Faulty Magsafe board?

I posted a thread about a week ago about having battery problems. Today, after it finally died for good, I realized that it might not be just the battery but a problem with the whole power system. Basically, this morning I noticed that the light on the magsafe was flickering and the battery was running out of charge even though the charger was detected as plugged in (but not charging). After a while the laptop just shut down and now it won't turn on at all, even when plugged in but without the battery. It's not a problem with hd failure or anything because if I put the battery back in it will turn on for a split second and then die again. The magsafe light is either off, or flickering between orange and green or flickering green, but it seems obvious to me that power doesn't get to the computer itself. It can't be a problem with the charger as it is brand new and the charging problems started with my old one.

I took it into an Apple store today and the guy there was completely useless, didn't even bother looking at it or trying anything, he just told me to get a new battery and that Macbooks don't run off the mains with no battery in it (???).

Could it be that my magsafe board is faulty? Has anyone ever had similar problems? How difficult would it be to replace if I were to do it myself? Is there anything else I could try (I've already tried resetting the SMC, checked the pins, tried to clean the magsafe etc)?

Thanks,
kalen

kalen said:

Could it be that my magsafe board is faulty? Has anyone ever had similar problems? How difficult would it be to replace if I were to do it myself? Is there anything else I could try (I've already tried resetting the SMC, checked the pins, tried to clean the magsafe etc)?

Thanks,
kalen

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about these problems...it sounds very frustrating!

You did not give much info regarding your MacBook's model...but here's a You-Tube video on how to open up your laptop...just so you can see what's involved. I'm sure there are more videos as well

YouTube - Replacing a Macbook Logicboard - at Triple Speed!

I'm not saying your problem is the Mag-Safe board...or if this is even the right part for your MacBook model...but here is a seller of the part:

13" MacBook Magsafe Board &nbsp - Powerbook Medic

Hopefully this helps in some way,

- Nick

kalen said:

I took it into an Apple store today and the guy there was completely useless, didn't even bother looking at it or trying anything, he just told me to get a new battery and that Macbooks don't run off the mains with no battery in it (???).

Click to expand...

By the way...if the guy at the Apple Store actually told you that a MacBook won't run "off the mains" without a battery in it...he is full of crap!

I have both a MacBook and a MacBook Pro...and both run fine while plugged in without a battery.

So if your computer does not run properly while plugged in (with the battery removed)...then I would say that something is wrong other than the battery.

Hope this helps,

- Nick

Think i would go back to Apple store and complain to Manager about quality of service you got. But then i am a cranky ole bugger. There is a processor in battery as well as in computer, so i wold be hunting for a good certified apple tech to check it all out.

Thanks guys. My laptop is a white Macbook 13'', 2 GHz core duo bought in 2006. Out of warranty by now, but I'm happy to pay to fix this problem, unless it's the logic board... in that case I'd have to think about it, I know they can be quite expensive.

I think I'll go back to the store today and demand to speak to someone more competent. I hadn't used the laptop without the battery in in a long time so I completely forgot that it is perfectly possible for it to work without it. Unfortunately it seems that most of the replacement parts websites I've checked are out of stock for this particular part, so it would probably take longer for me to try and sort it out myself and it does seem like a kind of delicate operation for someone that has never replaced anything but a hd and some memory.

If you have any other suggestions, keep them coming, they'd be much appreciated!

Ok, I just got back from the shop, and needless to say just to figure out what is wrong with my laptop will cost me 60£. Then if I need replacement parts they will charge me the parts + the labour, and I get the feeling that they will just replace anything that needs replacing without asking me and charge me for it, since the store sends the machines off to their main branch for repairs.

I think I'll try to sort it out myself, it might take longer but it will at least save me money.

I have one more question for the experts.

I found someone that is selling a Macbook 13 Core 2 duo that is defective very cheaply for spare parts and it sounds like there are issues with the video chip on the logic board, so nothing wrong with the power system or magsafe board. I was thinking of buying it since that way I could get the parts I need very quickly and a better, albeit used, battery as well. I just wonder whether there might be any issues of compatibility of the magsafe board given that his laptop is a Core 2 Duo and mine is a Core Duo.

Hi Kalen,

My Dilema seems to be in the reverse of yours but i'll try to explain.....

I recently purchased a Black Macbook 2 Ghz circa 2006 from eBay that was totally dead. It did not come with a charger, so i bought one off ebay and tried it. All it would do was Flash and not much else. I decided to be patient and keep resetting the SMC, in the vain hope i would get something to happen (i'm very patient!lol) Eventually i did get it to start up and all i got was the question mark folder,as it had no hard drive. To cut a long story short, i got A hdd and ordered a cheaper macbook replacement battery from hong kong. I placed the battery in and Viola, Installed Leopard and have been using it for about 3 days now with only one issue. I have to tape the magsafe adapter to the machine to get the battery to charge as i have noticed that the magnets on the machine side dip slightly to one side (i noticed this when trying to clean them). I have since ordered a new Magsafe DC in board for it (found it on eBay) , i have noticed that Powerbook Medic.com does have videos and PDF's showing how to dismantle and change the DC board in the macbook. I will keep you up to date with the outcome once i attempt to make the repair.

Cheers

Killuh751

I just found what you are looking for on eBay
Here is the link:

Apple MacBook 13.3" Magsafe DC-In Board White Tested ! - eBay Power Supplies, Apple Components, Apple Computers Components, Computers Networking. (end time 11-Sep-09 03:09:10 AEST)

killuh751 said:

Hi Kalen,

My Dilema seems to be in the reverse of yours but i'll try to explain.....

I recently purchased a Black Macbook 2 Ghz circa 2006 from eBay that was totally dead. It did not come with a charger, so i bought one off ebay and tried it. All it would do was Flash and not much else. I decided to be patient and keep resetting the SMC, in the vain hope i would get something to happen (i'm very patient!lol) Eventually i did get it to start up and all i got was the question mark folder,as it had no hard drive. To cut a long story short, i got A hdd and ordered a cheaper macbook replacement battery from hong kong. I placed the battery in and Viola, Installed Leopard and have been using it for about 3 days now with only one issue. I have to tape the magsafe adapter to the machine to get the battery to charge as i have noticed that the magnets on the machine side dip slightly to one side (i noticed this when trying to clean them). I have since ordered a new Magsafe DC in board for it (found it on eBay) , i have noticed that Powerbook Medic.com does have videos and PDF's showing how to dismantle and change the DC board in the macbook. I will keep you up to date with the outcome once i attempt to make the repair.

Cheers

Killuh751

I just found what you are looking for on eBay
Here is the link:

Apple MacBook 13.3" Magsafe DC-In Board White Tested ! - eBay Power Supplies, Apple Components, Apple Computers Components, Computers Networking. (end time 11-Sep-09 03:09:10 AEST)

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link The annoying thing with mine is that it won't turn on at all, I could live with using it plugged in all the time

New developments: What could be wrong with my Macbook?

I had this problem a few days ago:

I posted a thread about a week ago about having battery problems. Today, after it finally died for good, I realized that it might not be just the battery but a problem with the whole power system. Basically, this morning I noticed that the light on the magsafe was flickering and the battery was running out of charge even though the charger was detected as plugged in (but not charging). After a while the laptop just shut down and now it won't turn on at all, even when plugged in but without the battery. It's not a problem with hd failure or anything because if I put the battery back in it will turn on for a split second and then die again. The magsafe light is either off, or flickering between orange and green or flickering green, but it seems obvious to me that power doesn't get to the computer itself. It can't be a problem with the charger as it is brand new and the charging problems started with my old one.

Click to expand...

I took it to a repair shop today and when the guy turned it on, it started working again. Out of the blue. The guy didn't do anything at all, I hadn't tried anything at all besides the same things mentioned above over and over again.

I noticed that one of the last times tried to turn it on when it was still not functioning the wallpaper was gone and I couldn't change it and later the display did something weird where I had two mirror images of the desktop on the left handside and a black band down the right handside. I don't know if that could be a by-product of my computer being messed up by the lack of power or a symptom of something more worrying going on with the logic board or something.

The guy at the shop told me it could be that the battery being old and acting funny could have messed up the power system. At the moment I'm running it without one, just to be on the safe side.

I am very happy my macbook is working again but I would just like to know if I should worry and expect the worse anytime soon. If anyone has any advice it'd be greatly appreciated!

kalen said:

I had this problem a few days ago:

I took it to a repair shop today and when the guy turned it on, it started working again. Out of the blue. The guy didn't do anything at all, I hadn't tried anything at all besides the same things mentioned above over and over again.

I am very happy my macbook is working again but I would just like to know if I should worry and expect the worse anytime soon. If anyone has any advice it'd be greatly appreciated!

Click to expand...

Like I mentioned earlier in this thread...I removed the battery from both of my laptops...and they both ran fine.

So the logic in your case is:

- battery in...bad
- battery out...good

Seems to me you could have a dead or almost dead battery on your hands...so a next step could be to purchase a new battery.

In any case...it's great that it working!!!

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Like I mentioned earlier in this thread...I removed the battery from both of my laptops...and they both ran fine.

So the logic in your case is:

- battery in...bad
- battery out...good

Seems to me you could have a dead or almost dead battery on your hands...so a next step could be to purchase a new battery.

In any case...it's great that it working!!!

- Nick

Click to expand...

Yes, I'm ordering a new one right now. I'm just a bit careful as when the computer was having problems turning on it did so even without the battery and when the guy turned it on today and it started working again it was with the battery in it. Hopefully though it really was a case of bad battery. Cross fingers!

kalen said:

Yes, I'm ordering a new one right now. I'm just a bit careful as when the computer was having problems turning on it did so even without the battery and when the guy turned it on today and it started working again it was with the battery in it. Hopefully though it really was a case of bad battery. Cross fingers!

Click to expand...

Thanks for clarifying things. Those circumstances you mentioned do seem to be a bit "random"!

Hopefully the new battery will correct things. Getting a new battery is something you pretty much had to do in any case...to prove that it is or is not the battery.

Good luck...it would be great to know how things work out with the new battery (good or not good),

- Nick

My Macbook did it again. Last night while I was watching a movie it shut down. The LED was still on but if I pressed the power button the screen would flicker three times and then do nothing, with the LED also flickering. Tried putting the battery in and it would turn on briefly and then die again. I left it for about 45 minutes, an hour at most, and now it's working again. I am pretty sure it's not a battery problem at the moment as I've been using it without one for days now and the battery was not in when this happened last night.

Any ideas to diagnose the problem?

kalen said:

My Macbook did it again. Last night while I was watching a movie it shut down. The LED was still on but if I pressed the power button the screen would flicker three times and then do nothing, with the LED also flickering. Tried putting the battery in and it would turn on briefly and then die again. I left it for about 45 minutes, an hour at most, and now it's working again. I am pretty sure it's not a battery problem at the moment as I've been using it without one for days now and the battery was not in when this happened last night.

Any ideas to diagnose the problem?

Click to expand...

What about the power adapter & cord? Have you ever dropped the power adapter or tripped over the power cord?

Maybe the power adapter "brick" and/or power cord is faulty.

- Nick

Nope. It was sitting on the coffee table and it just went off on its own. I'll have to try the powerbrick and cord on another laptop to see if they could be faulty. They are just two weeks old though, so I'd be surprised.

kalen said:

Nope. It was sitting on the coffee table and it just went off on its own. I'll have to try the powerbrick and cord on another laptop to see if they could be faulty. They are just two weeks old though, so I'd be surprised.

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I was just trying to suggest other possibilities...before you may have to accept the inevitable, which may be that your MacBook possibly has some serious expensive to fix issues.

- Nick

I know, thanks for that. I really hope it's not something major.

I've just put in the new battery. So far so good. It's charging and coconut battery is giving me good info. Cross your fingers for me. Last night I noticed when the computer was off and plugged in that there was no light on the LED. So basically it did the same thing again but this time when it was off. Turned it around, put in the old battery and plugged it back in and it worked again. It seems that when I juggle it it starts working again after a while. I'd like to open it up to see if anything is disconnected, but I don't feel that comfortable doing it on my own.

kalen said:

I've just put in the new battery. So far so good. It's charging and coconut battery is giving me good info. Cross your fingers for me. Last night I noticed when the computer was off and plugged in that there was no light on the LED. So basically it did the same thing again but this time when it was off. Turned it around, put in the old battery and plugged it back in and it worked again. It seems that when I juggle it it starts working again after a while. I'd like to open it up to see if anything is disconnected, but I don't feel that comfortable doing it on my own.

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Is this the 1st or 2nd time you put the new battery in? Cause it sounded like from a previous post that the 1st time didn't go well.

You mentioned "jiggling it"...are you talking about the cord? If so...that's EXACTLY why I mentioned that earlier. Your cord from the "power brick" to the "magsafe" connecter may be faulty somewhere...that's why you don't always get the "light" on the connector.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Is this the 1st or 2nd time you put the new battery in? Cause it sounded like from a previous post that the 1st time didn't go well.

You mentioned "jiggling it"...are you talking about the cord? If so...that's EXACTLY why I mentioned that earlier. Your cord from the "power brick" to the "magsafe" connecter may be faulty somewhere...that's why you don't always get the "light" on the connector.

- Nick

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1st time. The new battery has just arrived. I was using the old one before. I mean jiggling the laptop. The old cord/power brick I needed to jiggle, but that was because, as I found out later, it was on its way to melting! good ol' magsafes and their melting problems. This cord seems to be working ok, the only thing I can think about to find out if it's its fault is to swap it with a friend for a few days and see who has the problems. But she won't be back before the end of the month, so I just have to wait and see.