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Unibody MacBook Pro models with 13" displays produced from 2009-2012.

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Completely dead, no power or lights on MagSafe

My A1278 completely died a few years ago and at the time it needed replacing anyway so I just stored it. Now I want to make it live again.

I plugged in the magsafe, got the light on it. It started to boot, then shut off, no lights on magsafe. Nothing I do will bring any life to it.

I have checked fuses, which are fine, the 3v5 rails are present. I have watched some videos and my board doesnt show the same symptoms.

The last video I watched, the guy fixing it just replaced the SMC and Voltage regulator and that sorted it. Im tempted to try that, but I can get a replacement laptop with a broken screen for less than the price of the parts and just swap my working screen in.

I dont know much about Macs, but I do fix various electronics, so I have tools and some knowledge. I just hate having a broken thing, if there is something simple to check next, please let me know, I would love to get my old machine running.

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What is the motherboard serial number? 820-?????

You need to PP3V42_G3H to be present and stable for the light to come on the charger. The is the first power rail that speaks to your charger and then the SMC.

Have you got access to board view and schematics?

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I have an MLB of C02111203S1DMLPAU and a Serial of C02F55DWDH2G if that helps.

I dont have the schematic or board views, but they would probably help.

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Did you try a hard SMC reset yet? Carefully disconnect the battery and with nothing else connected press and hold the power button for a good 15sec this will allow the logic board to fully discharge. Now, plug in the MagSafe charger alone, the system should spontaneously startup. Did it? Let the system fully boot up and do a clean shutdown. Reconnect the battery and restart did it start up this time? If not that aims me to a bad SMC sensor.

If the system never restarted, I would pop the logic board out and do a detailed inspection looking for burnt or discolored components. Focus in on the chips and tantalum capacitors as they are the most likely.

The SMC chip is not the most likely to fail, it’s the inputs that it depends on are the more suspect. Which is why we did the hard SMC reset.

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I tried this before, and it didnt work.

I tried it today after removing the logic board, and the magsafe turned green after half closing the screen. After I removed and replugged it, it booted, so I am 90% there!

Thanks so much

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