MacBook Air won't start - Logic Board Failure?

[valmorra]

Hi all!

About three months ago my MacBook Air (June 2012), froze for the first time and the technicians at the Apple retailer (there's no official Apple Store in Austria) told me my SSD died, so they replaced it.

Yesterday however my MBA froze again, but unlike the "corrupted folder sign" a loading bar appear, and about halfway through the Mac just shuts off.
I went to the retailer where I replaced the SSD again, and they told me it's most likely the logic board, because in disk utility the internal SSD shows as an external, and thus they are unable to restore it (because it's a hardware and not software problem).
Since I don't trust the word of a wannabe technician alone, I wanted to ask if anyone experienced similar problem and if my logic board is really dead.

I ran out of Apple care, so worst case I'll just have to buy a new laptop (but not a macbook air again).

Thank you all!
Cheers,
Val

 

[Mr Rabbit]

The problem you described runs a 50/50 chance of being hardware or software. I would try booting to your recovery partition, by holding option while powering on and selecting "Recovery HD", and checking your disk/SSD using Disk Utility. If your hard drive shows properly but returns file system errors in Disk Utility then you may be looking at a software issue, Disk Utility may or may not be able to repair that.

I had this exact same symptom with one of my employee's MacBook Pros a few weeks ago following a failed software update. Disk Warrior was able to repair the OS and get it booting properly again.

 

[valmorra]

After some research I was able to boot a Fedora live CD to backup all my files.
The SSD seems fine as far as I can tell.
But when I try to restore the system (reinstall and/or from time machine) the system isn't able to see the internal SSD. And the disc utility shows it as an external drive which I can't delete, verify, or do anything else with it.

 

[halledise]

try this:
make a Recovery Disk Assistant on a usb stick

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4848

startup from it whilst holding down the option key.
then open disk utility and try to verify/repair your HDD from there and you should be able to reinstall ML from the 'net

 

[valmorra]

Verifying or repairing won't work

 

[Ronnoco]

Have you tried booting into Apple Hardware Test (restart holding D key)?

Use Apple Hardware Test
If you have a new Mac (mid-2013 or later), use Apple Diagnostics, which is built into your Mac.

If your Mac has OS X v10.8.3 or earlier, use Apple Hardware Test, which is built into your Mac.

If you updated your Mac to OS X v10.8.4 or later, use the system software disc or USB flash drive that came with your Mac.



Open Help Viewer’s Action pop-up menu (looks like a gear), then choose Print to print these instructions.
Disconnect all external devices except the keyboard, mouse, display, and speakers. If you have an Ethernet cable or external DVD drive, disconnect it.
Restart your Mac, holding down the D key while the Mac restarts.
After your Mac restarts, you should see the Apple Hardware Test chooser screen. If you don’t, Apple Hardware Test may not be available on your Mac. You may be able to start Apple Hardware Test from the Internet. Reconnect your Mac to the network, then restart your Mac while holding down both the Option and D keys.

When the Apple Hardware Test chooser screen appears, select the language you want to use, then press the Return key or click the right arrow button.
When the Apple Hardware Test main screen appears (after about 45 seconds), follow the onscreen instructions.

 

[valmorra]

Yes, I tried it already. Hardware seems okay.
I also managed to fix the problem that the SSD was shown as an external SSD instead internal.
The SSD itself also seems alright in disc utility, so does the partition.
But every time I'm trying to reinstall OSX, an error message shows up that an error occured, and OSX couldn't be installed.
I already tried SMC, PRAM, Disc Verify, Disc Repair, and setting up a new partition.
I went to the Apple Retailer (McShark Austria) again to ask if it could be an SSD problem again (since he was the guy who replaced it two months ago).
The *insert very bad word here* wouldn't even look at my macbook air, even when I told him that I resolved the "external SSD problem" myself, and also ran the diagnostic program. That *insert very bad word here* told me he would send it in and I could have it back in three weeks. I just left without saying anything, it seems very easy to become a licensed Apple technician

No idea what else I could try.

 

[Mr Rabbit]

I would call AppleCare and explain the situation regarding the third party service shop. If they are an Apple Authorized Service Provider then Apple can put a good deal of pressure on them to make things right for you. Even though you're outside of AppleCare at this point it sounds like you're only a few days outside of the 90 day warranty that follows repairs. They will likely respect that and help out.

Good luck.