02-22-2012, 11:51 AM

I've looked for a forum like this but have been unable to find one for my problem. The MacBook Air is plugged in to wall outlet and is not sensing that it has any charge. It seems to be an intermittent problem as sometimes I'll leave it and come back a couple of hours later and it is charging again. So I don't know. Here's what I've done:

• Taken to Apple Store (it worked fine when I took it in of course, they reset SMC)
• Tried different outlets in my house
• Took off the charger extender and just used the block
• Reset the SMC myself today

Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated. Pretty ridiculous, the computer is only 4 months old. Purchased in OCT 2011.

02-22-2012, 12:33 PM

My mother-in-law's MacBook developed a similar problem and eventually stopped charging completely. She had it checked out by a local authorized service center and as it turns out, the power supply on the logic board had failed. I was going to replace the board myself, but when I opened it up myself, the damage was more extensive. There were black scorch marks across the top edge across the fan and a slightly melted connector that caused a wire to pull loose when I tried to disconnect it. My guess is she had a power surge that blew out the PSU.

At any rate, your problems are hardware. There is a small board for the Magsafe connector that "could" be the culprit; it could be the logic board; it could be your power cable; or it could be the battery. Unfortunately you are going to have to stay on top of this and hit up Apple as soon as you have a problem with it. You could try a different cable to see if that is the culprit, though if it is, Apple should be footing the bill. My honest opinion though is that the PSU is the most likely culprit here.

02-22-2012, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by lifeisabeach

My mother-in-law's MacBook developed a similar problem and eventually stopped charging completely. She had it checked out by a local authorized service center and as it turns out, the power supply on the logic board had failed. I was going to replace the board myself, but when I opened it up myself, the damage was more extensive. There were black scorch marks across the top edge across the fan and a slightly melted connector that caused a wire to pull loose when I tried to disconnect it. My guess is she had a power surge that blew out the PSU.

At any rate, your problems are hardware. There is a small board for the Magsafe connector that "could" be the culprit; it could be the logic board; it could be your power cable; or it could be the battery. Unfortunately you are going to have to stay on top of this and hit up Apple as soon as you have a problem with it. You could try a different cable to see if that is the culprit, though if it is, Apple should be footing the bill. My honest opinion though is that the PSU is the most likely culprit here.

Thanks for the response. When I took it to the mac store about 2 weeks ago they ran all the diagnostic tests and they all showed up as good with no problems. Since the time of my first post and this one it has started charging again. So who knows..

02-22-2012, 07:48 PM

Originally Posted by zmabry

Thanks for the response. When I took it to the mac store about 2 weeks ago they ran all the diagnostic tests and they all showed up as good with no problems. Since the time of my first post and this one it has started charging again. So who knows..

When it happens again, take pictures, or better yet take video demonstrating that the line is plugged in properly and that it is not charging. Then have that ready and available next time you take it to the store.