Macbook not charging

jfancelet said:

I tried resetting the SMS and PRAM without success.

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PRAM/NVRAM has nothing to do with battery/power/charging issues. Resetting it will not help. Only resetting the SMC addresses such issues.

jfancelet said:

So, I gave in and bought a new aftermarket battery.

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I wouldn't trust or recommend any non-Apple battery, due to the number of problems reported with "knockoff" batteries. Also, there is no assurance that knockoff batteries have the same charging technology that Apple uses, involving the battery, the MagSafe adapter and the Mac's logic board.

Battery Replacement

The link below should answer most, if not all, of your battery/charging questions. If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend you take the time to read it.

GGJstudios said:

Only resetting the SMC addresses such issues.

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Have the exact same issue. Did not work. Any other suggestions? Could it plain-ol be the logic board?

powers74 said:

Have the exact same issue. Did not work. Any other suggestions? Could it plain-ol be the logic board?

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There are three primary components of the charging system: the battery, the power adapter and the logic board. If you rule out the first two as possible sources of problems, that leaves the logic board as the most likely culprit. Let Apple check it out and they can tell you with certainty what your problem is.

Breakthrough!

Here's some hope for those with this problem. I'v tried everything I could after the macbook I bought of craigslist stopped charging after I returned to India from the US. The Apple store checked it and said it had undergone unauthorized service and there was signs of liquid damage.

I pretty much resigned to my fate of purchasing a dud and attempted to everything from beating the crap out of it to giving the board an alcohol bath with no change in the situation. The behaviour was random, sometimes the magsafe would light up orange when powered down, but would not charge, other times there would be no light.

After losing hope on repairing the electronics, yesterday I thought of earthing the magsafe. (My magsafe European style plug does not get earthed in the Indian wall outlets). I had to use a little strip of wire to manually make the earth contact. Nothing changed.

After a few hours, I noticed something different in the task bar. The battery icon had changed after 3 months, it was charging!

I then had to prepare a hot cup of chai to contain myself. While I cannot confirm it was the earthing the fixed the problem, its certainly something you could try.

In my experience most non apple batteries are pretty reliable, I've seen them in use on a large scale with few problems.

White MacBook core 2 duo you say.

The logic board could be the problem but this model has a separate battery connector on the top case, a very cheap part, about 20 bux from memory. I've seen it be the cause of symptoms you describe more than once.

The components of the charging system in your model are the power adapter, the MagSafe board, the logic board, the battery connector and the battery. First two have been ruled out as has the battery most likely. My money would be on the battery connector though if its the logic board then you're pretty much out of luck.

GGJstudios said:

There are three primary components of the charging system: the battery, the power adapter and the logic board. If you rule out the first two as possible sources of problems, that leaves the logic board as the most likely culprit. Let Apple check it out and they can tell you with certainty what your problem is.

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Thanks! We're way out of warranty though!

Service Droid said:

In my experience most non apple batteries are pretty reliable, I've seen them in use on a large scale with few problems.

White MacBook core 2 duo you say.

The logic board could be the problem but this model has a separate battery connector on the top case, a very cheap part, about 20 bux from memory. I've seen it be the cause of symptoms you describe more than once.

The components of the charging system in your model are the power adapter, the MagSafe board, the logic board, the battery connector and the battery. First two have been ruled out as has the battery most likely. My money would be on the battery connector though if its the logic board then you're pretty much out of luck.

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Battery connector you say?

powers74 said:

Thanks! We're way out of warranty though!

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Apple can still diagnose the problem at no cost. Then you'll know where you stand.