car5ten

Q: mid 2009 macbook pro black screen

Hey guys,

 

yesterday I received a mid 2009 13" macbook pro, which is for DIYer. It was missing a hdd and I wanted to see if it's working, so I powered it on. All I could see was a white screen. Over the night I put it on my charger. After putting in a ssd, which was laying around, it isn't working anymore. Only thing is working right now:

When i plug the charger, it goes green.

When i press the battery button, all LEDs go green

When i press the power button, while the charger is plugged, the battery LEDs go green.

 

Any clue what it might be or what i can try to make it work again?

 

Sorry for my bad english

 

Thanks,

Carsten

MacBook Pro

Posted on Mar 14, 2015 8:41 AM

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Q: mid 2009 macbook pro black screen

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  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Mar 14, 2015 10:07 AM in response to car5ten
    Level 8 (49,654 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 14, 2015 10:07 AM in response to car5ten

    Your English is perfect. Read everything here: Mac OS X: Gray screen appears during startup - Apple Support

     

    You will absolutely need the Mac's original, grey, System Install DVD. You will not be able to do anything without it. Contact Apple using the information in your Apple Online Store and tell them you need to obtain a replacement disc. There will be a small fee ($25 USD or so). You will need the Mac's serial number: MacBook Pro: How to find the serial number.

     

    The SSD may or may not work, depending on its manufacturer. Try a conventional laptop hard disk drive. That should work.

  • by car5ten,

    car5ten car5ten Mar 14, 2015 11:07 AM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 14, 2015 11:07 AM in response to John Galt

    Thanks for the reply.

     

    Maybe my previous post was a bit confusing: At the moment i'm not able to see anything on the screen. The screen is black all the time.

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Mar 14, 2015 11:18 AM in response to car5ten
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Mar 14, 2015 11:18 AM in response to car5ten

    No. He understood you. If you take out the SSD drive you put in and it goes back to white screen ,you have a defective or incompatible SSD drive. The suggestion was to use a regular laptop SATA drive.

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Mar 14, 2015 11:42 AM in response to car5ten
    Level 8 (49,654 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 14, 2015 11:42 AM in response to car5ten

    The only other relevant Support document is this one: If your Mac won't turn on - Apple Support but if your Caps Lock LED illuminates when you press it then your Mac is not completely dead. Technically, it turns on, even though it appears to do nothing else. In that case Apple refers you to the following document: Troubleshooting: My computer has no video but I doubt it will help because you cannot even get your Mac to start.

     

    You will need to obtain the System Install DVD as I wrote, so that you can start the Mac, load an operating system, and format the SSD so that OS X can be installed. You might need to remove the SSD and install a conventional hard disk drive instead, at least until you can get the Mac working to the point you can install an operating system.

  • by car5ten,

    car5ten car5ten Apr 13, 2015 12:36 PM in response to John Galt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 13, 2015 12:36 PM in response to John Galt

    Hey,

     

    the Caps Lock LED isnt illumnating at all, so I can assume its dead right?

     

    Best,

    Carsten

  • by John Galt,

    John Galt John Galt Apr 13, 2015 1:29 PM in response to car5ten
    Level 8 (49,654 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 13, 2015 1:29 PM in response to car5ten

    Yes that's the easiest way to tell.

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Apr 14, 2015 7:07 AM in response to car5ten
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Apr 14, 2015 7:07 AM in response to car5ten

    You started it up to a white screen. Then you installed a SSD and now it is a black screen. If you remove the SSD will it go back to a white screen? If so, the SSD is defective. You can try a pram reset if you can get a chime at startup. Command/Option/P/R keys at startup for three chimes. If you have a power management problem , do a SMC reset.https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295 Do you have a way of testing the SSD on another computer as an external drive to see if it works?

  • by car5ten,

    car5ten car5ten Apr 25, 2015 5:14 AM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 25, 2015 5:14 AM in response to my ginger

    Hey,

     

    no it's not going back to a white screen. The SSD and the HDD is working on my other devices. I don't get a chime at startup. I already tried the SMC reset and it didn't helped.

     

    Best,

    Carsten

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Apr 25, 2015 7:14 AM in response to car5ten
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Apr 25, 2015 7:14 AM in response to car5ten

    Even though you get no startup chime, you could still try a pram reset. Command/Option/P/R keys at startup for three chimes. Hold down these keys for a minute or two to see if it will give you a chime. If not, you have a lack of power. Ether at the dc in board, mag safe adapter,or the logic board. If you have an apple store by you. You could take it in and have it checked.https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203207  Then you can decide what to do.Even though the mag safe shows green, it may not produce enough power to start up. You could also have bad memory or dirty contacts in the memory slots. As was noted on another post. Removing and reinstalling might help.

  • by car5ten,

    car5ten car5ten Sep 18, 2015 11:41 AM in response to car5ten
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2015 11:41 AM in response to car5ten

    Hey guys,

     

    thanks for your help so far. Somehow its starting now, but it looks like someone before, tried to install windows via bootcamp since i receive now "no bootable device - ...". Also it seems like the keyboard doesn't working anymore. Should the capslock indicator be on when pressed during booting? this also would be the reason, why all the key combinations wont work.

     

    Best,

    Carsten