MacBook Air will not boot, SMC problem?

[MajoNess]

I have a 2013 13" Air that is working fine exept if it runs out of battery or i do a "shutdown". Then i need to open it and unplug the battery and connect another battery i have laying and it will boot again. Then i can swap back to the original battery and it runs normal untill next time. If it goes in sleep mode or if i do a "restart" it no problems.

I'm thinking there is som problem with the SMC, i tried to do a SMC reset buy pressing the buttons, but dont get any green flash on the charger light so not sure if it actually reset?

Any tips here?? Is there a way to flash, update or reset the SMC on macOS?

Model: A1466
SMC: 2.13f15

 

[Audit13]

Sounds to me like the original battery is failing or failed. Run diagnostics on the Air with the original battery if possible.

 

[MajoNess]

Hey, been experimenting little..
I tried 3 batteries now. That one i bought it with (~1000cycles), another older one and a brand new oem battery that was goig in my sisters Air. Nothing changes. Even if i run it without battery i have the same problem, so its safe to say the problem is not the battery itself.

If the macbook runs out of battery or get "shut down" i need to open it and unplug battery and disconnect and connect charger to get it alive again. I run diagnostics (keep D when restart) and it did not find any error.

Another thing i notice is that the power button will not do anything.. i need too restart or shutdown from the menu in MacOS, if i keep the power button while its on it wont force it to shutdown like om my sisters Air.

I added some pics if its for any help

 

[Audit13]

Try this:

Disconnect the battery, trackpad, and keyboard from the logic board. Attach a USB keyboard and mouse, connect the charger, don't tough the machine, see if it boots on its own and you can use it. It may be slow since there is no battery attached.

 

[MajoNess]

Holy macaroni! Looks like youre tips lead me to find the problem

I disconnected the keyboard/trackpad cable and i noticed something looked strange. So i fired up my $15 usb ebay microscope and saw one of the pins was bended back, and 2 others looked like the had some corrosion or something maybe bridged them. I bend the pin back and cleaned up and made sure it was connected well. And then the Air started right up like everything was normal

So looks like the pin was for the power on/off key and it all this make sence now.. Thats why i could not reset the SMC too..

I was so close to give up on this Air...

 

[Audit13]

Hooray, glad my suggestion worked.

The power button circuit actually runs through the keyboard which runs through the trackpad.

The corrosion may be due to moisture exposure.