DaneHitchins
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: How to get a 2010 MBP to start up

So I have a mid-2010 unibody 15" macbook pro.

 

For the last two years it has just sat on a shelf, dead because something has failed and the screen goes black during boot. Sometimes this completely shuts down and restarts the machine, but sometimes it doesn't and the computer continues to boot with a black screen.

 

SOMETIMES if I wait a week or so, I can make it all the way through login before the screen goes black. Most of the time it goes black doing boot and doesn't make it to the login screen. The longer I go between trying to start it, the longer (usually) the screen will stay on before going black. After the first time, though, repeated attempts to start the machine will always give me a black screen within 10 seconds of startup. Research shows it is probably the discrete graphics card or the logic board itself.

 

I used to be able to wait a while, then use the keyboard to log in with the black screen, then use another computer to bluetooth screen share and operate the laptop that way. An external monitor does not work, but screen sharing used to. It doesn't anymore - not sure why. Perhaps the bluetooth has failed, perhaps it is no longer making it all the way through the boot process to the login screen...I cannot tell. When I press the caps lock button, the light does turn on, so something is obviously happening but I have no idea if I am logging in when I type in my password...I don't hear any increased activity in the computer itself, it sounds dead silent.

 

 

It seems a lot of people have been able to get their MacBooks to work by using some program to disable the discrete graphics card. I would like to try this, but I can't get the computer to stay on long enough to get this program on it and switch the graphics card over. I have tried booting in single user mode, but the screen still goes black. Tried booting to Recovery mode but the screen still goes black. I thought to try installing a fresh OS but I can't make it through the install process before the computer dies.

 

 

So, if anyone has actually read through this novel, I guess my question is - does anyone have any idea how to get this thing to boot up, in any way or form? Can I take the laptop apart and manually disconnect the discrete graphics card? Is there any startup mode that uses only internal graphics? I have read that if you overheat the laptop and then restart it, it should let you on long enough to disable the graphics card, but my problem is my laptop does not stay running long enough to overheat.

 

Searching for desperate options out there, anything and everything. I don't want to put any money into this old dead machine, but I would like to get it running again if possible.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Mar 15, 2016 9:33 AM

Close
DaneHitchins

Q: How to get a 2010 MBP to start up

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

Page 1 Next

  • by KimUserName,

    KimUserName KimUserName Mar 15, 2016 9:50 AM in response to DaneHitchins
    Level 4 (1,400 points)
    Notebooks
    Mar 15, 2016 9:50 AM in response to DaneHitchins

    Hi Dane:

     

    It sounds like your GPU has failed. This was a common problem in the Mid 2010 15" Macbook Pro but the program has ended. MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010) intermittent black screen or loss of video Quality Program has ended - Apple Support

     

    Here is a link which deal with the same issue and shows how to disable GPU which may help. Re: kernel Panic

     

    Also here is a link showing what is involved if you decide to change the logic board. https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2010+Logic+Board+Re placement/3097


    Kim

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Mar 15, 2016 10:17 AM in response to DaneHitchins
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Mar 15, 2016 10:17 AM in response to DaneHitchins

    It does sound very much like a graphics card problem. Or at the least an LCD problem. Since you had the problem before you put it up. When you tried the fresh OS did you get any screen at all?  I am also near certain by this time the battery is shot. Do you get a green or orange glow from the end of the magsafe? Sometimes doing a Pram or SMC reset will help.  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295 Do you still have the original install disks for the computer? And have you tried them? A shot in the dark may be to toggle the F2 brightness key while on.

  • by DaneHitchins,

    DaneHitchins DaneHitchins Mar 15, 2016 12:28 PM in response to KimUserName
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 15, 2016 12:28 PM in response to KimUserName

    Hi Kim,

     

    Yeah, as I said in my post, Ive seen this GPU fix but I am unable to get it to work. In order to install the program that allows you to turn off the GPU, you need the computer to at least run for a couple of minutes. Mine does not stay on long enough to install the app.

  • by DaneHitchins,

    DaneHitchins DaneHitchins Mar 15, 2016 12:29 PM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 15, 2016 12:29 PM in response to my ginger

    Ginger,

     

    My battery is definitely shot. It only runs when it is plugged in, and if I can get past the login screen for a few seconds the battery says 0% indefinitely and wont charge. Could this be causing any of the issues? I didnt think a dead battery would make anything go haywire as long as the computer is plugged in.

     

    And, I was unable to install a fresh OS. I can't get the screen to stay lit long enough to do the install.

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Mar 15, 2016 2:30 PM in response to DaneHitchins
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Mar 15, 2016 2:30 PM in response to DaneHitchins

    The other questions I asked were, did you try a pram reset and the SMC reset. Also is the magsafe showing green or orange? It is possible ,if the battery is dead, to draw too much power towards it. Stopping you from being able to get power enough to boot. Sometimes holding down the power button for 10 second and letting up and press again will start it. It may also be that removing the battery will then allow it to start https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+15-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2010+Battery+Replac ement/3024 When using a MBP with a dead battery the CPU and such will not run at full power.

  • by DaneHitchins,

    DaneHitchins DaneHitchins Mar 15, 2016 3:51 PM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 15, 2016 3:51 PM in response to my ginger

    I have tried smh and pram reset many times over the last year or so, it never made any difference to anything.

     

    The magsafe adapter is green.

     

     

    After reading up a lot in other forums, I tried something a little out of the ordinary. I put my laptop in the freezer for 5 minutes and then tried to boot it. It made it WAY further than ever before before shutting off. So, I unscrewed the bottom casing and took a freezer pack, and set the machine down so the freezer pack was right under the logic board. Now I am able to keep the machine on indefinitely as long as the logic board stays frozen. If the freezer pack thaws and the logic board is able to reach room temperature, it crashes.

     

    However, now I am having a totally different problem. My macbook freezes during the boot process halfway through. the progress bar is stuck at 50% and stays there forever. Same thing if I try to boot in Safe mode, stuck at 50%. I can boot to Single User, and Recovery mode. I tried turning WiFi off in recovery mode, but still stuck at 50%. Researching in other forums I found this workflow in Single User mode:

     

    /sbin/mount -uw /
    rm     -rf /System/Library/Caches/*
    rm /private/var/db/BootCache.playlist

    reboot


    So I tried that, but the laptop is still stuck at 50% after reboot.


    I guess next I will try a clean OS install, since I can reliably keep the computer on as long as I keep changing out the freezer pack on the logic board.........

  • by DaneHitchins,

    DaneHitchins DaneHitchins Mar 15, 2016 4:36 PM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 15, 2016 4:36 PM in response to my ginger

    It seems the whole universe is working together to keep this machine broken. Now I cannot reinstall Yosemite because my HD is "locked"....and Repairing permissions does not work.

     

     

    So, recap:

     

    If the laptop reaches room temperature, it crashes.

     

    Keeping the logic board at low temperature keeps the computer on, but it will not boot past 50% in regular or Safety mode.

     

    Recovery mode can boot, but when I turn Wifi off in recovery mode, a reboot turns the wifi back on automatically and normal boot is frozen at 50%

     

    Clearing Caches in single user mode does not work

     

    Cannot reinstall OS, because HD is locked. Repairing disk and checking permissions has no effect, HD is still locked.

     

    Disconnecting the Airport ribbon and trying to boot in regular mode does not work, still stuck at 50%.

  • by DaneHitchins,

    DaneHitchins DaneHitchins Mar 15, 2016 4:48 PM in response to DaneHitchins
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 15, 2016 4:48 PM in response to DaneHitchins

    Disk Erase Failed: Couldn't Unmount the Disk.

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Mar 15, 2016 5:10 PM in response to DaneHitchins
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Mar 15, 2016 5:10 PM in response to DaneHitchins

    You have multiple problems. If you can get back in single user. Run fsck -fy hit return. If you get was modified run again Till you get OK. If it will not run this, you have a bad hard drive. If you try to run a reinstall from recovery with the wifi off.  You have to have ethernet plugged in or it will not complete. Try removing the memory, clean the contacts with an eraser  and wipe with soft cloth then reinstall. You may have in the past run the pram and smc reset, but it would not hurt to run again.  Holding the power button down for 10 seconds letting up and pushing again is a hard restart. If none of this gets you anywhere, you need to have it check at the apple genius bar.

  • by DaneHitchins,

    DaneHitchins DaneHitchins Mar 16, 2016 10:07 AM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 16, 2016 10:07 AM in response to my ginger

    fsck will not repair the disk after 6 attempts.

     

    I will try to boot from a Capitan boot drive and erase the disk from there.

     

    Now my Macintosh HD and BOOTCAMP drives are both greyed out and showing as unmounted, cannot mount. Also cannot erase because they wont unmount. So, they're unmounted, but will not unmount. Cannot repair them because they require "mount points".

     

    cd /Library/Macintosh\ HD/ results in directory not found.

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Mar 16, 2016 10:26 AM in response to DaneHitchins
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Mar 16, 2016 10:26 AM in response to DaneHitchins

    You said that your hard drive was showing as locked. Could you have filevault enabled by any chance? Do you have any kind of an external drive inclosure and another Mac? So far you have been trying from your old MBP.  If so, you could see if the drive is good or not. The other problem still sounds like a logic board problem.

  • by DaneHitchins,

    DaneHitchins DaneHitchins Mar 16, 2016 10:31 AM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 16, 2016 10:31 AM in response to my ginger

    I don't have an external drive enclosure. I guess thats my last resort if this thing is just a big paperweight, take out the drive and try to save all my files with an enclosure.

     

    I dont have any kind of file vault, I didnt even know what it was until you mentioned it and I looked it up.

     

    Maybe I can ask around if anyone has a DiskWarrior thumb drive so I can try to fix the hard drive that way...

     

    I agree there is a separate logic board issue, but its so strange that it crashes if I don't keep it on ice. It gets really hot really fast. Ive melted two ice packs already today and I have to wait fore them to re-freeze before I try anything again. It wont run unless I keep the logic board ice cold. As long as I keep a frozen pack in direct contact with the motherboard, it stays on for hours.

  • by DaneHitchins,

    DaneHitchins DaneHitchins Mar 16, 2016 10:44 AM in response to my ginger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 16, 2016 10:44 AM in response to my ginger

    Its worth noting however, that the hard drive worked up until I started trying to solve the logic board issue. I as previously able to boot the mac even while the display was showing only a black screen, and use bluetooth screenshare to log in and use the computer if I had to from my desktop.

     

    However, when trying to fix the logic board issue I decided to possibly try completely reinstalling OS X, so I booted to Recovery, and turned the WiFi on. Immediately after that, booting to normal mode began hanging at 50%. I didnt realize the correlation until much later, because the screen was black, and it was only after discovering the icepack trick that I saw what was happening to the boot progress bar.

     

    Since then, everything I have tried has made the HD problem worse. Trying to unlock the HD, I have typed in quite a few command lines in single user mode, clearing various caches and whatever else has been suggested on multiple help threads. The HD was originally accessible from Disk Utility, but now its grey and I can't do anything with it. Every time I try to repair or unmount or erase it, it seems to get worse and  even less accessible.

     

    Turning WiFi back off in recovery mode does nothing. For some reason, Wifi used to be turned off when I booted to recovery, but since I tuned it on and all these problem started, it has been on every time, regardless of if I turn it off. I can boot to recovery, turn off wifi, then restart, and wifi is back on again.

  • by my ginger,

    my ginger my ginger Mar 16, 2016 11:19 AM in response to DaneHitchins
    Level 4 (2,472 points)
    Mar 16, 2016 11:19 AM in response to DaneHitchins

    I don't know exactly how you are using the icepack thing. But if you introduce any moisture to the laptop that is not  good thing. While running this with the back cover off have you noticed if the fan is running?  When booting to recovery it is normal for the wifi to be on. Introducing cold to the laptop can product moisture by itself. On Ebay you can purchase a 2.5 SATA to usb adapter quite cheap. I use one.  To work with the drive I think you will have to do this. One thing to note. If you can get screen sharing thru bluetooth. It sounds like  an LCD problem more than a graphics card.

Page 1 Next