The 13" MacBook Pro Unibody is an update of the 13" Unibody MacBook. Troubleshooting is fairly straightforward.
MacBook Pro Unibody won't turn on
Your computer will not boot.
RAM issues
If your computer beeps three times, there is a RAM issue. Either you have insufficient RAM to boot, or the RAM you do have is faulty. First, access the RAM slots and ensure you have RAM installed. If you have two chips, first reseat them and try again. If that doesn't work, try one chip at a time to see if one of the chips prevents the machine from booting. We offer replacement RAM to replace faulty chips. If none of the above methods work, you may have a bad logic board.
Bad power adapter
If your power adapter is bad, the computer will run off a battery, but it won't charge. If your battery's charge is too low, it will be difficult to diagnose a bad power adapter. The easiest way to test this is to borrow either a battery or power adapter to test in your machine. If you have the same problem with a fully charged battery, you most likely need a new logic board.
Thermal Sensor Issues
If the fans run at high RPMs, but the computer does not boot, there is probably an issue with the thermal sensors.
13" Unibody MacBook Pros house the thermal sensors on the logic board. Therefore, in this instance, the logic board may need to be replaced.
Bad logic board
If the above steps don't fix your problem, replace the logic board.
Also, 9 beeps on startup indicates a logic board problem. Try contacting your nearest Apple representative to determine if they will fix this problem (be sure to back up your data first!). If not, you must replace the logic board yourself.
Laptop shuts off when I unplug it
As soon as you unplug the computer from a power source, it shuts off
Dead battery
If your battery is dead, the computer will run fine off the power adapter, but will turn off when unplugged. A dead battery can manifest itself in many forms: It may not accept a charge (this particular symptom may also indicate a problem with the logic board), the computer may not recognize the battery, or the battery may be recognized as charged but fail to power your computer when the AC adapter is unplugged. We offer replacement batteries for sale in our parts store.
Flashing question mark on startup
The computer displays the flashing question mark when it can't find a bootable operating system. This could be because your OS is corrupt, the computer doesn't have enough RAM, or your hard drive is failing.
Bad operating system
Try booting off an OS CD. Run Apple's Disk Utility and try to repair the disk. If this fails, reinstall your operating system. If you can, erase the hard drive prior to reinstalling the OS.
Not enough RAM
This is quite rare. If you have insufficient RAM for your computer to boot the operating system, you may get the flashing question mark. Installing more RAM or downgrading to an older operating system will fix this. OS X 10.5 requires 512 MB RAM, and OS X 10.6 requires 1 GB RAM.
Bad hard drive
The hard drive may have been erased, corrupted, or damaged. If the hard drive has been erased, format it as HFS+ and reinstall your operating system back onto it. If it is corrupted or damaged, you need to replace it. Failing hard drives can display intermittent data corruption prior to failing completely. They often gradually get louder and start to click. If your hard drive is making abnormal clicking noises but still works, back up your data immediately and replace the hard drive. Any of our 9.5mm SATA hard drives will work in your computer.
My machine boots, but the display remains dark
Symptoms of this are a dark screen, but everything else seems to be running.
Display
If your screen isn't working, the display is most likely to blame. You must then install a replacement display. If this still doesn't solve your problem, you need a new logic board.
Other problems
Ports/Audio
If you lose firewire or ethernet, the only thing to blame is the logic board. Because there are many components of the logic board, many possible symptoms indicate logic board failure. Any one of these components can fail and leave the others intact. Loss of USB also requires the replacement of the logic board. If you lose the use of another component of your computer, such as the display, battery, or even power, and replacing the apparently non-working part didn't fix the problem, it is possible that the logic board may need to be replaced (see above).
crwdns2944067:013crwdne2944067:0
If you expect to see replies to your comments go to Answers!
originalmachead - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
Hi I own this mac in Mex and I wish to thank you for your tremendous support about this assembly/ disasembly and troubleshooting guides
thanks guys!
bloggus - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
As to the flashing folder, that could also be a bad hard drive cable or a faulty SATA port on the MB. If either of these are the case, the machine should be able to be booted (albeit slowly) from an external drive. The internal drive will, of course, fail to appear in "Disk Utility" left pane.
floyd harper - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
This troubleshooting page needs some serious overhaul. If your laptop won't turn on, then there are MANY issues which could cause this issue. Only replace the logic board if you are 100% sure that the logic board is the cause of the issue. If you are having trouble with your macbook pro, try researching the issue on google or take it to a professional. That being said, the iFixit replacement guides for the macbook are excellent, so use those if you do determine the cause of a problem.
Joseph Rubin - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
I’m not sure if I am in the right section for my question… if I’m in the wrong place please forgive me.
My problem:
Device: Macbook pro 13”
My Mac was slower and slower. So I decided to delete everything and I reinstalled fresh O.S. High Sierra 10.13.3.
It worked for 1 week without installing any other software, just the OS.
After one week everything disappeared from the computer, and I couldn’t even restarted it.
The disk was empty… blank.
I formatted disk again … and reinstalled OS only again.
Same problem… after one week everything disappeared.
Now… every 10-15 days .. i have to reinstall the OS…
What sould I check? motherboard? Hard disk? Ram? I’m getting crazy.
Thanks for your help
(sorry for my mistakes in writing , my mother tongue is not english)
maurizio spain - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
Device: Macbook pro 13” 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo a1278 Mid 2010
Problem: No backlight.
The laptop works fine on external tft screen and I can see the desktop with a flashlight on the native screen. Tried a different lvds cable and the problem persists. The logic board doesn’t show any sign of burnt components apart from a diagonal stripe on a component that looks like metallic square with cut corners. The link is a photo I took and the component is on the left edge, has a black dot and it’s numbered 330. I’m not sure whether the stripe mark was there before or not. Is this component related to the backlight circuit? Could this be the issue causing no back light? Thanks in advance
Magicboard photo link: https://ibb.co/fXFrRdz
Vitor Pinto - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
Seems like this guys answer to every issue is ‘logic board’
NO sound? Logic board
No display? logic board
Loads slow? Logic board
Overheating? Logic board
Sticky keyboard? Logic board
Cracked screen? Logic board
Dead Battery? Logic board
Lost charger? Logic board
Aunt Jemima - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
Hola tengo una MBP 13” Unibody.
ME aparece el siguiente error en el diagnostico de Apple:
4SNS/1/40000001:VPOR-0.000
Es implica que si esta alimentada a corriente funciona perfecto, pero al desconectar el cable, la computadora se vuelve inútil completamente.
Arturo Guirao - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
Hello, I have a Mac book pro 13”. It is incredibly slow, and the fan is making noise like if the mac is going to take off. I have already checked, and the fan is super clean. And I already did a complete reboot. Do you have any ideas ? :)
Anaïs - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
Doesn’t have wifi hardware “cable unplugged”… I switched in a different display and still get the same message. My network preferences don’t show wifi. So, is that a logic board issue, too?
Slily - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
Mi macbookPro 13 a1760,tiene el siguiente problema, la pantalla llega a un cierto momento que empieza a parpadear se apaga la pantalla pero sigue el audio, se tiene que bajar la tapa y volver a levantar y vuelve la imagen otra vez…..Como podría arreglar este problema..? gracias por la ayuda que me puedan brindar..
Omar - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
hello, I appreciate all those tutos and informations.
do you know if it is possible to use a dvd created in a pc as the system disk for installation on a hard drive just installed on a macbook pro (but coming from a pc laptop)
any tools to low level format if necessary, etc ?
Easier to use an usb key ?
thank you so much
Isaac OLEG - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0
Wi-Fi connection issue - Wi-Fi is showing disabled. How to resolve this issue?
Ashish Pawar - crwdns2934203:0crwdne2934203:0