Question Fixing Broken Macbook With a SSD

[SLShermon]

Hi everyone! I am thinking about buying a broken macbook. It has the white screen with a folder with question mark on it. The owner says that it just has a bad hardrive, so i was wondering if i could just buy a new ssd and put it in it and install my fresh copy of leopard on the laptop with no problems? Would this work?

 

[Jim_L9]

If the hard drive is the only problem that would fix it. Will the seller guarantee that it is the hard drive?

 

[SLShermon]

If the hard drive is the only problem that would fix it. Will the seller guarantee that it is the hard drive?

He's pretty sure that it is the hardrive, when it boots it has the white screen with a folder with question mark on it, I am not sure what all the causes for this are.

 

[ish416]

The folder with a question mark means it cannot find a bootable volume. Sometimes that just means the hard drive, other times the motherboard sata controller goes bad. Could also be a loose or bad sata cable.

It would be a gamble either way.

So, how lucky do you feel?

 

[SLShermon]

The folder with a question mark means it cannot find a bootable volume. Sometimes that just means the hard drive, other times the motherboard sata controller goes bad. Could also be a loose or bad sata cable.

It would be a gamble either way.

So, how lucky do you feel?

Do you think under 50$ is responsible to pay for the laptop with this problem? Can i fix these other problems myself?

 

[ish416]

As long as it's an Intel based Macbook that isn't beat up, then yes. You could likely sell it on ebay for parts and more than make your money back. If it's an iBook then I wouldn't touch it.

 

[SLShermon]

As long as it's an Intel based Macbook that isn't beat up, then yes. You could likely sell it on ebay for parts and more than make your money back. If it's an iBook then I wouldn't touch it.

Yeah it is a 2.4 ghz Core 2 Duo Macbook and pretty good shape, no charger but i can get one of amazon cheap. Can i fix all of the problems you mentioned myself with parts of ebay?

 

[musical marv]

Hi everyone! I am thinking about buying a broken macbook. It has the white screen with a folder with question mark on it. The owner says that it just has a bad hardrive, so i was wondering if i could just buy a new ssd and put it in it and install my fresh copy of leopard on the laptop with no problems? Would this work?

I had that problem with a macbook white model and it was the logic board.I was lucky that time is was under warranty.

 

[ish416]

As long as it's an Intel based Macbook that isn't beat up, then yes. You could likely sell it on ebay for parts and more than make your money back. If it's an iBook then I wouldn't touch it.

Yeah it is a 2.4 ghz Core 2 Duo Macbook and pretty good shape, no charger but i can get one of amazon cheap. Can i fix all of the problems you mentioned myself with parts of ebay?

Assuming it's not the motherboard then yes, you can fix it. However, if it is, then you would have quite a bit more in fixing it than just buying one that works.