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Mid 2010 Model A1278 / 2.4 or 2.66 GHz Core 2 Duo processor

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MacBook Pro refuses to boot, no start up chime, blank screen,

Hi all, I seem to be having trouble with my MBP 13" 2010. It refuses to boot up after I force shut it down (pressing and holding the power button) due to a random freeze while running Windows 10. The Mac only has an 8GB upgrade in it.

Currently, pressing the power button results in a blank screen, no start up chime and the sleep indicator light (SIL) turning on. Flipping the screen down results in this light dimming down, and opening the screen brings it back to full brightness.

I've tried resetting the SMC and the NVRAM, booting with 1 RAM stick installed at a time and booting with 1 RAM stick into each slot to test for slot or RAM module errors to no avail as well but trying various other random fixes results in some rather peculiar results:

- Pulling out the power cable connecting the logic board to the battery and attempting to boot with just the MagSafe cable in results in the same thing but with the fan running at max speed.

- Attempting to boot without RAM installed results in the expected 1 beep accompanied by a a flash of the SIL, which gives me a slither of hope that the logic board isn't fried.

- Holding down the power button well after it turns on results in the SIL flashing extremely quickly for 1 second. I haven't found what error code this is yet.

- I've tried some other random fixes but I don't remember the exact results; the ones above are what stood out in my mind.

This may be a pure coincidence, but the MBP froze about 30 seconds after a particularly nasty lightning strike somewhere while it was still plugged into to a power board. The other appliances (cable modem, fax machine and external screen) plugged into this remain fine.

If anyone could pour some insight into this, I'd be very grateful. Thanks

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2 Comments

FYI holding power button gives long tone and light flashing its resetting pram , normal. Is the mac only running on windows?

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Runs both, doesn't boot either though.

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Sadly lightning has a mind of its own. Given the fact you had a hit near you and your system died at that point in time I would suspect it was enough to push your system into failure. This can happen when there is already a problem in your system which hasn't failed fully yet.

So lets see if we can narrow down what the problem is. First, is the MagSafe connector LED Green or Orange or not lit? Do you hear the fan when you press the power button?

Update (10/25/2015)

Try disconnecting the battery and see if the power adapter is able to boot up the system.

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6 Comments:

I do strongly recommend using a good surge suppressor strip or if you can swing it a good UPS. Even then you still need to make sure the buildings AC wiring & ground are OK.

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You might want to contact your insurance to see if you have coverage. Lighting hit electronic are notorious for cascading failures as it weaken all kinds of components.

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Sorry for the very late reply, yes, MagSafe connector does turn orange, which indicates it charging and the fans do run also.

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Attempting to boot with the battery disconnected and Mag-Safe in just turns the SIL and fans on. The laptop gets fairly hot after while of being left on, and the fans speed up accordingly. I think the GPU might have been fried or desoldered from the logic board.

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It does sound like you have a logic board failure here. Are you up to replacing the logic board? Review this IFIXIT guide: MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2010 Logic Board Replacement

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