MacBook would not turn on - cable?

[evennewerbie]

I have had my mac book ( retina) about 2 years.
With no previous problems Like this till today when I tried to switch it on I just got the battery red icon showing battery nearly empty, and picture of a plug and electrical (lightning flash) charging for a few seconds. Talked to Apple for help and have an appointment with Apple Store Genius Bar for Friday. But it’s a big nuisance to be without even for a day.

Does this sign mean just a trivial problem of the cable or something like that? ( I tried it with two wall sockets.) The cables and plugs to look at them don’t show any sign off damage or wear.

 

[evennewerbie]

Problem too stupid and trivial, but I can’t see a way to delete the thread here.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Did you find a solution?

C

 

[evennewerbie]

Did you find a solution?

C

Yes thank you, and it was so banal I tried to delete the post.
I am some of the time in Italy where I bought the Mac; when I come to the UK power plug needs an adaptor. I had bought the one I was using only days before. There was nothing wrong to look at it and I did not think twice but it has a fuse in it. Maybe that had blown, not even the guy in the shop knew how to see that, but just attaching through different adapter it went okay!

I think about last thing I'd done had been charging the Magic mouse 2.
The fuse is 1A, voltage here is 220-240, it sounds like much more than I would have been taking really, right?

There was lots else to talk about in the shop. I bought my notebook 2 years ago, but I'm not finding it at all easy and without AppleCare I would be lost. But very often the solution (and non-solution) of problems involves reinstalling the OS, so I have it installed up-to-date ones 4 or 5 times in last weeks, including the latest version on the very day of release. But I hate doing this, because of the upsets in the lived-in system it causes. Dealing with this it is quite an advantage to have two Apple devices, they can assist each other. And are unlikely to go wrong at exactly the same time. My iPad finally died almost the same day I recharged the Macbook OS. Now to get back my Keychain which was a great convenience but I was always queasy about my dependency, essentially the Mac would do it if it was on the iPad, and the new replacement iPad I got would do it if it was on the Mac, likewise online they tell me it is hard to do online see in the shop, in the shop they tell me best see the real experts online, so all a bit circular. I had no time to spend on this in the last days anyway, maybe I will be able to work through it this week.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Excellent...glad it was something simple.

Correct...it normally wouldn't have blown...maybe there was a power surge or something.

It's actually good to leave the post, as others may benefit from it in the future.

Feel free to post any other issues you are having, and we'll be glad to help you out.

C

 

[evennewerbie]

Excellent...glad it was something simple.

Correct...it normally wouldn't have blown...maybe there was a power surge or something.

It's actually good to leave the post, as others may benefit from it in the future.

Feel free to post any other issues you are having, and we'll be glad to help you out.

C

Well actually it did turn out not there was a little more to it that might be useful to somebody, at least in the UK or Europe. Where did I get this adaptor whose fuse blew? Just walked into local hardware store, search and saw this thing with the right looking kind of pins and holes and took it - and it worked for a couple of weeks. I never have quite enough of them in the house, so the other day went into the same shop and grabbed another two. Paying for them I just mentioned what had happened. Oh they said, you can't use these adaptors for computers - they are only for shavers etc. in the bathroom. How is that ,what is the difference? I asked, expecting an explanation involving Watts and Amps and ratings and stuff. You can only use these for shavers was the answer. Well I can understand that bathroom electrical appliances have to have different safety standards than other devices.

A bit more background. In my UK place, and every UK place nowadays, all the plug pins and socket holes are a narrow rectangular shape. (This is considered the best design in the world by engineers.) But in the bathroom only there are round sockets only. Bathroom devices, toothbrush, shavers etc. bought in the UK or in continental Europe fit them. On the Continent on the other hand there look to be only one kind of pin and socket all round. But actually when you use them this seems to be really two types, the difference is not very visible. In fact, some of my devices when on the continent I take them out of the bathroom for charging don't easily fit, or fit at all, the almost identical round sockets. But somehow I had never really focused this issue.

As it is safety related I thought this comment might help someone.