Worried about my MacBook

[JapaneseMac]

Hello everyone,

First of all, I would like to thank in advance anyone that will give me some assistance.

As mentioned in my introduction, I own a white 13" MacBook I purchased in Japan about three years ago.

I have never ever had any problems with it, until these past few days when the battery began acting up.

The reason why I am sure something is wrong with the battery is because I tried my MagSafe adapter at work on some MacBooks we have at the office and it works just fine. The LED light turns on correctly and charges the battery as it should.

However, when I use the adapter on mine the battery would sometimes charge and sometimes it wouldn't. Basically, it seemed as if it would charge if it felt in the mood for doing so.

Yesterday is when the situation quickly worsened because it charged for the last time in the afternoon and after that I have not been able to see that LED light back on again.

The battery was at about 3% full.

I tried everything I could and knew, but to no avail.

Also, I should mention that the kind of MacBook I own makes it impossible (at least for me, anyway) to remove the battery.

While in a panic, I tried googling for some possible causes and solutions and that is when I stumbled upon this page:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964?viewlocale=en_US

I read it carefully and before proceding, I tried all of their suggested solutions. But nothing worked. That LED would just stay off.

So I went ahead and did the SMC reset.

The result? Now my MacBook will not even turn on!

Please, help me. I am in total panic and I don't know what to do.

 

[Cory Cooper]

It could be several things:

-Battery
-Power adapter
-MagSafe board
-MLB

-After you reset the SMC and it wouldn't power on, have you tried plugging in the AC adapter again and letting it sit for a while?
-If you connect the power adapter now, does the green/orange light come on at all?
-Have you tried flipping the power adapter connector?
-If you press the Caps Lock key when it is plugged in does it light up?

C

 

[JapaneseMac]

Hi Cory,

Thanks so much for replying!

-After you reset the SMC and it wouldn't power on, have you tried plugging in the AC adapter again and letting it sit for a while?

Actually I didn`t. Right after the reset, I was so impatient to see if there were any changes that I immediately turned the Mac on but nothing would happen.

-Have you tried flipping the power adapter connector?

I did, but it didn`t help.

-If you press the Caps Lock key when it is plugged in does it light up?

Wow, I didn`t try this one! Will keep this one in mind! Thanks!!

Today, while feeling so frustrated with that seemingly useless reset (which led me to come here for help) I was ready to give up and put everything away when...I decided to plug in the MagSafe once more.

And that`s when magically the LED light came back on! The feeling of relief I felt in my heart at that very moment can hardly be described!

I could not believe it!

Not only did it come on and started charging that depleted battery, but I also noticed something huge: I forgot to mention that, along with the battery issues, I was also having troubles with the charger overheating.
Well, it was not overheating anymore and it seemed to be working just fine!

Is it possible that the SMC reset did the trick??

Of course, I am now terrified just at the mere thought of having to recharge the battery because I fear something similar will happen or that I will have to go through who-knows-what-lengths just to get that LED light to turn on.

One question: is an SMC reset something that always needs to be done, sooner or later, or is it just an emergency procedure to get you out of trouble?

Thanks so much and sorry for rambling on!

 

[Cory Cooper]

I asked about the Caps Lock light because sometimes people think their MacBook is not powering on when it is actually in deep sleep mode with the battery completely depleted. Checking this light helps determine if the unit is actually powered off or in sleep mode.

When you did the SMC reset, sometimes it takes a few moments to reset everything internally and it doesn't always power on and/or show a charging light when the power adapter is connected.

Yes, the SMC reset could easily have rectified the issues your were having. The SMC controls all the power-related functions of your MacBook. You only need to perform the reset if you are running into issues like you were.

Try it for a few days and see if it returns to normal. Keep us in the loop.

C