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MKC103

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 20, 2025
2
0
2020 MacBook Air M1 model # A2337.

I received a notification that the original battery required servicing a few weeks ago. I am contemplating buying a new machine and since using it only plugged in isn't an issue, I decided not to do anything about it at the time. Everything to this point seemed normal enough. The battery icon would show that it was charging when it was plugged in and I would receive the chime notification that it was. It would charge to 100% but if I chose to unplug it, the unit would shut down after about an hour. Eventually, it had to be plugged in all the time in order to operate.

Then things went downhill. Although I still received the chime notification when the charger was connected, the bolt did not show up in the battery icon. It appeared as a battery with very low charge on the login screen, and with an X when I signed on - as if no battery was installed. The computer eventually would not power up.

I assumed that the original battery was permanently damaged and replaced it with an aftermarket one that I bought on Amazon. After installing the new battery, the computer started up fine. The battery icon still showed that no battery was recognized nor that a charger was connected. However, the laptop proceeded to run for hours so I thought that I might have solved something at least. The new battery must have arrived with a partial charge, so it must have been running off the battery - even though it wasn't showing up anywhere. Once that charge was depleted the machine shut down and I was back to square one.

Currently, I no longer receive a "ding" notification that the charger has been attached. The machine only starts up if it is plugged in. The login screen will appear and stay on indefinitely, however if I login, the machine shuts down in under a minute and reboots. If I boot to safe mode, it will not shut down but I can not perform anything because it does not recognize that a charger or a battery is present. On an older MBA, this all seems to indicate the need for an SMC/PRAM reset but that is not an option on the M1 version.

I have tried multiple chargers and they all work fine with my phone, so that is not the issue.

I brought the laptop to the Apple store and they diagnosed it as a faulty USB-C board. They replaced it and it did not resolve the issue so they removed the part and did not charge me. They said that my only option was to take it to a third party service center and that they might have some other ideas.

My main goal now is to be able to transfer everything over from the old machine to a new one. I was going to replace the battery again which would hopefully give me a few hours of uptime. However, I am unsure if the unit will start the migration process because it will not appear to have enough power as when I boot to safe mode.

Any thoughts about what the issue could be or ideas about how I could perform a transfer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
My main goal now is to be able to transfer everything over from the old machine to a new one. I was going to replace the battery again which would hopefully give me a few hours of uptime. However, I am unsure if the unit will start the migration process because it will not appear to have enough power as when I boot to safe mode.
Maybe I'm missing something, but the first thing I would do is start copying your most important files off the machine onto an external drive or something in the time you're able to keep it running between restarts. Doesn't sound like you have a proper backup of the MacBook at all? Because if you did I'd say just ditch this thing entirely and replace it.
 
Maybe I'm missing something, but the first thing I would do is start copying your most important files off the machine onto an external drive or something in the time you're able to keep it running between restarts. Doesn't sound like you have a proper backup of the MacBook at all? Because if you did I'd say just ditch this thing entirely and replace it.
Correct. I can only do that if I get some uptime with another replacement battery. I was hoping to be able to do a complete migration to a new machine with the setup wizard which hopefully would include my settings and whatnot.

I do not have it backed up to the cloud. If I managed get it backed up, would it include my settings and history or just the files?
 
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