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I think the Graphics card may be shot or logic board or worse. Light turns on, fans running but no chime and black screen. I’m trying to get data from internal hard drives before taking it to Genius Bar where they will likely wipe the computer. Can I use a data to usb adapter to do this before I take it in? Thank you.
Earlier Mac models
The initial "chime" sound is generated in software when your Mac passes the Power-On Self Test. If the chime occurs and/or startup continues, your Mac is working. The screen should light up and draw a blank gray screen. Then on to the Disk Drive.
if you see a blinking power indicator light instead, that is a "help me" message. Report what number of blinks you see for assistance.
NO chime and no "help me" message suggests the processor in not even getting going.
You may not be able to get this computer running well enough to make backups in the usual way. But if your drives are in the SATA drive bays, they can each be removed and placed in a SATA/USB enclosure or "toaster"-style non-enclosure, or even a naked cable-adapter to make a copy of whatever you want.
I have no reason to distrust that solution.
It is very similar to their 'toaster-stye' non-enclosure where gravity holds to drive in place standing upraight.
Remember, when dealing with the Boot drive, more than 350,000 files are MacOS itself, which can be re-created easily with a new Install. You do NOT need to copy MacOS!
Yes you can pull the drive and hang it on a USB to SATA adapter. Then copy the data to another drive or Mac and then reinstall the drive before taking the Mac Pro into service.
...before taking it to Genius Bar where they will likely wipe the computer.
Not to worry. Apple won't look at a computer that old.
Great work!
now if you want to debug that computer...
the approved method is to assume some hardware is dragging down the power. Remove everything that is in a slot and try for the chime, or if you removed the RAM DIMMs as well, a 'help me' message in blinks of the power indicator light.
if no joy, remove the 3.00 Volt coin cell parameter RAM backup battery from behind the graphics card slot. you can debug with out, but the system time and boot drive location will be wonky if you get it going without. CR2032 makes a good replacement. Note the battery holder carefully, and use a very bright light -- breaking the battery retainer will ruin your day.
It worked!
Thank you! I purchased this from Amazon. Do you think this will work? Any tips on steps?
mac tower mid 2010 no chime no boot
