... Logic Board?

You mean the motherboard? :P

Well, based on my massive non knowledge of computers and the use of google, all that I read said Logic Board failure.

Yes I think she does and I also think she uses macs where such terminology was preferred.

Given it's a laptop and repairing such things can be... challanging you might take a look at the MSI laptops on offer, I got a CX700 on boxing day and I'm finding it to be a lot of laptop for the price.

Logic Board:Motherboard::Apple:PC

:( Really?

Damn, Apple really knows how to make itself look stupid. At least to me.

It dates back long before you were born when system boards were separated by their function on the backplane.

It's not like we have changed the name of a keyboard merely because it's old to Human Interface Device (er, waitasec. . .)

Just because you're never heard of the term doesn't make it stupid :D What sort of bizarre reasoning is that?

'Logic Board' is still used today. For instance;

Sun
http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/80.....=sv&a=view

Icom mobile 144MHz FM Transceiver
http://www.dxportal.com/stats/conte.....gic-board.html

Chamberlan/Liftmaster garage door opener.
http://www.aclickawayremotes.com/Li.....ard/index.html

Hard Drives
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/op/logic.htm
http://www.deadharddrive.com/

General repairs
http://www.laptoplogicboardrepair.c.....pairlinks.html

You are right! I was ignorant

Apple calls their motherboards logic boards.

Silly Apple, trying to be cool by renaming components...

I'm pretty sure Apple had "logic boards" well before PCs were any more than a twinkle in IBM's eye.

And I'm pretty sure that Apple would have gone out of business YEARS AGO, if they didn't come out with their IPods.

However, you're right. They DID come first.

They would have gone out of business had they not brought back Steve.

And they will probably go out of business when Steve's new liver finally fails on him XD

AW damn, that sucks.

Teach it a lesson with FIRE!!!

This was about as much as I could think of, too :\ Except then you lose all those stored files... so problematic ><

What show were you watching on hulu? Maybe we can blame that...

Ooooph. Hopefully it's not compromised. If it's permanent, new laptop time. :(

Eep. How do you know it's the board?

And do you have Applecare?

No applecare, I bought this one used from a friend a few years ago. Edited my original post for clarification. :3

Yikes. Well, I suggest taking it to an Apple Store (or an authorized service provider if you don't have a store nearby) and see if they can verify the diagnosis. It does sound like the logic board went "kaput," which is usually a hideously expensive repair, but it's possible it's something else that they can fix more cheaply.

Regardless, your data is almost certainly safe, so there's nothing to worry about there. You can remove the hard drive from the Macbook and connect it to another Mac using a special USB adapter to copy it all off since Firewire Target Disk mode is obviously not an option with a dead system.

Good luck! Fried systems are the worst. :-/

Seconded. Most of the Apple Store Genius reps (geniuii?) will at least look at it for free, and will likely be able to give you a quote for repair. If it is the logic/motherboard, it's not really a repair you want to do yourself, so... good to get an idea for repair costs so you can evaluate whether it's worth it, or whether you want to just replace the computer.

As mentioned above, your data should be fine. Removing the harddrive from a macbook is annoying, but easily accomplished by the.. less than technically inclined. (I did it, anyone can do it) :)

Vantid, you need to know that Apple will be able to "Bench fee" your diagnosis and repair. What that means is for a SET FEE, they can get you running again. I had an out of warranty machine and for a price, they were able to fix it reasonably. Check with an Apple Store and as them about repairing it via a Bench Fee.

When I mean reasonable, I meant that I paid around $250 for a repair instead of $700.

My impression is that "logic board failure" is one of those generic Apple diagnoses, much the way "zapping the PRAM" was a generic cure back in the day. XD

"gee, we dun know what gone and done fried your magic box" is not exactly very Apple-like, even if it is the truth in 99% of hardware failure cases. XD

Did ya try the remove battery, hold Power button for 30 sec or so, then try turn on with only AC adapter no battery?

Dunno if that has any effects on MAc tho, does work on some real pc's tho.

Yup...every battery/powercord combo possible I think.

I don't think you understand what he's telling you to do. This *can* help, although it is best to get it to an authorized/reputable repair place ASAP.

Take out the battery and unplug the computer. Then, hold down the power button for like two *minutes*. This drains most if not all residual current out of the system and lets everything reset to an absolutely cold state.

I had an old Stinkpad die on me due to a DRAM module that had a short in it. Smoke and everything once it had finally (slowly) died.

Okay lady, you got it. No derogatory remarks.

... except that all computers suck.

Good luck getting it going again.

Yup, sounds like Logic Board death to me. And since the logic board is pretty much the entirety of the system, you can imagine that it's also the priciest part to replace. And Apple charges top dollar for both the part, and the install.

At the end of the day, you could probably end up getting a refurbished 13" from Apple (with better specs than the one you have, natch) for about what it's probably going to cost to get the current one fixed.

For the record: If it's a PC it's called a motherboard. If it's a Mac, then it's a Logic Board. Just saying :P

If this is the same sort of problem that an old iBook line had (the last line of G3 iBooks) then you -may- be able to get them to fix it free. It was a design flaw, and they're still repairing those old things, last I heard (we have one, it's had the logic board replaced twice).

I'd find an Apple store near by and give them a call. You can also call Apple directly and they'll do all the searching and even set up an appointment for you.

If they won't replace it, I'd cannibalize the HDD and stick it in a case to be used as an external so you can get your stuff off it.

Good luck.

DO NOT PUT MACBOOK IN DISHWASHER!
Oh, wait, that's not the problem...


Uh... you'll probably either end up 1) paying more than you would for a whole new computer or 2) getting a whole new computer.

If it's under warranty, Apple /should/ fix it.

Can you talk to your schools tech person/department? Not sure if they are allowed to help, but it might be worth a shot.

Otherwise, logic boards for that machine cost between 3-400 usd from 3rd parties, not including installation. Full quotes from apple authorized dealers/store (out of warranty) are in the 6-900 dollar range. 3rd party replacements are cheaper, around 3-400 dollars. Still...

Seems to me if you are out of warranty, and if apple quotes you a price like I mentioned above, it may be time to look for another laptop. I realize that if you have a lot of mac specific applications that you are probably locked into the mac platform, so I'll give a few tips.

Amazon.com is a good place to look for macs. Sometimes they have a bit of a discount. Also check the apple education store @
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/ho.....mco=OTY2ODQzMg.
Also take a look at the refurbished mac store @
http://store.apple.com/us/browse/ho.....co=MTY0MjUwOTE
Finally, www.powermax.com is a good, authorized reseller of used and refurbished macs.
(I hope posting those links is not a violation of the TOS)
(I am not affiliated with amazon, apple or powermax, just a happy customer and someone trying to help.)

If you are not locked into the mac platform, there are a lot of options out there, and more info would be needed before steering you towards something.

Also, where was the machine when it died? Was it on a bed, pillow or other soft surface? Putting a laptop on such surfaces can cause it to overheat. You should really keep the laptop on something firm to allow air to circulate around the machine.

All I can say is, I hope this helped, and good luck.

oh no! D: that is really really bad
I hope you can find a reasonably cheap solution :<

Crappy :\ I'd suggest taking it to the Apple store, seeing what sort of free troubleshooting they'll offer (usually a decent amount). Worst case scenario.. you'd be better off getting a new machine if it really is the LB. You could probably find a newer version of the white/black MB on Craigslist for a pretty decent price.

Good luck.

BE SURE YOU DO AN SMC RESET~!

This fixes MOST of these problems.

Is that the 21st century equivalent of "zapping the PRAM"? XD

(only half-joking)

No, that's resetting the SMC.

Zapping the pRAM ('Zap'? Really?) or a pRAM Clear, actually does very little in modern macs. It used to be vital but now, pRAM is responsible for little.

The SMC, however, is directly responsible for the computer turning on and POSTing. See the apple.com/support KBase or call apple for details on how to reset your model's SMC

I was kidding, because whenever you didn't really know what was wrong with your Mac, you always "zapped the PRAM" (= CMOS in the PC).

The SMC is essentially Apple's version of the ACPI embedded controller. All laptops have them. The two-minute powerdrain thing below is the way to reset the embedded controller, at least in the Thinkpads that I've always had.

It's actually in ALL apple products, and actually performs very differently from an ACPI embedded controller.


Also the pRAM is not like CMOS at all. Macs have firmware for the CMOS/BIOS. The pRAM sets hardware configuration data such as RAMdrives and special utilizations. It's contents are actually generated by Mac OS, rather than from the hardware itself. You can manually input PRAM information in the terminal yourself.

It's actually in ALL apple products, and actually performs very differently from an ACPI embedded controller.

Just because they give it the same name doesn't mean it's even remotely the same device. E.g. in an iPod or iPhone you would have an ARM CPU which has no use for the chip used by x86 laptops.

I'm pretty sure it *is* the EC for Apple laptops, or at least it performs that function. Not having seen the ACPI namespace in Apple's laptop firmware I wouldn't know that though.

My Thinkpad has the same damn kind of chip, it's an Rensas H8S. It just isn't called an SMC.

Also the pRAM is not like CMOS at all. Macs have firmware for the CMOS/BIOS. The pRAM sets hardware configuration data such as RAMdrives and special utilizations. It's contents are actually generated by Mac OS, rather than from the hardware itself. You can manually input PRAM information in the terminal yourself.

...

BIOS = Firmware
CMOS = PRAM

The contents are put there by the firmware to assist the OS, especially during boot. That's how most workstation-type architectures work. In the old days large parts of Mac OS existed in ROM (Toolbox ROM) so maaaybe that's where you get that idea but I don't know.

Do you even know what you're talking about?

Well, you certainly seem to want to be rude for someone who is asking for help.

Yes, I do know what i'm talking about. I work for Apple.

Enjoy your broken macbook.

Good for you. So you know their terminology. Do you actually know what the stuff does? That is what I was getting at.

=| its probably going to cost you as much as a new computer to get that fixed.
and without the apple warranty it iw going to be tough

i'm sure the files on the drive arn't lost, whether the rest of the machine is salvagable or not. i'm not familiar with apple products by i would imagine a friend with some sort of system with a spare drive slot, even if their system couldn't actually read the format of the drive, MIGHT be able to transfer its contents, or even, of course an identical system just swap drives.

like i say, i don't KNOW that this would work because i don't know the fiddly bits of apples aproach to such things. it IS a bit more compex then what i'm saying sounds as there are multiple ways even almost identical hardware formats a drive. but, by the same token, as long as its not the drive that's fried, everything on it OUGHT to be recouverable.

How odd. I have a PC and I need a new motherboard too! It sucks.

Yup motherboard died, probably from heat causing sotter to melt on contacts.
Gf's laptop just encountered this as well, only her screen went all weird before it croaked.

Time to call an Apple store? >.>

Could always run it by Timber and see what he says....but not sure he knows much about macs

If the mainboard (motherboard / logicboard) is dead, then you're best of just getting a new laptop; without warranties it costs more to replace in most laptops than the machine is worth. Though as has been mentioned, you're files are on the hard drive - which is in no way related to the main board. Getting them back is about a ten minute job for any computer tech.

Erf. Good luck with whichever route you go. ^_^

Actually sounds more like a power supply problem. I don't know as much about laptop hardware as regular desktops but you should check into that.

We'll see what Apple dude says when he opens it up. :>