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Why can't I get my MacBook to turn on or stay on?

I'm hoping that I can find the answer I'm looking for here because I cannot find anything anywhere about it.

I have a 2008 17" MacBook Pro that was actually given to me because the previous owner hit it hard enough to bend the frame where you would plug the Magsafe adapter into it.

I've done everything I can think of to fix it and still am stumped. I thought at first the obvious, that it damaged the left io board. However when I plug it in it will charge the battery. The battery keeps a full charge.

I was not able to get the thing to turn on at all until I removed the top case and shorted the power pads. After I was able to get it turn on I tried to look into everything to see if I could find any software problems. Nothing. I resettle scm, I removed the pram battery connection and plugged it back in. The strange thing is the when I reset the scm you have to restart the computer, which it did perfectly fine. The fans were on as soon as I shorted the pads and will not turn back on after I reset the scm.

For a very brief period of time I was able to turn the computer on and off (10 minutes) like normal, with the power button. Now we are back to square one and I can't even short the power pads again.

My question is why the heck is this happening? What could be causing this problem? What is it that I need to replace or look at? Finally, how the heck to test a typing from here?

Answer this question I have this problem too

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Thank you for youre reply. It was never working. It was given to me because the previous owner could not get it to turn on. It did not turn on until I took the upper case off, unplugged the hard drive, pram battery, left io board, and airport card. I left everything unhooked for a couple hours. Once I hooked everything up minus the upper case I was able to use the power pads to turn it on. When I attach the charger to the computer it immediately dies. However it charges the battery perfectly. So the only way I'm able to get it turn on is with the power pads and battery, no charger plugged in. After I have it turned on if I shut it off like normal or by holding the power button (after I reattach the upper case obviously) I can use the power button to turn it back on. Of it dies any other way like if I try to attach the charger I have to unplug the battery, hard drive, io board and pram battery, let sit for what seems like atleast an hour then attempt to short the power pads again.

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Ok well correction again. The hard drive is displaying on the screen. Just Very Very lightly. I have to hold a light up to the screen if I want to see anything.

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SMC has a safeguard function so the system won't startup when the system is overheating or the PRAM battery is bad.

The comment you stated the system appeared to work after you pulled off the upper case leads me to believe you still have a mechanical issue from the drop. Is there any bent points that still needs to be reshaped? Is there something sorting out the logic board or upper case?

The other issue you may face here is this system uses a PRAM battery which given the age of the system may require replacement. Here's the IFIXIT guide: MacBook Pro 17" Models A1151 A1212 A1229 and A1261 PRAM Battery Replacement

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Nick wrote: The charger I'm using is the charger Apple sold me to match the computer so I know it's the right one. I was going to run an hardware test (command d while starting up) but now I cannot get the hard drive to register. Meaning that I cannot get the screen to show anything. I was able to press on the connection between the hard drive ribbon cable and the logic board yesterday and as long as I applied pressure it would be on the screen but now that's not even working. My guess, the connector on the ribbon is bad so get a new cable.

As far as the actual computer I'm guessing it's a bad io board. I'm guessing this because where the computer was hit was on the left side, very top. Right where you plug in the Magsafe adapter to charge it. Solution, replace the board. Do you think that is logical or not? I reset the scm as well.

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Yes, replacing the I/O board is a good start. The ribbon cable could be OK, You still will want to replace the PRAM battery more so now as your stated the system sat awhile unused.

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I will replace the pram battery, I did not even think of doing that so thank you for telling me.

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