Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Macbook Air won't boot

Macbook Air won't boot
Thread Tools
mindwaves
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Irvine, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 2, 2019, 01:54 PM
 
Here is thee situation:

Have a 2015 Macbook Air with macOS High Sierra. 100% working. I left out of the country and came back 30 days later. Opened laptop lid and MacBook instantly came on and I saw battery level was at 20%. I was impressed and immediately tried to tether my phone. Screen immediately went blank. The screen was on for maybe 10 seconds max.

I connected it to power. No go even after charging it for over a day. In fact, the magsafe charger still shows orange, never green.

I tried resetting the SMC. I can see that the charger LED goes from orange to green back to orange. No chime noise, nothing on screen. Completely black.

Any ideas?
     
reader50
Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: California
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 2, 2019, 04:05 PM
 
The 20% you saw momentarily may have been a cached value. Try opening the back and disconnecting the battery. Then try to boot on power adapter.

If a lithium battery actually reaches 0%, I don't think it will charge. Having a defective batt attached might confuse the SMC enough to prevent boot.

Alternative: do you have a different power adapter to test with? If the adapter is blown, and the battery is too low to use, that would explain everything.
     
mindwaves  (op)
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Irvine, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 2, 2019, 10:58 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
The 20% you saw momentarily may have been a cached value. Try opening the back and disconnecting the battery. Then try to boot on power adapter.
Yes, I think that is the reason. I have to buy the special screwdriver for it.


Alternative: do you have a different power adapter to test with? If the adapter is blown, and the battery is too low to use, that would explain everything.
Yes, I also thought about this. This will be my first thing to try and I will need to take it to the Apple Store to use one of their adapters since I have no extra Magsafe adapters at my house. Update you and others later. If it fails, then I'll try the first method. Thanks a lot!
     
mindwaves  (op)
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Irvine, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 27, 2019, 05:23 AM
 
About a week ago, went to the Apple Store and used their Magsafe adapters and charged my MBA for 30 mins. Nothing. Too cheap to buy a new one and don't know anyone else who I can borrow theirs. Going to 2nd hand store later and seeing if can buy (no CL where I live).
     
reader50
Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: California
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 27, 2019, 11:24 AM
 
Did you try disconnecting the battery? Even if it's one of those horrid glued-in batteries, disconnecting the cable will still work. Allowing boot from the power adapter. Assuming the logic board is OK.
     
mindwaves  (op)
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Irvine, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
May 28, 2019, 01:42 AM
 
Yes, I will try that. Bought the necessary tools online and will try it when they are received.
     
mindwaves  (op)
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Irvine, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 3, 2019, 12:04 PM
 
I disconnected the battery and connected it to the wall outlet. Nothing. Maybe still the charger. I guess have to buy a new one and try. If it doesn't work, return the charger for refund.

Kind of interesting is when I connected magsafe to the MacBook with the disconnected battery, it shows green before immediately going to orange.
     
mindwaves  (op)
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Irvine, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 4, 2019, 12:43 PM
 
I read online that it is probably the logic board. I bought an OWC Envoy enclosure for the SSD as I have valuable data on there.
     
reader50
Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: California
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 4, 2019, 01:41 PM
 
A power problem was the last good bet. If it won't reset, even without the battery attached, the logic board is the logical choice.

Rossmann does repair old MacBooks. If it were worth it to you. His YouTube channel, searching for Air-related videos. He does some repair walkthroughs.
     
joyjoy22
Banned
Join Date: Aug 2019
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Aug 5, 2019, 11:46 PM
 
Shut down your computer; restart and then hold down the "Command-R" keys until you see the OS X Recovery utility screen. Select the "Disk Utility" option and select the "First Aid" tab. Select your hard drive from the sidebar and then click "Repair" to diagnose and repair the disk.

If this won't work then something must be wrong with your Macbook, you have to let a technician check it.
     
reader50
Administrator
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: California
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Sep 2, 2019, 04:29 PM
 
mindwaves, could you check your PMs please? I had a thought about your problem, but your email-on-file is dead. So your PM notification bounced.
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 02:12 PM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,