Any Apple Techs here?

[Cylotron]

I'm a PC tech and haven't really done much with Apple stuff yet(a side from fixing ipads & iphones). Anyway, I picked up a Macbook Air off of Ebay recently. The listing just specified that it needs a new battery and that the screen stays grey when you turn it on.

I got the Air in the mail today. Verified that the battery does need to be replaced. However, when it turns on, it stays grey briefly.. then the screen goes blank(but the unit stays on). I tried booting from an external device(usb hd) that has various osx operating systems on it. It will come on and display the listing of OS' on the external drive & when I click on one, it shows the Apple logo and the spinning icon below it. It stays that way for about 30 seconds & then the screen goes blank again.

This happens with the Air's hard drive both connected and dis-connected. I proceeded to completely disassemble the laptop and thoroughly inspect everything. I also gave all the connections a good cleaning with alcohol and replaced the thermal paste on the cpu with some fresh arctic silver. Yet the laptop still does the same thing.

Anyone familiar with this problem? I'd rather just fix it myself.. but was told I could take it to an Apple store and they could diagnose it. Not sure how I feel about going into an Apple store...

 

[cdamm]

grey screen of death.

try this first:

http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204325


there may be some good info for you here if the first option fails:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3353

 

[NeoGeoNinja]

Cdamm has pretty much all of it covered here.

What I will say from experience, Safe Boot (hold shift) often works and, if it doesn't, as a later resort, PRAM/NVRAM reset should work too.

If you can boot the Mac from a disc containing OS X (or your drive) then chances are, the HDD is having a moment. Might need a clean install. If it'll let you...

 

[Cylotron]

I tried the Safe Boot & the PRAM/NVRAM reset. When I turn it on now, goes to a screen showing a circle w/ a line through it:


Unfortunately, the usb drive w/ the disc images on it is at work. I'll have to search torrents for .dmg files i suppose

 

[cdamm]

I tried the Safe Boot & the PRAM/NVRAM reset. When I turn it on now, goes to a screen showing a circle w/ a line through it:
View attachment 23247

Unfortunately, the usb drive w/ the disc images on it is at work. I'll have to search torrents for .dmg files i suppose

full corruption.

you need to do a full os reinstall.

also- i would consider putting a fresh hdd in there.

 

[Cylotron]

full corruption.

you need to do a full os reinstall.

also- i would consider putting a fresh hdd in there.

So the Mac is worth keeping then? thank you

I wonder if any place locally sells these types of HD's. It's one of those micro PCI-E SSD cards

 

[cdamm]

So the Mac is worth keeping then? thank you

I wonder if any place locally sells these types of HD's. It's one of those micro PCI-E SSD cards

yeah its worth keeping- if you want to invest in the replacement parts. Id check amazon.

or you can sell it to me for almost free.

 

[cdamm]

This is a solid company that does good 3rd party stuff for macs:

I dont know which model you have- so here is a general link to just their ssd stuff.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Air-Retina

 

[Cylotron]

Had an appointment at the Apple Store today(dropped off the Air for diagnostics). They told me it'd be 24 - 48 hours. It's been less then 2 hours and they just called letting me know the hard drive is bad.
I'll probably order a drive from that macsales.com site, unless Fry's has them(yeah right!?). Oh and it's a mid 2011 Macbook Air 11.6"

 

[cdamm]

get the owc one.

best 3rd party stuff specifically for a mac.

 

[ki_atsushi]

+1 for OWC.

 

[Cylotron]

owc said they're out of stock on the hd for my air. ended up finding a toshiba 128gb ssd (refurb) from new egg for $54.99
figured what the heck (30 day return policy also)

 

[Cylotron]

another appointment at the genius bar. wee!

received that refurb drive and installed it. whenever i try to load from lion/mountain lion(via usb), it still shows that circle with the line through it after i select them.
whenever i try to load from snow leopard, it shows the apple logo and the little 'progress' circle appears below it.. but then the screen goes blank.
that and i tried doing a hardware test(as well as recovery). after selecting the wifi network, it connects & then says "apple.com/support - 3403d" and just stops there.

it's b.s. though that it needs to connect to the internet to do a hardware test

 

[ki_atsushi]

If you have access to an external DVD drive, try loading a version of OS X that way. I believe you can make bootable flash drives too, but not sure.

Curious to what brand of router you have, I have a suspicion that it's netgear. Nothing likes netgear.

 

[Cylotron]

I've tried using an external dvd with an official snow leopard retail dvd(didn't work). Tried connecting not just to my home wifi, but the wifi at work also(still same thing).

 

[ki_atsushi]

I've tried using an external dvd with an official snow leopard retail dvd(didn't work). Tried connecting not just to my home wifi, but the wifi at work also(still same thing).

Wow, I wonder what the previous owner did to that thing...

Sounds like a mobo problem...

 

[Cylotron]

Wow, I wonder what the previous owner did to that thing...

Sounds like a mobo problem...

Well, Apple did say it's either the hard drive or the logic board.. and I did get another hard drive(which doesn't seem to be working).
I have spent a good deal of time/effort on this thing so if need be, I'll buy another logic board.
At least these things are really easy to disassemble.

 

[NeoGeoNinja]

Not an Apple 'Genius', but going to go out on a limb and assume Logic Boards are expensive...?

 

[WoodyXP]

Not an Apple 'Genius', but going to go out on a limb and assume Logic Boards are expensive...?

They can be had for a couple hundred.

 

[NeoGeoNinja]

They can be had for a couple hundred.

Not ideal, but not at all as horrific as I imagined. Expensive though if you're not 100% sure of the fault...

 

[cdamm]

Not ideal, but not at all as horrific as I imagined. Expensive though if you're not 100% sure of the fault...

ive seen it go before.

If its not the hdd, this is more than likely the culprit.

 

[Cylotron]

I'm guessing Apple is going to tell me it's the logic board and am already planning on buying a replacement(just want to be 100% sure first).

The Air I have is a 11.6" (Mid 2011), i5 1.6GHz w/ 2GB memory.... I have noticed that for that same year/model(A1370), they have another one with 4GB of memory.
Do you guys know if I buy the one with 4GB, is it compatible with my laptop? From the pics, both logic boards appear identical.

 

[ki_atsushi]

I'm guessing Apple is going to tell me it's the logic board and am already planning on buying a replacement(just want to be 100% sure first).

The Air I have is a 11.6" (Mid 2011), i5 1.6GHz w/ 2GB memory.... I have noticed that for that same year/model(A1370), they have another one with 4GB of memory.
Do you guys know if I buy the one with 4GB, is it compatible with my laptop? From the pics, both logic boards appear identical.

Sounds like a second option that you could choose at the time, so I'm 99% sure it will fit in the same laptop.

Just double check and make sure it has the same number of usb and other ports, screw holes, etc. in the same places on the mobo, and make sure it's compatble with your existing processor.

 

[Cylotron]

.... and back from the Apple Store(again). this time they confirmed that the logic board does need to be replaced. weee!

 

[ki_atsushi]

.... and back from the Apple Store(again). this time they confirmed that the logic board does need to be replaced. weee!

Yeah, i figured. Sorry dude.