Trouble shooting MacBook core duo A1181

[Punkyclown]

Hi all, I have a 2006 MacBook Core Duo that will not start up. 6 months ago it had a
problem of Shuting itself down. So I bought a new cheap battery for it and that solved
the problem. Now it will not power on, battery in (lights up as charged) or battery out
power connected or not. All that happens when I push the power button is the screen
flashes lightly and the hard drive starts to spin for about a second, then nothing.
If I just hold the power button in the drives repeats the one second spin.
Since the power is in a brick and lights up no problem. And the battery seems
to be charged, where do I look to start trouble shooting this computer?
Any help anyone could offer would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Brad Hansen

 

[honestone]

Unfortunately, it sounds like your internal drive is failing. Also, it is never good to use a third party battery in Mac laptops. More often than not, they cause problems.

Depending of what Mac OS is on your machine, you could try and booting to the (hidden) Recovery HD partition. This link describes how to do that:

If you can't start up from macOS Recovery - Apple Support

Learn what to do if you can't get your Mac to start up from macOS Recovery.

support.apple.com

In your case, you would select the 4th Option, Disk Utility, and let it try and repair the drive. However, be aware that if you don't have a backup, that is risky.

How are you making posts here? Are you using another Mac? And if you are, what exact Mac models do you have (including your "daed" one)?

 

[Punkyclown]

My MacBook is completely dead, I can not try any of your suggestions
because my computer shows no life. I own many different Macs, but that’s an
irrelevant question.

 

[honestone]

It is not an irrelevant question, as you can possibly boot your "dead" MacBook in "Target Disk Mode", but you need another Mac to help with that. That is why I asked what other Mac models you have.

This link explains Target Disk Mode:

Boot Your Mac in Target Disk Mode for Quick File Transfers

Mac's Target Disk Mode allows you to quickly transfer files to another Mac or recover files from a damaged machine. We show you how.

www.makeuseof.com

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello,

One thing to try would be: How to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac

Since it controls power, it may reset things and allow it to power on.

Let us know,

C

 

[Punkyclown]

Hi Cory, I did try that no luck...

 

[Cory Cooper]

OK.

A couple more things to try:
-Press power button while holding space bar - Safe Mode
-Try the SMC reset above without re-attaching battery
-Remove and reseat the RAM

-Does it happen to beep at all when it tries to power up?
-When it powers on, does it power back off, or just stay in a suspended powered on state?

C