They don’t make defibrillators for laptops do they?
October 8, 2021 1:47 PM Subscribe
I shut down my perfectly functioning MacBook Air (2017) on Wednesday night. Today (friday) it will not turn on or power up or anything. PRAM and SMC resets haven’t worked. I’m on vacation so it will be days before I can get it to a repair place—anything I can try in the meantime?
The dang thing wasn’t having any issues prior to this. It wasn’t dropped or soaked or exposed to heat or cold—just sat in a laptop bag for a day untouched.
-MagSafe indicator had been showing orange but now it’s dead too.
-No keyboard backlight or chime when I hit the power button
-bottom was slightly warm while the MagSafe charger light was on but now it’s dead cold.
It probably is hella busted but I am hoping there’s some way to get it to limp back to life…if I have to do everything on my fucking phone for 5 days I will murder things
The dang thing wasn’t having any issues prior to this. It wasn’t dropped or soaked or exposed to heat or cold—just sat in a laptop bag for a day untouched.
-MagSafe indicator had been showing orange but now it’s dead too.
-No keyboard backlight or chime when I hit the power button
-bottom was slightly warm while the MagSafe charger light was on but now it’s dead cold.
It probably is hella busted but I am hoping there’s some way to get it to limp back to life…if I have to do everything on my fucking phone for 5 days I will murder things
I had this very same thing happen with my MacBook Pro (2015) two weeks ago while out of town—it turned out to be that the battery expanded and died. The MagSafe was a bit damaged so I think it might have run too much power to the battery? Anyway I wish I had a better answer— the lil repair place I took it to is working on replacing the part now and recommended I get a new charger.
Wish I had a better tip to get you through!!
posted by actionpact at 1:55 PM on October 8, 2021
Wish I had a better tip to get you through!!
posted by actionpact at 1:55 PM on October 8, 2021
The MagSafe was a bit damaged so I think it might have run too much power to the battery?
Charging current to a lithium-ion battery is ultimately controlled by a chip that's directly connected to it, so inside the laptop or the battery pack, measuring the state of charge and shutting off when it's full. The two only requirements for the charger are being able to supply sufficient power to run the laptop plus a bit extra to recharge the battery, and doing so within a certain voltage range that is high enough that the electronics in the laptop (and its battery charging circuit) start working, but not so high that those parts overheat and release their magic smoke.
Even if a damaged magsafe plug could cause the adapter's output voltage to rise in some way, it can't rise higher than what the AC adapter puts out, and that again is what the laptop battery's charge controller is designed to use.
posted by Stoneshop at 3:22 PM on October 8, 2021 [2 favorites]
Charging current to a lithium-ion battery is ultimately controlled by a chip that's directly connected to it, so inside the laptop or the battery pack, measuring the state of charge and shutting off when it's full. The two only requirements for the charger are being able to supply sufficient power to run the laptop plus a bit extra to recharge the battery, and doing so within a certain voltage range that is high enough that the electronics in the laptop (and its battery charging circuit) start working, but not so high that those parts overheat and release their magic smoke.
Even if a damaged magsafe plug could cause the adapter's output voltage to rise in some way, it can't rise higher than what the AC adapter puts out, and that again is what the laptop battery's charge controller is designed to use.
posted by Stoneshop at 3:22 PM on October 8, 2021 [2 favorites]
This isn't helpful but perhaps to give you hope: this has happened in the last couple of years to both myself and my partner, and each time the solution was....time. Seriously. Just let the dang thing sit undisturbed for awhile, tried again, then all of sudden "bingo" totally fine. Fingers-crossed you have the same experience.
posted by coffeecat at 5:06 PM on October 8, 2021
posted by coffeecat at 5:06 PM on October 8, 2021
Seconding the failed power cord or transformer.
Look around your vacation spot for where the young people go and see if you can borrow their power cable long enough to see if the light on the magsafe power connector kicks on.
Then buy that person a coffee and get a charge for the duration of your own cuppa and see if your Mac turns on.
posted by Sunburnt at 6:01 PM on October 8, 2021
Look around your vacation spot for where the young people go and see if you can borrow their power cable long enough to see if the light on the magsafe power connector kicks on.
Then buy that person a coffee and get a charge for the duration of your own cuppa and see if your Mac turns on.
posted by Sunburnt at 6:01 PM on October 8, 2021
I’m on vacation so it will be days before I can get it to a repair place—anything I can try in the meantime?
Agreeing with Sunburnt. Sometimes you can go to public libraries or hotels that have lost & founds and see if they have a spare cable you can borrow for 30 min just to test out that theory.
Also I assume you know this but on the off chance that your computer somehow "hung" while it was asleep, make sure you have also tried the "Hold power key down for 10 seconds" thing to make sure it's well and truly off and then see if you can turn it on again.
posted by jessamyn at 6:16 PM on October 8, 2021 [1 favorite]
Agreeing with Sunburnt. Sometimes you can go to public libraries or hotels that have lost & founds and see if they have a spare cable you can borrow for 30 min just to test out that theory.
Also I assume you know this but on the off chance that your computer somehow "hung" while it was asleep, make sure you have also tried the "Hold power key down for 10 seconds" thing to make sure it's well and truly off and then see if you can turn it on again.
posted by jessamyn at 6:16 PM on October 8, 2021 [1 favorite]
Another voice chiming in that a new power adapter is something to try based on the described issue. Apple made their power bricks "smarter" than a regular power brick: it communicates with the laptop as part of the process of deciding to send power (and is also where the brains behind the LED light live).
I'd be curious if "PRAM resets" have not worked in that it doesn't solve your issue, or if you can't get the chimes and the PRAM reset process complete. If the latter, I'd lean more towards a charger/battery/hardware issue.
posted by Anonymous Function at 11:54 AM on October 9, 2021
I'd be curious if "PRAM resets" have not worked in that it doesn't solve your issue, or if you can't get the chimes and the PRAM reset process complete. If the latter, I'd lean more towards a charger/battery/hardware issue.
posted by Anonymous Function at 11:54 AM on October 9, 2021
Response by poster: I'd be curious if "PRAM resets" have not worked in that it doesn't solve your issue, or if you can't get the chimes and the PRAM reset process complete. If the latter, I'd lean more towards a charger/battery/hardware issue.
Not worked in the sense that I've done the key holds (as well as the 10-second power button hold, just in case) and have gotten neither light nor lighted keyboard nor chime. Just nada.
I did find a spare magsafe charger but that also did not work, so sadly, it's not just a bum charger/cable.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:37 PM on October 10, 2021
Not worked in the sense that I've done the key holds (as well as the 10-second power button hold, just in case) and have gotten neither light nor lighted keyboard nor chime. Just nada.
I did find a spare magsafe charger but that also did not work, so sadly, it's not just a bum charger/cable.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:37 PM on October 10, 2021
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 1:54 PM on October 8, 2021 [2 favorites]