Rescued an A1465, won't power on, steady orange light

[NavyGeo]

Hello everyone, I'm Rick. I rescued a MacBook Air A1465 from "LetGo". I know, I know. The previous owner stated that the unit would not power on. Evidently it had been running, and the adaptor had been plugged into a wall-socket. The owner didn't realize that there was no power to that wall-socket, and left for a few days. When they returned, the MacBook was not running, and they cannot get it to power on.

It has some weird ADLX45N chinese replacement adaptor. The 'spec' sticker on this adaptor indicates 14.85VDC @ 3.05A output. The adaptor-cord leading into the metal magnetic port is frayed, with copper shielding wire visible.

When I plug the adaptor in to my surge-protector I get a green light on the adaptor. When I plug it into the MacBook I get a momentary green light, then it changes to a steady orange. I left the unit charging all night, and the light is still orange. The MacBook will not power on.

After some research online I held the "shift+ctrl+option+pwr" buttons for 10 seconds(with adaptor plugged in) then let go. The light on the adaptor connector changed from orange to green, then back to orange after a few seconds.

My 'olde-skewl' vacuum-tube electronic skills make me think the battery is the issue here, but as I am not a MacBook tech in any way, shape, or form I am asking for help from the community!

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I live near Columbus, GA and there is a good Apple store there called "GraphiCom". I do have them as an option, but I'd like to bring this little laptop back to life on my own if I can. Thanks in advance for any help given!

Rick
Phenix City, AL

 

[Audit13]

Disconnect the battery, connect the charger, don't touch any keys, and see if MacBook powers itself on within two minutes. If nothing happens, do the same thing but disconnect the trackpad before connecting the charger.

 

[DeltaMac]

You should also try a known-good magsafe 2 power adapter, just as a test. You can use a MBook Air adapter, or one sold for MacBook Pro. Any Magsafe 2 adapter should work. THAT'S when you take to your local Apple shop for help with that.

If you take the bottom cover off (to disconnect battery, and the other tips for Audit13 above) you can also notice if the battery appears to be swelling at all.

 

[NavyGeo]

I didn't make any headway so I took it over to GraphiCom in Columbus, GA. The techs immediately ruled out the charger, but I'm going to replace it with an OEM charger anyway if it comes back to life. They're tearing into it and assured me they'd call me by tomorrow. I'll keep you apprised of the results.

 

[NavyGeo]

And the sad news from GraphiCom is that the seller lied about the MacBook. The owner of GraphiCom called me to let me know that there is water damage to the main-board, the keyboard, and the track-pad assembly. I wouldn't be surprised if the DC-board, the battery, and the SSD are also dead.
I've known the owner for a few years since I took my iphone 4 to GraphiCom for a screen repair. He felt very badly that the MacBook was treated so poorly by it's previous owner and that I was lied to. Being the solid friend and Apple business owner that he is he offered to sell me a 2017 13" unit for about the same as he'd have to charge me to rebuild this little 11" unit.
So here at the beginning of the month I'll be purchasing that computer and getting back into Macs! For anyone interested my first Mac is my still-running PowerBook G4. Unfortunately it's getting harder to find software updates!