MacBook Pro 2009, charging but black screen on startup...

[janice171]

Hi,
My Mac was working fine yesterday but today the battery indicator on the side does not display anything until plugged in. It appears dead when not plugged in.
When I do plug it in the green indicator lights display and the charger light on the charger is there but the laptop doesn't turn on. The start up sound is there but just a black screen.
I have tried numerous resets but nothing!
Any ideas of what I could try?
Thanks in advance
Janice

 

[diego.caraballo]

Hi there.
Use a flashlight on the back of the screen pointing forward to you at the white plastic Apple.
Do it in dark room. Look closely at the screen and watch if you can see either the Apple logo or
your user name / desktop icons. It will be very faint.

 

[liguoliang]

Original battery in my 2009 mid MacBook Pro 17 became “battery service”. The MacBook Pro still worked while charger plugged in. Sometimes it was difficult to turn on. Finally it did not boot at all. I tried some keys’ combination to reset something. All efforts were in vain. I found Youtube men to replace a capacitor c7771 (330 micro F) to save old MacBook Pro. I disassembled logical board out. I did not have a mini soldering iron to remove the c7771 as youtube video showed. I used a needle nose pliers to crumble it little by little carefully and left behind 2 roots (negative and positive). At that time I did not have high hopes and I did not take a picture. I soldered 2 wires on the roots. I removed many electrolytic capacitors from a discarded stereo. Unfortunately no capacitor is 330 micro F. I soldered a 470 micro F, assembled the logical board back, plugged in charger, pressed switch on button, waited 2 seconds. The died MacBook Pro chimed and screen lighted up.
I am happy to buy A1309 compatible battery (dynapack) at eBay ($42). The battery is charging (magSafe shows amber) and about this Mac: power: battery information: condition: normal. But my MacBook Pro could not start working without charger plugging. I tried many web gimmicks, failed. Before I would report the eBay seller, I guess that old 470 micro F capacitor impedes this new battery working. I connected 2 old capacitors parallel together (100 micro F + 270 micro F) to replace that 470 micro F.
A miracle happens. I press on button, wait 1/2 second, hear a chime. Old MacBook Pro lives on A1309 compatible battery. I also replace a SSD 500 GB ($32 at eBay). Now my 2009 mid MacBook Pro 17 rejuvenates on OS 10.11.6.