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Dropped MacBook ~ getting grey/blue screen on startup

Reply by cederholm

Hi,

Dropped my MacBook last night about two feet onto a carpeted floor. Now it wont start past the start-up chime. Now I only get the grey/blue screen.

I opened it up to see if anything was loose, but all seems fine.

Any thoughts would be helpfull.

Thanks,

Carl

Reply reply by Sarabian

Did you try starting from a DVD? Might help check and see if it is a damaged hard drive.

Reply reply by cederholm

I tried starting from my OSX 10.5.5 install disk thinking I could boot that way, but nothing happened. ....now I can't get the disk out.

To start from the disk you hold down "D" during startup, correct?

Reply reply by Sarabian

No, you hold down "C" to boot from CD (even if it's a DVD).

Reply reply by cederholm

RATZ!! ...ok, I'll give it a try when I get home.

Reply reply by cederholm

It's not booting for the disk, but I'm not even sure I can boot form the Leopard install disk - do you know?

How can I remove the disk manually so I can try another?

Reply reply by cederholm

Ok, the disk is out and I tried another that I know you can boot from. ...it's not booting from this disk either. ...are we thinking logic board?

Reply reply by cederholm

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

To recap;

- dropped 2' onto carpeted floor

- I DO get the startup chime

- I get the blue/grey screen but no startup screen

- I think it's the hard drive I hear spinning

- I can't boot from a DVD

Motherboard?? ..and other things to check?

Thanks!!

Reply reply by Chris Green

try reseting the pram

Reply reply by cederholm

$^^! it! Nothing! ...but thanks Chris.

Reply reply by jmalone

any new ideas on this? mine is the same way. have a busted screen but using the mini dvi to vga adapter all it gets to is the grey screen then after about 5 minutes with the boot disc in it will get a blue screen with the cursor but nothing more. if i start up without the boot disc it comes to screen with the file with ? in it. not jacking the topic it just seemed like a good path for me as well, thanks!

Reply reply by dubi01

have you tried removing the l bracket in the battery bay, and then removing and reinserting the hard drive to make sure it's seated properly. Also, while the l bracket is removed, you can eject and reseat the memory modules. These may have shifted in the fall.

Quote from cederholm:

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

To recap;

- dropped 2' onto carpeted floor

- I DO get the startup chime

- I get the blue/grey screen but no startup screen

- I think it's the hard drive I hear spinning

- I can't boot from a DVD

Motherboard?? ..and other things to check?

Thanks!!

Reply reply by cederholm

I did remove and reinstall the memory, but not the hard drive. I will!!

Thank you.

Reply reply by Jitesh

is it wise to replace the motherboard??

My mac book pro is three year old and its mothernoard is spoiled. Is it waise to change the motherboard against buying new mac book pro

thanks

Reply reply by mcc

Hi I'm just about to try all this as same problem, dropped, and getting chime etc then file with? and i hear the hard drive spinning, want to know how cedarholm got on after reseating hard drive, did that work, was anything retrievable or just replace hard drive, a company tells me I can send hard drive to them and they try it in external case, worthwhile ??

Reply reply by machead3

You can buy an external case almost anyplace and pop the HD into it. If it wasn't running at the time you dropped the laptop it's probably ok...

As for problems from dropping... connectors pop off of all sorts of spots as well as RAM popping loose. Check all very carefully (Look here first to see if they pop up or pull out so you don't ''tear them off the logic board damaging it perminently!.

Reply reply by mcc

Thanks for that, I'll take it one step at a time, thats a great hat by the way

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