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Help Please!: Possible Short-Circuit due to faulty USB

U

ugricy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 18, 2012
2
0
Hey Guys,

So i have a 1.5 year old 13" early 2011 macbook pro with no problems before this, but then...

Event: Borrowed a USB wire from a friend to plug my phone into my macbook, and right when i plugged in the wire without the phone, my macbook shutoff.

Symptoms: Now it will no longer turn on. Magsafe charger (when plugged in) will blink green but is very faint - didn't even notice the blinking the first few times I was trouble shooting. Macbook was charged about half way when all this happened, and when i press the battery check button - the lights won't turn on either.

Have been reading different posts in different forums, and there have been similar problems with the USB wire short-circuiting the logic board.

ANY suggestions on what to do? Besides having to replace the logic board?

I am a poor college student who took out a loan just to pay for my macbook pro for school, and if the only option is to replace the board then i'm going to be laptopless for a long while :(
 
If ur lucky wait a day or so, leaving it unplugged, and the machine miraculously resets itself.

Bummer, in my 10 years old obsolete Sony, and I had it shorted a few times, Windows just flash me a message saying Power Event or something, seemed to be self-protected... Mhhh.

Just for grins, take a loupe, and peek into the port and see if they there is anything unusual in there, bent pins etc.
 
Hard to say what is going on. Your best bet is to take it in to an Apple store and have them run some diagnostics.

Are you out of your 1 year warranty period? Did you buy Applecare?
 
Update: so yeah I just dropped it off apple and no AppleCare for me and my warranty alrdy expired. Hoping for the best, but they told me if worse comes to worse its a flat rate of 300 dollars max even if it's my soundboard?.. Didn't know apple did that.

N yeah I tried resetting my MacBook but nothing happens cuz there's zero power.

N yes I looked at all the ports n stuff, the USB wire was the only thing fishy cuz my friend who I borrowed it from had said she had trouble charging her phone with it n that it'd only work sometimes.

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll see what apple says when they get back to me
 
Hi Ugricy... I had the same problem with my MBP yesterday with an mp3 player :(, did you get a response from apple?
 
Hey guys, I've followed the process about SMC that mgartner0622 posted, but it won't work easily as the macbook doesn't start. So I've opened it and disconnected the battery from the logic board manually... I left it like that all the day till I returned from the office, connected it again and everything was working fine now!! :D I think what Mrbobb posted could work too with this issue, but the wait till battery discharges completely will be very long.

Thanks a lot guys for your ideas!!
:apple:
 
Thank you

So, I've just had a near exact same problem - Just got a new mac and was transferring files from the old to the new.
Just as I was about to delete my iTunes library on old mac, it said that it would remove the songs from any synced device, so thought, 'I'd better sync my iPhone with the new mac just before hitting delete'. Noticed strangely that although my iPhone was plugged into mains it wasn't charging, didn't think much of it and plugged same cable into the new mac......

poof!

Instant shut down, and terror across my face.

No / very dim magsafe light, no battery indicator lights down the side.. I mean, I've had this for about 12 hours!

Scoured forums, found this, was a bit nervous (i'm not an avid DIY'er)

ANYWAY,... disconnected the battery, two minutes, reconnected.. checked the battery indicator light on the side, all looked good.. Did up the bottom, turned it over... it's like it never happened and I don't get sacked!

THANK YOU THANK YOU
 
For anyone else who may of shorted their Mac book, removing the battery is the go! I was trying to fix a broken connection on my Usb harddrive while stupidly having it attached to my Mac book. (I have a second hand MBP15, 2010) and it shorted it, no power etc... After reading this forum I whipped of the back removed the battery put it back after a couple minutes and bada bing all fixed!! :)
 
My MacBook Pro (Early 2011 model 15 inch) Was short-circuited by a faulty USB iphone 5 cable, one of those cheap ones, and it wouldn't turn on. I would get the MagSafe dim light and even though I tried the SMC, nothing worked. I popped open the lid, disconnected the battery, waited for 3 to 4 minutes, Put the cap back on, plugged in the MagSafe and Eureka! A beautiful bright green light turned on my MagSafe. I powered on my Mac and everything was back in order. All I need now is to put in the screws. I hope this works for everybody as I know 'that feeling' when it doesn't turn on.
Thanks guys!
 
Unplugging the battery worked for me!

Hi, just experienced the same while using an old USB cable. Suddently I cound't turn my computer on. Opened the back lid and unplugged the battery (video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03cC79r5Dx4) - and my macbook was brought back to life!

Thank you for the tip.
 
MACBOOK Pro Not Powering ON

Thank you for the advised in this forum it helps me a lot.

I disconnect the battery connector and return. Now it is back to normal and working fine.
 
Have tried EVERYTHING here...but no go

So I have tried everything here - other than the "wait until the battery is dead". I was programming a module for a piece of aquarium equipment and I selected the download button in the sw running on my 2011 Macbook Pro 13". It failed the download so I unplugged the usb and tried another. When I went back to try the download again I notice the screen is black which since I was running on battery I was not worried. But it ended up being dead in appearance. Again I was running on battery. When I push the battery button on the side it lights up green led's. When I plug in the charger is is green/amber. I have opened it up and unplugged the battery from the board and even left it unplugged overnight but it still does not show ANY life other than the green battery leds on the side.
 
I think I had a short circuit in an USB key ; when plugged, key became immediately really hot, with a burnt plastics smell. Fortunately, USB port immediately disconnected with an alert message saying that USB accessories had been disconnected, asking to unplug the energy hungry device to restore USB. It did do so as soon as I unplugged. So there are really fast acting protection in the Mac for USB ports against overcorrect. Not a fuse, not a breaker, maybe a PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) thermistor ?
 
Oh my God, I thought my macbook pro was dead, the exact same thing happened to it, and I kept it in a drawer... it had been there for about 3 months when I found this post... I decided to plug it in and it turned on as soon as it got power.
 
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