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Mid 2012 model, A1278 / 2.5 GHz i5 or 2.9 GHz i7 processor.

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Dead MacBook? It won't turn on, it won't show any "life signs"

Hope someone here can give me a light.

I have a Macbook Pro Model A1278, bought in late 2012.

The only problem I had with it once it was about a year ago I think, where I left the battery completely die and it wouldn't turn on or charge. (to get it back to working, I did the thing where you open the macbook, unplug the battery, plug in the charger, unplug it and then plug the battery again. After this, it was working again, charging the battery, etc).

Now, the current problem: about a week ago, it started to shut down by itself, even only during light tasks like using the internet. Every time this happened, I had to do the whole thing (open it up, unplug battery, etc etc) again, otherwise it wouldn't turn on (the light on the charger was a low green).

I suspected there was something with the battery that was making the macbook get too hot, so I decided to take it out and use it with the charger plugged in. After that, it worked perfectly for about 4-5 days. It stopped heating up and shuting down.

Until it shut down again, without heating up at all and now it won't turn on anymore.

When I plug in the charger, I get that really faint green light and nothing. No sign at all. Already tried different charger, tried turning it on only with the battery...

I know I have to take it to an Authorized Service, but I would like to get a light on it before I have the time to (only later next week) so I can prepare myself for the hit ($$$).

Also, last july I did an upgrade to it. Upgraded to 16GB RAM and took out my optical drive to add a hard drive (put ssd as system and the original hdd as extra).

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Just to update the situation.

I eventually took it to repair and the logic board had to be replaced. =/

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Completely repairable by a third party (non-Apple) repair store like ours. For half the price of a new board, and at log term money back warranty. Not advertising, just saying there are viable and practical alternative solutions that are more economical.

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Do a Google search and find a high rated independent guy, he'll be less expensive and probably know more.

Search for "Your city & mac repair". If you can get it to boot again, download and run Coconut Battery to get a better idea of your status and let us know. http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutba...

Was the battery swollen at all? Did you blow out the fans?

With the battery out and Mag-Safe disconnected, hold the power button down for 15 seconds to reset the SMC. Plug it back in and give it a try.

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It sounds like there is an issue with the motherboard circuitry in your laptop. There is a voltage rail called PP3V42_G3H that needs to be present in order for the little green light to properly turn on, and it is likely that somewhere along this rail there was an issue. Apple will probably charge a lot for a motherboard replacement, so like mayer said, finding someone who does component-level motherboard repair will be your best option.

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