I was traveling this weekend so, of course, I had my MacBook with me. For the bulk of the time, I used it without having the power plugged in so this morning before heading back home, I hooked it up to the charger and let it sit for an hour or so. When it was time to go, I packed it back up and then gave it no further thought until arriving home a couple of hours ago.
I set the MB again as soon as I got in but due to the time it took to unpack and to deal with a small domestic tragedy (a raccoon got into the hen house and killed one of our birds
), it was matter of a few hours before I finally sat down at my desk again. Although I'd plugged the power in and opened the cover, I saw that the machine had shut itself down. I hit the power button and heard the start-up chord, then walked away to attend to something else for a minute. When I returned, the MB had shut down again. I pressed the power button and . . . nothing. I tried taking the battery out and putting it back in and still nothing. Panic was beginning to rise -- this is my main computer and I use it to make my living. Cold sweat.
I turned the MB over and saw that none of the power lights were showing on the battery so it was completely discharged. Still, it should work with the power adapter, right? Then I took a closer look at the adapter's connector. I noticed that it was sitting ever-so-slightly crooked in the slot, with one edge kicked out. I removed the connector and shined a flashlight into the slot. In the space next to the four-pin socket, there was a tiny scrap of steel, almost invisible against the metallic background. It was large enough to prevent all four pins from completely engaging with their sockets. I dug it out with a small screwdriver and plugged the connector back in. Holding my breath, I hit the power button and this time heard the hallelujah chorus of the start-up sound. Relief!
So, when I plugged the MB in to "charge" this morning, the battery was at around 25% and the not-actually-connected charger didn't do a thing. Since it was in normal 'sleep' mode (rather than Deep Sleep) on the three-hour trip home and then another couple of hours while I attended to other matters, it had a chance to run all the way down.
Of course, any connector is susceptible to a stray bit of dirt but the fact that the MacBook (and MB Pro) have magnetic connectors makes them actually attract iron or steel filings if you happen to be in the immediate vicinity of such. I can't imagine where this one came from but I'm sure glad I found it and removed it!
-- Mark
I set the MB again as soon as I got in but due to the time it took to unpack and to deal with a small domestic tragedy (a raccoon got into the hen house and killed one of our birds
), it was matter of a few hours before I finally sat down at my desk again. Although I'd plugged the power in and opened the cover, I saw that the machine had shut itself down. I hit the power button and heard the start-up chord, then walked away to attend to something else for a minute. When I returned, the MB had shut down again. I pressed the power button and . . . nothing. I tried taking the battery out and putting it back in and still nothing. Panic was beginning to rise -- this is my main computer and I use it to make my living. Cold sweat.I turned the MB over and saw that none of the power lights were showing on the battery so it was completely discharged. Still, it should work with the power adapter, right? Then I took a closer look at the adapter's connector. I noticed that it was sitting ever-so-slightly crooked in the slot, with one edge kicked out. I removed the connector and shined a flashlight into the slot. In the space next to the four-pin socket, there was a tiny scrap of steel, almost invisible against the metallic background. It was large enough to prevent all four pins from completely engaging with their sockets. I dug it out with a small screwdriver and plugged the connector back in. Holding my breath, I hit the power button and this time heard the hallelujah chorus of the start-up sound. Relief!
So, when I plugged the MB in to "charge" this morning, the battery was at around 25% and the not-actually-connected charger didn't do a thing. Since it was in normal 'sleep' mode (rather than Deep Sleep) on the three-hour trip home and then another couple of hours while I attended to other matters, it had a chance to run all the way down.
Of course, any connector is susceptible to a stray bit of dirt but the fact that the MacBook (and MB Pro) have magnetic connectors makes them actually attract iron or steel filings if you happen to be in the immediate vicinity of such. I can't imagine where this one came from but I'm sure glad I found it and removed it!
-- Mark
