Chosen Solution
Yesterday, I was using my laptop (normal usage) and then suddenly I heard a noise (“pop”) and the screen looked like from an old tv, only white noise. I turned it off by clicking on the power button for a few seconds and it didn’t turn on. I tried a bunch of stuff. Clicking the power button for seconds, reset the SMC, pretty much all combination of keys but nothing. The trackpad still clicks after clicking the power button and then it blocks after a few seconds. I can’t hear the fan or anything working inside. The battery appears to be charging since the light on the MagSafe is still on. Today I tried again and the laptop started. The logo appeared and then after a few seconds, the same things. The ‘pop’ noise, the white noise screen and this time it shut down instantly. And, again, it doesn’t turn on anymore. What can I do? Anybody had a similar issue? I didn’t opened it yet. Update: I asked a technician and he told me the following: “Mate unfortunately the GPU (graphics card) is done and dusted. By the sounds of it the MacBook would’ve been over heating as the cooling system has never been serviced and the GPU has come to a point where it couldn’t handle it. It’s a very common issue. When it cools down it can work again till again it over heats and stops working. You can only get this fixed by Apple them self as you would have to replace the whole logic board as the GPU is soldered to the board.” Although, he didn’t test anything. Do you think he is right? Please help! Diogo
Good Evening Diogo, I’m going to be honest here and it does not sound good for our friend here, but we can take some steps to see what could exactly be the problem. First off, the popping sound does not sound very good however depending on how it sounds and how (sharp?) the sound is it could be two things. If it is a soft sound that is coming from the speakers, it is just the sound of the speakers trying to turn on and failing. If it’s not coming from the speakers, then use your nose. During the popping sound, do you smell anything? Do you smell any burning or anything that smells sweet? If the answer is yes to the burning scent, then that means that something shorted out/burned and caused damage to the motherboard. In which I can’t give much more advice without seeing the motherboard. If anything smells sweet…. Stop charging it and stop trying to start the laptop. That means the battery has suffered damage and is punctured or burned. It is a huge fire hazard and will need to be replaced as soon as possible. Do not continue to keep it in an enclosed space if it smells sweet as the sweet smell is highly toxic and the room will need to be ventilated. If neither of those problem-solving solutions doesn’t work, then you could hook up an adapter and attempt to project the Macbook’s screen to a monitor and the laptop to an external keyboard. If you get a picture and input, then your Macbook works and will need a screen replacement. To test if the keyboard works, just unplug the external keyboard and test it out, if it doesn’t work then the keyboard will need to be replaced. Last resort here: Even a battery that is charging can hold no charge the moment it is unplugged thus explaining the automatic shutoff. This one can be solved by a battery replacement. Hope this helps!
