Macbook Air isn't charging

[Executer]

Hello guys,

I'm facing a weird problem with my Macbook Air/charger.

Since I've been at home for most of my time in the past month, I've been using my Macbook plugged in most of the time. Still, sometimes I do unplug it and run it on battery only and then charge it back to 100% (I read somewhere that it was good for the battery).

Anyway, today I decided to use my Macbook for a few hours before plugging it in, which I did when the battery was at 51%. As soon as I plugged it in, I was very surprised to notice that my Macbook Air wasn't charging.

What's strange is that, if I click on the battery icon in the menu bar, it says (translated from Portuguese to English, these may not be the exact words in the English OS):

Battery is not charging.
Power Source: power adapter.

So... it seems that the computer is getting power from the adapter, but it simply isn't charging.

I've searched a bit and found this help article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

I tried to reset the SMC, by shutting the computer down, plugging it in, pressing Shift-Option-Control and the Power Button at the same time, releasing the keys and finally pressing the power button to turn on the computer.

I'm not sure if I did it right, since I didn't notice anything and the problem isn't solved.

Sure: my computer is still under warranty and I could take it to a store. BUT I'm afraid it would mean I'd be without my computer for a few weeks and I really need it (specially in two weeks when college starts).

So, is there anything else I can try to do before taking it to warranty? I'm considering calling Apple Support since I have free access to Apple Support until October.

Thanks!

 

[joshlalonde]

Hello guys,

I'm facing a weird problem with my Macbook Air/charger.

Since I've been at home for most of my time in the past month, I've been using my Macbook plugged in most of the time. Still, sometimes I do unplug it and run it on battery only and then charge it back to 100% (I read somewhere that it was good for the battery).

Anyway, today I decided to use my Macbook for a few hours before plugging it in, which I did when the battery was at 51%. As soon as I plugged it in, I was very surprised to notice that my Macbook Air wasn't charging.

What's strange is that, if I click on the battery icon in the menu bar, it says (translated from Portuguese to English, these may not be the exact words in the English OS):



So... it seems that the computer is getting power from the adapter, but it simply isn't charging.

I've searched a bit and found this help article: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

I tried to reset the SMC, by shutting the computer down, plugging it in, pressing Shift-Option-Control and the Power Button at the same time, releasing the keys and finally pressing the power button to turn on the computer.

I'm not sure if I did it right, since I didn't notice anything and the problem isn't solved.

Sure: my computer is still under warranty and I could take it to a store. BUT I'm afraid it would mean I'd be without my computer for a few weeks and I really need it (specially in two weeks when college starts).

So, is there anything else I can try to do before taking it to warranty? I'm considering calling Apple Support since I have free access to Apple Support until October.

Thanks!

Take it to the store and have them check it out. If they have to replace it, they'll probably just give you an entirely new Mac. So make sure you back up your stuff (quickly if possible) and then take it in. It could even just be the adapter, though. So take it in as soon as you back up your stuff. The sooner the better.

 

[Executer]

Hello,

Thanks for your advice. Can I use an external storage with files already on it to use Time Machine to backup my Mac?

Furthermore, I've called Apple Tech Support. The assistant asked me to reset the SMC. I did. Nothing happened. After a few minutes, suddenly the Mac was charging again: but it said it would take 20h to charge. The assistant asked me to unplug the adapter and plug it back in. I did -- everything was back to normal. I was told to reset SMC once again, I did. And now everything seems to be fine -- except that my MagSafe gets really hot when charging the computer.

The folks at Apple Tech Support will call me again by tomorrow. Let's see how my machine behaves until then.

Thank you for your help,

 

[joshlalonde]

It depends on whether or not your drive is formatted correctly. If it's in FAT, then you can't use it. It needs to be formatted to an Apple filesystem (warning: formatting it erases all the files)

Open up time machine and see if you can backup to the drive. If not, then just copy your home folder to the drive. Though, that's only in emergencies (i.e., it won't charge again).

I would strongly recommend you backup your files ASAP. So if you have to, buy an external drive that you can use.