Burning smell coming from MBA

[grandIOSe]

Early 2015 model.

This morning I turned it on as is routine for me, with the battery charger attached. While I was in the kitchen making coffee, I smelled an electrical smell, something was overheating.

I walked around, back and forth, and I could not find where it was coming from. I also thought to myself, I have nothing under heavy load at the moment. Really, just the fridge, and that is not a heavy load.

Then, all of a sudden, as I am walking back from my bedroom to the living room, I noticed a BRIGHT ORANGE blinking light shining through the USB port on the right side, and fans at full throttle. The burning smell was coming from my MAC! So I unplugged the power, and shut it off immediately.

It's back on now without the battery charger attached. I am glad I caught it in time, or I don't know what this could have turned into?

Does anyone know what that blinking Orange Light means. I get the feeling that my battery was over charging?

 

[Ma2k5]

I would be worried about the battery potentially being unsafe and wouldn't run it with the battery at all.

 

[grandIOSe]

I would be worried about the battery potentially being unsafe and wouldn't run it with the battery at all.

lithium ion batteries require close monitoring to avoid overcharging because of the dangers associated. Monitoring is usually done through electronic circuitry that cuts off the charging when the battery is adequately charged.

Without the battery charger attached, I am having no problems. I see no heating issue. It seems like everything is normal. I am going to try to have the computer checked out anyhow, the problem is that I am in Buenos Aires, and I have to see if I can find a qualified service center.

UPDATE:

To add to the above, I think I figured out what occurred. On occasion, when I plug in my battery charger (AC PLUG) the light on the end of the plug will not come on, however, the battery still charges. I am not sure if this is a problem on the charger itself, or my computer.

The best logical guess that I can come up with, is that I plugged in the charger this morning, to an already charged battery, however, the light on the charger was off (neither green signaling charged nor amber signaling charging.) As a result, the sensor that tells the charger not to charge was NOT operational, and the battery started to overcharge.

Going forward I will make sure that the light is either amber or green and not off. Usually if I fiddle with it, I can get it to come on.