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Model A1181: 1.83, 2, 2.1, 2.13, 2.16, 2.2, or 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor

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Stuck at Apple logo screen and not booting

I recently replaced logic board, battery connector, and DC-in board. I was excited to hear the chime and see the Apple logo. Well, it doesn't get too far after that. I tried SMC, NVRM, PRAM reset, even fsck -fy. Nothing worked. Interestingly, the DVD drive makes its usual noise at power on but does nothing when I try to insert any disc (won't pull the disk in as it should). When I power on without the hard disk, it comes to flashing folder icon with question mark. Do I need a new HD and/or optical drive?

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More details. I just noticed the sleep light dims immediately after boot chime. I see Apple logo and spinning wheel for about 30 seconds before everything stops and freezes. Pressing Option at start up displays HD icon, nothing else. Also fails to boot in safe mode.

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I was able to retrieve below information by using system_profiler in SUM. As you can see, there is no system serial number. I'm taking it to Apple Service. Will update after the visit.

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook

Model Identifier: MacBook4,1

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 2

L2 Cache: 3 MB

Memory: 2 GB

Bus Speed: 800 MHz

Boot ROM Version: MB41.00C1.B00

Serial Number (system): System Serial#

Hardware UUID: XXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX....

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After all, it was the replacement logic board. Replaced with yet another logic board and all problems solved. Working perfectly now. I should've run Apple Hardware Test at the earliest possible moment. Although the first replacement board was a new one (at least that was what was said), the test consistently returned 4SNS/1/40000001 IGOC - 0.109 (value being anywhere between 0.106 - 0.110). Not much information about this particular error code, but it surely has something to do with logic board current sensor.

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What happens when you try booting up via the grey recovery disk (or Apple logo'ed CD/DVD) that came with your system or bought? If you have a bootable external HD that will work too here.

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No disk came with the unit since I bought it used. I have a retail OS X 10.6.3 DVD, which is only $20 (only meaning relatively cheap). It still hangs when I try to boot from the install disk. Can a bootable external HD mean another Mac connected via target disk mode?

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OK, so you can get it into target mode and gain access to it from a 2nd mac - Correct. If so you can try running disk utilities on the disk. More likely the logic board has a problem. If the reverse is correct where you you have a different macs HD in target mode and the system boots up you know the issue is the HD for sure.

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I finally got a firewire 400 to 800 cable. Connected the dead MacBook to live and well MBP. I was able to boot both ways (MB as target and MBP as target) - so far so good. I booted the dead MB off the MBP through Target Disk Mode again and ran Disk Utility on MB. It is finding numerous errors. I will post the result when it's all said and done.

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In that case, it sounds like your real fix is to reformat your internal HD (possibly doing a zero-pass to map out bad blocks) and install an operating system fresh. Since you're having trouble booting off the internal optical drive, you might try your Snow Leopard install disk in an external drive. Alternately, you can create bootable install disks on USB thumb drives.

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There are a number of tutorials for 10.5-10.8 available online, most of which use Disk Utility's Restore Image function to copy the data off a .dmg onto the flash drive. I've usually had back luck with that; in my case, Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper! have been more successful. The method changes with Mavericks; Diskmaker X is the easiest tool to use for 10.9 (and looks like it'll be the logical tool for creating 10.10 Yosemite boot drives as well).

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Go over the HD and optical drive connections. Many times DIYers "think" they have a good connection but on a second look they find it lose or not square and completely snapped in connectors. If the connectors are good then

I would talk with your vendor. You could have connector issues on your logic board (both the HD and Optical connectors).

If you can obtain an external case for your current HD you could try to boot with it connected. The computer should find and boot from that volume.

If the reason you replace the logic board was a liquid spill you could have thrashed the HD and the optical drive or the connector cables... only you would know this.

If this answer is acceptable please remember to return and mark it.

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Thanks for the good suggestions. Drive connections are good. Defected logic board is a possibility. I wonder if re-serialization is needed, although many seem to have mixed comments about it.

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What OS are you running?

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10.6.8, Snow Leopard. Well, at least that's what I used to run....

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There's no need to do that unless you have some very expensive App(s). (Adobe suite?) that connects the computer (CPU) Serial with it's activation key. It is Professional (Certified Apple Repair Center) software. There are bootleg copies on the net but I would be very leery using one (There are at least 3 versions I knew about - could be more by now) AFAIK a different Serial number or no serial number would interfere with booting. Some strange issues have popped-up with users trying to run Mavericks on old machines.

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Meant to say WOULD NOT INTERFERE with booting. (Noticed error too late to edit my comment) AFAIK Re-serializing is seldom an issue when swapping logic boards.

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