macbook pro will not charge or connect, need serious technical help!

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Ive had my Mac for a couple years now, A1278 early 2011 i believe, without any problems until a month or two ago. It began to stop charging. The magsafe would not light up at all and id have to pull it off and put it back in over and over, with a little tweaking and adjusting to get it to connect. two days ago it stopped completely. no matter what i try, i cannot get the charger to light up and charge. my computer is now completely dead with no hopes of coming back to life. i have also tried other chargers on it--nothing. the only sign of life is that the magsafe lights up very dimly, but only noticable in a dark room. i have also tried swapping batteries for a functional one. the functional one in my mac did the same as my original one--nothing at all. my original battery in a different mac connected and charged up fine. so it is not my battery or charger.

I ended up replacing the DC inboard--this seemed to solve the problem for about a week. but, alas, it is back to its original condition. I have also tried doing an SMC reset.

any info, insight, suggestions or ideas would be gladly welcomed. oh, and i do not have the option of taking it to a store, due to my current location (a military base on the small island of okinawa). And apple, with their wonderful customer support, wants to charge me 20$ just to ask a question online. so i will try calling them but i dont see that working to my advantage. i pretty much can only order parts and attempt a repair on my own. thanks!
 
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Based upon what you've tried and swapped out, it only leaves the logic board left. Shame you didn't take out AppleCare, you would have had 3 years free tech support and repairs. Your location makes a repair difficult, but so would getting any other manufacturers laptop fixed there.
 

chscag

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I've been to Okinawa numerous times and it's certainly not a remote location by any means. The Japanese techs there are fully capable of repairing your Mac if you're willing to pay. As a matter of fact, your local exchange (AAFES or Marine Exchange) likely has a repair service that you can utilize. However, if it's like Steve said (bad logic board) then it may not be worth spending money on.
 
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update

Well, thanks for the info haha. I have an update, or, another sign/symptom.

i have it plugged in, and while there is no charging light, and the indicator indicates that it is not connected, the battery is not discharging. it has been holding at 6% for hours now haha.

Coconut battery is also telling me that my battery usage is zero. so for the time being, i have a miniature desktop. But There is obviously still a problem. if, in the event, it becomes unplugged, it will die and regardless if the charger is plugged in or not it will not start back up. It needs a little bit of battery life i guess to run itself in this condition.

here is what my computer is telling me as well--
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh): 314
Fully Charged: No
Charging: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 5199
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 418
Condition: Normal
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): 0
Voltage (mV): 11039

AC Charger Information:

Connected: No
Charging: No

Interesting.....

Another update--as i was sitting here, my computer in its weird zombie state, randomly began charging. but i garauntee when i disconnect it will not charge again. what in the world is going on?
 
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hi cmdillon, i am also trying to find out what happened to my macbook pro

I have been noticing "Service Battery" message when I click on the battery icon. To correct this, I would just use my machine until it dies down (dismissing the 'battery low' message), wait for a while then make a full battery charge before turning it on.

But recently, after it died and I connected the charger it won't charge..no light from the charger. I repeatedly plugged-unplugged but nothing happened. I could not even turn the computer ON as the battery was completely discharged.

So I let it sit for a while planning to take it to the nearest apple centre (still under warranty using applecare) the next day. When tried connecting the charger again, it worked! Due to my excitement, I immediately pushed the power button but there the charging immediately stopped again.

Then I waited again, plugged the charger, the light turned on (amber), waited till it's green, then boot the computer.

'Service Battery' message has been gone as well and now it is working fine including repeated charging. I just wonder if I unintentionally leave it open and the battery died down again then this would happen another time.

Just sharing. Now I'm also trying to find out how to care for the battery properly. :)
 

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