Macbook air 2011 11 inch No MagSafe light and not turning on

[Joshmacbookpro2015]

Hey,

A friend has found his old 2011 Macbook Air 11" so we decided to test it out so we connected the MagSafe 1 charger (not genuine apple) and then No green light the unit wont turn on if i press the power button. i have experience in device repair so we can repair if necesary we are thinking seeing if its an issue with the charger first then if that dosent work we arent sure what to do

 

[DeltaMac]

If you have no light on the magsafe plug, try to find another magsafe 1 charger (could be the simple fix of a different charger...), and is the easiest test. If another charger also has no light, then could be the magsafe connector on the MBAir - which is the I/O board. iFixit.com has the part, and the steps for replacing it. If that does not fix it, then you likely will need to replace the logic board (deciding if it is worth the $ to fix a 12-year-old laptop.

 

[Joshmacbookpro2015]

If you have no light on the magsafe plug, try to find another magsafe 1 charger (could be the simple fix of a different charger...), and is the easiest test. If another charger also has no light, then could be the magsafe connector on the MBAir - which is the I/O board. iFixit.com has the part, and the steps for replacing it. If that does not fix it, then you likely will need to replace the logic board (deciding if it is worth the $ to fix a 12-year-old laptop.

could it be a battery issue or is that unlikley

 

[StoneJack]

Hey,

A friend has found his old 2011 Macbook Air 11" so we decided to test it out so we connected the MagSafe 1 charger (not genuine apple) and then No green light the unit wont turn on if i press the power button. i have experience in device repair so we can repair if necesary we are thinking seeing if its an issue with the charger first then if that dosent work we arent sure what to do

Might be charger, cable, battery or logic board. test one by one

 

[DeltaMac]

The battery is unlikely. A dead, or missing battery would not make a difference with the LED on the magsafe connector. You would still get something--some kind of light when the magsafe is plugged in.

 

[real_mon2]

MagSafe 1 charger (not genuine apple)

This is the start of your issues. One can only guess as to what is inside. Highly recommended to use the Apple original as the original has a soft start that prevents major damage to the logic board.

The single wire communication (by Dallas / Maxim Semiconductor) is used to extract the power adapter's details and respectively toggle the green / orange light inside the external adapter. Many of the clones do not do this and just offer a led that turns on / off. Also, often, the high adapter voltage is always hot at the magsafe contacts - unlike the real deal by Apple (Foxconn / Liteon) - they are using a small amount of current to detect if the adapter is mated to the logic board before kicking into the full voltage mode.

Check your magsafe contacts. Clean them with IPA (Costco pharmacy stuff is great).

If you still do not see the light turn on, then you will have to open up the unit and review the logic board details.

Suggest to open a fresh thread on the badcaps website for laptop repair but in summary:

Check the voltage to ground of the PPBUS_G3H and 3v42 rail. Specifically the 2nd voltage which is used for the single wire communication.

In your reply, do post the logic board details - share the 820-**** number from your PCB.

 

[Joshmacbookpro2015]

badcaps

Hey i'm seeing my friend again tomorrow morning so we will try then. I signed up for badcaps but i couldnt figure out how to post on there.

 

[DeltaMac]

... I signed up for badcaps but i couldnt figure out how to post on there.

if you have logged in to badcaps.com forum, scroll to the bottom of the page on that forum, and click on "New Thread".

 

[Joshmacbookpro2015]

Just an update on the MacBook Air, firstly we dismantled the fake charger after i heard it clicking (oddly) so i opened it and we found a capacitor that had clearly blown (680μF - 20V) went to an electronic store (Jaycar) they didnt have one so we gave up on that. i was bored and I had it near me so I sketchily bridged the connections from my magsafe 2 charger to the macbook air VERY painful to do (had to balance cables and the charger head was taped to the mac) and it chimed and then I accidently slipped with my hand then the unit lost power (oddly it just turned on without needing to press the power button) tried again chimed, silpped same again (was very fiddly) but it seems to work so he will order a used genuine apple cable then will be able to boot it up and see what the specs are and see what old files are on there. When the charger comes we will see if we can upgrade the OS (e.g. OCLP, Dosdude1, etc.). not sure when he'll order the charger and when ill see him next so for now just waiting.