MacBook Pro A1297: Won't start after charger light, SSD swap

You don't need the SSD if the laptop is not even powering on. Remove the SSD.

If an SMC Reset doesn't allow the laptop to power on, then disconnect the power adapter followed by disconnecting the Battery. Press & hold the power button for 10 seconds. While the battery is disconnected/removed, connect the power adapter to see if the laptop will now power on. You may need to wait a minute after connecting the power adapter, and you may need to hold the power button an extra second as well.

If the laptop powers on with this trick, then you can try hot plugging the battery to see if the battery will charge. Watch the Battery Indicator LEDs to wait until those LEDs show the battery is half charged. Disconnecting power from the battery before that time may result in permanent damage to the battery (assuming the battery is even healthy after being a 0% charge for an extended time).

OliverBoreal wrote:

MacBook Pro A1297 17”

I already own a beautiful A1297 in mint condition.

So I though I would have a go at restoring another 🤔

current status

: plugged in to charge, goes green then orange.

installed the SSD out of the good one but still no life

where do I start? 🤷🏻‍♂️ thank you

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/29d9883b-4114-4fa4-a218-e8784538b095

re: A1297

well if you have no idea about the "other" it is hard to speculate if a logic board failure(?)

You give no back story— have you ever seen it boot up???

if this is a new issue only after you swapped a SSD I might revisit that you have those fragile connectors seated well or try re-seating those connections.

OWC/Macsales may or may not have parts and pieces for your restoration of an obsolete Mac

https://eshop.macsales.com/

SATA cable failure was common in mid-2012 models (pre-retina models.) Not so sure about 2009-2011...

for Intel you can try both—

Try resetting the System Management Controller https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

Try resetting NVRAM/PRAM http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379

If your MagSafe cable or power adapter isn't working

Unplug the power adapter from the wall, wait 60 seconds and then plug the adapter back in.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102372#:~:text=Check%20for%20line%20noise%20issues

If your Mac battery status is “Not Charging” - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/if-your-battery-status-is-not-charging-mh20876/15.0/mac/15.0

see Vintage and Obsolete:

Vintage—Apple will repair if parts are available; Obsolete—no.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201624

OliverBoreal wrote:

Thank you.

excessive paste wouldn’t leave the Mac dead ? It would at least try a boot ?

It would cause the laptop to run hotter. Yes it may affect booting, but it would not prevent the laptop from at least powering on (fan spin, power/sleep LED lit, backlight lit, startup chime).

Do I remove the paste and reapply ?

I would if the MLB was functional, but I don't think it is worth it if the laptop is not showing signs of life. Thermal paste is irrelevant if the laptop is not even powering on. Not powering on means no CPU activity which means no heat to dissipate.

reading up a GPU would normally leave a grey screen not dead Mac

Incorrect. The GPU issue with these laptops is more severe than that. I had Apple replace several Logic Boards under a free GPU repair program years ago and those laptops appeared dead (it has been so long I don't recall the details).

my next move ?

Recycle the laptop. From what you have described the MLB is dead.

The job of a thin film of thermal paste is to fill the near-microscopic spaces between the shiny clean flats of the processor and the heatsink. It is a compound with heat-conductive silicone oils, heat-conductive thickeners, and sometimes tiny suspended metallic particles. Once the surfaces have pressure applied by properly tightening their fasteners, that will improve the inherent heat conductivity between those two, shiny-clean flat mating surfaces.

When you take it apart it will not appear clean or neat. But what you are showing is FAR too much thermal paste, and makes the overall job, including cleaning, suspect as well. The amount of thermal paste shown is excessive -- it should not be massively overflowing and accumulating around the chips to that level. A little oozing out is expected, but not like that.

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Liquid spills sometimes show them selves as 'creeping corrosion'. The non-coated circuit traces on the board and the pads under components look dull, and when it gets really advanced, crystals start to form between the legs of components. This causes wonky operation at first, then grows over time into uncontrollable short circuits all over the place.

That is not liquid damage. Someone did a terrible job applying the thermal paste.....it looks like thermal paste residue.

Edit: With it being a 17" model, it is possible it has a GPU issue which is too common with the 15" & 17" models from 2008-2011.