MacBookPro plugged in to AC power but not charging

My 2008 MacBookPro has recently either stopped charging or charges very slowly when plugged into AC power. The green light is not lit on the power cord. Is this a bad battery or a bad charger? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Generally, this type of issue is logic board related (any water damage?)
It could possibly be the magsafe port
like 1% chance it's the battery

I to have just experienced the same problem on a older unibody macbook, battery is less than a year old.

My 2011 MBP did this from new, with the charger supplied with it. A friend's charger worked properly. I discovered the terminals in the Magsafe port seemed to be coated with something like varnish, on both sides of the connection. Fairly aggressive abrasive cleaning of all 8 terminals resulted in a reliable connection.

My 2011 MBP did this from new, with the charger supplied with it. A friend's charger worked properly. I discovered the terminals in the Magsafe port seemed to be coated with something like varnish, on both sides of the connection. Fairly aggressive abrasive cleaning of all 8 terminals resulted in a reliable connection.

Can you tell me what you used to clean the connections with?

I used DeoxIT D100L, which I also use on USB and other connectors (especially down here in salty Belize the plugs). First time around it may need a bit of wiggling to scrape off the contamination. Marvellous stuff.

Thanks for the information. I have been reading/ researching blogs, tried cleaning with eraser & qtip to no avail. My issue is that the magsafe plug once connected turns green and stays green, but when you disconnect it mac shuts down.

Ah, that's not my problem. Once the Magsafe connector turned green the computer/battery was charging. Sounds as if yours has a problem, similar to one that other MBPs here also have.

These machines don't seem to be very reliable. For the price charged for them I'd expect them NEVER to fail. But battery/charging problems seem to be very common.

Actually, battery charging problems are pretty rare with MB Pros. One or two problems out of hundreds of thousands sold and in use hardly constitutes a reliability problem.

Maybe, but I know of only three owners of new MBPs here, and all have had charging problems.

peterbj7 said:

Maybe, but I know of only three owners of new MBPs here, and all have had charging problems.

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That's what forums are for, to report and ask for assistance with a problem. I don't know of many people who post to a forum to tell everyone that their new MBP or old MBP is working fine.

There may in fact be some sort of reliability problem with new MBPs and their chargers but we can't say for sure until Apple acknowledges it and provides a fix.

Certainly mine wouldn't charge from new, and I discovered the problem was dirty (deliberately - lacquered) terminals inside both plug and socket of Magsafe connection. It's fine now.

On delivery (from the Apple store) my MBP 13.3" had an awful display, which I put down to a hardware fault. The trouble is I live in Central America so getting anything done was a very protracted and costly nightmare. I finally took someone's advice and reinstalled the OS, something that Apple make as difficult as possible and it took me four goes, and miraculously the display worked properly. Then having installed the OS I found I couldn't install the Applications DVD that came with the machine. That took a month and $200 to sort out.

I was most definitely NOT impressed with the quality of this machine, given that it came directly from the Apple store. Given my brother's problems with three iPhones in England I shall be very wary of Apple products in future.

A friend's machine (also here in Belize), bought just over a year ago and running 10.6.8, now has a battery life from fully charged of around 35 minutes, and as he didn't buy Applecare (nor did I, initially because I'd never heard of it) he has been quoted several hundred $ to fix it - and that will be with no warranty. Like me he's British and didn't expect Apple to wash their hands so conclusively immediately it was legally possible for them to do so. It is after all a premium product with a premium price tag. The only other manufacturer in my experience to behave with such disdain for the consumer is Sony, and I long since stopped buying any of their products.

peterbj7 said:

The only other manufacturer in my experience to behave with such disdain for the consumer is Sony, and I long since stopped buying any of their products.

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You're definitely in the minority. Apple is pretty much known as THE best in customer service & customer satisfaction!

And like has already been said…there are 1000's, and 1000's, and 1000's of folks who are TOTALLY satisfied with their Apple products. 99% of the time it's only folks with problems who post (which is as it should be). So just because you "hear" of other folks having the same problems as you…DOES NOT necessarily mean that those problems are widespread or common.

If Apple truly was as terrible as you describe…do you really think that Apple would still be in business, Apple Stores being PACKED all the time, and Apple Stock about to close at or above $700/share!!!

You should really consider the bigger picture before bad-mouthing a company.

- Nick

Fair comment, but I live in a small community and I know of very few people who have MBPs. As I said, three of those have or have had problems, and that represents 100% of my sample. This isn't hearsay, it's my own direct observation.

peterbj7 said:

Fair comment, but I live in a small community and I know of very few people who have MBPs. As I said, three of those have or have had problems, and that represents 100% of my sample. This isn't hearsay, it's my own direct observation.

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I know that you mentioned being in Belize. I'm sure Apple is much more difficult to contact…and get help from in your location. I'm pretty darn sure if you were in the United States, Canada, Australia, UK, Germany, France, etc….you would have much better success with Apple.

And as you mentioned…Belize (and other tropical environments) cannot be very good for electronics (heat & humidity). I remember a Mac-Forums member from Jamaica that had lots of laptop problems as well.

- Nick