White Macbook 13" A1181

[muntedgraham]

hi there


i was given this macbook to have a look at when it boots all you get is the chime but no apple, then after a while you will sometimes get the folder with a question mark

normally if this happens to me i would boot from the installation disk to repair the EFI but this computer doesnt accept keyboard commands during the boot process so i am stumped

i have tried refreshing PRAM and NVRAM and a bunch of other things but no luck

i also tried another HDD (that was blank) to see if it was a HDD fault but no change there either

if anybody has some ideas i would love to hear them

thanks

 

[Kaveman]

then after a while you will sometimes get the folder with a question mark

Need to reinstall your system from the original DVDs.

On a Mac that old I would also reformat the drive as it may be failing.

I hope you had a backup.

 

[muntedgraham]

yeah that was the idea but i cant reinstall the os because it wont accept keyboard input at boot so there is no way to get the thing to boot from an outside source

this is the issue that im having

 

[Kaveman]

Then how did you rest the PRAM?

You have to boot from the DVD with the "C" key held down.

 

[muntedgraham]

Then how did you rest the PRAM?

You have to boot from the DVD with the "C" key held down.

strangely enough that is the only command that is accepted at boot is to reset PRAM and nothing else i dont understand this to be honest i have been working on macs for a long time but i have never had this issue

 

[Kaveman]

What do you get when you boot with the "T" key down?

 

[muntedgraham]

nothing at all as i said the PRAM reset is the only working command