2011 MBA 11" magsafe replaced... Now what?

[caseyagray]

My lovely wife recently dropped my MacBook on carpeted floor. We found out as it was dying that the charger was not working. No light on the magsafe. The computer didn't even know I had plugged anything into it. So it died.

I took it to the Apple Genius who said it was definitely the logic board and they would fix that and anything else for 320 bucks. I decided to try to fix it myself. Looking on these forums I found out that there is a magsafe logic board and a main logic board so I bought a 30 dollar magsafe logic board to give it a try. I broke it down and replaced the board then I got really confused...

After I hooked everything back up I plugged in the charger and viola! We have power! But no light on my magsafe... Hmmmm. The mouse was slow and glitchy and the computer took forever to start up. When it did no menu bar on the top of the screen could be found. I decided to try a SMC and PRAM reset, but once I shut it down it wouldn't do anything at all... I tried it again this morning and it did the same thing except now it shut down without me doing anything before I could even log in. Any thoughts?

 

[iHate Vista]

Try leaving it charge over night then in the morning unplug it and try to turn it on if it turns on that means what you did is causing interference with the mac,

 

[iHate Vista]

Did have instructions when you put it on if not i fixit has some https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Core+Duo+MagSafe+Board+Replacement/288
Read through them and see if you didnt do something right and go back and fix it Good luck

 

[caseyagray]

Found a youtube

I did have instructions from a youtube video. The ifixit website is much better though. The youtube is the exact same procedure that I found there. Leaving it on the charge now.

Also, It showed a charging battery this morning when I powered it up, but was still at 1%. Maybe I should have left it charging last night... Oops.

 

[iHate Vista]

this just hit me is the mag safe OEM (an official Apple part)? another thing, does the macbook or charger make a high pitch sound if you cant hear it have a younger kid listen to it if it has a high pitch noise unplug it right away because that means there is strain on something providing or receiving power if you don't unplug it and it has a high pitch noise it could fry your motherboard

 

[caseyagray]

It is an OEM charger and board and there is no sound when I plug it in. My only child is 9 months old so no help there listening for a sound.

 

[iHate Vista]

Ok then you should be fine Good luck

 

[pigoo3]

After I hooked everything back up I plugged in the charger and viola! We have power! But no light on my magsafe... Hmmmm.

The big question is…was this "wall power" or "battery power". With no light on the magsafe cable…could be it was running on battery power.

... I tried it again this morning and it did the same thing except now it shut down without me doing anything before I could even log in. Any thoughts?

Maybe it's still the logic board (not the magsafe board).

- Nick

 

[caseyagray]

Alright. My patience got the best of me. I just powered the computer back up by disconnecting and reconnecting the magsafe. It had been charging for about 3.5 hours. It worked without shutting down. I pulled off any remaining unsafe data from the computer... just in case. It was sluggish, but got a little better with time. I tried to do the SMC reset twice and it didn't seem to improve anything. I was able to see the menu up top and had luck shutting down and restart multiple times while the magsafe was plugged in.

Still no light on the magsafe. I tried unplugging the magsafe to see if the battery was holding any power and it instantaneously shut down. The battery indicator shows 0% and it says that the battery is not charging.

Thanks for any help you can give! ;D

 

[pigoo3]

Still no light on the magsafe. I tried unplugging the magsafe to see if the battery was holding any power and it instantaneously shut down. The battery indicator shows 0% and it says that the battery is not charging.

Thanks for any help you can give! ;D

Like I mentioned in my earlier post…maybe the computer has been running on battery power only since the magsafe board was replaced. And the 3.5 hours spent "charging"…really wasn't charging at all…but further draining the battery to the point that now the battery is completely discharged.

Bottom line. Although the replacement magsafe board is a lot less expensive than a replacement logic board (I would have given this a try myself…and I would have suggested it to someone else). In the end…maybe the logic board really is the problem.

- Nick

 

[caseyagray]

Before, the MacBook was completely dead. I couldn't get it to do anything, nor could the Apple folks. Now it will at least stay on while connected to the magsafe. I'm grateful for that but I'm thinking that this much improvement indicates that one problem is fixed. Is there another problem? I guess the main logic board could have been affected by the magsafe logic board?

I'm not sure I want to dump 300 on a 4 year old laptop, but grateful to have retrieved pictures from a recent grand canyon trip!

 

[pigoo3]

Before, the MacBook was completely dead. I couldn't get it to do anything, nor could the Apple folks. Now it will at least stay on while connected to the magsafe.

Ok I see…I thought that the MBA was totally dead at this point (after the magsafe board replacement). So right now (after the magafe board replacement)…and connected to the magsafe adapter for power…how "normal" is the computer running?

Realizing that you are not getting the light on the magsafe plug…and the battery is not charging. How is the computer performing otherwise?

Just a crazy idea. But have you cleaned the magsafe plug an the magsafe port on the MBA? I usually use an old toothbrush for this (or a new one).

I'm not sure I want to dump 300 on a 4 year old laptop, but grateful to have retrieved pictures from a recent grand canyon trip!

Not an uncommon situation…happens all the time. Especially when talking a logic board replacement. Many times when this happens…it's sell the broken computer on eBay for as much as you can get…and then it's new computer shopping time.

- Nick

 

[caseyagray]

It is very slow. I just logged on the administrator profile to wipe everything clean and it got stuck trying to boot up.

I cleaned the old port and did clean the charger. I will make sure that the new one (which was actually bought used bc that's all they had) is clean and give it another try.

 

[caseyagray]

Cleaning the new port did not help...

 

[iHate Vista]

Try a re-install of osx
Apple Wont fix it now because you opened it up

 

[caseyagray]

WoooooHooooo!!! While attempting to reinstall the OS it kept getting stuck. So, as I got aggravated I started to play with the charger (pushing the spring loaded pins with my fingernails). It lit up and started working like nothing ever happened! Thanks y'all!

 

[pigoo3]

Congrats. Good troubleshooting!

- Nick

 

[pm-r]

Phew… all those surplus previous posts without even checking the charging contact points??? Oh well, glad to hear it seems to be fixed, but makes me wonder if the problem wasn't already there in the first place.

Oh right, the Apple tech checked… right!!!