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SmOcKxY

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 25, 2008
24
0
Ok so it's my dad's MBA..recently he brought it over to China on a business trip..this is an account of what happen prior to the death of his MBA..

B4 he left for the airport he and it fully charged and shut it down. Upon reaching the hotel he found that the batt had only 48% left..so he plugged in the power adapter and started charging and using the MBA..he also plugged in the complimentary internet service via an ethernet cable and wanted to check his mail..using Microsoft Entourage he downloaded his mail from server successfully..however the problem starts when he tried to reply his mails..suddenly all the mails went missing and his keyboard went haywire..pressing any button will not give you the desired alphabet/numbers/symbols..frustrated he unplugged the power cable and ethernet cable and went out to meet client..only that he did not switch off the MBA and the batt totally drained when he return..

Till now he hasn't been able to get it started..when the power cable is plugged in the orange light shows up but it just can't power up..and the orange light has been on for ages...enuff to charge the MBA twice around but it never seems full..tried holding the power buttong for 10 secs yield no results...

Any kind soul has any idea what may be wrong with the MBA..he has tons of impt business emails in the computer that he didn't back up and he would really like for it to still be in the MBA..are there any other ways to power up the MBA?

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!!!
 

gr8tfly

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2006
5,333
99
~119W 34N
It wasn't clear you tried this , but there's this procedure to reset the SMC controller.:

MacBook Air (Original), MacBook Air (Late 2008) and MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009)
  1. If the computer is on, turn it off by choosing Shutdown from the Apple () menu.
  2. Connect the power adapter to a working power source.
  3. On the built-in keyboard, press (left) Shift-Control-Option along with the power button once.
  4. Wait 5 seconds and press the power button to start the computer.
    Note: You must use the keys on the left side of the built-in keyboard.

You should only perform an SMC reset when the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2009) has been properly shutdown. This prevents issues from occurring to the file system.

While the power adapter does not need to be connected to reset the SMC, it may be necessary in situations where the battery needs charging or if the computer has been without power for an extended period of time.[/QUOTE]​
 

SmOcKxY

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 25, 2008
24
0
Thanks for the guide..however it says that it should only be tried if the system is power down properly..my dad says he did not shut it down but rather the batt drained itself out..so is it advisable that i try this?
 

SmOcKxY

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 25, 2008
24
0
Now i've just tried the method to reset the SMC but it doesn't work for me..still no sign of life from the MBA..:confused:

What hardware can be whacked that the system doesn't power up? Now the batt is fully charged cos the orange light turned green..so that takes the batt out of the equation..or does it?
 

gr8tfly

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2006
5,333
99
~119W 34N
2 more things to try:

Soft restart: press the ctrl-cmd-pwr and hold for 3 seconds.

Reset PRAM: hold down the cmd-opt-P-R keys on power up until you hear a second chime


Is there any indication on the sleep light? (solid, or flashes briefly on start attempt?)
 

SmOcKxY

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 25, 2008
24
0
Just tried the soft reset..nothing happened too..no chime no sleep light nada..think i have to bring it in to the service centre..thanks so much for your help anyway!
 

gr8tfly

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2006
5,333
99
~119W 34N
Just tried the soft reset..nothing happened too..no chime no sleep light nada..think i have to bring it in to the service centre..thanks so much for your help anyway!

Sorry that didn't work. Good luck - hope it's something simple.
 

SmOcKxY

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 25, 2008
24
0
So i brought in my dad's MBA to the Apple service centre and the diagnostic results show that the top part of the Laptop is a goner..power button keyboard and trackpad..weird how it can go bonkers when extra TLC is shown by my dad..anyway got it fixed for a couple of hundred bucks and eveything is working like new..lucky it ain't the logic board or that'll cost a bomb!
 

gr8tfly

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2006
5,333
99
~119W 34N
So i brought in my dad's MBA to the Apple service centre and the diagnostic results show that the top part of the Laptop is a goner..power button keyboard and trackpad..weird how it can go bonkers when extra TLC is shown by my dad..anyway got it fixed for a couple of hundred bucks and eveything is working like new..lucky it ain't the logic board or that'll cost a bomb!

Good to know it wasn't worse. I guess stuff just breaks, sometimes.
 
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