbook. Same as before.

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I ended up disconnecting the batter from inside and the connected it to the power supply and let it book up to a log on. Then shutdown and reconnect the battery. Now it works great.

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