Air won't turn on - "no worky"

[revelated]

OK.

I sold my MacBook Air to a co-worker some months back. Turns out he wanted it so he could do some hardcore media conversion - I'm talking Handbrake and DVD ripping and the whole nine. Upon finding this out, I cautioned him that there was a chance he could kill the lil bastid, he didn't listen, now he says it won't turn on.

I advised him to bring it to me so I could take a look at it. Symptom is that the power button does nothing, apparently. Before I get into it, what do others think it might be? Inverter?

 

[CaoCao]

OK.

I sold my MacBook Air to a co-worker some months back. Turns out he wanted it so he could do some hardcore media conversion - I'm talking Handbrake and DVD ripping and the whole nine. Upon finding this out, I cautioned him that there was a chance he could kill the lil bastid, he didn't listen, now he says it won't turn on.

I advised him to bring it to me so I could take a look at it. Symptom is that the power button does nothing, apparently. Before I get into it, what do others think it might be? Inverter?

reset the SMC

 

[revelated]

reset the SMC

I am guessing...but would that not be impossible if I can't even get the thing powered on?

EDIT: never mind, I'm thinking of something else. I'll try that first, thanks.

 

[7031]

Could easily be the logic board, but who knows.

 

[Scottsdale]

Could easily be the logic board, but who knows.

Probably, but we don't like to say that... it's the one thing that is too costly to repair so hope it's under AppleCare.

 

[revelated]

Update:

So the Air mysteriously recovered itself. He said it wouldn't power on, so he left it charging for an extended period and all of a sudden it started working again.

I swear, he's put that Air through so much abuse it's actually impressed me with how it's handled the most challenging of tasks. DVD rips, Handbrake conversions, GIMP photo creation and editing (he's an artist, somewhat), Microsoft Office running, iTunes running, Skype running video chats...warned him it was a matter of time before it went down, but I guess I was wrong.

 

[InfoSecmgr]

Update:

So the Air mysteriously recovered itself. He said it wouldn't power on, so he left it charging for an extended period and all of a sudden it started working again.

I swear, he's put that Air through so much abuse it's actually impressed me with how it's handled the most challenging of tasks. DVD rips, Handbrake conversions, GIMP photo creation and editing (he's an artist, somewhat), Microsoft Office running, iTunes running, Skype running video chats...warned him it was a matter of time before it went down, but I guess I was wrong.

I'm thinking that the battery was dead and he didn't realize he needed to plug in the damned AC adapter. Seriously. I can't tell you how many times I've had friends/coworkers be that dense. I had a friend who just bought a MacBook frantically skype me a few months ago (from a friends PC). He insisted his new Mac just died on him and he was sooo angry I suggested he get a Mac, pieces of garbage, etc etc. I had him plug in the AC adapter and press the power button. Well gee now look at that, it starts when IT HAS POWER......

 

[halledise]

Update:

So the Air mysteriously recovered itself. He said it wouldn't power on, so he left it charging for an extended period and all of a sudden it started working again.

I swear, he's put that Air through so much abuse it's actually impressed me with how it's handled the most challenging of tasks. DVD rips, Handbrake conversions, GIMP photo creation and editing (he's an artist, somewhat), Microsoft Office running, iTunes running, Skype running video chats...warned him it was a matter of time before it went down, but I guess I was wrong.

and by the way, you can reset the SMC without the thing powered on - in fact that is the way to do it.
ensure Air is off and disconnected from power cord.
hold down shift + control + option and then press power button just once.
wait for a slow 5 count, reconnect power cord and restart normally.

(then I'd be repairing the permissions and once that's done restart and reset the PRAM.)
following that, charge the Air to the max and then run TechTool diagnostics to verify the state of all components.
as mentioned, your battery may be on last legs)

 

[Consultant]

Update:

So the Air mysteriously recovered itself. He said it wouldn't power on, so he left it charging for an extended period and all of a sudden it started working again.

I swear, he's put that Air through so much abuse it's actually impressed me with how it's handled the most challenging of tasks. DVD rips, Handbrake conversions, GIMP photo creation and editing (he's an artist, somewhat), Microsoft Office running, iTunes running, Skype running video chats...warned him it was a matter of time before it went down, but I guess I was wrong.

LOL. He could have bought an iMac or MacBook and it would have converted the videos faster.

I'm thinking that the battery was dead and he didn't realize he needed to plug in the damned AC adapter. Seriously. I can't tell you how many times I've had friends/coworkers be that dense. I had a friend who just bought a MacBook frantically skype me a few months ago (from a friends PC). He insisted his new Mac just died on him and he was sooo angry I suggested he get a Mac, pieces of garbage, etc etc. I had him plug in the AC adapter and press the power button. Well gee now look at that, it starts when IT HAS POWER......

Had a similar story. Someone thought the battery charging meter (time left to charge fully) means the battery is draining. OMG the charger is broken, it won't charge! Fricken noobs.

 

[revelated]

I'm thinking that the battery was dead and he didn't realize he needed to plug in the damned AC adapter. Seriously. I can't tell you how many times I've had friends/coworkers be that dense. I had a friend who just bought a MacBook frantically skype me a few months ago (from a friends PC). He insisted his new Mac just died on him and he was sooo angry I suggested he get a Mac, pieces of garbage, etc etc. I had him plug in the AC adapter and press the power button. Well gee now look at that, it starts when IT HAS POWER......

Maybe. I don't think so though, this guy isn't that dense. I seriously think it either temporarily overheated or something. He abuses that poor thing.

LOL. He could have bought an iMac or MacBook and it would have converted the videos faster.

Here's the problem. Anyone who is technical in nature, even subtly - sees the value in buying the right machine for the job even if it costs a little more money. Others do not.

I sold him that Air for $500 which was my asking price. He actually wanted it for $400. A MacBook Air in decent working condition! The only thing wrong with it was from the guy I bought it from where he tried to replace the LCD, did, but screwed up the bezel a little. Otherwise it was a fully functional, quite nice machine and I was offering it for a steal and he still tried to get $100 off. If I'd known he was going to use it clearly against its intended functionality I would never have sold it to him. I had another co-worker who I know would have used it properly that was willing to pay the price I was asking. But the other guy came with the money first, so...oh well.

I've got another co-worker who wants a Mac, I can get her a basic white MacBook for $400 cash right now, in excellent condition, from people who bought it and realized it swallows for what they need. She just browses the web and works on docs, the regular white MacBook is perfect for her, but she won't pay $400 for it. Even though in terms of battery life and performance it would run circles around her 5-year-old Sony Vaio with 2 hours of off-AC battery.

 

[Consultant]

Well craigslist next time.

Too much hassle dealing with co-workers. They expect you to do support for their problems.

Tell him something like that it works when you sold it to him, and if he is abusing it by maxing out CPU full time, then you really can't support any problems caused by him.

I suspected he probably overheated it.

 

[tenPlus]

dropped?

If it is dropped or slung about roughly, the connectors inside could be a little loose. The latter part was the case in my recent MBA repair. It would not start but it just sat an beeped 3 times then pause, then beeped again. Normally this indicates bad memory but it simply was a connector that had pulled loose. It did start occasionally but I just got tired of the hit and miss and took it in.

Agree, with the post above....don't sell your tractor to a friend.

S

 

[CaoCao]

Maybe. I don't think so though, this guy isn't that dense. I seriously think it either temporarily overheated or something. He abuses that poor thing.




Here's the problem. Anyone who is technical in nature, even subtly - sees the value in buying the right machine for the job even if it costs a little more money. Others do not.

I sold him that Air for $500 which was my asking price. He actually wanted it for $400. A MacBook Air in decent working condition! The only thing wrong with it was from the guy I bought it from where he tried to replace the LCD, did, but screwed up the bezel a little. Otherwise it was a fully functional, quite nice machine and I was offering it for a steal and he still tried to get $100 off. If I'd known he was going to use it clearly against its intended functionality I would never have sold it to him. I had another co-worker who I know would have used it properly that was willing to pay the price I was asking. But the other guy came with the money first, so...oh well.

I've got another co-worker who wants a Mac, I can get her a basic white MacBook for $400 cash right now, in excellent condition, from people who bought it and realized it swallows for what they need. She just browses the web and works on docs, the regular white MacBook is perfect for her, but she won't pay $400 for it. Even though in terms of battery life and performance it would run circles around her 5-year-old Sony Vaio with 2 hours of off-AC battery.

Watch, he might push it so hard it literally bursts into flames and then he claims you tried killing him. Some people...

 

[fabiettomac]

why shouldn't i do mkv-mp4 conversion on my i5 air? is it somewhat dangerous? are you serious?

 

[filmbuff]

why shouldn't i do mkv-mp4 conversion on my i5 air? is it somewhat dangerous? are you serious?

This thread is a little bit old to be resurrecting for a question like this..

I don't know what all these people were high on in 2010, but running a computer at full throttle isn't the same as running your car at full throttle. It doesn't make a difference if you run it at 1% CPU or 100% CPU all day as long as it doesn't actually overheat and shut down.

 

[Blackberryroid]

This thread is a little bit old to be resurrecting for a question like this..

I don't know what all these people were high on in 2010, but running a computer at full throttle isn't the same as running your car at full throttle. It doesn't make a difference if you run it at 1% CPU or 100% CPU all day as long as it doesn't actually overheat and shut down.

It's great that it has resurrected. It's actually interesting.

 

[fabiettomac]

This thread is a little bit old to be resurrecting for a question like this..

I don't know what all these people were high on in 2010, but running a computer at full throttle isn't the same as running your car at full throttle. It doesn't make a difference if you run it at 1% CPU or 100% CPU all day as long as it doesn't actually overheat and shut down.

didn't mean to do necroposting, but i found this quite intresting, i've never heard someone had problems for making working his notebook at fullspeed as long as it doesn't overheat.