Macbook Pro (Mid 2012) Issue: Black Screen with Apple Logo Flashing - Seeking Assistance

[Ava_Omar_San_Diego]

Hello everyone,

• I own an A1398 Macbook Pro (Mid 2012) that has been functioning perfectly until a few days ago. Recently, I had a small accident where a few drops of water spilled nearby, potentially reaching the USB or MagSafe port. Additionally, I suspect the power supply, which I previously repaired, might have been affected. It's also possible that a few drops landed on the keyboard or trackpad.
• After letting the laptop dry for about five hours, I attempted to turn it on again. However, I encountered no response. Interestingly, I noticed a peculiar behavior with the power supply - it briefly showed an orange light and then turned off.
• In an effort to troubleshoot the issue, I replaced both the power supply and the aging battery, but unfortunately, the problem persists. Here are the symptoms I'm currently experiencing:
• The laptop doesn't respond to the power button for turning it on. Instead, I perform a hard SMC reset by disconnecting the battery and then turn on the computer by connecting the MagSafe charger.
• Upon doing so, the screen briefly flickers with backlight, followed by a black screen that lasts for approximately one minute. Subsequently, the Apple logo with a progress bar appears, reaching about 90% completion before flashing for a second and disappearing, returning the screen to black. Even if I leave it on for several hours, there is no improvement. I have recorded a video demonstrating this behavior:
• I have attempted various troubleshooting steps, including regular SMC and NVRAM resets (note: the keyboard responds to these keys, but not the power key). I have also tried entering safe mode, recovery mode, and other known modes, but none of them seem to work. The screen remains black until it reaches the 90% mark and briefly displays the progress bar and Apple logo before vanishing again.
• Curiously, during one of my attempts, the fan started running at full speed, and the entire system returned to normal functionality for a brief period. However, the trackpad became unresponsive, and the keyboard exhibited erratic behavior. After rebooting the laptop three times, it worked momentarily, but the issue eventually reoccurred.
• In my troubleshooting efforts, I disassembled the entire system down to the logic board. I examined the U8900 chip, which is known to cause problems in this model (Apple has acknowledged and fixed video-related issues caused by this chip). However, I didn't notice any unusual solder joints or indications of failure.
• Now, my main question is whether anyone has encountered similar symptoms as described and shown in the video linked above. I would greatly appreciate any insights or suggestions regarding the possible problem and any additional troubleshooting steps I can attempt. Given the age of this computer and the lack of official support, I prefer to explore DIY solutions rather than investing money in professional repairs. Your assistance would be invaluable.
• When you watch the video you will notice that at exactly 5 seconds the backlight flickers. Then exactly 1 minutes later at 1:06 the progress bar appears then disappears.
• Thank you so much for your help!!
• Ava and Omar

 

[pm-r]

Now, my main question is whether anyone has encountered similar symptoms as described and shown in the video linked above. I would greatly appreciate any insights or suggestions regarding the possible problem and any additional troubleshooting steps I can attempt. Given the age of this computer and the lack of official support, I prefer to explore DIY solutions rather than investing money in professional repairs. Your assistance would be invaluable.

I would suggest that many have encountered similar symptoms after similar liquid spillage and I'm afraid that most people underestimate the amount of liquid that probably entered the computer and the damage it can cause.

You might want to avoid even attempting to turn it on and see if it might possibly dry out on its own for several days and possibly start working normally, but even then whether it will be reliable or not is a 50/50 toss-up at best I would suspect.

You might want to have a Mac Tech Pro look at it and see if anything can be recovered they might be able to save you some money even though you are reluctant to spend any other than doing any DIY repairs, and there may not be many of those you can do.

Also, the problem could be due to something else and the failure was circumstantial and only coincided with the water spillage.

But a 2012 computer is in the age of don't spend much money if anything realm, they are pretty well Legacy devices for most users even if I do use a 2011 iMac myself. ;-)




- Patrick
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[Rod]

I agree with Patrick, it's pretty hard to have a device that long without the occasional accident or repair. I have a 2010 White Unibody MacBook that still works well mainly because it was my daughter's and she rarely used it. It did have major software issues when it came to me, requiring complete erasure, loss of all data and reinstall of MacOSX. It also had an almost dead, slightly swollen battery and no charger. Having fixed all that it works fine for a number of my old 32bit apps and games, email and web browsing.

Yours on the other hand sounds like it may be your primary device so congrats to you for keeping it running as long as you have. Despite the fact that you are obviously skilled at maintaining a Mac trouble shooting this issue may require resources you do not have. If you don't want to spend money on it and especially if it is not your primary/only computer you may have to write it off.
As Patrick said, "the problem could be due to something else and the failure was circumstantial and only coincided with the water spillage."

 

[newbutter]

In addition to the points raised by Patrick and Rod, I wanna add that you might try testing with an external monitor. If the external display works, it could be a problem with the internal display. Also, you could try booting a different OS from an external drive. This could help narrow down whether it's a hardware or software issue.

 

[krs]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but reading this thread, there was water spilled all over this Mac -even if iit was judt s few drops everywhere.
With the symptons described, I think it's unlikely that the Mac can just be resurrected without replacing at least some of the electronics.
At this point, I would remove the hard drive, if that didn't get affected, at least none of the data is lost.
Then, maybe as a last ditch effort, put the Mac into an oven and warm it up slightly over night.
It's a long shot.

 

[pm-r]

And maybe at least disconnect the internal battery connection and stick it in a box with some moisture silica gel desiccant, the same they use for drying flowers etc. And see if it could suck out any moisture that might still be doing some damage.
Also a long shot, but the desiccant is reasonably cheap and works much better than rice which is often suggested as an alternative, but probably because it's usually handy and readily available.



- Patrick
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