Chosen Solution
I recently installed the latest firmware from Apple Software update. After the updates, the only way to power the computer on is to hold the power button while plugging in the AC adapter. It boots and runs fine but the fans run at high speed and it won’t sleep by closing the display, keyboard backlighting no longer works nor does the sleep indicator light or even ambient light detection. Apple doesn’t seem to have a firmware restoration cd for this version (MacBookpro5,1). Do you have one or know where I might obtain an image to restore the firmware to factory condition?
You can use the disks that came with your computer
Wanted to add, firmware has nothing to do with the hard drive guys. It’s eeproms the firmware writes to not the hard drive.
Bac is right. as usual. wipe the drive, zero out, and reinstall from the original disks. Do the normal updates. Hope the firmware update didn’t mess you up. If it did, call Apple Corporate in Cupertino and ask for your money back or a new computer. They messed yours up and they need to fix it. Period. Stand firm and get satisfaction or take them to Small Claims Court and ask for treble damages. If a successful firmware update has been made it cannot be restored. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2213
I agree with rj713, try a PMU reset. To do this, shut your computer down, take out your battery, unplug from the wall. Then press and hold the power button for roughly 30 seconds. Put the battery back in, plug it back into the wall, and boot the computer! [EDIT] Oops, forgot that this is a Unibody. Forget what I said, that’s for older MacBooks. Make sure you are plugged into the wall, and your computer is off. Then press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time. Then release them all at the same time. Then boot your computer.
With all the power problems you have I suggest you try a PMU reset. Ralph
Well, I took my MBP to the Apple store today. They ran diags and gee, smc shows a problem exactly as expected. May be good news though as Applecare turns out to still be in effect so, they sent it back to Apple. I’ll update this post again when the machine comes back from Apple (5 to 7 days they say). I’m hopeful but, knowing my luck, I’ll probably get it back in the same shape it’s currently in.
I received my MBP back from Apple today. And much to my very pleasant surprise, they not only fixed the motherboard issues (replaced it) they also replaced the display even though there wasn’t anything wrong there but a small dent on the lid. I am so impressed with Apple right now I can barely contain myself. I want to thank all of you who gave tips and ideas on this issue and also to ifixit.com for making these forums available in the first place. Were it not for this site and the words of mayer, I’d still be suffering with a very noisy, desktop in the form of a portable. Now I have my MBP back to the way it should be, quiet, fully functional and portable! Thank you all and thank you Apple!
Mayer, Only by 90 days but I still have over a year left under Applecare so, I’m not worried over that. They didn’t replace the machine, though looking at it and using it, you’d think they had. It’s perfect. Show room new condition but all of my stuff is still on the hard drive and the serial number is the same… I think they even polished the aluminum, had to, it’s so clean it feels new.
I am too late to answer this question. But I hope this info could help someone in future. All you have to do is go to this link - http://support.apple.com/downloads/?val=…. Than download appropriate restore image for your machine and follow the instruction to restore the original firmware. I guess for Macbook Pro 5,1 you need to download Restoration CD 1.9 (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1320)
This is not an answer. But I recently attempted a factory reset on the mbp but we had a power failure and now I cannot even get into the recovery mode. I have a OS X Snow Leopard install disk, but the laptop will not access it. What can I do?
Tambien tengo esta mb y solo la puedo encender presionando el boton de encendido antes de conectar el cargador y luego quitando y poniendo el dedo de nuevo, eso hace que la pueda usar pero el ventilador inicia al maximo y la bateria y la luz del teclado no funcionan, creo que en mi caso se trata del cargador ya que me di cuenta que el que me la vendio me lo vio con un cablet para 240 v y tiene otro cover que es de igual 240 v y no como la electricidad normal de mi pais 110 v ademas de que no emite luz el conector magsafe, probare cambiando el cable solamente si soluciono el problema, ademas que solo la tengo con linux ya que se me ha hecho imposible instalar de mac os
