Macbook Pro Won't Start - Blank White Screen With No Apple Logo

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Macbook Pro Won't Start - Blank White Screen With No Apple Logo

I was using my Macbook Pro just fine yesterday morning. I closed the lid and took it with me to my girlfriend's house, an hour later I opened the lid to use it again and the screen was black, not even the sleep light was on. I pressed the power button and nothing. Pressed it for about 10 seconds and nothing, except that the sleep light went on for a few seconds, then started blinking rapidly and then went off. Tried pressing the power button again for different amounts of time, and finally got it the screen to turn on, but it stays white (no Apple logo, just white). I've been searching for different solutions on the net but nothing works.

Seems unbelievable but I bought it from Amazon exactly 1 year ago from yesterday and all the authorized service centers have been closed for the weekend. I really hope they honor the warranty because this seems like it's going to be expensive.

Anyone have any ideas on what this could be before I take it to the service center? This seems different than all the other cases that I've found on the net because my screen doesn't show the Apple logo and doesn't even chime.

13" Macbook Pro (2009), Mac OS X (10.6.5), 160GB iPod Classic Black

Posted on Dec 12, 2010 6:34 PM

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Answer 1

S.U.

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Dec 12, 2010 7:00 PM in response to Oscar Pineda

Have you tried reseating your RAM? The rapidly blinking light may indicate a RAM problem. If your Mac doesn't see any RAM, it won't start up.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2341?viewlocale=en_US

Possibly the RAM was jarred loose on the trip to your girlfriend's house?

Good luck!

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Answer 2

Oscar Pineda Author

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Dec 12, 2010 7:14 PM in response to S.U.

Thanks for your reply. I haven't tried this because that means that I would have to remove the bottom lid and it would void a warranty that is already borderline valid. I bought it exactly on Dec 11th, 2009 and it broke yesterday, exactly 1 year after the purchase but I won't be able to take it to the AASP until tomorrow, since they were closed for the weekend.

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Answer 3

S.U.

Level 6

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Dec 12, 2010 8:04 PM in response to Oscar Pineda

If you can establish with Apple that the problem first happened under warranty, then it should be covered. I believe that if you look in your owner's manual, it will give instructions for replacing/reseating RAM, and that it is something that the user can do. However, it being the weekend, you probably can't go out and get the proper tools to do this, so you may as well wait and take it in.

Hopefully it is the RAM, and will be easy to fix.

Good luck!

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Answer 4

Oscar Pineda Author

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Dec 12, 2010 8:33 PM in response to S.U.

Well, I'm happy to report that my Macbook just came back to life. After nearly giving up trying to find a solution online, I just left it plugged for about an hour and then tried to start it up one last time. And it worked! It woke up right where I left it, with the apps I was using right before closing the lid.

For some reason, it appears that it was being tricked into "thinking" that the battery was dead, which it wasn't because the battery was full when I closed the lid before leaving for my girlfriend's house.

Ah well, it was quite a big scare and I'm happy that it wasn't anything serious.

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Answer 5

S.U.

Level 6

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Dec 12, 2010 8:37 PM in response to Oscar Pineda

Good deal! Glad you got it going again!

Happy computing!

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Answer 6

Oscar Pineda Author

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Dec 13, 2010 7:15 AM in response to S.U.

Well, it seems like I got too excited a tad too fast. After using it for a while last night, I shut it down and when I tried to power it on this morning, the same crap happened. It won't turn on again, and I'm waiting for the battery to fully charge and try again.

Do you guys think there's any chance this is software related and not hardware?

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Answer 7

S.U.

Level 6

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Dec 13, 2010 8:03 AM in response to Oscar Pineda

No idea, but you might want to have a look at this article:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1365

Carefully try the steps in this article including the resets. Also check to see that the battery level in the menu bar agrees with what you see if you press the buttons. I had a situation in a different Mac where the indicator was 100%, but the battery was totally depleted.

It looks like you might have a power management issue of some sort.

Good luck!

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Answer 8

Oscar Pineda Author

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Dec 13, 2010 8:21 AM in response to S.U.

Well, I let it charge all the way again (at least until the Magsafe light turned green) and this time it won't turn on again. It's giving me the same problem as before where I only got a blank screen.

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Answer 9

Dec 13, 2010 9:09 AM in response to Oscar Pineda

Oscar Pineda wrote:
Thanks for your reply. I haven't tried this because that means that I would have to remove the bottom lid and it would void a warranty that is already borderline valid. I bought it exactly on Dec 11th, 2009 and it broke yesterday, exactly 1 year after the purchase but I won't be able to take it to the AASP until tomorrow, since they were closed for the weekend.

Opening the case is NOT going to void your warranty. The only statement in my warranty is that if you damage anything while replacing the HDD or RAM, you're not covered. So if you have some information saying that opening the case violates the warranty, I'd like to know about it.

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Answer 10

Oscar Pineda Author

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Dec 13, 2010 10:21 AM in response to OrangeMarlin

Sorry, I guess I just assumed since that is the way the vast majority of electronics manufacturers operate.

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Answer 11

S.U.

Level 6

9,595 points

Dec 13, 2010 10:56 AM in response to Oscar Pineda

You do want to use a high quality screwdriver of exactly the right size if you do open the case--that minimizes chances of messing up the screw heads. If you feel at all uncertain about opening it up, go to the Apple center and let them do it for the first time.

You may want to try the suggestions in the article I linked--they do not require you to open up the machine. It's possible one of the resets will get you going again. At this point, we really don't know if you have a RAM problem or something else. Since it booted up once, it may not be a RAM problem at all.

The SMC and PRAM resets won't hurt anything--the worst thing that could happen is that your Mac still won't boot.

Good luck!

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Answer 12

Oscar Pineda Author

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Dec 18, 2010 6:04 AM in response to S.U.

Just got my Macbook Pro back from the AASP. Turns out it was one of the RAM modules.
I'm out of warranty, so I just bought 2x2GB Kingston sticks and that will solve the problem. In the meantime I'm running on just 1GB of RAM.

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Answer 13

S.U.

Level 6

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Dec 18, 2010 2:07 PM in response to Oscar Pineda

Good deal! Your new RAM should have a lifetime warranty, so if you ever have the same problem again, you should be able to get replacement sticks.

Good luck, and happy computing!

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