Status Indicator Light permanently off

Question

Hi there,
I'm hoping someone can help me with this problem. I've set out some of the history too, as I have no idea whether this is hardware or software related. Apolgies for the length!
1) The immediate issue is that the status indicator light at the front of my black Macbook stopped working today. When I shut the lid or press the sleep option on the Apple logo in the top left corner, it remains off, even though it does appear to go asleep (makes the waking up noise when I open the lid).
2)I have followed the recommended procedures in Apple Help to re-set the PRAM and the SMC settings, and it made no difference.
3)My battery says it's charged at 100%. Here's the profiler report:
Battery Information:
Model Information:
Manufacturer: DP
Device name: ASMB016
Pack Lot Code: 0002
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 102a
Hardware Revision: 0500
Cell Revision: 0102
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 4029
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 4036
Health Information:
Cycle count: 403
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 12504
System Power Settings:
AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 25
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 20
Automatic Restart On Power Loss: No
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Wake On LAN: No
Current Power Source: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Battery Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes): 20
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes): 10
Wake On AC Change: No
Wake On Clamshell Open: Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim: Yes
Reduce Brightness: Yes
Hardware Configuration:
UPS Installed: No
AC Charger Information:
Connected: Yes
ID: 0x0100
Wattage (W): 60
Revision: 0x0000
Family: 0x0085
Charging: No
4) I have no idea whether it's related, by my hard drive failed completely 3 days ago and was replaced (mechanical failure - sudden onset of click of death, spinning beachball, turned it off, wouldn't turn on, no data recoverable). When the drive was replaced (by Apple, but not under warranty), I also upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard. The light seemed to work until today though.
5) This is the third time the drive has failed in the same way and been replaced. The computer is 3 1/2 years old, and first failure happened about 7 months in. Second failure a year ago. Third three days ago. Apple say 'drives fail'. I am a very careful and unadventurous user of my MacBook. I do carry it around, but for large amounts of time it sits quietly on a table, using only licensed software to do not very challenging tasks. Does anyone have any ideas as to why 3 failures?
6) Yesterday I installed Dragon Dictate for Mac 2.0, which seems to be full of bugs and keeps crashing. This morning it was hanging and I tried to force quit but couldn't. I was then able to quit it normally, but the force quit window was still open and I could neither cancel nor make it force quit, and had to shut down the computer and start again.
7) It was after this that I notice the SIL issue, but can't say whether it was working immediately before. I know it worked initially after the Dragon install.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Message was edited by: gregormac

Answer 1

I don't seem to be able to edit the post above, hence this update.
I closed the lid and left the machine to sleep overnight, and when I woke up this morning the SIL light was on, and now appears to be working as normal each time I close it.
So my question now is:
a) If it happens again, is it something to be worried about?
b)re my point 5): can anyone think what would cause three hard drive failures? In particular, if it's something I'm causing, I'd like to know how not to cause it!
Thank you.