User profile for user: Joetrain
Joetrain Author
User level: Level 1
1 points

Black Screen, No lights on keyboard ???? Help!!!

I was sitting in front of my 17" Macbook Pro, and the screen switched to a message screen that said "you need to restart your computer". So this freaked me out, and the only thing I was able to do was hold down the power button to turn it off. I turned it back on and after it loaded I went online to find out what that "screen" was all about. I then noticed that my volume wasn't working and I had no sound.

So I restarted the computer again to see if the sound would come back and now I'm left with a Black Screen, no sound (I don't hear the start-up sound), and none of the keyboards keys light up (caps lock, number lock, nothing). So as of right now the computer is useless.

I can turn it on and Force it off, that's it. I can hear the hardrive and optical drive power on but the computer does absolutely nothing.

It's a 17" Macbook Pro I bought in 2006. I believe it was running OSX 10.4.6 , everything is still stock (no ram upgrades or anything). I have not installed any new programs or anything recently. And I tried to reset the PRAM and the SMU to no avail.

What should I do? I have no idea what's wrong with it.

17" Macbook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Posted on Jan 30, 2011 12:40 AM

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12 replies
User profile for user: Neville Mayfield
Neville Mayfield
User level: Level 4
1,305 points

Jan 30, 2011 3:33 AM in response to Joetrain

Welcome to Apple Discussions Joe. Sorry it's not for a happier reason!

Have you a backup of your personal files? If not & there is anything 'important' you need to get I suggest we work at trying to salvage that before it's too late.

Any number of things could be wrong but it's likely that the main logic board is/has failed, or at least some component on it which is almost the same thing in practice.

Clearly your machine is well out of warranty and a main logic board replacement is likely to be uneconomic, ie might cost more than a brand new latest model 17" MBP.

If you can reply about the need for salvaging data we might be able to help you do this if there is enough life left.

Neville
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User profile for user: Allan Jones
Allan Jones
User level: Level 9
79,406 points

Jan 30, 2011 8:23 AM in response to Joetrain

Welcome, Joe!

What you experienced is called a "kernel panic" (or "KP") and you can read up on them here:

http://thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html

There is a huge gap between "nothing wrong" and "replace the logic board" when it comes to KPs, so don't call the undertaker just yet.

1) Many KPs are caused by defective or incompatible RAM. Although rare, a RAM module can fail from age and heat. Have you added RAM lately? If so, remove the most recently added module and test either without it or with the old one reinstalled.

2) A fault in an attached peripheral can sometimes trigger a KP. Test with no external devices (printers, external hard drives, etc.) attached.

3) KPs can be due to a software incompatibility. Have you added any new software recently? That includes programs like drivers that support hardware device

4) As you have never upgraded your OS (you can get to 10.4.11 without cost) there could be an outdated software component in your system that has decided it's had enough. 10.4.11 is very nice--you should try it.

Mac OSX tracks various crashes and failures via a system of logs written to the HD. Your KP will be detailed in a file called panic.log. Whether we mere mortals can fully understand them is a topic of discussion, but we can try.

In Applications > Utilities, find and Launch the utility Console. When it opens, click the "Logs" icon and the left end of the windows menubar. This opens a navigation pane to help you meander through the various file types. Note that several entries in the nav pane have those little gray disclosure arrows. Click the one next to /Library/Logs. NOTE: this is NOT the similar-looking one that starts with a tilde (~).

Toward the bottom of the freshly displayed list should be "panic.log" Select it and you should see some gibberish in the main pane. Scroll to find the part of the log that matches the date of your KP. Copy/paste it here, first making sure the info does not contain any computer serial numbers.

If the KP is hardware related, the log may not help as the hardware fault info was coded by a drunken Klingon. However, if software related, I can often see enough to come up with an action plan.

Sorry this grew long but I didn't want you to toss the computer just yet, as most KPs can be resolved without spending big bux.
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User profile for user: Joetrain
Joetrain Author
User level: Level 1
1 points

Jan 30, 2011 8:58 AM in response to Joetrain

I appreciate the help.

As I said before, I have not installed any RAM, I haven't installed any new programs or peripherals, no new drivers, no other external devices. It may be a possibility that the heat got to the RAM, because my MBP has always run hot.

And like I stated in the previous post, I have no access to anything, because every time I turn the computer on I hear the hard drive and optical drive start-up, but all I see is a black screen and I _do not_ hear the start-up chime. So the MBP just stays on with a black screen and no sound and no response from the keyboard either. So all I can do from there is manually power it off. It seems like the computer is working, it's just that I have no access to it, because I can't see or hear anything. This means that I can't access any system folders or upgrade to a new OS in its current state.

Thanks for the info on KP's. I just don't know what to do from here. I'm currently using my little netbook for now.

P.S. If it does come down to the logic board I would like to try and recover whatever I can from the hard drive.
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User profile for user: Neville Mayfield
Neville Mayfield
User level: Level 4
1,305 points

Jan 30, 2011 2:24 PM in response to Joetrain

Joe,

It might be possible to start in target mode though you won't be able to see directly whether it has. Hold the t-key during what should be startup - maybe for about 1-2mins. After this connect to another Mac with a firewire cable. IF you can see the drive on the 2nd Mac you will be able to copy any important files to a backup drive.

You might also be able to navigate differently to the logs Allan suggests posting. These can be found in your computer's Libraries.

Neville
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User profile for user: Joetrain
Joetrain Author
User level: Level 1
1 points

Jan 30, 2011 9:32 PM in response to Joetrain

Ok I was able to get the computer to work. I tried resetting the SMU again and this time it just worked. ??? So I went to the panic log and this is what I found.

*******

Sun Jan 30 02:35:10 2011
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x001368F4): stack_alloc: kernel memoryallocate
Backtrace, Format - Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x1b9c3eb8 : 0x128d0d (0x3cc65c 0x1b9c3edc 0x131f95 0x0)
0x1b9c3ef8 : 0x1368f4 (0x3ccfec 0x1b9c3f2c 0x4000 0x7fff)
0x1b9c3f38 : 0x13bb58 (0x4ee01cc 0x4b2820 0x1b9c3fc8 0x4b2820)
0x1b9c3f68 : 0x13bbab (0x13da85 0x0 0x5e 0x1b9c3f8c)
0x1b9c3f98 : 0x13d261 (0x13da85 0x0 0x5e 0x1b9c3fbc)
0x1b9c3fc8 : 0x19b21c (0x0 0x0 0x19e0b5 0x4ee0530) Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0x0

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 8.11.1: Wed Oct 10 18:23:28 PDT 2007; root:xnu-792.25.20~1/RELEASE_I386


*******

I can't make heads or tails of it but hopefully someone can. Lookin at you Neville / Allan Jones 🙂

I'm so afraid to Restart or Shutdown now.

Joe

Message was edited by: Joetrain
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User profile for user: Joetrain
Joetrain Author
User level: Level 1
1 points

Feb 1, 2011 11:06 AM in response to Neville Mayfield

Well thanks anyway Neville.

Computer seems to be ok for now. I've backed up what I can on a new external drive. I also ran a hardware test and it turned up nothing so I guess that's a relief. But I would still like to see if anyone can interpret the panic log I posted. Should I post the log in another thread? Or is there anyone who knows how to get in touch with Allan Jones? It seems there is no personal message (PM) option on these forums that I can see.

Joe
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User profile for user: S.U.
S.U.
User level: Level 6
9,601 points

Feb 1, 2011 11:19 AM in response to Joetrain

Allan is probably subscribing to this thread and will likely see your request. If not, you might want to try the Tiger forum, since that is where you will find the software experts. In the meantime, it would be a good idea to update your OS to 10.4.11 if you have not already done so. It's always a good idea to keep all of your software up to date.

Unfortunately, I have no experience in reading panic logs and can't be of any help here.

Good luck!
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Black Screen, No lights on keyboard ???? Help!!!

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