Flashing sleep light

Can't get my 15" MBP to run (just get a blue screen). Can anybody tell me what it indicates when the sleep light flashes 3 times quickly repeatedly with the screen open?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
The flashing light tells you that you have a RAM problem:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2341
Try reseating the RAM and see if that fixes it. If not, you might have to replace your RAM, but since RAM generally has a lifetime warranty, it shouldn't cost you anything.
Good luck!

Similar Messages

Grey screen, mbp not starting up, flashing sleep light & 3constant beeps

hi there i tried to restart my mbp this am and it would not power up, I get a grey screen, three loud constant beeps and flashing sleep light in time to the beeps!
THe HD sounds as if it is starting up, I hear the whirring then nothing but this annoying been and a stoney grey screen!
please help!!
xx
Fran

Do you have upgraded ram in your MBP? I believe that 3 beep signifies that your computer has failed ram tests on both banks of ram.
Some RAM may appear to pass the Power-On-Self-Test (POST) but still cannot be used by the operating system. In this case, the computer will display a gray screen, sound three tones and blink the power LED on the front of the computer three times, pause, and repeat the blinking until the computer is turned off.
The solution to both of these situations is to first re-seat the memory and test the computer again. If the memory fails the POST test again, try memory that has been verified to work correctly on another system (i.e., "known-good") or order new memory from the Apple Store.

Wont boot: I get beeps and flashing sleep light

The PB-T boots to a beeping noise and then the sleep light flashes once: long, then 3 short flashes.
I reseated the RAM and swapped RAM, to no avail.
Wont boot from anything even install disks. Did the PRAM too (which never does anything). Tried the reset switch on the back too. Nothing.
Ideas? I remember the beeps are usually related to RAM. no?
Steve

Hi Steve,
It sounds like you have no good RAM banks, which basically means a new/replacement LB. May not be cost-effective for an older TiBook to replace the LB.
Beep Definitions

Broken Charger, Flashing sleep light, etc

Hi this is my first Apple Product and my first issue so I hope you guys can help me with it.
I was given a 15-inch Macbook Pro July 2010 as a gift for making it to college. Last night, after opening up my Macbook from a sleep state with the adapter plugged in, the charger light suddenly goes out. I've tested the charger and determined that it's dead. At the time, I was somewhat peeved but I understand that electronics can be erratic at times and I wasn't in dire need of it. This afternoon however, I forgot that the adapter didn't work so while working on homework it suddenly crashes. I ask my roommate if I could borrow his charger (knowing that it works on my MBP since I tested it the previous night) and when I attempt to turn it on I notice that the charging light is still green, the computer has its sleep light flashing at regular intervals and (I assume) the hard drive starting then dying.
So in summary: charger dies after waking MBP from sleep --> computer's battery goes to 0 charge --> roommate's charger that previously worked fine stays green but doesn't start/sleep light blinking/hard drive noise.
Any help would be appreciated since I have some unfinished homework.
Thanks

If a SMC reset does not bring life to your MBP, bring it in for service:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
Ciao.

Wont boot, flashing sleep light

MacBook Pro 13"
Mid-2010 A1278
Serial: WQ********ATM
When Power Button pressed, it is completely unresponcive except for the sleep light on the front flashes
I have noticed, If it is off the charger and you press power button, it will flash on then off just once.
However, if it is on the charger and you press power button it will flash on and off over and over, even if you then remove charger
Have searched heaps of Articles, they tend to point towards either Battery or RAM....
Battery is fully charged, battery indicator on the side shows its full when pressed.
RAM is fully populated, have removed one stick, tested, reinstalled then removed the other stick, tested, and then used RAM from a known working MBP similar model, all no good.
Have had plenty of experience with these A1278s, but never come across this before!
Thanks in Advance for any help!!

If a SMC reset does not bring life to your MBP, bring it in for service:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
Ciao.

My Macbook pro won't turn On - Flashing Sleep Light

when I started my mac the screen is blank but the sleep light remains turn on.

Since you've had this for such a short time, I would take it to the Apple store and let them deal with it.
Do a back up first!

Sleeping light & keyboad lights failure

Dear all,
I read the posts archived in these forums on the following issue but as there was no real guidance coming forward I thought to restate the issue I'm facing in case there is fresh knowledge on it.
A couple of weeks ago, the sleep light on my powerbook G4 started to come on all the time. I didn't noticed it until tonight, but it seems that when this occurs the backlit keyboard is also non-functional. This doesn't happen all the time, but now most of the time.
A friend told me that this was an indication of an issue with the USB ports, which would be grave because they are linked directly to the logic board.
I'm not sure if it is related or not, but I had some relatively serious problems with the directory of my hard drive (sibling link failures). I spent a couple of days cloning and then fixing the problems with Diskwarrior and Disk Utility. It appears the directory is fine now (though I did have to do an archive and install and could, if necessary, clone the good drive and wipe the original drive and start completely afresh). The problem, however, of the sleep light has not gone away. My friend had suggested that an erase and reinstall might cure the issue.
Can anyone give any practical advice on this issue? I cannot afford to lose my logic board, especially given that I live in Egypt where a new logic board would be hard to find and may not be able to be fitted.
Should I worry? Does this symptom mean that my logic board is on the edge of the abyss?
Thanks in advance for any guidance.
Dr Ian Douglas
powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 1.2GB RAM 1.5Ghz

Hey All,
I finally decided to check here, as none of the fixes I attempted appeared to be working.
If it is an L-Board problem, them I'm in deep doo.
I'm currently in Panama, and thought that it might be a problem with some sort of variance in the power cycle here, as my first couple of days here, the PowerBook refused to charge fully.
It would keep at a constant level, and only draw power when it dropped below.
None of the various locations I tried provided relief, until recently, and now P]power's fine and at 100%.
Except I noticed the flashing 'sleep light' last night, tried checking around.
No fixes, and in the last several hours, I just noticed the 'no backlit-keyboard' issue (as it got darker, and it didn't come on).
There's a MacStore (authorized reseller type), I'll have to try them and see if they can do anything, as my AC contract is still valid.
Crikey, this *****.

Sleep light flashes 5 times - no beeps. What does it mean?

I have a white 2008 Macbook 2.4 Ghz. I recently installed 10.6 from scratch via Retail DVD and the Macbook worked fine. I updated via Software Update and installed all the updates that appeared. There was also a Firmware update to install, which I did after the update to 10.6.8.
But since then, the Macbook has serious video problems.
It boots okay, but the sequence is now:
- front sleep light flashes 5 times; there are no error beeps
- I hear the startup chime
- the Apple logo and spinning wheel appear, and bootup continues
- at the point where the screen goes blue, and would normally boot to the desktop, the screen now goes black and the Macbook appears to go to sleep
If I wait for a couple of minutes, when I press a key to wake the Macbook from sleep: the DVD spins up, the sleep light flashes 5 times, and I now see the desktop. But then the screen goes black after about 10 seconds.
Before the screen goes black, I can see that the boot seems to have completed okay. I have a Wifi connection and the date and time are correct.
If I go really fast, I can move the arrow to the Apple icon in the top bar and choose Shut down or Restart.
I can boot from the internal HD, an external FW HD and an Install DVD.
I can hold down the Option key and I get all the bootable volumes to boot from. I can choose any of them, then start the boot process, but at the same point - the blue screen - the screen goes black and the Macbook goes to sleep.
The Macbook works perfectly fine when connected to an external monitor. In the Display preferences, only the external monitor is available. The Macbook monitor is not listed. As well, iSight and Photo Booth report that no camera is connected.
I've found some info on the Apple site re. the 5 sleep light flashes, but it only refers to the Macbook Air, and indicates a problem with the battery.
Has anyone seen this problem with the Macbook?

From EZ Jim's link, there was another link to this info at the Apple site, re. Power on Self-Tests:
The power on self-test resides in the ROM of the computer. This test runs whenever the computer is turned on after being fully shut down (the power-on self-test does not run if the computer is only restarted).
If a fault is detected during the test, you will not hear a normal startup chime. Instead, the system will beep as explained below. If you experience one of these beeps, you may call your Apple Authorized Service Provider for additional troubleshooting assistance.
1 beep = no RAM installed
2 beeps = incompatible RAM types
3 beeps = no good banks
4 beeps = no good boot images in the boot ROM (and/or bad sys config block)
5 beeps = processor is not usable
In addition to the beeps, on some computers the power LED will flash a corresponding number of times plus one. The LED will repeat the sequence after approximately a 5-second pause. The tones are only played once.
As I wrote, I don't get the Error Beeps. I've had these on other Macs, so I know what they are. Here, I only get the LED flashes.
What is interesting above is that they say that the Power LED will flash a corresponding number of times (as the beeps) PLUS ONE. In my case, then, if I got 5 flashes, then might it mean NO GOOD BOOT IMAGES IN THE BOOT ROM?
Anyway, it doesn't seem to have the flashing LED problem any more. No idea where to go from here.

My Macbook pro, (late 2010) sometimes will sleep and won't wake up. then the sleep light flashes.What's the problem?

My Macbook pro, (late 2010) sometimes will sleep and won't wake up. then the sleep light flashes.What's the problem

Hi I've been following this thread (along with a different one on the same topic). I've been having the same problem with my ibook. I can add that I have no problem with startup. It's just that the screen "goes to sleep" unexpectedly and may operate normally for a few minutes or a few hours at most. Opening and closing the lid or restarting seems to cause it to awaken but then usually for just a few seconds or minutes. If it is connected to another video display that display continues functioning fine even though the computer screen is blank. In addition the desktop is there and visible faintly or if totally blank can be backlit through the apple logo and can be read. I've had my logic board replaced twice under the extended warranty and assumed it was that but now I'm thinking of the reed switch. Apple refuses to consider any further work under warranty as the last repair was in Jan, 06 and they claim only a 90 parts warranty and the machine is from 03. Any thoughts before I cut the wires? I have reset the pmu, run cocktail and disk utility. Other than the sleep issue the machine works fine. thanks Ronda or anyone else who has any ideas... Dave

Sleep Light flashing continuously

All of a sudden my MacBook pro shutdown last night and the sleep light started to flash about twice a second - continuously - and the display never comes on. I tried restarting a few times but no go. I took the battery out and left it out for the night.
This morning it started up and I started to txfer my latest iTunes purchases when it went off again. Whatever I try, be it target mode, or boot from the install CD, is not working - the display is always off and the sleep light is flashing. Are there any other tricks before I take it to the Apple store? I'd especially like to get some of my latest documents off of it.

the sleep light started to flash about twice a second
Does it make any 'beeps' when flashing ?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=%20303083
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58442

Problem with a Dell Monitor - stopped working yesterday, just a flashing orange light. Monitor or Mac Mini issue?

I've been using an old Dell monitor with my Mac Mini ever since I got it, however yesterday evening my monitor stopped working - however I'm not sure whether the issue is with the monitor or the Mac Mini. It just doesn't seem to respond when I try to bring the Mac Mini out of sleep. I can hear that the Mini is responding to the keyboard - I hear the right noise for pressing return on the password box without entering anything.
I've made sure all the cables are plugged in properly (power & connection to the Mini), but all I'm getting is a flashing orange light on the monitor.
I don't have anything else to test the monitor on, nor do I have access to another monitor to plug into the Mac Mini - I only have an old iBook G4, so don't have the right adaptors to plug the VGA from the monitor into that.
So before I run out and buy a new monitor, what is the best way to determine where the problem lies.

Hi, I've actually never had any issues waking this monitor from sleep, this is the first time that it has been unresponsive and I've had it for years - probably over 10! (E151FP) so probably overdue for replacement.
To be honest I'd rather not just switch the Mini off unless it's a last resort given that other than the lack of a picture everything else seems to be working ok - still hearing all the normal noises of Skype, Mail and TimeMachine etc.

My macbook isn't powering up and makes a beeping noise in time with the sleep light

Hi There I hope someone can help!!!
I had disconnected the power cable and left the MacBook in sleep mode with the lid shut. When I now go to open my MacBook up, and wait for my system to resume from where I left off the screen doesn't on and the sleep light goes off. when I close the lid the sleep light goes back on as if it is in sleep mode but the same happens when I open it again, no power to the screen.
I order to try get my MacBook working again I tried holding down the power button and switching it back on again but the MacBook now looks as if it is going to power up but the sleep light comes on for about 3 secs and then beeps, then every 4-5 secs constantly the MacBook beeps once in time with the sleep light (to note the sleep light is not following its usual fade on fade off rhythm).
I have tried resetting the SMC using the shift command control option and power button (also this is the only way to stop the beeping and flashing) and when you try and switch on the MacBook if you just press the power button it just follows the same beep with sleep light routine, but if you hold the power button in then the sleep light then flashes quickly about 4-6 times and then starts to beep in time with the flash again.
I will also add I have not reconfigured anything or added any RAM to my MacBook it is still on the standard (manufacturing) configuration as I have been looking about for anyone with similar issues and the main question back seems to be have you changed the RAM, I have also tried resetting teh RAM and the proble still persists.
If someone can help it would be awesome!

Here's the Apple support article on beeps https://support.apple.com/kb/HT1547

Sleep Light Most Annoying thing ever.

I was wondering if t here is a way to turn off the sleep light or if Apple could programm a way in the future to turn off this sleep light. I have my mac in my bedroom and cannot turn it against the wall or throw something over it. I have taped stuff over the light but this is sooooo ugly. I like to have a nice bedroom with my beautiful apple computer, not some taped up one. The other thing that drives me crazy is the Aiport Extreme base station lights. Whoever thought of these flashing lights needs to change it.

You do know that you can change the light behaviour of the AirPort Express station with the AirPort Admin Utility under "Base Station options", do you? Set it to constantly on, and it will be less annoying.
What exact Model is your iMac G5? Maybe you can install the ALS firmware Update to get a turned down light during the dark hours.
Each Mac with an ALS (Ambient Light Sensor) will turn down the sleep light intensity when it is dark in the room. With Portables this of course only works when the lid is open. Obviously otherwise there would be no reading on the sensors.
MacLemon

Flashing Sleep Indicator means what? (Apple newbie here!)

Hi guys, I just recently got the new macbook pro. The guy in the store had charged it for me, told me to use the battery until it is completely drained, and then to charge it for 8 hours straight... and then use it normally.
I tried to do this but when the battery was at 1% empty, it went to sleep...at least, I think it did. The sleep light indicator is flashing. Yet, I can't get the macbook to wake up. I tried pressing buttons and holding the power button to reboot, but it won't wake up! What should I do? Is this normal?
How will I know when the battery is completly drained, so that i can charge for 8 hours?

You do not need to do this for li-ion batteries. The info he gave was wrong. Li-Ion batteries do not need to be conditioned like this. Are you trying to wake it with the power adapter plugged in? You don't have to charge it for eight hours before you use it. Just start using it and it will charge till it's full.
Here is some info for good battery care.
It is OK to leave your battery hooked to the charger most of the time. The only time I unhook mine from the charger is when I calibrate or for a few minutes to use in another room. Have you calibrated your battery yet? You should calibrate every two months or so to keep the battery fully functioning. If you use your MacBook infrequently, it’s best to re-calibrate the battery at least once a month.
It is best not to use your battery unless you need to. Some people have hurt their batteries by charging then discharging every time they use the MacBook. This will age a battery very fast and cause you to buy a battery sooner than you should have too. Don't discharge the battery just because you used it. Li-Ion batteries prefer small charges over big ones. Use it and then plug it in as soon as you can. The only time my Battery is ever fully discharged is when I'm doing a calibration.
The following links have good information about the MacBook and the care of it's battery.
Apple: Tips for maximizing your Notebook battery charge
Apple MacBook and MacBook Pro: Reduces processor speed when battery is removed while operating from an A/C adaptor
Apple portable computer's battery does not show a full charge in Mac OS X
Look here and here for some good tips about battery care.
Apple MacBook: How to remove or install the battery
Apple: Determining Battery Cycle Count
Apple: Use and cleaning of MagSafe power connector

2011 MacBook Pro-Sleep light blinks 3 times, doesn't start

Hi there, I was just given a 2011 MacBook Pro 15'-8GB RAM, 2.2Ghz...the medium spec'd model if I am correct. It worked fine for a little while, but now whenever I plug it into power, it does one of two things. Either it attempts to come on, hard drive spins up...and then the sleep light flashes 3 times and it powers down. OR, as soon as it gets plugged in it powers cycles indefinately until I unplug it. The sleep light comes on for maybe a second, and the hard drive spins up, then it shuts back off and repeats this until I unplug it.
Nothing has been changed from it's stock configuration to I am relatively sure that it isn't a simple RAM problem.
Any help is appreciated.
Please note that I have already tried things like clearing the SMC and reseating the RAM.

Means bad memory.

Flashing sleep light

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