Don't finish fresh install after new refurbished logic board.

Hello,

I swapped a failing logic board with a refurbished one. I paid close attention to put some artic silver on every chip on the board, some was dried.

Once all done, hard drive freshly formated in place and RAM inserted I ran a SMC and NVRAM reset. I also ran cmd+r and let the machine install Mac OS-X Leopard through WiFi ... but once the file downloaded it never ran to the end, stopping on a grey screen, right after the progression bar. I tried to install with a USB stick MacOS Sierra but no more chance, same grey screen.

After some attempts I decided to run a AHT (option+D), long option, and the result was "4MEM/62/40000000: 0x84e36718" which implies the RAM according to some web research. I tried different RAM modules off the shelves, but the problem remained.

So, so far I got no idea, any help would be welcome.

BTW - Since today and a new attempt, the battery don't charge, orange light always on.

Thank you in advance

Serj

The original board was a 2.3GHz.

This is my 2nd refurbished board, the first one was bought here with an EFI PW .... a mistake so they sent me this 2nd one.

I did the RAM swap and with some RAM I have on the shelf ( fully operational)

RAM 1 in slot 1, RAM 1 in slot 2, RAM 2 in slot 1, etc....

Thank you for your help.

Serj

This one is the orginal: http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/ma...

At the time I bought the first refurbished replacement board, an equivalent was not available so I had to downgrade to the 2.2 GHz board.

The 1st board sent was locked to an iCloud account, the former owner put an EFI password so I had to return it.

This one worked fine until I had to configure my iCloud account. Up to this very moment everything ran smoothly. Then board became unusable for me .... to make long short.

Hello,

Some news, I've tried again and again, boot and reboot, multiple reset nvram, and tried again a safe boot which work this time. I was able to boot and finish to install osx 10.7 in safe boot. Everything seem to work fine .... in safe boot. At this time I' ve tempted to upgrade to Sierra but it didn't finish and now no more safe boot.

Hi,

Let me resume what I've done so far:

1. installation of the 2nd refurbished logic board, fresh formated SSD. Reset SMC NVRAM. Fresh macos Sierra with USB Stick. Never finished, progression bar stuck at the end. Forced reboot, grey screen

2. Tried cmd+r to install osx 10.7 which came with the mac. No more chance, grey screen.

3. Ran AHT (option+d) long version and as a result: mem error: 4MEM/62/40000000: x84e36718 which, according some web research, a ram default.

4. Tried to work with one ram module, then second one, swapping each time. No chance.

5. Tried with the ram of my own mac and with some ram I have at home. Same end.

6. Tried my own SSD. same end too, progression bar at half way then grey screen.

7. Tried my own battery. Same end.

8. Back to original ram, ssd. After multiples attempts, I succeeded with boot+maj, don't ask me why, have no clue.. The safe boot worked and was able to finish 10.7 (point 2).

9. Once Lion installed I rebooted. Then back to grey screen, worked only in safe boot.

10. Tried this time to connect a second screen an it ended on the second screen with the graphic failure screen colored artifacts very known to be the graphic chipset problem.

11. Tried to install osx 10.7 first then Sierra in target mode. Same grey screen.

12. After removing artic silver thermal paste I tried the ceramic one, a slightly better heat dissipation but didn't help.

Here I am.

This is my second replacement refurbished board, sent by iFixit. The first one Early 2011 i7 2.2Ghz worked great up to the moment where I configured my iCloud accounts, the S/N was registered in icloud data base by the former owner of that board, then the mac rebooted and once rebooted an EFI P/W was asked. IFixit sent me in replacement, the current board I have display problems with.

By the times I bought the first board the equivalent to my old one 2.3Ghz (graphic chipset fail, Apple refused to handle the problem, end of the period of warranty!) wasn't available at iFixit. This is the reason I choose to get a refurbished board and a downgrade at 2.2Gghz.

So here I am, still not able to give my daughter the mac she's expecting.

Did I missed something, made some mistakes or fogot anything? No clue.