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rMBP wouldn't boot on plane

M

madius

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 25, 2010
17
0
Just flew from DC to San Diego. My rMBP wouldn't turn on during the flight. It was working just fine prior to boarding. Soon as I landed, tried again and it worked. Was forced to spend 5 hours twiddling my thumbs.

What gives?
 
There's no reason it shouldn't work on the plane. Most likely you just didn't press the button right, or your battery was flat :p
 
People, I'm not an idiot. I spent 15 minutes pressing the power button any which way I could. Person sitting next to me thought I was doing morse code at one point.

Could it have been the pressure?

Ed: Also, battery was at 100%, looked right before I boarded.
 
madius said:
People, I'm not an idiot. I spent 15 minutes pressing the power button any which way I could. Person sitting next to me thought I was doing morse code at one point.
Click to expand...

Haha :p I guess we're only as confused as you are as to why it wouldn't work :)
 
seems like a rare bug. one thing you can try next time is resetting the SMC. i think you hold down the left shift+option+control and press the power button simultaneously.
i usually do it a couple times (because there is no confirmation if you do it correctly or incorrectly).

anyway, after giving it a few seconds your can try to boot up. in the same boot i would also reset the PRAM. to do that you hold down command+option+P+R.

i think that resetting the SMC would have been your best bet. did you ever get it to turn on? even if you did, i would still reset the PRAM and SMC now.


p.s. who has so much time on their hands to post useless, humorless messages to a random person on the internet? (answer: see above).
 
reemas said:
seems like a rare bug. one thing you can try next time is resetting the SMC. i think you hold down the left shift+option+control and press the power button simultaneously.
i usually do it a couple times (because there is no confirmation if you do it correctly or incorrectly).

anyway, after giving it a few seconds your can try to boot up. in the same boot i would also reset the PRAM. to do that you hold down command+option+P+R.

i think that resetting the SMC would have been your best bet. did you ever get it to turn on? even if you did, i would still reset the PRAM and SMC now.


p.s. who has so much time on their hands to post useless, humorless messages to a random person on the internet? (answer: see above).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips, and agreed. Yeah, it turned on just fine after I landed.
 
Were you on your way home, or do you have a return flight? Will be interesting to see if it happens again.
 
Maximum operating altitude is rated at 10,000 ft per the specs on the Apple website. However, I can't explain what may have happened.
 
lcseds said:
Maximum operating altitude is rated at 10,000 ft per the specs on the Apple website. However, I can't explain what may have happened.
Click to expand...

But the airplane's cabin is pressurized so that is not the issue. The 10k limit is really for airflow. As you go up the air gets thinner and is less effective at cooling your machine. I found this out when I was installing a new product in Colorado Springs (~6000 ft) when we had designed it on the east coast at sea level. Our thermistors started going off, turning off the machine thinking that the fans had stopped working.

The only thing the OP can do is to post his problem here and see if it is a one time event or to see if there are other users who end up having the same issue. He could also google his problem to see if anyone else had ever experienced this problem with a laptop of any kind.
 
madius said:
Could it have been the pressure?
Click to expand...

A serious response..

Yes this would be my best guess as well. Honestly I can't think of anything else it could be. Were u able to do a test from A/C just as a test? Assuming the answer to that is no.
 
greytmom said:
Were you on your way home, or do you have a return flight? Will be interesting to see if it happens again.
Click to expand...

Heading back next weekend, so we'll see. Just took it to the Apple store, and the genius found nothing wrong. Dude said it was the first time he ever ran tests on a rMPB, had to go in back to find someone who knew what they were doing.

----------
houkouonchi said:
A serious response..

Yes this would be my best guess as well. Honestly I can't think of anything else it could be. Were u able to do a test from A/C just as a test? Assuming the answer to that is no.
Click to expand...

It was a sad United flight, so no A/C.
 
madius said:
Just flew from DC to San Diego. My rMBP wouldn't turn on during the flight. It was working just fine prior to boarding. Soon as I landed, tried again and it worked. Was forced to spend 5 hours twiddling my thumbs.

What gives?
Click to expand...

Acrophobia... rMBP suffers from acrophobia :D

To reproduce the issue, try to switch it on at last floor of The Empire State Building :p
 
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