Q: macbook pro 13" not starting up or charging

I just want to thank everyone on this thread for their comments!! I completely freaked out last night after putting in a new USB cable into my MacBook for my iPhone 5/iPad Mini and my MacBook completely died straight away after never having a problem with it. I came across this discussion through Google and decided to give it ago amongst sobbing half the night that I'd be up for hundreds of dollars in repairs. I tried to get the screws out myself but I could only manage to get out 4 because the screw was so tiny and I have issues with strength in my hands. I decided to jump in the car and go to the local Apple authorised repairer/dealer and explained the issue and just asked them to take the screws out but not only did he do that, he disconnected the battery, put it all back together, confirmed that the USB caused a surge and the MacBook went into "self preservation mode" to prevent any damage. He did a full diagnostic check while I was there and didn't charge me a thing. So thank you guys!! :)

Thanks for this. In my case though, ALL possible solutions work in a random manner and NONE work consistently.

- A couple of time I cleaned the charger port and it started up

- A couple of times I reconnected the battery connector cable and it started up

- Once the SMC reset worked and got my system going (fans were really loud and then I had to restart)

- PRAM reset worked once

In all cases though, I was trying to wake up or start up my MacBook Pro after a night's rest. Mine is a mid-2010. Hope someone can help out with this. It's super frustrating to go through this every morning.

Thinking of just leaving it on with Caffeine all night

THANK YOU SO MUCH, I FELT LIKE A VIRUS INFECTED MY MAC. I was updating Xcode when suddenly every thing got stuck and then the screen went black, I pressed the side button to show battery life and I got 4 dots, I tried booting it up and I got as far as the login screen when it shutdown again, I started freaking out inside but not much. I checked the battery life and it said 0% I considered that the first reading was wrong and I'm out of battery. When I put it for charging it didn't charge, the led light was there, but it was very dim and green, kept blinking. I went hysterical and completely lost it, thinking about virus and stuff, I opened the back cover just checked it out pressed things on more tightly closed it and nothing happened. Then I checked out your help and tried to open the cover again, this time in my rush the,screw driver slipped out of my hand and made a nice long, ugly scar on my 4 month old 13" MacBook Pro retina display. However I went ahead and did exactly what you said AND IT WORKED. THANKS SO MUCH.

Glad it worked for you too Sorry about the scar though !

hey Plunjer .. so my mbp suggested that i have to replace the battery which later on i bought and did it my self, it wont charge. at first the megasafe charger light was low orange and green. and the mbp wont start again. then i changed the battry again and put in the old one which was working but not properly. it wont work again and my mbp is completely dead.i put the new battery but this time there is no light or anything completly dead.. i tried the steps u meantioned earlier but still   mine is early 2011 A 1278

Hey Talal, did you try an SMC Reset yet? http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

Beforehand, you could try unplugging the magsafe power adapter for at least a minute, battery also, then reinsert and see what happens. Then go for the SMC reset for portables with a battery you can remove.

Here are the instructions straight from the above link...

Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

Resetting the SMC on Mac portables with a battery you can remove

Note: Learn about removing the battery on MacBook and MacBook Pro.

Shut down the computer.

Disconnect the MagSafe power adapter from the computer, if it's connected.

Remove the battery.

Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.

Release the power button.

Reconnect the battery and MagSafe power adapter.

Press the power button to turn on the computer.

Hope that helps.

Shailese... I recall having an issue with my computer having issues when trying to wake it from sleep... can't remember if a MBP or iMac though. In any case, perhaps you could make sure that your system has the latest EFI Firmware.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1237?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

Failing that, and resetting the SMC, a hardware check might be required... uhhhh oh... Genius Bar visit ?

thank u Plunjer, i tried just like u said and it didnt work. the macbook pro is dead wont start or anything. .

Just to throw it out there, I'm having the dark version 2 problem in the same vein.

MacBook Pro 13" (late 2011) (Interesting how often I've read that on this thread…hmm)

My wife's computer. A few weeks ago her hard drive started going bad (according to the disk utility). It occasionally was crashing.

But then, a day or two ago, it would not even start up.

I noticed:

• no or very dim light on the Magsafe charger LED (faint green at best) (tried another charger with the same result)
• battery light DOES NOT light up at all
• Computer will not start in any way

Today I tried Plunjer's method, but couldn't start the computer so I couldn't reset the SMC.

I wonder if there's a known issue with this make and model of MBP. Too many 13" of the same or similar year to be coincidence in my opinion.

If anyone hears of a …service order or whatever Apple calls it when they finally admit they made an "uh-oh" and are willing to fix it for free, please post on this thread.

Cheers all,

-Eruch

Plunjer, you are a god. I am just so much in love with you right now, it is just not real

Your solution worked perfectly. Thank you so much

One addition, I think I know why this particular condition occurred.

I was charging my mobile phone with a usb charger connected to my Macbook Pro. Due to forceful use, the wire of the charger broke and the wire shorted. There was a small spark as well. After that the Macbook went dead.

Hey Plunjer. You just made my day. I used your info and voila my Macbook has started like a dead man walking from Grave. Thanks so so so much buddy.

Hey Talal.bj, maybe you might be removing the battery rather than the removing the small wired connector connecting the battery and motherboard, like what I did first. Don't remove the battery, just remove that connector (while the charger is still plugged in to your mac) and your machine will automatically start and you will hear all the voices of your Macbook. Just shut it down if your screen doesn't turns on. And put the cover back and do the SMC reset by pressing Left Shift, left control, left option key with power off button together for 10 seconds, after that you will your charger giving green light and within 3 seconds it will show again orange light of charging. And then turn on your Macbook. Voila.

hi ! This worked for me too ! Thanks a ton !!!

Thanks Plunjer!!! I really thought my computer was totally dead!! I read your fix just as I got the back cover off and it fixed ti straight away!!

Thank you thank you thank you!!

I figured it would be something simple for it to be totally dead.

This really should be part of a simple fix apple page not a trawling through forums to work out.

Plunjer,

You are awesome, a big thank you for helping me with my exact problem and solution.

Your are a genius and a friend!