"Broken" Early 2008 Macbook Pro 15"

Hi all,

In about February this year, my dad's early 2008 Macbook pro 15 inch seemed to die/break. It was turned off one night, the next morning when he cam to turn it on it was completely unresponsive: pressing the power button did nothing, no sound from the HD, no lights turned on, no chime sound. He took it into a certified Apple Reseller here in South Africa and was told that the "interface" to do with the display was broken and needed to be replace. For the price they quoted us my dad could almost buy a new Macbook Pro, so thats what he ended up doing.

Today I found the "broken" macbook. I tried a number of ways of turning it on, took the battery out and put it in a few times etc. Nothing worked. Then I turned to the internet and read some threads and nothing that was mentioned in these threads worked. My last resort was to search it on Youtube. I found a video made but some kid in Australia (I assumed based on his accent). He instructed his viewers to:

1: Unplug the device completely and remove the battery.

2: Hold down the power but for approximately 10 seconds.

3: After 10 seconds plug the power cord into the device, without releasing the power button, and hold for a further 10 seconds.

4: Release the power button.

5: Put the battery back into place and press the button on the back of it (I assume this to be a reset button).

6: Turn on the power.

To my amazement this worked as I am able to post this using the laptop. It however, seems to only be a temporary fix. I say this because if i remove the power cable it shuts off instantly.

Upon closer inspection of the computer I noticed that the battery logo in the top bar of the screen had an "x" in it, and it says "No Batteries Detected".

I assume this means that in order for it to work fully again, I need to replace the battery. I plan to do so.

But I am still concerned about what we were told regardng the "interface" to do with the display. I mean, the display looks perfect. I currently use a base model macbook, with 4GB RAM and a 250 GB HD. It is also about 4 years newer than the "broken" laptop. And I would go so far as to say that the "broken" laptops' display is much clearer and basically better than my computer.

Any thoughts on whether I should go ahead and replace this battery (if I do I will also increase the RAM from 4GB to 8Gb and the HD from 250GB to 500/750GB)? Or do you think there could be other underlying problems other than the battery in this machine?

Thanks,

Myles

PS: I hope the steps listed for the fix help anyone with a similar problem although it is only temporary. All credit for the fix goes to this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPBN374PM7E Channel: TheNerdyMustache

PPS: I appologise for posting this twice. (I also posted it in "Older Hardware" believing this case was such) I don't know how to remove it 🙂