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m0therzer0

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2017
6
0
Petaluma, CA
Hi MacRumors folks!

So, a while ago, my wife accidentally spilled a small amount of soup onto our Mid 2010 Macbook Pro. I shut it down and tried my best to dry it out, but when I went to start it up a few days later, it refused to turn on. I assumed the machine was dead at this point.

A few months later, I decided to give it another shot. I plugged it back in, and the machine actually booted up. Things looked well, the battery was momentarily at 0% but was taking a charge. After a while of working with it, I needed to reboot it for some reason or another. However, after shutting down, it refused to start back up. I was stuck at this point.

Thinking that there might be an issue with the battery, I flipped the machine over and pulled it out. When I hit the power button, the machine lit up. Progress!

Before deciding to buy a new battery, though, I wanted to give the machine some more time to verify there weren't any other major underlying issues. Running through the ordinary applications, it seemed slightly slower, but nothing else seemed the matter. I closed the lid and walked away.

When I returned, I lifted the lid and tried to bring it back from sleep mode, but even though the screen was obviously on, it remained black. The fan was spinning, so I knew it had power, but was otherwise unresponsive. I found that the only way to make it function at this point requires I pull the power cord and the plug it back in.

These are the odd circumstances I've been operating it under for a while; basically, I try to make sure it never goes to sleep, but when it does, I need to pull the power to get it functional again.

Sorry for the very longwinded explanation of the machine's problematic history, but I hope someone might have a direction to aim me in repairing it. I've done full machine builds , so I'd be comfortable opening the laptop up and replacing parts if that's necessary.

Thanks for your time!
 

m0therzer0

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2017
6
0
Petaluma, CA
I haven't pulled the motherboard yet. I've seen some somewhat similar issues reported around that might point toward the hall sensor, and thought I'd post here for thoughts before delving further into the machine
 

m0therzer0

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2017
6
0
Petaluma, CA
Any thoughts on this one? In short, my Mid-2010 Macbook won't start if I have the battery installed (with or without AC power), but will start when the battery is removed and it's plugged into the wall.
 

m0therzer0

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2017
6
0
Petaluma, CA
Right, when the battery is removed, the machine will boot when I connect it to a power source. My only confusion on the issue, then, is why it won't boot when both the battery and a power source are attached. I'm guessing there's something else here, too, but picking up a new battery is at least worth trying out right now.
 

m0therzer0

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2017
6
0
Petaluma, CA
Well, I just ordered a new battery. I'll report back on whether this was successful or not after it arrives. Thanks!
 

m0therzer0

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 25, 2017
6
0
Petaluma, CA
So, after installing the new battery and plugging the charger in, the system quickly booted without being prompted, and began measuring the time it would take to charge (which measured being 74% charged).

To test that the system could be supported by the batter, I then disconnected the power supply. The machine stayed on, and I hoped the problem was solved.

The last test I needed to run, though, was rebooting the system. This ended up being where the machine faltered; after shutting down, it was completely unresponsive to my attempts to boot it. This was essentially the same problem as the original battery.

So, now I'm back to square one.
 

Audit13

macrumors 604
Apr 19, 2017
6,812
1,810
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sorry to hear that the new battery didn't fix things.

Did you have an opportunity to remove and clean the motherboard? I assume you tried disconnecting and reconnecting the new battery?
 
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