My MacBook won't turn on

[RoJoHen]

Long story short: I got really drunk last night for he first time in a long time. I actually blacked out.

When I woke up this morning, my MacBook was unplugged and turned off. It's been charging all day, but it won't turn on! The little light on the charger is green, so I know the battery is full, but the damn thing isn't doing anything!

I don't know if I dropped it or if I spilled something on it or what, but it's really bothering me.

Right now I'm using my crappy old computer. It takes 20 minutes just to boot up.

 

[Amaris]

Long story short: I got really drunk last night for he first time in a long time. I actually blacked out.

When I woke up this morning, my MacBook was unplugged and turned off. It's been charging all day, but it won't turn on! The little light on the charger is green, so I know the battery is full, but the damn thing isn't doing anything!

I don't know if I dropped it or if I spilled something on it or what, but it's really bothering me.

Right now I'm using my crappy old computer. It takes 20 minutes just to boot up.

If everything else looks good, try this:

Press Control+Cmd+Power Button at the same time and hold it for 3 seconds. This should hopefully start up your system.

J.

 

[RoJoHen]

Just tried it. Nothing happened.

I have no idea what the hell is wrong with this thing.

 

[thestrangequark]

Did you take out the battery and stick it back in? That's always my last resort.

 

[RoJoHen]

Nope, that didn't work either.

The battery indicator on the left side of the computer tells me that the battery is fully charged. This is annoying.

The nearest Apple store is 2 hours away. Do you think Best Buy can do anything about it? I did buy it there.

 

[Amaris]

^ No, Best Buy can't do anything. Try this:

Remove the A/C adapter.
Remove the battery.
Press and hold the Power button for 5 seconds. This should reset your power management configuration.

J.

 

[RoJoHen]

Nope.

I've gone through all the troubleshooting things on the Apple website. Nothing is working.

 

[Amaris]

Darn. Sounds like you'll have to talk to an Apple Store Rep.

J.

 

[RoJoHen]

Booooooooo!

 

[thestrangequark]

^It's still under warranty though, right? Didn't you just buy it?

 

[Joshua Howard]

Never trust Best Buy creeps. They are bound to be no more competant than the Nerd Herd from Chuck.

I don't know anything about Macs, but my personal doctrine when it comes to PC repair/work is to either do it yourself even if it is a little more painstaking to figure out your problem/get it working (preferably) or contract out through a little PC shop run by sloppy geeks in a tiny storefront somewhere. The big joints will probably just take your money and your time, and not fix your problem... at least, so I have heard.

 

[RoJoHen]

Yeah, it's under warranty. It's only about 5 months old. I just wish I knew what happened to it.

 

[Jadzia]

When you press (and hold down) the power button, is there any sign of life? If you put your ear to it can you hear the hard disk making it's parking/unparking sound when the internal power supply (should be) switching on/off?

If there is no life - it could be the motherboard damaged (liquids or overheated), could be the internal power supply damaged (overheated), or it could be a damaged connection (typically from having been dropped), or something more subtle.

 

[RoJoHen]

No, aside from the battery indicator light on the side, there are absolutely no signs of life. It doesn't even try to turn itself on.

My old (currently current) computer died in a very similar way about 6 years ago when my roommate spilled Coke on it. It didn't do anything for about 2 days, but then it randomly started working fine again.

 

[ByrdMan]

But... How can it not work. It's a Mac!

 

[Plecostomus]

PCs never have this problem.


What?


Seriously... If it's under warranty take it back and have the Experts look at it. If it wasn't under warranty I'd say flip it over and have at it with a screwdriver.

 

[SmoothieX]

The battery indicator on the left side of the computer tells me that the battery is fully charged. This is annoying.

How can you read the battry indicator if the computer isn't on?

I'd call up Mac and get one of their reps on the phone. They have been helpful whnever I've called.

 

[Harvey]

The battery indicator is a series of lights on the battery itself, or at least that's how it was on my old Powerbook (circa 2005). There's also an indicator on the cord that goes into the computer from an outlet--it appears yellow for charging and green for charged.

 

[RJDiogenes]

On PC laptops, there's a key combination (Fn+F10) that cycles the video output between Screen Only, VGA Only, and Both; is there a similar feature of the MacBook that you might have switched to VGA Only?

 

[Tim]

Seriously... If it's under warranty take it back and have the Experts look at it.

And if they find laminar deposits of dried beer and putrefied vomit on the motherboard...?